Category Archives: Today: Make it Count

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

June 2, 2017

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Challenges & Difficulty, God's Grace & Love, Holy Spirit, Joy, Peace of God, Prayer, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets, Thanks & Praise, Today: Make it Count

INTO THIN AIR

The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised. [Job 1:21b (GW)]

tiger swallowtail butterflyAfter struggling with the writing of a devotion, it was finally finished. Thankful, I listed its completion in my gratitude journal that night. The next morning, I discovered it was lost—vanished into thin air and nowhere to be found (and believe me, I tried)! Looking back, I probably cut the devotion from my “Work On” file but got distracted and never pasted it into my “To Post” file. Unfortunately, by the time I discovered my error, both files had been saved in versions without the words over which I’d labored so long. When it became clear that those paragraphs truly had vanished into the black hole of my computer, I was annoyed with myself and upset, upset enough to want that thanks entry crossed out in my gratitude journal!

“Hold it!” said that inner voice. “Do the troubles of today negate the joys of yesterday? Just because you no longer have something, is that reason to stop being thankful for once having it? Remember, thanking Him for everything means for both gain and loss!” Oops. Sometimes, God teaches me lessons the hard way!

We all make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes cause us to lose far more than several hours and a few paragraphs—we can lose friendships, marriages, custody, jobs, health or houses. Sometimes, errors can be repaired and lost things recovered but not everything can be mended or retrieved. Nevertheless, we must never stop being thankful for what once was, no matter how briefly we held it. It’s not God’s fault when we mismanage His blessings. That we can learn from our mistakes is more reason for gratitude!

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all that has happened in our lives—the good, the bad and everything in between. Some events were welcomed as beautiful gifts and others were less appreciated as lessons, but we were blessed by them all.

I’m most proud of the blessings that God has bestowed upon me, in my life. He’s given me the vision to truly see that you can fall down, but you can still get back up. Hopefully I’ll learn from my mistakes and have the opportunity to strengthen and improve the next thing I do. [Martin Lawrence]

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, give thanks, because it is God’s will in Christ Jesus that you do this. [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (GW)]

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom he has called according to his plan. [Romans 8:28 (GW)]

Copyright©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

May 25, 2017

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Fruit of the Spirit, Knowing Him, Love & Works, Peace of God, Prayer, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Today: Make it Count

OUR LAST LECTURE

Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. [1 John 2:6 (ESV)]

monarch-butterfly

Last Friday, I was blown away when I walked into a restaurant to discover that my family had gathered from both far and near to surprise me with a 70th birthday party. I couldn’t believe how beautifully they had secretly choreographed the entire celebratory weekend. With tears of joy leaking from my eyes and a heart bursting with love, I prayed that they would be as fulfilled in their lives as I have been in mine. Having just finished yesterday’s devotion about last lectures, I couldn’t help but think of the passing along of life lessons. Although I’m in good health, I know that much sooner than later my time in this world will be over. Is there a last lecture I should prepare?

Remembering that my children rarely listened to any of my lectures when they were young, I realized they certainly wouldn’t listen now they’re grown adults. I recalled Randy Pausch’s last lecture and what he considered the most useful weapon in a teacher’s arsenal: the “head fake.” Simply put, the head fake is indirect learning. While thinking they are learning about one thing, the students really are learning about quite another. Perhaps these devotions are my version of a head fake. They aren’t just about finding God in both His Word and everyday occurrences; they’re about how to lead our lives. And, like Professor Pausch’s lecture, while freely shared, they are actually for my children.

Most of us, however, aren’t professors or writers and yet we all have a last lecture, a legacy of sorts, to leave to those who follow in our footsteps. The best last lecture, of course, is the ultimate head fake—a life well lived. We can teach more with our examples that we ever could with our words. Unlike most lectures, however, that lecture lasts far longer than an hour or so. It is ongoing; every time we interact with our loved ones or they observe us with others, we’re giving that lecture. Do we treat people who can do nothing for us with the same respect and dignity we do to those who can do something for us? Is the Fruit of the Spirit obvious in our conduct? Do our actions match our words? In the end, the example of our lives will be far more powerful than even the most eloquent of lectures. If Christ can be seen in us, we will have given the most powerful lecture of all.

