Category Archives: Attitudes & Behavior

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 10, 2022

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, God's Grace & Love, Sharing Our Faith, Today: Make it Count

GEORGE AND GRUMPY

A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day. … A miserable heart means a miserable life; a cheerful heart fills the day with song. [Proverbs 15:13,15 (MSG)]

A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired. [Proverbs 17:22 (MSG)]

steamboat springs CORecently, long-time friends visited for a few days. They used to live across the street from us when we wintered in Colorado but, like us, their skis are long gone. The memories, however, are still fresh. As happens with old friends, we started reminiscing about blue bird days on the mountain, making first tracks down a slope of fresh powder, our favorite runs (for one person it was the “lunch run”), winter carnivals, and the people who made our mountain town so special.

Nearly every morning, we’d meet our friends at the bus stop for a short ride to the mountain. As we recalled packing like sardines onto the bus so one more skier could fit, we remembered the various bus drivers we had over the years. Without a doubt, our favorite was George. While he could have been the goodwill ambassador for our town, another driver I’ll call Grumpy did his best to make the ride miserable for everyone.

Grumpy never had a smile or a nice word to say to anyone. In fact, other than occasionally telling us to move back, we never heard him say a word. Believe me, we tried and made a point of greeting him by name, commenting on the weather, wishing him a good day, and thanking him when we got off. Determined to get him to respond, we’d ask him how he was doing that day, if he had a good weekend, or managed to get in any skiing. In the several years we were his passengers, we never got an answer or even a smile. The closest we ever got to seeing a grin was when Grumpy would take off from a stop even though he could see skiers running to catch the bus.

Both George and Grumpy were city bus drivers but their similarity ended with their occupation. No matter how crowded the bus, challenging the weather, or difficult his passengers, George always had a friendly greeting and a pleasant word. Whenever possible, he waited for any skiers hurrying to the bus and, when passengers got off the bus, he was sure to offer a cheery farewell and explain which bus to take back and where to board it. He exhibited great patience in a variety of challenging circumstances (and tourists can be very challenging) and showed true concern for his passengers. He wasn’t merely polite; George went out of way to be cordial and accommodating to everyone.

Both men had the same job and did what was required of them. One, however, clearly enjoyed both his job and life and the other, sad to say, just seemed determined to be miserable. From our conversations with George, we knew his life hadn’t been easy. As a single father, he struggled to make ends meet. We also knew that George was a man of faith and, as a man of faith, he was an ambassador for more than our ski town—he was one of Christ’s ambassadors! As for Grumpy—who knows? It’s hard to believe someone so disagreeable and grouchy knew Jesus. Perhaps, it was not knowing how much God loved him that made Grumpy unable to love his fellow travelers on this planet. He certainly couldn’t give away something he didn’t even know he had! Grumpy, however, seemed determined to stay in a desolate dull world of his own making.

One day while chatting with George on our way home, I mentioned the friendly demeanor, good humor, kindness, patience, and joy we saw whenever we rode with him. He responded, “Well, every morning I have a choice. I can rise and whine or rise and shine; I choose to shine!” George had a good point! We each have that same choice every morning with which God blesses us. What will you choose today?

There’s a decision we all have to make, and it seems perfectly captured in the Winnie-the-Pooh characters created by A.A. Milne. Each of us must decide: Am I a fun-loving Tigger or am I a sad-sack Eeyore? Pick a camp. [From “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow]

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. [Philippians 2:14-15 (MSG)]

Copyright ©2022 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.

 

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 7, 2022

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Holidays & Holy Days, Love & Works, Today: Make it Count

HE FASTED

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. [Matthew 4:1-2 (NLT)]

aechmea - blue tangoFor many in the Christian community, last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, a season in remembrance of the forty days Jesus fasted in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan. For them, Lent is a penitential season of repentance, fasting, and self-denial leading up to Easter. The idea of fasting as a form of preparation for Resurrection Sunday comes from Jesus’ statement, “But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; and when that day comes, they will fast,” found in Mark 2:20.

Pope Benedict XVI referred to Lent as a “long ‘retreat’ during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One.” On the other hand, Protestant reformer John Calvin disparaged Lent. Arguing that Jesus taught no specific times of fasting, he called Lent “merely false zeal, replete with superstition, which sets up a fast under the title and pretext of imitating Christ….” Observing Lent isn’t God-ordained; it is a personal decision each Christ follower makes. Nevertheless, I think N. T. Wright’s take on this season makes a good case for some sort of Lenten practice: “Lent is a time for discipline, for confession, for honesty, not because God is mean or fault-finding or finger-pointing but because he wants us to know the joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things he now has in store.”

