Words of Mass Destruction

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Have you ever said something that, as soon as it left your mouth, you regretted? Or how about this one, have you ever posted something on FaceBook or Twitter that you wished you could take back? Especially if the words were harsh, or bitter, or exaggerated, or gossipy - in other words, words that tear down. 

The former NFL football player and coach, Herm Edwards, gave this advice to his rookies, “Don’t press send.” He went on to tell them that if, in a moment of heightened emotion, they feel like tweeting something, or posting something inappropriate, mean, stupid, or controversial, just take a deep breath, pause for a few seconds and “don’t press send.”

That is great advice right there! And, yes, it also goes for the words that come out of the hole underneath your nose. Coach Edward’s advice echoes the words of Solomon. It’s good to restrain the tongue because it greatly reduces the chance of sinning.

Before speaking, LISTEN. There must be some blocking mechanism between the tongue and ears because when you are talking, it’s impossible to listen. And when you do open your ears to listen to God and to the real needs of others, then your words will be valuable; your conversation will be full of grace.

Watch what you say and what you type. You don’t want to be sinning with your moving lips and typing fingers. Let your words be life-giving words—words that are food for thought and food for the soul; words that build up, not tear down.

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment. Proverbs 10:19-21

Open the Eyes of My Heart

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

I sat at my computer this morning with headphones on, listening to some music, preparing my heart to finish editing this week’s sermon. Then it happened! “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see you!” The words were like an sharp instrument piercing my soul. 

It reminded me of a story recorded in 2 Kings 6. Perhaps you’re familiar with it. Elisha’s servant looked at the circumstance he was in, and all he saw was the army of Aram surrounding the town. That’s it. In a sense, he was spiritually blind.

Before we get on his case though, aren’t we like that at times? We see our disappointments, our discouragements, our enemies, and like Gehazi, fear starts to settle in. When that happens, we start to look down on the stranger, complain about the lazy, point fingers and blast those who disagree. We see the world as lost to the devil and that we are the ones who suffer. We take the bait of setting God aside to earn our fortune and have fun. 

The prayer that Elisha prayed is a great way to address our spiritual blindness. “Lord, open my eyes that I might see.” With spiritual eyes wide open, we see sin as sin, and the lust of anything as rebellion against God. But we also see our victory. Christ rules. The world is in His hands. Like the Psalmist, we proclaim, “I too give witness to the greatness of God, our Lord, high above all other gods. He does just as he pleases—however, wherever, whenever” [Psalm 135:6 The MESSAGE Paraphrase]. 

That’s what happened to Gehazi. With his spiritual eyes opened, he looked at his circumstance again, but this time, he saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” Guarded by the heavenly army, his fear began to melt away. 

The Apostle Paul lived with his spiritual eyes open too. He wasn’t blind to his circumstances, yet he could say with all confidence, if God is on our side, “who can stand against us?” [Romans 8:31].

That was the beginning of a prayer for me. “Lord, open my eyes to see You are on my side. Help me to be fearless in this hostile, sin-sick world. I can do anything You ask of me because I am protected by Your mighty hand.” Amen.

And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17

Divine Purposes

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

We human beings have a favorite question, and it can be summed up in one word: WHY? Parents get it from their children all the time - I’m not exaggerating! “Why is grass green?” “Why do I have to eat broccoli?” We adults aren’t much different, but our question are more complicated. “Why is my world falling apart?” “Why is God letting this happen to me?”

We all want to know “why” especially in tough times, and so we set out in search of answers. Be careful when you do this. We are fallen creatures living in a fallen world, and our limited minds may lead us to wrong conclusions. I heard this one just a couple of days ago: “I must have done something really bad to make God this upset with me.” In other words, “I did something wrong and now God is dishing out retribution.”

If you are a Christ follower, this way of thinking presents at least two problems:

It presumes you have God figured out.

It minimizes or completely ignores God’s merciful love.

One day, Jesus and His disciples met a blind man. The disciples assumed his blindness was the result of sin and asked Jesus who the culprit was, the man himself, or his parents. Jesus said the most interesting thing, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” [John 9:3]. 

There was a divine purpose in this man’s blindness. As I said before, we are fallen creatures. As such, it’s difficult for us to fathom divine purposes, especially in difficulty. We simply look for solutions. But more importantly than his physical healing, we read a little later in the story that the formerly blind man came to see Jesus as his Savior. God was at work for this man’s eternal good, even, and especially, in hardship.

As I write this eDevotion, I’m convinced that the Lord wants to remind you about this important matter. Have you been asking God, “Why are you letting all this happen to me? Why are You punishing me?” Learn the lesson from the blind man. He is not! All your sins have been punished on the cross. Your sins are forgiven when you put your full confidence in Christ alone. You are a Christ follower now, and God has divine purposes in your life that you can’t always see.

Keep moving forward and upward. Ask God to help you boldly face your doubts and despair. Trust His divine work in and through your hardship. Rest assured that His purposes are always for your eternal good … and His glory!

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  John 9:1-3

Rightside-Up People

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Sin changes everything. Because of it, we humans have lost our sense of what is good and proper in every setting. Right and wrong is foggy. Good and bad is questionable. Self-esteem and narcissism is indistinguishable. Leadership, character, relationships, everything has been transformed by sin. Our fallenness has given us leaders who crave power, not servanthood; taught us to seek security in materialism; to manipulate and exploit others for our personal benefit — to watch out for numero uno.

