Devotionals

Matthew 28:18-20 New International Version (NIV)                                                                                      18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus instructed His disciples to make disciples.  His command didn’t end with them.  It applies to all believers throughout the ages, including you and me.  Even today we are to make disciples.  Jesus Christ gave us The Great Commission as His last directive when He ascended from earth to heaven over 2,000 years ago.  

I’m certain that many men and women are better at writing devotionals than I.  You may not agree with some of my comments.  However, no one should doubt my sincerity in attempting to reach the lost and develop better Christ-followers.  This website reflects a modest effort to do so.  

I request you to inform family members, co-workers, friends, and even casual acquaintances about this website.  Someone will receive a blessing by reading it.  While I’d like thousands of people to follow it daily, even if only one person is reached for Jesus the work would be worth it.  Thanks for your caring and sharing!  

Psalm 91:11 New International Version (NIV)                                                                                                                          “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways . . .”

Do you believe in Special Divine Providence?  I certainly do.

God controls the universe in its entirety.  No detail, regardless of how minute it may be, escapes His attention and governance.  I also believe that He interacts in individual lives–that is, He exercises Special Divine Providence.  He doesn’t usurp our free will, but He absolutely places His protective hand over us.  

Yesterday my wife and I received Special Divine Providence.  Our experience involved a potential automobile accident.  The abbreviated version is that we were driving through a green traffic light, but had to stop suddenly because another car attempted to take the right-of-way illegally over us.  It turned out to be a great thing, because at this exact millisecond of time, another car traveling at a high rate of speed ran the red light from the opposing direction.  It managed to swerve right to avoid us and left to avoid the other car while remaining under control.  Had these multiple events not occurred exactly as they did, our car would have been t-boned by the car speeding excessively.  I don’t think there’s any question that we would either be in the hospital or funeral home had a collision occurred.  

We experienced Special Divine Providence manifested through the actions of the first driver who attempted to take the right-of-way illegally, which caused us to stop dead in our tracks and provided just enough room for the speeding car to avoid hitting us.  I know skeptics may be eye-rolling now at this claim.  That’s okay, but nothing about our experience yesterday can be explained by mere coincidence.  The odds against the timing and spacing of everything that happened had a lower probability of occurrence than winning a Power Ball.  Say what you will, but I’m glad God looks out for us.  We praise Him!     

Psalm 90:17a  New International Version (NIV)                                                                                          “May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us . . . “ 

Did you know that several different people wrote Psalms?  I grew up with the impression that it’s a book written by David, but it’s actually by others, too, including Asaph, Sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, Ethan, Herman, and unknowns in a couple of cases.  In Greek Psalms means “instrumental music” and, by extension, “the words accompanying the music”.  One book of the Bible with at least eight authors from different eras somehow came together to create a beautiful and inspired piece of literature.  

Moses–yes, Moses!–wrote Psalm 90, and his authorship intrigues me.  I like his take on the eternal nature of God and the brevity of our lives.  About God he wrote, “A thousand years in your sight are like a day.”  Relative to you and me our earthy existence seems awfully short by comparison, which he described as “they are like the new grass of the morning;  In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.”

These two perspectives on God and man have led to much discussion on how long the Biblical figures actually lived, especially since many of them reportedly reached hundreds of years in age.  However, Moses pretty well nailed the longevity of a human life when he wrote, “Our days may come to seventy years or eighty, if our strength endures.”  Interestingly, as an important instrument of God, Moses lived to be 120 years old.  The great news is that we are souls trapped in a body, and when our bodies wear out (entropy!) our real selves continue to live forever.

Matthew 7:26 New International Version (NIV)                                                                                          “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”  

I find this analogy spot-on from personal experience!  In 1998 my wife and I purchased a piece of land on the Gulf coast.  “Land” may not be the best descriptor.  It was just a huge pile of sand.  Dig down about 10 feet and you’d encounter nothing but sand until hitting the water table.  Our little cat box fell far short of being terra firma.  Amazingly, we built a house on it. 

The contractor had to dig 12 feet deep to find enough solid surface to place pylons to support a concrete slab floating on top of the sand.  In the 18 years that we owned the property, nature assaulted it 24/7.  For good measure it threw in three hurricanes and several tropical storms.  We always knew that our house being obliterated wasn’t a question of “if” but of “when”.  We understand the foolishness of building a house on sand! 

I love reading the quotations of Jesus.  Everything he said proved extraordinarily profound.  It’s why we should put His words into practice.  Who are we to question Jesus?  He gave us incredible guidance on how we should live to be godly.  It’s up to us to follow through and not be foolish.  

Romans 8:38-39 Living Bible (TLB)                                                                                                                38 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, 39 or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us.

Yesterday’s devotional touched on the scientific principle of entropy.  The Bible contains examples of it, written hundreds of years before a physicist discovered it.  We learned that EVERYTHING in the universe eventually wears out with one and only one exception:  God.  Moreover, God is love!  

Almost eight years ago when undergoing cancer treatments in another city, my initial prognosis carried great uncertainty.  It’s quite uncomfortable to be seriously ill, being proactive to get well, yet have no idea how things would turn out.  

My confidence about the future changed dramatically upon attending Christ the Redeemer Church for the first time.  Its worship team performed One Thing Remains by Jesus Culture.  It turned me to mush as the applicability to my health situation proved incredible.  Even today it moves me deeply.  

What a powerful song with amazing lyrics!  It drives home the truth that God’s love is forever and will never leave us.  I encourage you to check it out.  Here it is, performed by Passion:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGNF8XEq18&frags=pl%2Cwn

Isaiah 51:6 New International Version (NIV)                                                                                                  Lift up your eyes to the heavens,                                                                                                                                                              look at the earth beneath;                                                                                                                                                                          the heavens will vanish like smoke,                                                                                                                                                          the earth will wear out like a garment                                                                                                                                                      and its inhabitants die like flies.

Psalm 102:25-26 New International Version (NIV)                                                                                          In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,                                                                                                                      and the heavens are the work of your hands.                                                                                                                                       They will perish, but you remain;                                                                                                                                                                they will all wear out like a garment.                                                                                                                                                        Like clothing you will change them                                                                                                                                                            and they will be discarded.

Hebrews 1:10-11 New International Version (NIV)                                                                                              In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,                                                                                                          and the heavens are the work of your hands.                                                                                                                                    They will perish, but you remain;                                                                                                                                                             they will all wear out like a garment.

I’m sure you know the word “thermodynamics”, but may not have the science or engineering background to know what it means.  You’ve likely heard the First Law:  energy can’t be created or destroyed; it can only be converted from one form to another.  However, most of you probably haven’t heard the Second Law:  every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the universe.  

What’s entropy?  It’s a measure of randomness or disorder–the wasted energy since nothing is 100% efficient.  Over time as energy is consumed, everything wears out.  It applies to living organisms, mechanical devices, and the entire universe.  

The German physicist Rudolf Julius Emmanuel Clausius conceived entropy in 1850,  Be appreciative that many scientists of the era fiercely debated the principles of thermodynamics before accepting them as factual, and they remain correct today.

Here’s the fascinating point.  Examples of entropy show up in the Bible in the above three examples. Isaiah preceded Clausius by 2500 years, Psalms by 2800 years, and Hebrews by 1800 years.  They wrote that the heavens wear out, the earth wears out, people wear out, and clothing wears out.  All of these examples describe entropy!  

What is the only constant–the one and only one thing that doesn’t experience entropy?  God!  When everything else vanishes, He remains!  

From the Old Testament, an observation by King Solomon, arguably the wisest and richest man who has ever lived.       Psalm 127:3 Living Bible (TLB)                                                                                                                        3 Children are a gift from God; they are his reward.

From the New Testament, a teaching by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior                                                                                     Mark 9:36-37 New International Version (NIV)                                                                                             36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Answer this question before you read any further:  what was the number one cause of death worldwide in 2018? 

Its 41.9 million total eclipsed cancer, HIV/Aids, and smoking (non-cancer) combined!  People exposed to it had 100% certainty of dying.  It took out 23% of all humans in a particular age group.  

Worldwide deaths reached 59 million excluding this one cause.  Adding it to the total means 100.9 people died altogether.  The number one cause resulted in almost 42% of all deaths.  (These statistics originated from the World Health Organization.)  

The answer is abortion, the killing of our unborn children.  Do you think God views this practice as acceptable?  How do you think He feels about our failure to prevent it? 

Isaiah 43:19-21 The Message (MSG)                                                                                                                                                      This is what God says, . . .                                                                                                                                                                      “Forget about what’s happened;                                                                                                                                                                  don’t keep going over old history.                                                                                                                                                            Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.                                                                                                                   It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?                                                                                                                                                       There it is! . . .                                                                                                                                                                                              for the people I chose,                                                                                                                                                                              the people I made especially for myself,                                                                                                                                                   a people custom-made to praise me.

Do you make resolutions for the New Year?  You know what i’m talking about–losing weight, getting into shape, reading more, achieving a job promotion, making more money, experiencing life more, etc.  I think my list looked the same year after year.  You can probably relate.  

I’d be on fire for the first few weeks–maybe even a month or two–and then I’d settle back into same behaviors of the previous year.  I found that failure to achieve resolutions actually demotivated me.  Consequently, I quit this nonsense in recent years.  

Now I use the New Year to take an honest appraisal of my spiritual status, and recommitting to Jesus as Lord of my life, serving as He directs me, and recognizing His kingship.  Will I also fail at this single objective?  Absolutely, as it takes only one sin.  The great news is that God forgives, forgets, and makes me brand-new!  He’ll do the same for you!  

Thanks to all who have checked-out this website!  I hope you have benefited from the Daily Bible Readings, the World Outreach Church Sunday Webcasts, the Daily Devotionals, and the Occasional Blog.  

Recently my wife and I took a vacation to relax and recharge.  As a result, it has been a while since I’ve posted any new devotionals or blogs.  

My objective is to make disciples.  The reality is that I’m preaching to the choir.  So far I’ve depended on friends, relatives, and churches telling others about this website.  Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened.  I receive a daily report on the website’s readership.  It’s amusing that the actual number is far lower than the number of people who claim to follow it.  

Anyway, I’m regrouping to determine how best to meet Jesus’s command for us to make disciples.  I’ll consult with trusted friends and pastors and seek their input.  Hopefully this website will reemerge soon and reach many people.  I suggest checking it every few days to see if new posts have been made.

Thanks!

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  1 Corinthians 12:27

Big “C” versus little “c”–I’m not referring to cancer.  Think for a moment about church.  What is it to you?  

Church with a capital “C” refers to the one and only true Church, the believers who have accepted Jesus as the Christ and made Him Lord of their lives.  

Everything else conceived by man is an imitation striving to develop Christ-followers.  Despite our best efforts, we don’t have it right.  It’s why thousands of entities exist with different beliefs about what it takes to be Christian.  I submit that any church claiming that it has it right and represents the only path to salvation is further off-course than those that don’t make such representations.  

In my opinion, the names should be changed to United Methodist church, Southern Baptist church, Roman Catholic church, church of Christ, Presbyterian church USA, plus thousands more.  Regardless of where we worship, if we are believers and have made Jesus Lord of our lives, we belong to the Church.  That’s all that matters.  

Prayer:  Thank you, God, for establishing the Church.  Amen.