Tues Devo :One choice is two choices

Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?  Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (NASB)

Hello,

Have you noticed how non-committal we have become? When we do agree to a choice, we carefully look for the out – or for the exceptions we can make. You ever notice in the Bible that isn’t the case? A choice is not just a single choice – it is 2 choices. It is the choice to do, but also the choice of what not to do.

We don’t like to talk about choices in such absolutes – we want the wiggle room.

The choice with Jesus is too important to ignore the fact there is not room to look for the out. I am not saying we will be perfect – trust me, I fail! But – we are not to approach our relationship with Jesus with one eye looking fo the exit clause. We must dive in and realize that the choice towards Him is also a choice away from other things.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

What If

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

This morning I read something that stuck with me.  It was from Girlfriends in God, a daily devo.  It said, “If any thought begins with “what if,” it is not truth.  It is worrying about something that has not happened.  It is not reality.”  It went on to encourage you to pay attention to your thoughts and words and to sift them through the filter of the truth.

I have historically been one to worry about things.  This is something that I have tried to work on and improve.  To think about “what if” as not being the truth, makes me really stop and think about what I’m worrying about in a different manner.  If it’s not truth, then I shouldn’t be entertaining that thought.  I would like to have my thoughts be noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. 

Today I want to encourage you to focus on the things that are excellent and praiseworthy, rather than the “what if” thoughts that can bring us down. 

Thurs Devo: No More Delay!

I’ve been on several delayed flights recently. The worst one caused me to miss a connecting flight. The most frustrating part was that I received notification that my connecting flight was also delayed, but it ended up leaving on time (and without the 5 of us from my first flight)! I also received over a dozen notifications about changes to the departure time of the first flight. I understand weather delays can’t be avoided, but clear and accurate communication would be helpful. It’s stressful waiting, especially when the information given to us isn’t reliable.

God won’t keep changing times on us. He will accomplish His purposes and plans fully and we can trust Him to follow through.

Revelation 10:5-7     ⁵ Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! ⁷ But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

God’s given us the Bible which is full of His plans. We don’t have to be in the dark about the future. We can know the “mystery” of God as we read and study His Word. He’s given us exactly what He knows we need to be adequately prepared.

Do you and I truly believe God created everything, cares for everything, and has a master plan? If so, how are we taking advantage of the resources He’s given to us to know His plans for the future? The better we know His truths, the more we will experience peace while we wait. 

Alice

I'm So Sorry

As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.  Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”  John 8:3-11

The other morning, my wife and I are rushing out of the house to get her to work.  I, being absentminded, forget something off of my bed that I was planning to use later in the day.  Since I was going to be out for most of the day, I became frustrated, and my wife sees this.  She humbly says, “I’m sorry.”  Now, I am thinking to myself, “Why is she apologizing for my own personal mishandling of the situation?”  Then it occurs to me what she is getting at.  She understands that by showing me grace that is not necessarily warranted, I may begin to give grace to myself.  Her humility toward me has the effect of softening my entire demeanor, and it brings me back to where I should be.

This reminds me of discussions where people have feelings of bitterness and hatred toward the church.  They have called it at times hypocritical or unloving.  Others have mentioned a church that has tainted their view of God as a whole.  As a loving Christian, we had no wrongdoing in their situation, but yet, here we are dealing with their pain, suffering, anger, and disbelief.  What do we say to that?

Being unapologetically Christian does not mean you do not have to be apologetic.  The famous story of Jesus and woman caught in adultery is one of the great stories because it reminds of us not just of our treatment of others who have lived in sin but also our own sin as well.  When we take the stance of ‘none of us are blameless,’ we gain greater understanding of where others are.  The person who professes to hate God is no longer a hater.  They are someone wounded needing God’s love instead.  The one who cries of hypocrisy becomes one who we listen to for understanding, and the nonbeliever becomes the one who we can witness to.  We can be forgiving and apologetic for others teachings because God forgave us much like the adulterous woman.  As such, we can also be a representative for Jesus loving instead of condemning them, and guiding them toward God instead of leaving them in an unrighteous state.