Heavenly Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit and guide us so that we are living examples of Jesus. Enable us to walk as He walked, talk as He talked, give as generously as He gave, care as deeply as He cared, forgive as freely as He forgave, and love as largely as He loved.

Live so that when the final summons comes you will leave something more behind you than an epitaph on a tombstone or an obituary in a newspaper. [Billy Sunday]

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. [Romans 12:9-18,21 (ESV)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

May 19, 2017

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Challenges & Difficulty, Faith & Hope, Fear & Doubt, Today: Make it Count, Trusting God, Wisdom & Guidance

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

dragonfly - Halloween pennant“We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us! … The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall. … We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.” [Numbers 13:31-33 (GW)]

I vividly remember one audition at summer theater camp. It was for the part of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Before trying out, I decided to size up my opposition—the other girls vying for the role. I sat there in the darkened theatre and started comparing myself with every girl who auditioned. Although one girl’s audition was outstanding, I still thought I had a good chance for Juliet until I heard people whispering about her. Apparently, she’d been the understudy for the role of Helen Keller in the Broadway production of The Miracle Worker. Sure that I could never win the lead against someone with her impressive resume, I lost all confidence and never auditioned. Someone else got the role and I never again had the opportunity to play Juliet.

I was like the Israelite scouts who were sent to spy out the Promised Land. Although they brought back fruit and spoke of the land’s fertility, they referred to the land’s inhabitants as giants and of themselves as mere grasshoppers. Once they’d seen their opponents, the scouts perceived the Canaanites as victorious predators and the Israelites as crushed prey. They lost the war before they’d even picked up a spear.

Standing at the border of a land described as flowing with milk and honey, the Israelites lost faith both in themselves and God; they refused to enter the land God had promised to them. Like me, those scouts failed to understand that theirs was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. God wasn’t going to give them another chance to enter the Promised Land. Afraid of the battle and the challenges ahead of them, the Israelites lost their blessing. It was forty more years before that opportunity came again, not to them, but to the next generation.

Although I’m not likely to battle giants in Canaan, there have been times, like that audition, when I’ve felt as small and ineffectual as a grasshopper. Would I have gotten that role if I’d auditioned? Maybe, maybe not, but I missed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to find out. God-given opportunities are meant to be taken, not to be passed by or ignored, even when we have formidable opponents or intimidating challenges. We can picture ourselves as children of God, strong, resilient, and ready to step forward in faith or we can picture ourselves as grasshoppers, just waiting to be eaten by a bird or squashed under foot by giants.

The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity. [Leonard Revenhill]

So don’t lose your confidence. It will bring you a great reward. You need endurance so that after you have done what God wants you to do, you can receive what he has promised. [Hebrews 10:35-36 (GW)

Blessed is the person who trusts the Lord. The Lord will be his confidence. [Jeremiah 17:7 (GW]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

May 9, 2017

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Faith & Hope, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Fruit of the Spirit, Joy, Love & Works, Money & Wealth, Nature, Peace of God, Salvation: A New You, Spiritual Gifts, Today: Make it Count

NURSERY LOGS

nursery log - corkscrew swamp
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. [Psalm 112:1-3 (ESV)]

When walking in the swamp, I often see what are known as “nursery logs.” After a tree dies, its roots eventually decay and it falls to the ground, leaving an opening in the forest’s canopy for sunlight to reach down to the forest floor. The dead tree’s raised trunk becomes a nursery for new plant life as seeds fall on it and take root. Its bark holds moisture, providing young plants with water, and the decaying wood provides them with decades of rich organic nutrients. Starting with moss and ferns, vegetation grows and flourishes in the patch of light left by the tree’s demise. These nursery logs become gardens of new life and can contain five times more living matter than they did when alive! Eventually, a new tree will take root in the remains of the old one and the cycle of life continues for another generation. Supposedly, it will take about the same number of years for a tree to decompose as it took to live. Considering that trees can live several hundred years, one dead tree can leave quite a legacy.

