Tag Archives: Devotion

May 17, 2013 · 7:44 AM

What Determines Your Worth?

I read an article yesterday about a server at a Steak ‘n Shake who got a $446 tip. The lady was clearly excited to receive it. She said some of her other tables had been giving her a hard time and she thought that was the reason behind the tip. In the article, she said something that stuck out to me. She said, “I didn’t think I was worth $400, but that customer does.” She valued herself at less than $400. I started thinking, “How many people value themselves so little?”

If you don’t know, let me be the one to tell you that you are worth well more than $400. How you see yourself or how others see you does not change your worth. It may affect your self confidence, but not your worth. You are a priceless work of art created by God to fulfill a purpose that only you can fulfill. You are valued by God above all other created things. Don’t let your mind or anyone else keep you from seeing that.

I can say that because God didn’t sacrifice His son for any other created being. Think of the angels and how highly we regard them. When Satan got a third of them to rebel against God and God cast them out of Heaven, did He pay a price to redeem them? No. Yet for you, He paid the ultimate price of sending His son to this earth to pay for what you and I do against Him.

Why would He do that for you and not for an angel? It’s because you are worth it to Him. Your life matters. What you do matters. Even if no one else around you values you or who you are, God does. Ultimately it’s His opinion that matters. I know it’s difficult to see when everyone around you values you less than $400. It’s easy to get that mindset when you’re verbally and physically abused. It’s not hard to believe that when those you love don’t appreciate you.

It’s hard to fight those thoughts and believe your worth doesn’t depend on others when everything around you is making you feel lower than dirt. I know. I’ve been there. I used to allow others to determine my worth. Not anymore. I find my worth and my value in who God says I am. I’ve learned to combat those thoughts with the Word of God. I’ve had to recognize when those thoughts come in so I can stop them and replace them with who God says I am. It’s a battle, but one that is worth fighting.

Your worth doesn’t depend on a tip, what someone else says or how they treat you. It depends on the price that God put on you and that’s a high price. You can not be replaced. There never has been or never will be another you. This is your time on earth to do what you were made to do. You have a purpose even if you haven’t found it yet. Keep looking. Keep believing. Keep trusting in Him. You are loved beyond measure and worth more than all the gold in the world.

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May 16, 2013 · 8:11 AM

A Deeper Answer

Yesterday at work I asked a question to a group of people. A lady answered, but it was only a surface level answer. I prodded her for more to think about what I was asking. I asked her to give me a deeper answer. She sat there with a blank stare for a minute. I offered the question in a different way, but still letting her know I was expecting her to answer. She gave me a “What are you doing” look. I explained, “I’m asking for more from you because what we’re currently doing is not working. If we are to change our results, we have to change how we think and approach the problem.”

I’m kind of in that place right now where God is asking for more from me. I’m the one sitting on the other side of the table with that blank stare saying, “What do you mean ‘more’?” It’s uncomfortable to sit here and not have the answer. To know that somewhere inside me lies the answer and not know how to get it can be disturbing. Knowing that God is waiting makes the situation even more intense.

I wonder if that’s how Peter felt when they were sitting on the shore of Galilee and Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?” Peter answered, “Yes. You know that I love you.” Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep.” He turned around and asked Peter the same question. I imagine Peter sitting there thinking, “Is He joking? Is this déjà vu?” He amused Jesus by answering a second time exactly as he had the first. Jesus wasn’t content with that. He wanted more. “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that He asked him a third time, and again said yes.

There have been many sermons regarding this and I’m not about to preach another one to you. I just want to stop and look at the emotions of what was happening. Jesus was pushing Peter beyond a surface level love. He was ensuring Peter knew in His heart that he loved Jesus because He was about to ask for more. What Peter had done in the past was not going to be good enough for what he was going to do in the future.

If you skip down a couple of verses to John 21:19, Jesus did something I hadn’t noticed. He again called Peter to follow Him. Peter had been called three years earlier to follow Jesus, but this call was different. This “follow me” was into a deeper relationship. One where Peter would be given the responsibility of raising up the early church and leading thousands to Christ. The dynamic of their relationship just changed in that exchange.

That’s where I am right now. Where are you? What is God asking of you? Are you giving Him a surface level answer when He is calling for a deeper more meaningful answer? Are you scared of what “more” means? Me too, but I won’t let that fear keep me from answering His call. I won’t continue to give the answer I’ve always given. I don’t know the answer yet, but I’m willing to follow Him into that deeper commitment until I do.

