Devotionals

Proverbs 10:29-30

We toss around words like faith and love all the time. And most of us can describe both with minimal difficulty.

But hope? What in the world is it? And is it really that essential?

Webster defines hope, "to desire with expectation of fulfilment." To hope is to anticipate. It is more than dreaming, however.

It is possessing within ourselves an expectation that someday there will be the fulfillment of that desire. It will become a reality.

Hope always looks to the future, it's always on tiptoes. It keeps us going.

Proverbs 11:2

People who refuse to get bogged down in and anchored to the past are those who pursue the objectives of the future.

People who do this are seldom petty. They are too involved in getting a job done to be occupied with yesterday's hurts and concerns....

I know human nature well enough to realize that some people excuse their bitterness over past hurts by thinking, "It's too late to change. I've been injured and the wrong done against me is too great for me ever to forget it.

Proverbs 15:15

Many folks eat their hearts out, suffering from the contagious "If Only" disease. Its germs infect every slice of life.

If only I had more money.

If only we owned a nicer home.

If only we could have children.

If only he would ask me out.

If only I had more friends.

The list is endless. Woven through the fabric of all those words is a sigh that comes from the daily grind of discontentment.

1 Peter 1:13

Imagine coming to the house of a friend who has invited you over to enjoy a meal. You finish the delicious meal and then listen to some fine music and visit for a while. Finally, you stand up and get your coat as you prepare to leave.

But before you leave you reach into your pocket and say, "Now, how much do I owe you?" What an insult! You don't do that with someone who has graciously given you a meal.

Isn't it strange, though, how this world is running over with people who think there's something they must do to pay God back?

1 Timothy 6:6

Contentment is something we must learn. It isn't a trait we're born with.

But the question is how?

In 1 Timothy 6 we find a couple of very practical answers to that question:

A current perspective on eternity: "For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either" (v. 7).

A simple acceptance of essentials: "If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content" (v. 8).

Matthew 6:33

Life is a lot like a coin; you can spend it any way you wish, but you can spend it only once.

Choosing one thing over all the rest throughout life is a difficult thing to do. This is especially true when the choices are so many and the possibilities are so close at hand.

To be completely truthful with you, however, we aren't left with numerous possibilities. Jesus Himself gave us the top priority: "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness."...

Proverbs 24:5

This may shock you, but I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude.

It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me, or say about me, my circumstances, or my position.

The attitude I choose keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope.

2 Corinthians 1:9-10

The old motto of soldiers during the Revolutionary War applies to many areas of life: "Trust in God, but keep your powder dry!"

In other words, place your life in the Saviour’s hands, but stay at the ready. Do all that you can to prepare yourself for battle, understanding that the ultimate outcome rests with the Lord God.

Zephaniah 3:17

I am more convinced than ever that there is no way you and I can move toward a deeper, intimate relationship with our God without protracted times of stillness, which includes one of the rarest at all experiences: absolute silence.

Am I sounding more like a mystical dreamer? If so, so was the psalmist who wrote those familiar words we often quote but seldom obey, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10)...

Matthew 5:16

[The world] will see "your good works," Jesus said.

Like what?

They will hear your courtesy.

They will detect your smile.

They will notice that you stop to thank them.

They will hear you apologize when you are wrong.

They will see you help them when they are struggling.

They will notice that you are the one who stopped along the road and gave them a hand.