I thought of those nursery logs today while reading an obituary in our local paper. Like the trees, this man may be dead but, most definitely, he is neither gone or forgotten. Here are just a few of the loving words written about him:

He touched the lives of everyone he came in contact with…after talking to him for two minutes he would immediately become your friend…would do anything to help someone in need…always had a positive attitude and was ready to listen if you needed to talk…a great man who was loved by all his family and friends and will be missed dearly…he would say love unconditionally, don’t hold grudges, and never walk away mad… tomorrow isn’t promised so make the best of today so you have no regrets…know you are right with God…remember [him] as the man who always made the most of life and always had a smile on his face.

I never met this man and consider it my loss that I didn’t. I have no idea the size of his financial holdings but, based on his career as a fishing guide, I suspect he was not a wealthy man. He was, however, an incredibly rich one! Whether or not he left his family with any money, his bequest of love, faith and joy, as seen in a life well lived, makes them more than rich.

While it is our belief in Jesus that gives us eternal life in our heavenly home, like the nursery logs in the forest, even dead, we can still persist. Once we’ve fallen to the forest floor, we continue to nourish life if the lives we touched while living were touched with faith, love, generosity, compassion and joy. Unlike the cypress trees, we may only be blessed with seventy to eighty years but, if wisely lived, think how that legacy can grow as each life we touched touches another. As did this man, we can leave a patch of sunlight when we fall, our example can provide a base for young seedlings, and the memory of us can bring nourishment to hungry souls.

Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life. [Albert Einstein]

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. [1 Peter:12-15 (ESV)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 28, 2017

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Church & Worship, Faith & Hope, Fruit of the Spirit, God's Plan, God's Promises, Love & Works, Money & Wealth, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets, Spiritual Gifts, Today: Make it Count

SEND IT ON AHEAD

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV)]

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. [Matthew 16:27 [(ESV)]

orchid“A Christian doesn’t die,” declared the pastor, which may have been news to some of those attending the Celebration of Life. “He just moves!” the minister added as an explanation. Indeed, we are just temporary residents here on earth. Death for a Christian is simply a relocation and, unlike most moves we’ve made, it doesn’t require a purging of the items in the attic, garage sales, packing up boxes, or wrangling friends into helping us carry the heavy stuff! This is one transfer that neither requires moving vans nor mail forwarding.

Although we can’t take anything with us, our pastor often reminds us that we can send things on ahead! That doesn’t mean we gather our favorite possessions and take them to FedEx but it does mean we can store treasures in heaven. Unlike treasure here on earth, however, heavenly treasure has no monetary value. It’s made of up things like earnest prayers for others (including our enemies), sharing the gospel message, loving unconditionally, using our wealth for God’s good works, being generous with our time and talents, obedience, patience, taking a stand against evil and wrongs, and fulfilling God’s purpose for us. These are the treasures laid up in heaven and no good deed will be overlooked.

At first, that sounds a lot like salvation through works but it isn’t. All the good works in the world won’t get us into heaven without belief in Jesus. We are saved through God’s grace—it is His gift to us. Jesus’ death and resurrection paid the price for our ticket to eternal life. There is, however, some fine print on that ticket—once we get there, God will hold us accountable for His gifts to us in this life. Were we good stewards who used them wisely or did we squander His blessings? Did we invest God’s gifts in His kingdom or bury them in the ground? Did our activities transform the world in some way? Did we change anyone’s life for the better?