That is the way of sin. Thankfully, Christ followers are being transformed, turned upside-down, or more precisely, rightside-up. He’s given us many examples in Scripture to inspire us to that end.

He gave us Christ, a Shepherd that laid down His life for God’s sheep.

He gave us Noah, who trusted the word of the Lord.

He gave us Abraham, willing to sacrifice everything to honor God. 

He gave us Joseph, to show us that keeping our integrity is worth it.

He gave us Moses, Joshua, Gideon and others, to show us that godly power is not who has the most soldiers or weapons.

He gave us David, a shepherd boy, to show us that God looks for humble hearts to lead His people. 

These values are lost in our upside-down world. So, when Jesus came, He preached a rightside-up kingdom, one in which the first will be last, and the last first [Mark 10:31]. That makes total sense to me, It’s what you would expect from the One who is “meek and lowly of heart” [Matthew 11:28-30].

When Christ followers live rightside-up, it looks strange to the world. Don’t let that bother you, in fact, make it your goal. Let your friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates see that you are different—that you have values different from the upside-down world we live in.

But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside-down [rightside-up] have come here too.” Acts 17:6

Two Masters? I Don’t Think So!

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

No one can serve two masters. That is a fact. A guy told me one time, “I serve two masters, I work at two jobs.” Serving two masters and working two jobs are not the same. The misunderstanding is not knowing the Greek word, which is translated serve. It has nothing to do with your 9-5 employment. Rather, it has everything to do with being a slave. A slave doesn’t understand 9-5. A slave only knows 24/7 — constant devotion to his master.

When writing to the Romans, Paul told the Christ followers that they were once “slaves to sin,” but when they wholeheartedly embraced the Gospel, they were freed from their slavery to sin to “become slaves of righteousness” [see 6:16-18].

Paul got that from the words of Jesus, “No one can serve two masters,” He said [Matthew 6:24]. Exclusive devotion, single-minded, whole-hearted are words that describe a true servant.

When speaking of the spiritual, trying to serve two masters will tear you apart. One says, “Walk by faith,” the other says, “Walk by sight.” One admonishes, “Be humble,” the other, “Be proud.” One commands our affections to be set on “things above,” the other on “things of the earth.” One sees “the eternal,” the other sees “the temporal.” One says, “Be anxious for nothing,” the other says, “Be anxious about everything.” These masters are diametrically opposed to each other. That’s why you can’t obey both orders — you can’t serve two masters.

The hymn writer had it right:

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise—

Thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart—

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

(Be Thou My Vision, Words, Mary Byrne, 1905; Music, Eleanor Hull, 1912)

The strong Christ follower serves God, alone!

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

The Desires of Your Heart

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Someone asked me the other day if the promises of God are true. It took me a little more than a nano-second to respond, “Absolutely!” The person was also quick to reply, “Then why don’t I get the desires of my heart?” 

I believed it to be an honest question, deserving an honest answer. The person referred to Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” A brief glance at that verse may lead to frustration and disappointment if not kept in its context. It’s a profound promise packaged in the middle of nine verses that instruct us about our heart before the Lord. Let’s take a quick look at that instruction.

Verse 1 teaches us not to fret about evildoers and envy them. Let God deal with their success while you watch your own actions.

Verse 3 teaches us to trust in the Lord, to do good, and cultivate faithfulness. I think of this as growing in maturity. When we focus on these important issues, we leave the “big things” in life to God, which relates to our deepest desires.

Verse 4 clearly teaches us to delight in the Lord. That’s another way of saying to seek what God desires, or to pursue His good pleasure. When we do that, our desires seem to fall into place.

Verse 5 teaches us to trust in the Lord and commit to His way. God’s Word helps here because it is a “light unto our path” [Psalm 119:105]. When we walk in the lighted pathway, we know we are heading in the right direction. Don’t ever expect God to bless sinful missteps; keep to His purposeful plan.

Verse 7 teaches us to rest in the Lord and wait with patience. God has flawless timing even when we don’t see an immediate response to our cry.

Verse 8 teaches us to put away anger and wrath. These two things will turn a heart toward evil if not dealt with right away. 

So when it comes to your desires, and you are frustrated by what seems to be a lack of response from God, pray through the entirety of Psalm 37:1-9. You’ll be surprised how it brings your will in line with His will.

1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 4 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9 For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. Psalm 37:1-9

Conformed to the Likeness of Christ

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

For centuries, theologians, commentators, and Christ followers have tried to come to grips with divine election. Does God only choose certain ones? Does He really choose those who will be eternally separated from Him? The debate is ongoing, and I will not add to that part of it in this eDevotion. Rather, I want to focus on the purpose of our election.

While there will remain confusion to some about the subject of election, there should be no confusion as to why we are elected. We are to be like Jesus! That, dear Christ follower, is crystal clear. God wants all His children (the elect) to be “conformed to the likeness of Christ” [Roman 8:29].

So how does He do it? How does God work in us to grow us in Christlikeness? The answer is really simple; it’s called life. God uses everything in our life to ultimately make us like Jesus. Everything? Yes, I really mean that. The good and bad, hardship and blessing, suffering and abundance, are all tools God uses to help us become more and more like our Savior. 

God takes all the stuff of life and works it for good, Paul said [Romans 8:28]. How can it all be good? Because the outcome is Christlikeness. 

Our Christlikeness will not be complete until we see Him [1 John 3:2]. In the meantime, I’m grateful that I am a child of God (chosen/elect). If you are a Christ follower, you can rest in that confidence too.

For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:29