Devotionals

1 Corinthians 15:58

God makes some people large, others moderate in stature. Still others are small in size. We frequently make the mistake of calling small folks “little,” but that is an unfortunate and unfair tag. I’m not picking at terms...there is a great deal of difference between being small and being little. If you don’t think so, just ask someone who is less than average height. They won’t hesitate telling you they may be small, but they’re definitely not little. 

Colossians 3:23-24

Some collegians think manual labour is the president of Mexico...until they graduate. Suddenly, the light dawns. Reality frowns. And that sheltered, brainy, fair-skinned, squint-eyed scholar who has majored in medieval literature and minored in Latin comes of age. He experiences a strange sensation deep within his abdomen two weeks after framing his diploma. Hunger. Remarkable motivation accompanies this feeling. 

Titus 3:3-8

Chances are running high that you’re in a hurry today. Am I right? Your “To Do” list stretches on and on. If you’re reading this in the morning, you’re wondering how in the world you’ll get it all done. If the day has already slipped away as you read these words, you’re wondering where in the world the hours went. 

Yeah, I can identify. It’s been that kind of week. Really, that kind of month. But let’s take five and ponder a word that gets overlooked in the midst of a breakneck schedule. Just a simple word...helping. 

James 1:22–25

Once upon a time life was simple and uncomplicated. Oh sure, there were struggles and problems, but they weren’t all that complex. Good and evil did battle with each other. So did willpower and laziness. Right fought against wrong in the main event and not too many folks remained neutral. There was a clear, unmistakable line between winning and losing...victory and defeat...accomplishment and failure...actual war between opposing forces and peace, real peace—not smouldering, game-playing peace. 

Isaiah 50:7

Making one’s own decisions develops healthy mental muscles. But there will always be a few who crave to be told what to do. A major reason some prefer to be indecisive is laziness. Decision-making is hard work. Peter Drucker was correct when he said: 

A decision is a judgment. It is a choice between alternatives. It is rarely a choice between right and wrong. It is at best a choice between “almost right” and “probably wrong”—but much more often a choice between two courses of action, neither of which is probably more nearly right than the other. 

Joshua 24:14–15

2 Timothy 2:14–17

I repeat: Don’t garble the message! 

Psalm 40:10

“Don’t garble the message!” 

If I heard that once during Marine boot camp, I must’ve heard it four dozen times. Again and again, our outfit was warned against hearing one thing, then passing on a slightly different version. You know, changing the message by altering the meaning a tad. It’s so easy to do, isn’t it? Especially when it’s filtered through several minds, then pushed through each mouth. It is amazing how the original story, report, or command appears after it has gone through its verbal metamorphosis. 

Consider the following: 

Isaiah 30:19-21

On October 12, 1972, a Fairchild F-227 of the Uruguayan Air Force was chartered by an amateur rugby team. The plan? To fly from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile...a flight pattern which required flying over the rugged Andes. There were 45 on board, including the crew. Bad weather brought the plane down in Mendoza, a small Argentinian town. Since the weather improved the following morning, the Fairchild set off again, flying south to the Planchon Pass. They would never make their destination. 

Joshua 1:9

Extreme dilemmas are usually solved by radical adjustments. It used to be called “fighting fire with fire.” Minor alterations won’t do. If the situation is getting completely out of hand, a slight modification won’t cut it. It’s get-with-it time.