I can’t pretend to know what our heavenly rewards will be but I seriously doubt they’ll be anything like gold faucets and marble floors for the truly generous and just stainless and linoleum for those who didn’t tithe. I think the rewards will have something to do both with joy and responsibility. Here on earth, responsibility sounds suspiciously like work and work is hardly what we consider a reward, especially in heaven! Yet, in the parable of the talents, Jesus told the servants who had invested wisely that they would be given even more opportunities to serve their master. The difference between earthly work and heavenly work is that it won’t be a burden; work in God’s kingdom will be a joy! Perhaps the greatest reward, however, will be hearing His voice say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, “Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” [Matthew 25:20-21 (ESV)]

Copyright©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 28, 2017

Posted under

Attitudes & Behavior, Church & Worship, Forgiveness, Joy, Nature, Obedience, Peace of God, Salvation: A New You, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets, Today: Make it Count

SET FREE

great southern white butterfly - collared dove - giant swallowtail
Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ. [Ephesians 4:31-32 (GNT)]

It’s the hardest thing to give away And the last thing on your mind today. It always goes to those that don’t deserve. It’s the opposite of how you feel When the pain they caused is just too real. It takes everything you have just to say the word…Forgiveness, Forgiveness …

Show me how to love the unlovable. Show me how to reach the unreachable. Help me now to do the impossible. Forgiveness. I want to finally set it free, So show me how to see what Your mercy sees. Help me now to give what You gave to me – Forgiveness, Forgiveness. [“Forgiveness” by Matthew West]

Those words by Matthew West were the final words of Sunday’s opening prayer. “I want to finally set it free,” echoed in my mind as I looked up to see several butterflies fluttering throughout the park in what appeared to be a dance of freedom and joy. The previous day the local hospice had their annual butterfly release and several of their releases had remained in the park for Sunday’s worship. That event was the organization’s way both to raise funds and to offer an opportunity for people to channel their grief and loss. Following the remembrance ceremony in which loved ones’ names were read, the butterflies were set free. As they flitted off through the trees, these flowers with wings served to remind those attending of the beauty and fragility of life.

Once home from church, I listened to West’s song and, while looking up the lyrics, learned the story behind it. One of twelve songs on his Into the Light album, it was inspired by a letter he received from a woman whose daughter had died at the hands of a drunk driver. The letter told of her journey from hatred and bitterness to forgiveness. Realizing that her anger toward the young man who caused the accident kept her as imprisoned as was he, she chose forgiveness and even reached out to her daughter’s killer. As she shared with him that her God commanded forgiveness, he found his own faith in Christ. While still in custody and wearing shackles, he appeared with this mother as they gave drunk driving awareness presentations. Free from her own prison of rage and animosity, this mother even appeared before the judge to ask him to reduce the young man’s sentence. Truly, she had “finally set it free.”

Sunday morning, as the remaining butterflies danced in the air, our pastor continued his message series on forgiveness. Where once I saw butterflies only as a message of rebirth and resurrection, I began to see them as reminders of how we must release the darkness, resentment, and bitterness that can grow malignantly in our hearts. As the sermon concluded, I noticed that another one of God’s creatures, a dove, had joined the butterflies in their frolic. Perhaps this symbol of peace was just enjoying some leftover crumbs dropped from the previous day’s event. Nevertheless, its presence reminded me that releasing our hurts and anger will bring us peace. Holding on to our injuries keeps us trapped in the darkest of dungeons with no chance of parole or amnesty. Forgiveness is the key that opens the cell door and brings us into God’s light, love and peace.

Most of us will never reach out in forgiveness the way that mother did and I’m not sure God expects us to. Nevertheless, He does expect us to forgive and forgiveness isn’t easy. Chances are the people we need to forgive don’t even deserve it. Deserving, however, has nothing to do with it since we certainly don’t deserve God’s forgiveness for all of our failings. Forgiveness is something we desperately need both to receive and to give. As the butterflies remind us of the beauty and fragility of life, they can also remind us that life is too beautiful and fragile to waste a single moment in anger or resentment. As we release our hurts and offer forgiveness, it’s not the perpetrator who is set free—it is us! And with that beautiful freedom will come God’s peace.

Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. [Colossians 3:13-15 (GNT)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.