Break Out - Devotion for 8/10/07

Break Out – Devotion for 8/10/07

In Acts 12, we find Peter sitting in prison, bound with chains and sleeping between two soldiers, which I would have to guess was a bit awkward and uncomfortable. There as he slept, a bright light shone in the cell, and an angel of the Lord appeared, waking Peter and telling him to get up. The chains fall off, and the angel directs him to get dressed, and still half asleep Peter follows the directions. I just picture Peter as something like a zombie here – still groggy and dazed, and not really understanding at all what is going on. I remember several nights like that when Jacob and Aaron were babies, and they’d wake up in the night and Jenn would direct me to go get a bottle, and soon I’d find myself in the kitchen, and I couldn’t remember why I was there. That’s the way I picture Peter in this passage – with a complete “Huh?What?” expression on his face. The chains have fallen off, he is already following the angel out of the jail, and he still thought it was just a vision (v.9). It wasn’t until he is completely out and the angel disappears that he realizes what has happened.

Sometimes you and I may feel like we are bound to our present circumstances. Sometimes everything seems to be going so against us that we feel as though we are chained up and sleeping between two of our oppressors. We may be so lulled into our problems that we may not even realize that God is already working on our release. Halfway through, Peter still thought he was dreaming. You may already be half-way to freedom from your difficulties right now and not even know it. Wake up! Your break out may be going on right now!

Useless wallet - Devotion for 8/9/07

Useless Wallet – Devotion for 8/9/07

If you read the devotion from Monday of this week, then you will know that this past weekend I lost my wallet while we spent some time up at the Kings Dominion Theme Park near Richmond, VA. This week has been a frustrating exercise in calling and canceling credit cards, getting a new driver’s license issued, getting the paperwork to get a new social security card (mental note to NEVER keep that in a wallet again), getting a new Food Lion MVP card, getting a new Best Buy Rewards Zone card, getting a new . . . you get the point. At home this week we have even answered every single telemarketing calls – even the ones that show up on caller ID as being from a credit card company – just because we are concerned someone is trying to use our stuff. A thousand times I have replayed different scenarios as to where my wallet could have been, and I have checked and rechecked every piece of baggage that we had with us on the trip looking for it.

So yesterday evening as I left the house to go to church for Bible Study (Wednesday nights – 7:00 PM – come join us when you’re in town!), I went to the mail box and I found a small manila envelope with no return address. Just looking at it, I got excited because of what appeared to be the size and shape of the contents of said envelope. With the excitement of a child on Christmas morning I tore into that package (receiving a nice gash on one of my fingers from the metal clasps, by the way), and I found my wallet – fully intact! Every single card, every single picture, every single dollar bill that had been in there to begin with was still there. I looked inside the envelope and there was no note at all – and like I said there was no return address either. Someone apparently had found it somewhere and decided to be an anonymous Good Samaritan, and it was sent back to me exactly as I had left it.

I was overjoyed at receiving this blessing. I was overjoyed because I now have all my family pictures back. I was overjoyed because in my wallet I keep one of my grandfather’s business cards as a way of remembering him whenever I go into my wallet. I was overjoyed because I now back my picture of my “Pride and Joy” (it is a picture of a bottle of “Pride” and a bottle of “Joy” – the cleaning detergents – it’s a joke . . . a bad one, but still a joke). But as happy as I was about having back my wallet, I quickly realized that much of what was in my wallet had been rendered useless. Yes, the cash was still good, as was the Social Security card, but my debit card and any credit card I had in there was no longer valid. So I took all of those cards and I destroyed them. After all, what would have been the point of keeping the old cards in my wallet if I could never use them?

I thought it was interesting this morning when I did my devotion time and I read about how we as Christians can become as useless as my wallet presently is. 2 Peter 1 talks about how we need to continuously apply diligence in our faith by growing in moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:8-9). May we constantly press on to growing in our faith, building up the qualities listed above so that we may never find ourselves considered as useless as a once-lost wallet.

