Thursday, July 5, 2018

Thursday Devotional - Of Little Importance?

Which part of your body would you say is the most important? Which would you say is the least? Have you ever hurt a “minor” part of your body only to realize how much you take it for granted when it works properly?

I was playing tickle monster with the kids two weeks ago and I stubbed my baby toe (or “foot piggy,” as Sarah calls it) while I was running through the house. It ended up being more than a stubbed toe. I either sprained or broke it and the pain has persisted. I’ve been wearing flops most of the time, as it’s most comfortable. Now I realize how important even my baby toe is!

Similarly, we can take for granted other members of the body of Christ (other believers).  
Romans 12:3-5       For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Who do you and I look down on, thinking our talents, gifts and abilities are better? 
Or why do you and I compare our responsibilities to those of others? 
Where do you and I need to value the different gifts of others in our family and local churches?

Paul says we aren’t to think more highly (or lowly) of ourselves as we have different functions but form one body in Christ. 
We’re all needed and of great importance!

Alice

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Pleasures


Ecclesiastes 2:3; 10-11

I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
    I refused my heart no pleasure.My heart took delight in all my labor,    and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done    and what I had toiled to achieve,everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;    nothing was gained under the sun.


As we head into the 4th of July celebration, you often see parties with lots of drinking and sometimes people doing other questionable things that they think will bring them pleasure.  King Soloman was no different, he denied himself nothing that gave him pleasure.  He had 300 concubines and 700 wives.  He had a huge palace, yet in the end, it was all meaningless. 

I think many in the world today are very similar.  People chase after pleasures that they think will make them happy, only to find that it is a short lived pleasure, and in the end, they are left empty again. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today I want you to think about what brings you pleasure.  Is it something that in the end is meaningless?  Or are you living a life filled with pleasures that are pleasing to God?