Thursday Devotional - Peas and Peter

My Mom has a plaque in her kitchen that says “You have 2 choices for dinner – take it or leave it.” However, as a kid, if I “left it,” I got it for breakfast the next morning. I remember eating peas for breakfast more than once! My parents knew best. They knew I needed to eat fruits and vegetables instead of the chips and cookies I preferred. They helped me learn discipline to do the best thing even when it’s the hard thing. They also helped me learn the value of submitting to authority even when I didn’t understand or didn’t see the long-term implications.

Jesus did the same for Peter. Last week we talked about Jesus’ personal selfless surrender. He voluntarily submitted to God’s plans even in the face of terrifying opposition. This week, we will see how Jesus encouraged His disciples, especially Peter, to do the same.

John 18:10-11         ¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) ¹¹ Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

God expects submission, even in the face of opposition. Like Peter, we may not understand or see the long-term implications, but we can trust God knows what He’s doing.


What unavoidable trial, hardship or difficulty are you and I trying to overcome or fight in our own strength? How is it going? What if we embraced the unavoidable difficulty for God’s glory? We can trust God knows best, submit to His authority and then look for His results. 

Alice

Personal Branding

What is about Tide that makes it such a recognized laundry detergent? Before you ask what a guy like me would know about laundry detergent, my mother did teach me how to wash clothes, and you learned which detergents worked best (FYI - I’m not a big Arm & Hammer fan ).  However, I knew about Tide long before I ever used it because it had a strong brand name.  One of the latest trends in career planning focuses on the phase ‘personal branding.’ This in short means ‘what you are known for.’  This includes facts about you, reputation, and impression made by you.  It makes one think about our spiritual brand.  Do we represent worldly values or those that God would expect of us?  What would our brand look like?

We should represent God in ways that honor Him at all times. There are times where we represent ourselves above God.  In many of those instances, things do not work out well.  This can be harmful to the message of the Good News as many who seek God gain an understanding of Him through our actions and behavior.  Although this may seem to be an unfair burden, it is part of our being representatives of Christ.  Put another way, we represent the brand of Christ Jesus to those who do not know Him.  Thus when we truly represent Christ in a way that honors Him, we display all of those values that we ourselves saw when we gave our lives to Him.  Love, acceptance, forgiveness, and kindness were all things that I found when I decided to follow Him.  They became ingrained in me, and as a result God uses those things to help share His message to others.  Furthermore, He inspired me to be bolder in sharing my faith and understanding in helping others when they did not see God as I did.  We all have something foundational within ourselves when we decided to follow Christ.  We must harken back to the foundational parts of our faith for when we do, we show the world the relationship we have forged with Him that love onto others as He first loved us.

God gave us so much for the opportunity to serve Him. Jesus came, and offered Himself as a sacrifice to remove the burden of our sins.  This is nothing new to us, but with this gift of grace, we must accept our representation of Him.  As Jesus points out in the Parable of the farmer planting seeds, we can choose to be either a seed that falls in rocky soil having temporary joy only to have it lost (Matthew 13:20-21), amidst the thorns producing nothing (Matthew 13:22), or in fertile soil rooted in hearing and understanding God’s word to produce a harvest larger than ourselves (Matthew 13:23).  Let us resolve to take up the mantle representing Christ in all we do.  How can you represent less of yourself and more of Christ today?  Who can you talk with to help ensure your branding is in alignment with Christ?  My prayer is that Jesus Christ is fully representative of our personal brand.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Look over here

Hello,

Taken a family photo lately? Trying to get the kid(s) to look at the right spot at the right time often feels impossible. We try different manners of noise making and bribery to get the focus to be the right direction.

It makes me wonder if that is how God feels about us sometime. He just wants us to look at Him….but we are distracted by any noise or flash of light or the smallest movement. When we don’t look, we miss out on timing and direction – just like in a photo with the timing of the shutter or direction of when to say cheese.

Even others in the family can distract us. Try telling one child to look at the camera, and soon another is looking at the one who was not looking…but now the original one is looking, and the other is distracted – and the cycle goes on!