What should I do? - Devotion for 8/8/07

What should I do? – Devotion for 8/8/07

Think about how many times in your life you have been faced with some sort of difficult decision and you just don’t know what to do. Many times in those circumstances we may talk to friends or family about what is going on. Some of the times people will seek out a pastor hoping for some sort of wise council. On many occasions I have encountered people at the altar rail at the close of the worship service as they seek God’s guidance regarding something going on in their life. We turn to family; we turn to friends; we turn to trusted advisors; we turn to God. But ultimately, how do we know what to do?

This morning as I was reading from the book of James, I read the following verses: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:5-6). That passage reminded me about all the times that I have been questioning what I should do, and how there are those times that I am reluctant to approach God in full faith. That reluctance derives from the foreknowledge of what God is going to tell me, and that is not always what I really want to hear. And so instead of seeking God’s wisdom and counsel (which I already know via the Holy Spirit), I toss and turn and bounce around like a piece of driftwood in the ocean.

I saw an example of this kind of thing this past weekend on our family excursion to Kings Dominion. My youngest son Aaron is not as adventurous as his brother when it comes to roller coasters, and some roller coasters Aaron simply will not ride. However, he still likes the excitement and adventure of riding them, so he is torn over which ones he can handle, and which ones he can not. As we were preparing to ride on one of the coasters on Sunday, Aaron was becoming quite concerned over whether or not he should ride it. You could see him visibly worried as we walked towards the line, and he just seemed to be turning around in circles going back and forth between riding it and walking away. He knew not to ask me if he should ride it, because I would truly encourage him and assure him that everything would be fine, so he would look at me and start to ask, but then turn right back around. Ultimately, Aaron did ask, and I did assure him that it would be fine, and in the end he loved the ride and was so happy that he had ridden it – in fact, he rode that same coaster about 5 more times over the weekend.

Right now you may find yourself tossing and turning about what you should do in a situation. Put aside any fear of what God’s answer may be, and ask for His wisdom regarding the matters at hand. Only be faithfully prepared that God will give you the guidance and answers that you seek, and be ready to be faithful to following His counsel.

“Therefore, O Lord, give me true heavenly wisdom, that I may learn to seek you and to find you, and above all things to love you, and to understand and know all other things as they are, after the direction of your wisdom, and not otherwise. And give me grace, also, to withdraw myself from those who flatter me, and patiently to tolerate those who grieve me so that the way I have begun will bring me to a good and blessed ending.”

- The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis

Anti-skeptic Living - Devotion for 8/7/07

Anti-skeptic Living – Devotion for 8/7/07

“We’ll see about that.” Isn’t that one of the things we say when we really don’t believe something is going to happen or be done? I say it every now and then when my sons tell me that they are going to pick up their room and do all their chores without complaining, and I’ll say “We’ll see about that.” I say it every now and then when Jennifer tells me she plans on heading home from her Raleigh office at a certain time, and I say “we’ll see about that.” She says it when I tell her I’ll be home from a meeting at a certain time and she says, “We’ll see about that.” In many situations we become skeptical about things, and being the true skeptics that we are, we won’t believe it until we see it. You may try to tell me that you’re not that way, and you know what I’d say? “We’ll see about that.”

This morning I was reading from Romans 4, and in this passage Paul is reminding us of the faith that Abraham had. He reminds us about how old Abraham was when God made the promise that he would become the father of a great nation. “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform” (Romans 4:19-21). I am reminded about how easy it would have been for Abraham to have said to God “We’ll see about that” when God made that promise to him. As Paul stated, all he had to do was consider his own old age, and the barrenness of his wife who had not yet given him the first child. He could have considered all the failures and quickly become a skeptic. But instead, he made a choice to have faith. Skepticism comes easy after repeated failures; but faith can become stronger in the midst of tribulations. Let us too live a life without that skepticism, believing that the God who has promised to take care of us has the means and the ability to do so. Let us too believe in spite of the difficulties around us that God has a plan and a purpose, even if it is one that we can not yet see.