We want the world to see what Christ can do in their lives.  This will at times mean that we will have to step in and pick up the slack for someone who has done damage or harm to another.  Tell them with God’s love in your heart, “I do not know how you got here, but I am so sorry.”  Then, share with them the true love Jesus has for them, and help them write a new chapter in their life; one where they come to know the true living God.  Who do you know that is suffering and needs to hear God’s Good News?  How can you be more loving of those who may not love God?  My prayer is that when necessary, we lay down our pride and with both vulnerability and transparency share with a hurting world the simple words, “I’m so sorry.”  Amen.

Tues Devo: Mutually beneficial

Romans 1:11-12 “For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. ” (NASB)

Hello,

We call it the ‘win-win’. That scenario that we see how mutual benefit could be had through efforts made on both sides. The funny part of this is that we often don’t think of the win-win first. We typically start by just looking for how we benefit – and it is only when that struggles to be clear that we step back to the win-win. But what if we start with win-win in mind what does that say about our perspective? To me as soon as we ignore the benefit to the other party (or don’t start with it) we are going down a selfish and unloving track.

Paul was excited about getting to the church in Rome – he was looking forward to mutual encouragement. I think this is a challenge to us. Here was Paul – the big man – who shows great humility and selflessness as he strove for mutual encouragement. He was not just looking for what would benefit himself, but really for that mutual benefit with those who were going after the same goal he was.

How is your initial mindset? Are you looking for self, or for others to also benefit?

Will Hill

RLD Week 3 - Spiritual Growth

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3

I've often heard the term of being a spiritual infant, but this book gives further descriptions to identify where you are in your spiritual journey.

• Spiritually dead - Those who deny or are unaware of Christ
• Spiritual infants - Those who are aware of Christ, but ignorant about following Christ.  Think of someone who goes to church and believes, but still is gripped by the sin in their life and is not aware their behavior is a sin.
• Spiritual children - Those who are aware their behavior is a sin, but still are not ready to give it up.  They're still focused on themselves and why they should be allowed to continue that behavior.
• Spiritual adolescents - Those who are embracing the life called of them and are giving of themselves to further Christ's church.  They recognize their sin and are opposed to it, but still stumble.
• Spiritual parents - Those who are leading others to become disciples.  They recognize their own sin, but they also will mentor others to help them see their own sin and help others in their spiritual battle.

I was floored when I saw the depth in each of these areas.  I only scratched the surface, but each one had a full three pages written to describe the behaviors and traits of someone at that spiritual "age."  I had only heard of two of those terms before; being spiritually dead and being a spiritual infant.  The thought never occurred to me that those infants would need to grow up!

Now, don't panic if you don't think you're in the parent stage.  Some people never get there, and that's fine.   Each person has their own place, and moves through those stages at their own pace.  You may take many years in one stage before moving on to another stage that may go quickly for you.

The part of this that was fascinating to me, was that I could tell you exactly when I moved on to the each stage.  Something profound happened in my life that happened to move me from being dead to being an infant - that is my born again experience.  I can tell you exactly when I became a child, when I knew I was doing things unpleasing to God, but I was still focused on me and my desires.  I can tell you when I became an adolescent and began to actively work to change my life so that it would be more Christ-like and I would turn away from those sins.

I am in the spot now where I'm thinking that I want to make a transition to be a spiritual parent, but I'm not sure.  The next few weeks will go into detail on each of these spiritual ages, but not in terms of what you should do in those stages, but how to identify those around you in those stages and help to encourage them along their journey.  Think about where you are, and if you have those moments that stand out to you relating to when you changed stages.

Solid foundation

Proverbs 22: 6

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

How did you learn about God?  For many of us, we were taught as children.  Some of us, I’m sure were not and had a friend or someone else that loved us enough to share God’s love with us.  No matter how you found God, now that you know him, my prayer is that you will never turn from Him. 

For any of us that were raised to know God or have children of our own, it is so amazing to watch God blossom in the life of a small child.  I grew up in the church and I know my mom loved watching as I would learn new Bible verses or new songs about God.  I love now seeing that in my son.  Just this week he started saying the Lord’s Prayer all by himself.  We’ve been doing it as a family every night however earlier this week he told my husband and I, “No, I do it.”  He wanted to show us that he could say it all by himself.  I loved this!