This had me thinking about Hebrews 2:1-3 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (NASB)

Have a blessed day as you focus your eyes on heaven.

Will Hill

Instructions for marriage

Wedding season seems to be upon us.  I’ve recently seen a few weddings, some that were Christ filled and others that were not so much.  I found it interesting with one that was not so Christ focused where the woman was wanting her man to be “The Man” and be more dominate in their relationship.  Now this one was part of a reality show so you saw her talking about it over and over and over again.  It left me thinking about how the Bible gives us instructions for how the household should be. 

Ephesians 5:21

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Our first instructions is to submit to one another.  Most of the time this is not what we hear.  We hear the next part:

Ephesians 5:22

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.

Yes, wives are to submit to their husbands, however it does not stop the sentence there.  It goes on to say, “as you do to the Lord.”  How can a wife submit herself to her husband if she has not submitted herself to the Lord?

Ephesians 5:23-24

For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Christ is the Savior of the church, which is why he is the head of it.  If these couples are not Christ centered, how is the husband to understand what it means to be the head?  It is through being submitted to Christ that we learn how to submit to one another.

Next week I’ll get into more instructions that we are given on how to love one another.  For this week, I want you to look around you, look at your own marriage, if you have one, look at those that you want to model a marriage after down the road.  Do those relationships seem to focus first on the instruction to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ?  If not, I encourage you to make that a focused prayer this week.  

Thursday Devotional - Selfless Surrender

As a child, if you knew you did something wrong but your parents hadn’t found out yet, did you voluntarily tell on yourself?  Or, did you try to pass it off like it was your sibling’s or someone else’s fault?  Or, did you hide in your room hoping they wouldn’t notice? J  I’m guessing most of us didn’t voluntarily tell on ourselves.  Well, Jesus did!  He didn’t do anything wrong in God’s eyes, but the jealous chief priests and Pharisees sent soldiers to arrest Him on the charge of blasphemy against God.  Jesus had escaped their arrest numerous times before, but He knew it was now God’s time for Him to be arrested. 

John 18:3-9        ³So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. ⁴Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?" ⁵"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) ⁶When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. ⁷Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." ⁸"I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." ⁹This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."

As a parent, boss, spouse, friend, or co-worker, you might be shocked if someone boldly admitted their mistake without you even asking who did it!  However, would you fall to the ground?  The fact that the soldiers fell to the ground, after Jesus admitted He was who they wanted, leads me to believe the soldiers were more than shocked by his words! I wonder if Jesus was radiating the glory of God!!!  

Jesus, a few hours before, had just prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ²For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:1b-3)  Maybe God was allowing the disciples, soldiers, and officials to see but a piece of His glory even before Jesus’ death, resurrection, and full glorification.  Those who hadn’t yet believed were given another sign and an opportunity to believe! 

Plus, Jesus’ selfless surrender showed His love and submission to His Father, His great love for us, and His immediate concern for His disciple’s safety. 

When was the last time you and I made an excuse or blamed someone else to get out of trouble?  How will you and I selflessly live like Jesus, looking out for the best interests of those around us instead of only thinking about ourselves?

Alice

Tues Devo: Summer

Hello,

Ah, summer! The time where we try and slow down a little bit and soak up some sun! I look forward to being able to slow down some things and spend a little more time with the family either on vacation or taking advantage of the later sunlight outside. But there is a danger in the summer slowdown, and that is letting it slide into our walk with God as well. We can’t slow that down! If anything, we should take advantage of other things changing pace to spend more time with Him and seeking to deepen our relationship further.

In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul encouraged his fellow believers to not stop – to keep moving: “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (NASB) 

I challenge all of us this summer to let it be one of refreshment through growth!

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

What's in it for me?

Philippians 2:5-11

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

 Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

When I used to do presentations, we would often be reminded that those in attendance should hear right from the start, what was in it for them.  It seems in today’s sociality, that the phrase “What’s in it for me?” is often the attitude of people. 