Searching in vain - Devotion for 8/6/07

Search in vain – Devotion for 8/6/07

I lost my wallet. This weekend my family and I joined my wife’s sister and family for a weekend at the Kings Dominion theme park near Richmond, VA, and yesterday at some point in time I lost my wallet. UGH! We couldn’t find it earlier in the day, but I was pretty sure I had left it in the car and just brought the cash I would need in my pocket – but upon returning to the car at the end of the day we found that wasn’t the case. I called the hotel, and I checked with the park’s lost and found, but no luck. So we spent much of the ride home last night on the phone calling and canceling cards and the such. Now I have to get those things reissued – cards, driver’s license, insurance card. If you’ve ever lost your wallet, you know exactly what a pain all of this is.

So in my sour puss attitude this morning I finally set aside time to actually hash things out with the Lord in my devotion time. The Psalm for me to read today was Psalm 127, which begins, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in His sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2). I really needed those comforting words reminding me of the providence of God – reminding me that even though I am going through what seems like a huge inconvenience right now, God is still watching over me. Sometimes we fight and fight against things that are out of our control, and we really are spinning our wheels in vain. If it is not in the Lord’s plan, it doesn’t matter how many hours your work or how early you get up. This morning, it is comforting to me to be reminded of the ultimate providence of God, and knowing that He is watching over my vain attempts.

Now . . . if only He could tell me where my wallet is . . .

Celebrate good times - come on! - Devotion for 8/2/07

Celebrate good times – come on! – Devotion for 8/2/07

One of my favorite parts of any worship service is when we get to call out some of our celebrations – some of the thanksgivings we have for what God has been doing in our lives. I love to hear husbands awkwardly get up and announce the celebration of an anniversary, or a young couple announcing that they are expecting. I love the impromptu moments when someone is led to stand up and testify to a special way that God was present for them in the past week, maybe at the doctors office or as they were with a friend. To me the time of sharing our celebrations is truly what worship is about, because in lifting up those joys we are ascribing all good things to the eternal Good One. But here is the question: do we limit lifting up those joys and celebrations to just the worship service? What I mean is, do we consciously live our lives going out into the world sharing with friends and even strangers the good things that God has done for us?

Psalm 105 is my psalm for the week, and that passage begins by stating, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders” (Psalm 105:1-2). Psalm 105 goes on to give a brief sketch of the history of Israel, and the ways that God has provided for them. I think of that passage, and then I relate it to 2 Corinthians 5 where we are reminded that God sent His son to the earth to reconcile us to Him, allowing us to become new creations. “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . . Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18, 20). I believe that these passages are calling on us to lift up our joys and celebrations more than just in that special time of worship. I believe that we are called to lift up what God has done to the world – we are to be God’s ambassadors letting the world know what He has done. That doesn’t mean that you have to go up to perfect strangers and tell them “you’re going to hell if you don’t know Jesus.” It just means that you can share with others what a beautiful day God has given, or how God has blessed you with such a loving family. How can you celebrate and worship today outside of the context of a formal service?

"In tents" experience - Devotion for 8/1/07

“In tents” experience – Devotion for 8/1/07

Last night I was out at Camp Rockfish to preach for the campers, and I thought I’d share the message that I shared with them last night for today’s devotional.