The church I attended as a girl observed Lent. During this pre-Easter season, the cross over the altar was covered with a purple veil (until Good Friday when it was covered in black), the minister wore purple vestments, our church held pot-lucks and Bible studies Wednesday evenings, every night I placed a coin in a cardboard coin holder that would be collected Easter Sunday, and I resigned myself to no more gum or chocolate until Easter morning. Although the way I observe this season has changed, I continue to do so today.

While those who observe Lent may fast from things like certain meals or foods, social media, sweets, coffee, alcohol, television, eating out, or gaming, the season should never be more about fasting than our relationship with God. Lent is more than a season of putting away the unpleasant, unhealthy, harmful, or superfluous; it’s a season of creating good things and becoming better and more faithful. It’s as much about growing as it is about decreasing. Many people do things like donating the money they would have spent at the coffee shop or bakery to charity, doing service projects, or including additional Bible reading, devotions, a book study, or Scripture memorization to their routine.

That forty-day fast Jesus took in the wilderness, however, wasn’t his first one! It merely was a continuation of one that started in Bethlehem when God chose to take on flesh. Rather than fasting from food, Jesus fasted from Heaven to live on earth. He gave up His godliness in all its perfection to subject Himself to the limitations, weaknesses, and indignities of humanity. He knew hunger and cold; He burped, spit up, cried, and even peed and pooped in his swaddling cloths. He had to learn to crawl before he could walk and probably bumped his head and skinned his knees along the way. That was God who had to learn the alphabet and how to count. The One who was there at the beginning of time gave up Heaven to endure stubbed toes, bruises, and blisters. He experienced exhaustion, insect bites, sweating, and runny noses, and probably suffered through more than one case of dysentery. He fasted from the heavenly host’s songs of praise only to be doubted, hated, conspired against, and mocked. By the time Jesus went into the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry, He’d been abstaining from Heaven around 30 years and that fast continued until His last day when He was beaten mercilessly, hung on the cross, crucified, and died.

Giving up that morning latte at Starbucks or giving a few hours a week to the food pantry don’t seem like much when we think of all He gave up for us!

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. [Philippians 2:5-8 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2022 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 1, 2022

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Forgiveness, God's Plan, Miracles, Obedience, Sharing Our Faith

THE RELUCTANT PROPHET (Jonah – Part 1)

I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. … The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” [Jonah 4:2,4 (NLT)]

sunrise on the GulfThe first thing to clear up when writing about the Book of Jonah is whether it was a fish or a whale. Both the Hebrew word (dahg) and the Greek word (ketos) in later translations were used to describe this sea creature. In 785 BC, at the time of this story’s writing, neither language had a word that could identify the exact species so it could have been a fish, shark, whale or some other now extinct large sea creature. For those who choose to use this discrepancy to attack the Bible’s veracity, it’s probably wise to remember that Linnaeus’ classification of living things occurred in the 18th century and not 2,800 years ago when Jonah was swallowed by something huge in the sea. When learning the story in Sunday school, most of us were told it was a whale. Having seen Disney’s Pinocchio with Geppetto living in a whale’s belly, it was easy to picture Jonah doing the same.

When God told Jonah to prophesy God’s judgment to the people of Nineveh, a powerful and wicked city in Assyria, the prophet immediately set sail in the opposite direction to Tarshish. God sent a great storm that threatened his ship and everyone else on it. Knowing the storm was his fault, the prophet told the crew to save themselves by throwing him into the sea. Once done, the storm immediately ceased and Jonah was swallowed by a great nameless sea creature. Unlike Geppetto, Jonah didn’t build a fire to escape. Instead, he prayed to God, repented his disobedience, and miraculously was delivered onto the beach. My Sunday school lesson ended at that point with the message that there is no hiding from God. There is, however, far more to the story.

Although Nineveh was a powerful and wicked city, Jonah didn’t run away because he was afraid for his own safety or that his message would be rejected. He was afraid that the people of Nineveh actually might listen to God’s word, repent and be saved! His contemporaries were the prophets Amos and Hosea—men who prophesized that Israel would be conquered, exiled, and forced to serve Assyria. Why would Jonah want to save the very people who eventually would defeat his nation?

Once safely on the beach, God again told Jonah to deliver His message to Nineveh and this time Jonah reluctantly obeyed. After being told that within forty days their city would be destroyed, the Ninevites immediately repented of their wicked ways but, instead of being pleased about their salvation, Jonah was angry. He threw himself a pity-party because God would not destroy the city. Although God mercifully gave Jonah a second chance when he repented, Jonah didn’t want to share God’s mercy and forgiveness with his enemies.

