Expect Great Things from A Great God

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

A philosopher in the court of Alexander the Great was a man of outstanding ability, but little means. One day he asked Alexander for financial help and was told to draw whatever he needed from the imperial treasury. So, the philosopher made his request - $50,000! Alexander’s treasurer refused to authorize the large sum saying he needed verification from Alexander. When he asked Alexander, the ruler replied, "Pay the money at once. The philosopher has done me a singular honor. By the largeness of his request he shows that he has understood both my wealth and generosity."

Could it be that we honor the Lord when we humbly come to Him and ask for great things? Let’s do it, shall we? Let’s ask, then believe God for great things. He has the answer in store!

Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Psalms 36:5 

Do We Overlook Sin?

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

Do We Overlook Sin?

The simple answer to this important question is YES and NO. Yes, we tend to overlook it in our personal lives and no, we don’t overlook it in the lives of others. We easily discount our sinfulness and elevate the sinfulness of others. Likewise, my sins are usually “average or low-grade,” while yours, on the other hand, are, without a doubt, “abominable to God.”

My sins are easily forgivable. They are simple mistakes and can be rectified with a little more effort on my part. All I have to do is try a little harder. Your sins are not like that. No efforts of self-correction will make up for your horrible missteps. 

I’m allowed to have relapses of the same sinfulness because, you know, it happens to sincere people like me. You, though, have one chance, and one chance only. 

You get the point. We see another's sin as blatant disobedience to God. Our own we tend to discount as not trying hard enough. We simply vow to do better.

Jesus said something very interesting about looking at sin this way. It was in His famous Sermon on the Mount. 

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5

How do we move on, then? Let’s go to the Cross. The Cross always has a message. Excruciatingly, the Son of God bled for all sins because there was not a single sin that was not devastating.

When we gather at the Cross, sinner after obnoxious sinner finds grace to keep moving on - not perfectly, of course - but certainly forgiven one more time.

Through the Lens of Love

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. What a blessed thought! No matter what comes our way, it cannot disconnect us from His love. He has the sufficiency to see us through!

One benefit of that is that I don’t have to comprehend God’s love for me by circumstances alone. And that is a temptation, isn’t it? “God, if You really love me, why did this happen to me?” 

While He didn’t promise that we would escape difficulties and hardships, we have His promise that His love will be greater than them all—His love will endure.

Consider Jesus - He didn’t escape the excruciating experience of the cross, yet He was the Beloved of God. And so are you! So the next time you find yourself in dire straights, evaluate your circumstances from God’s point of view—His love for you. Love is God’s main motive for everything that happens in your life.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Romans 8:35 

Secure the Gates

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

The Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It stretches over 4,000 miles and was built to protect China from the barbaric hordes to the north. The designers of the wall made it high, thick and long to prevent enemy troops from going over, through or around it. 

However, history records that in the first hundred years of its existence, China was successfully invaded three times, and the wall had neither been climbed nor breached. How is that possible, you ask? Simple - it was the gatekeepers. In each of the three invasions the barbarians simply bribed the gatekeepers and the enemy just walked right through.

The Great Wall was only as secure as its gatekeepers; and therein lies our lesson. Each Christ follower has "gates to keep" . . . our eyes, and our ears, and our mouth! No matter how strong we think we are, we can never forget that these points of entry are evident to our enemies and there will be attempts to bribe or seduce us so they can walk right in. We must not allow the "barbaric hordes" to invade our lives by failing to keep careful watch at these entry points – our integrity and our authority depend on the security of our gates!

But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths. Ezekiel 33:6

A Word about Character

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

Bobby Jones was a great golfer and had the reputation of being very competitive. He may best be remembered for winning the "Grand Slam" of golf — winning all four major tournaments in the U.S. and Britain in a single year.

A story is told about something that happened early in his career. It was 1925, and having reached the final playoff in the U.S. Open, Jones was setting up to strike his ball, which was in the rough just off the fairway. His iron accidentally touched the ball. He immediately became angry with himself, turned to the marshals, and called a penalty on himself.

But the marshals had not seen the ball move, so they left the decision to Jones, whether to invoke the penalty — a two-stroke penalty. Bobby called the penalty on himself, not knowing that he would lose the tournament by a single stroke.

Jones may have lost the tournament, but his character was legendary and today the United States Golf Association's award for sportsmanship is known as the "Bobby Jones Award."

A Christ follower knows that we face lots of decisions—many of which are made when no one is watching, at least no one we can see. So the right thing to do is to do the right thing - because character truly counts. The rewards for good character many not be realized immediately, but rest assured that God is keeping track of our decisions, and He will make good on every one!

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Proverbs 11:3

Citizen of Two Countries

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

I’ve been teaching the book of Colossians at the church where I pastor in Julian, CA. Paul greeted those Christ followers with these words, “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae . . .” 

The translators were a little open with the English because in the Greek, he used the same preposition to indicate that the believers in Colossae were both in Christ and in Colossae. I’m confident that the translators used the word “at” in front of Colossae to make it sound less awkward.

It reminded me, though, of the Christ follower’s dual citizenship. We live in a certain country but we are also citizens of the Kingdom of God. We live in this world but we know that this world is not all there is.There is an old gospel hymn that says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through!” 

We answer to a higher authority, and earthly authorities sometimes take exception to that. We should not be shocked, then, when we are ridiculed, and neither should we feel uncomfortable because we do not automatically accept their remedy for solving the problems around us.

Our dual citizenship is problematic when the two kingdoms are in conflict. In those times, we have to make the choice to reject some aspects of our culture, and to speak out against it—but always in love [Ephesians 4:15]. Truth and love must be operative when we confront any aspect of our culture.

All creation is groaning in anticipation of the time when the rightful king comes to make everything right [Romans 8:22]. Until then, we are both in our “Colossae” and in Christ. Our citizenship may be divided, but our loyalty cannot be. We must choose which of the kingdoms gets the priority.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness... Matthew 6:33

One-A-Day

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

When I was a kid, I told people that I wanted to be a vitamin when I grew up. When asked why, I said, “I walked past a drug store one day and there was a sign in the window: Vitamin B1. OK, after the groaning stops I hope you’ll finish reading this devotion!

I don’t know about you, but when I take a vitamin, I don’t feel an extra rush of energy. In fact, I really don’t feel much of anything. I don’t take vitamins for their immediate impact. I take them their long-term effect.

In some way, that is how I feel about my daily Bible reading. On certain occasions, there are some “Aha” moments, but most of the time it’s like taking a vitamin—I know in the long haul it is good for me. 

What’s the point? Taking a vitamin will not produce a sudden burst of adrenaline or bolt of energy, but over time, taken regularly, vitamins will strengthen your immune system and improve your general health and well-being.

A daily dose of God's Word is the same. The long-term effects of regularly digesting Scripture, will promote your spiritual health and well-being. Though it may not be like a bolt of lightening every time you sit down, you can be certain it will boost your immunity to the fiery darts of doubt, disbelief, and deception!  As the scripture says, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God!" [Romans 10:17] 

So by all means, take your "vitamins" today.

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalms 119:103