Several years ago some friends of mine talked me in to going camping with them. I have always disliked camping, going way back to my Cub Scout days – it always seemed like I got stuck in the same smelly tent with the same smelly kid, or the same kid who snored like crazy and wouldn’t let me sleep. Those “in tents” experiences led to my strong dislike of camping, and I carried that dislike over into my adult years. However, these buddies were able to convince me that somehow we would have a good time going camping at Raven Rock State Park. So, to prepare for the camping trip we began to pack all the essential things we knew we would need. We packed the tents (two of them, because we knew I was already “two tents” – think about that one), we packed the sleeping bags, and I packed my fluffy little pillow – because frankly I needed my fluffy little pillow. We knew that we also needed to take a cooler and plenty food, because we knew the four of us would be able to consume quite a bit of food around the campfire. We all loved music, so we also knew that we needed to take our guitars and have a good old camp fire sing along. Since we loved music so much we also decided someone needed to bring a CD player so that when we got tired of playing guitar we could listen to CDs. We loaded up the cars, and off we went to Raven Rock State Park.

When we got there, we soon found out that we were going to have to hike in to the campsite, and that the hike was going to be about a mile. No problem, we thought, because we were all young, healthy dudes. So we began unloading the cars and getting the stuff out to carry. It didn’t take too long to realize that we were definitely going to have to make at least 2 trips because of all the stuff we had brought. We knew that we would be able to at least take the tents, sleeping bags, and my fluffy little pillow (because we all know how important that is), but we knew we’d have to come back for the guitars, food, and cooler. Off we went on that 1.5 mile hike carrying all that we could handle over the hills and through the woods. After what seemed like forever in 90 degree heat, we finally got to the camp site, and we decided before heading back for the other important stuff we had better go ahead and set up the tents. These tents we the “easy to put up” kind of tents – you know the ones that only take a few hours to set up. So we set up the tents, rolled out the sleeping bags, and I fluffed up my fluffy little pillow, and then we headed back onto the 2 mile hike back to the cars. Climbing up those hills as the temperature continued to rise we were exhausted by the time we finally got back to the cars. So two of us grabbed the cooler, the other two grabbed the food, and somehow we managed to also grab the guitars and CD player – after all, we really were looking forward to the camp fire sing along time. Climbing up those hills again (somehow it was uphill both ways) in increasing temperatures (somehow it was getting hotter as the sun went down), we hiked those 3 miles back to the campsite (somehow the hike grew longer each trip). Exhausted, we finally reached the campsite, and we knew that we had better hurry up and look for the firewood for our campfire. We quickly assembled all the wood we thought we would need, as well as all the kindling and stuff to get the fire started. One of the dudes had already started getting the meat out that we were going to cook over the fire, and we could all almost already taste the food we would cook. So I was a little surprised that when it came time to light the fire I couldn’t find the matches.

I didn’t bring the matches, and unfortunately neither did anyone else. Not only that, we also didn’t have a lighter. Nor did we have flint. In desperation to light the fire I began to rub two sticks together really quickly, but I was pretty exhausted from the 4 mile uphill hike that I had taken several times already and I wasn’t able to even generate any smoke. When we couldn’t find any other campers nearby we finally realized someone would have to walk all the way back to the cars to get the matches. Since we couldn’t agree on which one would go, we all went, and off we went making that 5 mile uphill hike in 110 degree temperature – at least we weren’t carrying anything this time. When we got to the cars, we soon realized that not only did we not take the matches to the campsite, we didn’t even pack them in the car. I thought about pressing in the cigarette lighter, and seeing if I could run back to the campsite while it was still hot, but I knew that I couldn’t cover 6 miles uphill before that thing would cool off. I finally had to call my wife to bring us the matches, so that we could finally enjoy our beloved camp fire. And I’ll have you know we didn’t play the much-needed guitars once because we were all so tired.

Somehow in the midst of preparing for this great trip, we had left out one of the most important things – the matches to get the fire started. Somehow in life many times we leave out the most important thing – God. We think we need to have all these essential things in life that will give us joy and happiness, but without God those things are nothing. Without God all those things are just like raw meat that you can’t eat. I believe that when we set off in the journey of life, we have got to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Today, make sure you’re not leaving God behind. Without Him, we’ll just find ourselves wasting energy needlessly wandering around for nothing.