With one more lesson for Jonah to learn, God planted a leafy plant above his head to shade the despondent prophet as he waited to see what would happen to the once sinful city. Grateful for the shade, Jonah became upset when God caused a worm to destroy the tree and a scorching east wind to blow. God pointed out that Jonah was angry about the death of a tree he never planted and then asked a question. “Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness…Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” [4:11]

Jonah begrudged God’s mercy shown to a hostile pagan nation. Sometimes we are like Jonah—although we want to be saved, we want to see our enemies suffer and be punished. While we want God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion, we’re not willing to share it with the people who have hurt us. This story was a lesson for Israel—that their purpose was to be a blessing to all nations by sharing God’s message—and later a lesson for the church—that Jesus’ came to save Jew and Gentile alike. Let’s remember that Jesus isn’t our own private savior; He’s meant to be shared. We all belong to Him and His mercy is a gift for everyone and anyone who repents and believes.

If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would. [Jeremiah 18:7-10 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2022 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 28, 2022

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Challenges & Difficulty, Faith & Hope, God's Plan, Patience & Perseverance, Trusting God

SIFTING

rainbow over SteamboatSimon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers. [Luke 22:31-32 (NLT)]

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33 (NLT)]

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?
And what if trials of this life-
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise? [Laura Story]

One of the benefits of my thrice weekly PT appointments for the last several months has been the time I spend alone in the car with the radio tuned to the Message on SiriusXM. Sometimes I uninhibitedly sing along with the contemporary Christian praise music and other times I quietly ponder the songs’ words. As I listened to Laura Story’s song “Blessings,” I pondered the many storms, tears, disappointment, and sleepless nights that turned out to be God’s “mercies in disguise.”

In 2006, just two years into her marriage, Laura Story nearly lost her husband to a brain tumor. Although he survived, disabilities remained from his surgery and the future once envisioned by the young couple changed significantly. Among other things, instead of being a stay-at-home mother, Story became breadwinner and caregiver. Her song “Blessings” was written as a reminder that God remains faithful even when things don’t turn out the way we envisioned. “Life is filled with things you don’t expect, but the Bible tells us to respond by trusting God and continuing to worship Him,” said the singer/songwriter. “God has grown us up, deepened our faith, our awareness of our great need for Him as a savior, daily.”

We’ve all experienced those unexpected and uninvited changes—the storms of life—that necessitate changing our expectations and revising our concept of normal. One such event happened in my life fourteen years ago. The details are unimportant but, as I listened to Story’s song, I saw how it was, indeed, a blessing in disguise. At the time, I mourned the end of a dream—the loss of what I envisioned in the future for myself and my family. But, as weeks stretched into months and months into years, the old vision was laid to rest. I wasn’t the only one affected and everyone in that storm lost something as it rained down on us. Nevertheless, just as Jesus was with the disciples in the midst of that storm on the Sea of Galilee, He was with me in that storm, and He will be with us in the storms to come.

When Jesus warned Peter that he’d be run through the sifter, He was telling the disciple that he’d be going through an ordeal and put to the test—a test that would separate the grain from the chaff—the good from the bad. For me, those years were a long season of sifting—sorting out priorities, persevering with what seemed like unanswered prayers, dealing with hardened hearts, accepting what I couldn’t change, learning to step back and allow God to do His work, and trusting the future to Him. It actually was a season of sifting for all involved as resentment and bitterness were separated from forgiveness, animosity from love, doubt from faith, weakness from strength, anger from understanding, excuses from accountability, fear from courage, and deceit from truth.

Years later, after plenty of sifting and what Paul would call character strengthening, the storm abated and we finally saw the rainbow at its end. Granted, life is not the same as it was but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t good and probably even better because of that storm.

As it turns out, I now can call one of the darkest times of my life a true blessing and I think the others affected would agree. Of course, the end of one storm doesn’t mean there won’t be others. Nevertheless, we can face them with confidence because, like Laura Story, we’ve learned that the “trials of this life—the rain, the storms, the hardest nights” can be God’s “mercies in disguise.”

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. [Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2021 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 25, 2022

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Forgiveness, Fruit of the Spirit, Salvation: A New You, Today: Make it Count

SIBLINGS

And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” [Genesis 4:8-9 (ESV)]

brothersThe story is told of a Sunday school teacher who was teaching her class about the Ten Commandments. “What is the commandment about parents?” she asked. “Honor thy father and mother,” was the quick reply. “Is there a commandment about brothers and sisters?” the teacher queried. One little boy shouted, “Thou shalt not kill!” While we know we’re not supposed to kill them, how should we treat them?