Sometimes when this verse comes up, some will talk about people who were raised in the church then went off to college and stopped going to church.  Can that happen?  Of course it can.  It’s not that uncommon as someone wants to “find themselves”.  However the seeds that were planted years before do grow and at some point, that person finds themselves needing God again or wondering is what they were taught truth.  This isn’t to say that no one ever departs from God.  God did give us free will.  However when a child starts off on the correct path, they have that foundation and the foundation that we have is typically what we turn back to in times of need or trouble. 

Matthew 7:25

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

Are you building a solid foundation in your life and the lives of those that you impact?  You don’t have to have your own children to impact the lives of others.  

Thurs Devo: Patience in Evil

Like we talked about last week, the “plagues” from Revelation chapters 6-9 are warning signs to the inhabitants of the earth. God is getting everyone’s attention. He is offering multiple additional opportunities for people to repent, turn to Him, and worship Him for who He truly is before He completely destroys this earth. How do you think people will respond?

Revelation 9:20-21    ²⁰ The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.²¹ Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

We can’t make people repent and believe, but we can be prepared ourselves.

II Peter 3:10-15 ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

It can be frustrating to live in a world where evil continues to grow and increase. The delay in God’s final judgment and destruction of this world, though, means He’s giving additional opportunities for others to accept His way of salvation. He displays His grace, mercy and patience as we wait for evil to be avenged.

Will you and I remember that when evil seems to prevail, God is patiently granting more time for others to repent and turn to Him?  

Alice

Unbreakable Faithfulness

We look at faithfulness, and when times are good, it is relatively easy.   However when darkness comes and the storm batters and beats us, we begin to waver.  We question if God is with us.  We wonder if He hears our cry, and if things do not go our way soon, some will even begin to wonder whether He exists.  It’s hard.  I know what it is like when you feel like there is no hope in sight, and you feel like there is nothing you can do.  I’ve been there when a bill was due and the checking account was empty.  Then you fall on your knees crying to God, “I can’t do this!”  And then when the check from comes out of nowhere, you realize He was there all along. It is then you are assured that God is most faithful.  When you are distraught and there seems to be no end, He is a comforter.  But to find this, you have to be willing to look to God with utter and complete vulnerability and say I cannot do this on my own.

God is faithful whether at your best or your most vulnerable worst.  The verse of today is not of divine wisdom.  It is of simple truth, and it is often said that the simplest things are the most powerful ones.  For example gravity is simply stated as what goes up must come down.  As children of God we are assured that God is always faithful. It does not say that life is always filled with rose pedals and sunshine.  In fact throughout the Bible there are stories of heartache and tragedy. However, God always restored and often provided in abundance for those who believed in and were faithful to Him despite their obstacles.  We often find ourselves in situations where there seems to be nowhere to turn to, and even when we pray, we feel like there is no answer.  However instead of question or doubt, be assured in the knowledge that God is with you, and He is will provide for you in ways you may not have even imagined.

We are called realizing that we are not perfect, but through Jesus Christ, we are enough.  His faithfulness reassures us that we can make it through anything.  The apostle Paul speaking of God’s power once said, “My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a)  Let us throw down our pride and whatever barriers that may separate us from God in our hearts and minds.  Vulnerability is an opportunity to let God’s strength shine.  Will you admit to God your weakness and vulnerabilities?  How will His faithfulness reassure you in your times of struggle?  My prayer is that we remember the faithfulness and love God has for us for will never be broken.  Amen.

Tues Devo: What do you have to lose?

Psalm 50:10-12 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for he world is Mine and all that is contains.” (NASB)

Hello,

I was involved in a conversation yesterday – and I found myself mentioning that sometimes my choices are driven by fear of a particular response. While it never came out in that conversation, it got me thinking later – what is it that I am afraid of losing? I have been nothing in this life except that which God has provided or allowed. Nothing is taken from me without His knowledge. If I am covering my choices in prayer and conversation with God, what do I have to lose?

I challenge all of us today to take a look at our choices – are we trusting God with how we choose? Where can we improve in this area?

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill