Weekly Devotion

We all promise God the world in our prayers. Even the most humble of us, often base some of our repentance on desire rather than commitment. It’s a spiritual muscle we have to strengthen. God knows my weaknesses, He knows that my repentance is sincere. He also knows that I’ll be back repenting to Him again and again. “I usually say something like: Lord, please forgive me and help me not do that again or be that way again… or help me understand why I did that.”

My good buddy (J) told me of the serious illness of a long time friend. We talked on the phone the other day and he shared some of the details about the prognosis. It’s not good. Probably a matter of days or weeks before hospice care. My friend is a strong believer who is really hurting now. “I can’t help but wonder why God would allow him to suffer like that,” (J) inquired.

I was beaten. After seeing my discouragement and desperation my brother said, “Let’s break and have lunch.” Later that afternoon, the tide went out, the shallow ocean got a bit sloppy, and the waves flattened out. This time, my friend joined my brother and me. My brother coached us to our first waves. It was probably one of the biggest rushes in my life. The three of us surfed all afternoon. The fear was gone.

You can always tell a true leader by their level of humility and service. A true leader points others to a purpose greater than their own. When I think of true leaders, I think of humble and willing servants. From the greater to the lesser, I think of Jesus Christ, and I think of my friend (R).

I remember as a child, rummaging through our attic and stumbling upon a cardboard box of my Dad’s hunting arrows. I couldn’t believe how cool they looked, and sharp! The tips were like diamond shaped razor blades. My friend and I took his bow and some arrows outside. We used all kinds of things as targets. One thing that still strikes me to this day is how fast, straight, and direct those arrows flew to the targets. At that distance, their trajectory was flat.

Grace is looked at by most Christians as a gift of God. It is the unmerited favor of God and free for all of us. I thought about grace on my run this morning. Why do we need it? At my very worst, God sees my best. Through my gossiping, occasional foul language, selfish behavior, and uninspiring past, God still sees His finished work in me. And even at my best, my renewed and re-energized faith still isn’t good enough to earn this favor from God because He sees something better. Why?

I was panicked. This would have a big impact on my client and me. The fear was overwhelming. There was a link to click to appeal the decision. I clicked on it and began to fill out the form. Then, they asked for my password. I thought to myself, why would they want that? What does that matter? An alarm went off. I googled the subject line of my email adding “scam” in the query. Several articles mentioned this popular and effective phishing scam.

Christians know how the story is going to end, so having faith when going through serious times gives them something to hold on to that others don’t have. I don’t mean to be cynical, but it’s easier to show faith when we know the outcome. There are many stories of people in the Bible who showed incomparable faith while going through horrible trials, and not one of them knew how the story would end. Look at Joseph, Abraham, and Mary, sister of Lazarus. We have the book of Revelation, they didn’t.

Old Testament Psalms are more than poetry, they are Hebrew poetry. They have a unique style and structure. Poetry is not about facts or debatable details, it’s about experience. It’s about expression and feeling. In the coming weeks, we’ll unpack more about the characteristics of Psalms and how important they are in the Christian life.

“By the time I was in middle school, I realized that Jesus Christ was my Savior,” (L) replied. She went on to explain what that meant to her. “I felt that if I believe and accept God, I’m good. That’s all.” I got a strong sense that even at that age, she didn’t believe we should get caught up in a bunch of regulations and requirements for being a Christian.