Devotionals

Matthew 16

Better than any other word I can think of, change describes our world. Vast, sweeping changes, especially in the last 150 years. Simply to survive requires adjusting, and to make any kind of significant dent calls for a willingness to shift in style and to modify methods.

Consider two of the more pronounced changes in our world. 

Population. It was not until 1850 that the number of people on this globe reached one billion. By 1930 (a mere 80 years later) the number had doubled. Only 30 years later—1960—it had shot up to three billion.

1 Samuel 17

I wrote this back when Lenny Dykstra was playing for the Mets. But the truth still applies.

No offence, but Lenny Dykstra doesn't look like much of an athlete. He looks more like some team's mascot. Or like the guy who wears that silly chicken suit and does cartwheels around stadiums. The kid can't stand much more than five-seven. That little Dutch boy is the starting centre fielder for the National League New York Mets. Nicknamed "Nails"—as in "tough as" and "harder than." 

Psalm 23 

The path of the pale horse named Death, mentioned in Revelation 6:8, is littered with bitterness, sorrow, fear, and grief. This ashen stallion started his lengthy journey ages ago and races through time with steady beat and dreadful regularity. As long as we exist in the land of the dying, we shall hear the sombre knell of his hoofbeats.

Sadly, some people hurry their appointment with death. Painful though it may be to hear and accept, thousands of people will take their own lives during the next 12 months. For in our land, suicide is now almost an epidemic.

Nahum 1

Blow that layer of dust off the Book of Nahum in your Bible and catch a glimpse of the last part of verse three, chapter one: "The way of the Lord is in the whirlwind and in the storm" (Berkeley Version).

Several years ago I asked the ministry staff at the church I was pastoring to reflect on how their mothers had influenced their lives. Here are a few of the responses I received.

"The interest, concern, and care for older people that my mother modelled in a Christlike manner impacted my life to the extent that today I am involved in a ministry with senior adults" (Dave Jobe).

2 Timothy 1:1-5

Several years ago someone interviewed the contemporary artist Marc Chagall for a PBS program. The young, arty interviewer started the session with a question about influences. His question was very long and involved and exhibited his own learning along the way, giving everybody, including Chagall, a lecture on the nature of influences on the artist.

1 Corinthians 9:19-27

Discipline is one of the most hated terms of our times...right alongside patience and self-control. But have you noticed how often it comes up in the testimonies of those who win?

The Apostle Paul says that he willingly forfeited his apostolic rights for the sake of winning more. That took discipline. Paul says that he endured all things in order to reach his objective; he exercised "self-control in all things." 

Here are key uses of discipline: 

Acts 20:16-24 

I had just completed a manuscript on Philippians, and my heart was full of joy. Not only because I was through (isn't that a wonderful word?) but because joy, the theme of the inspired letter I had spent weeks studying, had rubbed off. It was as if Paul and I had shared the same room and written at the same desk.

Psalm 98

God's sharp sword stabbed me deeply recently as I was on a scriptural hunt in the Ephesian letter. I was searching for a verse totally unrelated to the one that sliced its way into me. It was another of those verses I feel sorry for (like John 3:17 and 1 John 1:10—look 'em up). This was Ephesians 5:19: "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord."

Acts 1

Morale and vision fade fast. This is especially true when the battle is raging. Or when the pace is blistering. Or when the task is boring. Many war veterans tell spine-tingling stories pulsating with heroism and enthusiasm. Without exception, such remarkable acts of bravery were accomplished because the troops felt fresh surges of determination that caused the odds against them to pale into insignificance. Those same veterans can tell of other occasions when the battle was lost due to low morale and fuzzy vision.