When we look at sibling relationships in the Bible, we don’t see a lot of good examples. Starting with Cain and Abel, Cain’s anger over God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering led to the Bible’s first homicide. When Ishmael teased his younger half-brother Isaac, he and his mother were evicted from Abraham’s home. Then we have sisters Leah and Rachel who continually competed for Jacob’s attention. The twins Jacob and Esau were at odds from birth and, after stealing his brother’s birthright, Jacob had to flee for his life. Resentment and jealousy caused Miriam and Aaron to complain about Moses’ leadership, jealousy led Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery, and after Jehoram became king, he killed all six of his brothers. David’s brothers didn’t respect him, Martha and Mary had disagreements about priorities, and Jesus’ brothers failed to believe in Him at first. Among the disciples, Peter and Andrew were brothers as were James and John, but we know that the disciples argued about which of them was the greatest! Clearly, sibling rivalry, jealousy, and conflict has a long history in mankind.

Siblings can be one of the greatest blessings in life but they also pose one of the greatest challenges of childhood. Even as adults, sibling relationships can be difficult to navigate. We know each other’s weaknesses and fears; we know what upset our siblings in the past and what buttons to push to annoy them now. We often know each other’s deepest secrets and most embarrassing moments and, unfortunately, can wield that information like a sword. Siblings easily can be tactless, rude, and cruel with one another in a way they’d never be with their friends. When we’re with siblings, we may even revert to old roles and behaviors from our childhood days.

While siblings share parentage and history, true brothers and sisters share far more than genetics and memories. If we want to have brothers and sisters, instead of just siblings, we might look to the example of Joseph who saved the lives of the same brothers who betrayed and abandoned him! He literally became his brothers’ keeper.

In spite of whatever happened in the past, if we want brothers and sisters, we need to relinquish any long-buried resentment and practice forgiveness (along with a fair amount of forgetfulness). When siblings disappoint as they inevitably will (as will we), our love will keep us from despairing in or giving up on them. An accident of birth may give us siblings but there’s nothing accidental about choosing to love and it is choosing to love that turns a sibling into a brother or sister.

When Cain asked God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” the Hebrew word was hashomer. From the root word shamar, it meant protector, guardian, defender, and caretaker. What do you think God’s answer was?

Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. [Leviticus 19:17a (NLT)]

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. … Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. [Romans 12:10,18 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2022 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 24, 2022

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Faith & Hope, God's Plan, Miracles, Patience & Perseverance, Prayer

LOST CAUSES

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. … I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord. I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. [Ezekiel 34:11-12,15 (NLT)]

opossum - clam passWalking along the shoreline, I was surprised to see a baby opossum on the beach. A man with a large bucket was trying to scoop him up to return him to the safety of the mangroves but the little guy would have none of it. Lost and in danger of dying of thirst or becoming dinner for an osprey or eagle, I’m sure he thought he was on a wonderful adventure. Meanwhile, his mother was probably frantically searching the mangroves for her wayward child.

Thinking of frantic mothers and wayward children reminded me of Monica’s story. Back in 352, she gave birth to a baby boy—the man we know as St. Augustine. As a young man, however, Augustine was anything but a saint; he was disobedient, strong-willed, self-indulgent, and immoral. Although he’d been raised in the faith, he abandoned Christianity for the world of sin to pursue paganism and pleasure. Rather than lost on the beach, Augustine was lost in his hedonistic life. The original “helicopter” parent, Monica never gave up on her dissolute son and, as distressed as she was by his bad behavior, she pursued and prayed for him. Her persistence was rewarded and, after seventeen years of praying for her lost boy, Augustine converted to Christianity. After being baptized, he founded a religious order, was ordained as a priest, and was appointed as the bishop of Hippo. Devoting the rest of his life to serving the Church, he used his brilliant mind to establish the intellectual foundations of Christianity in the West. A prolific writer, Augustine is often called the most significant Christian writer after the Apostle Paul. What would his story be if his mother Monica had thought her sinful son was a lost cause? What if she’d stopped praying for her lost son’s soul?

There are some names on my prayer list that I’ve begun to think of as “lost causes”—people for whom I’ve been praying for several years. Due to an unfortunate combination of bad choices and bad circumstances, they are people whose lives have been wasted, people who have sunk so deep that rising from the depths seems impossible, people whose redemption seems hopeless, people who are so lost even their loved ones don’t know where they are. I was ready to delete them from my prayer list before seeing the opossum baby. The man with the bucket didn’t give up trying to save the animal, Monica never gave up on Augustine, and God will never stop trying to rescue the lost. Those names and others like them will stay in my prayers. You see, for God, there are no lost causes, only lost children.

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish. [Matthew 18:12-14 (NLT)]

For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. [Luke 19:10 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2022 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.