We are told in the Bible that we are to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.  How would the Bible be different if Christ had the attitude like we find in the world today?  Would he have still been obedient to death on the cross? 

Are you in the same mindset as Christ Jesus?  I must admit that I am not always great about this.  So what is in it for us if we take on that mindset of Christ Jesus?  We, my friends, will not have to pay the sacrifice to be welcomed into heaven as Christ Jesus already paid that for us.  We get to spend eternity with the most selfless man to ever walk this earth!

Thursday Devotional - Joining Jesus

Before we met, Joe lived in Italy for a couple years. It was an amazing experience for him to live in Rome with so much history! He talked about it a lot. It was hard for me to understand all that he talked about, since I hadn’t been there, much less lived there. However, we had an opportunity to go to Italy and France our second year of marriage. Joe was excited to show me where he had lived, what he had seen, and who he had met!

We usually don’t want to keep our amazing experiences a secret, but want to share them with others, especially those we love. Jesus has the same desire! He wants us to join Him in Heaven and experience all the blessings of knowing His full character and creation as it was intended.

John 17:24-26         “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Oneness with and nearness to the perfect and righteous Father in Heaven is the greatest experience anyone will ever have! Jesus wants to share that experience with you and me for all eternity! Will you be joining Jesus for this forever marvelous experience? If so, who will you pray for today about joining you and Jesus?

Alice

God's Control And His Plan

The discussion of the environment has become a hot topic of late (no pun intended).  I would not want to discuss what many would consider a political discussion for a devotion, but something I heard pulled me and my beliefs right in.  A congressman put God in the middle of the discussion.  He said, “As a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”  That makes sense for we know we serve an almighty God who can do anything.  We could very well take the approach of Jesus speaking of worries saying, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’  These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:31-33) 

However, there is another side of the argument that says we are not to absolve ourselves from just standing around and doing nothing.  When we see something is wrong, Jesus tells us to act.  The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of many examples (see below):

“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴ Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.  The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”  Luke 10:33-37

We are to remember that our faith calls us to act when God calls upon us.  There are those who may take the approach of not worrying about things for there are other things that God has called on them to do.  That is not an issue.  We must be careful to not to just simply believe that God will take care of all things for there will be times God calls on us to be His advocate.  Whether it is feeding the needy, caring for the homeless, teaching bible study, or (yes) protecting the environment, all are worthy callings of God.  To say ‘God will take care of a problem’  is irresponsible.  That does not mean there will be times we need to leave things in God’s hands.  It means we are to prayerfully go to Him and ask what His will would be for us, and then respond.   Furthermore, the scriptures about worrying mean to worry about what God calls you to do.  Not ignore what is right in front of you.

We cannot turn a blind eye to those things God would call on us to do.  There are many things beyond our control, and God can indeed handle anything.  One of my favorite pastors once said that we are called to go out and do what God calls us to do.  Let us make sure we follow what God instills in our heart and be encouragers of those who God has called to serve in ways that may not be as we are called to do.  What calling has God placed on you to act upon?  What prayer must you have to meet God calls upon you.  My prayer is that we can discern between God’s control from God’s plan for our lives.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Know your role

Psalm 25:1-7 “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed. Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your loving kindnesses, For they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; According to Your loving kindness remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.” (NASB)

Hello,

When I reflect back on times that I have struggled, I can see where I have placed my time and emphasis on things I should not have – they were not my job. I doubt I am alone in this. When we put our focus in areas that are not our job, we naturally get distracted. We then are putting our efforts into things which we are not in charge of or cannot control – leading to frustration. Do you see that spiral?

When we look at the psalmist, his prayer shows good alignment of where his focus was to be placed. His job was to focus on God, give his concerns to God in prayer, learning God’s ways and being obedient. He was leaving the fate of his enemies, direction choosing and ultimate ending fate in the hands of God.

I hope today as you read this portion from Psalm 25 that you are encouraged to play your role well, and leave God’s role to God!

Will Hill