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May 15, 2013 · 7:59 AM

Participating in the Impossible

I had some extra time before dinner yesterday, so I went down to the bay side in Pensacola. I climbed over some rocks so I could get away from the road, people and noise to be close to the water. As I sat there, I decided I wanted to read some scripture of when Jesus was by the water. I went straight to John 6 where Jesus was on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. There were thousands around Him hanging on His every word. It was evening and the people were hungry, much like it was for me.

Jesus asked one of the disciples where they could buy food for so many people. Andrew came over and said, “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with such a huge crowd?” He had everyone sit down, blessed the bread and gave it to the disciples to distribute. Later He had them go pick up the leftovers.

I know you’ve heard this story a thousand times. I have too. As I was reading, I started thinking about how He made the disciples distribute and pick it up. Jesus had the ability to perform the miracle by Himself, but He involved the disciples. I wonder what went through their minds as He said, “Go give this to the people.” That wasn’t enough food for the disciples, let alone thousands of people.

I believe their obedience activated the miracle. It’s Just like the widow who used her last bit of oil to make bread for Elijah. It was her obedience that activated that miracle. When she poured out the oil to make him bread, there was more in the bottle for her and her son. Another instance was when a widow approached Elisha for help with her debts. He told her to borrow as many jugs as she could, fill them up with what little oil she had, sell the oil and then pay her debts.

God does not need us to perform miracles, but He chooses to allow us to participate. Our acts of faith allow us to be a part of His plan. When He asks us to do the Impossible, He’s really looking to see if we’re willing to believe or are we going to question. The disciples took the food from Him and started distributing it. I imagine as they went from person to person, their grin and their faith got bigger.

Then Jesus went a step further and asked them to pick up the left overs. They went from not having enough to feed twelve to feeding thousands and having leftovers. Our God does exceedingly more, above and beyond all we can ask or think. He has the ability to meet the needs you face today. He has the desire to do more than you can even imagine. Do you have the faith to believe? Do you have the courage to step out in faith to participate in the impossible?

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May 1, 2013 · 7:06 AM

Shoveling Through a Mountain

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I haven’t been able to get this image out of my head. What you see is the same picture, but one is a close up. That is a man shoveling through that mountain one spade full at a time. We encountered him on the road from Port au Prince to Gonaives on our second day. Ever since then I have thought about him and the work he is doing. At first I felt sorry for him. Tackling a mountain with a shovel is a huge task. He may never get through it, but that isn’t stopping him from shoveling.

Each of us face mountains in our lives. Few of us have the faith it takes to say to that mountain, “Move and be thrown into the sea.” So we sit in the valley and wait. We lack the strength or courage to go over it. So we don’t accomplish what God has for us to do. We make our home in the darkness of the valley. We forget what life in the light is. We forget what joy is. We loosen our grip on our faith and wonder where God is.

Not this man. He looked at that mountain and said, “I may not have the strength or ability to go over you, so I will go through you!” He picked up a shovel and started digging. I imagine it has taken years to get this far. For him, the first few shovels, the first week, first month and year may not have seemed like he was making progress. I’m sure all he could see was that mountain and not what he’d moved.

Recovery doesn’t come quickly. Healing is a process that can take years. There will always be scars from our past. We can choose to embrace them or we can keep them hidden. Jesus didn’t choose to hide His scars, so why do we? In fact, He encourage others like Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound on my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” Others find hope in your scars. They find faith in your wounds.

If God has brought you through a mountain of pain, share your story to help others believe they can make it. If you’re shoveling through your mountain right now, don’t give up. You are making progress that you may not be able to see from your perspective right now. If you are camped in the darkness, looking at your mountain thinking, “I’ll never get through this,” there is hope. God’s Word is your light in that dark place. Speak scriptures out loud. Look in Psalms and read there. David went through some dark times too.

Your life is precious to God and others. Don’t let that mountain block your vision of what God has for you. He is greater than that mountain and if He is with you, what can stand against you? Certainly not that mountain! Let hope arise in your soul today. You are a child of God made for victory. You’re going to have to pick up that shovel though and start digging. It takes time and effort. You can do this. You can shovel through this mountain.

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April 12, 2013 · 8:42 AM

Go Ahead & Be Angry

I had a conversation last night with a friend who is going through a difficult situation. They tried to give me all the religious answers they thought I wanted to hear. I finally stopped them. I said, “I don’t want to hear what you think I want to hear. I know what you’re going through. It’s ok to be angry right now.” Silence. “You’re right. I am angry right now,” the voice on the other end finally said.

I directed them to the scripture in Ephesians 4:26 that says, “Go ahead and be angry. You to well to be angry – but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge.” It’s not a sin to be angry and upset. It’s ok especially when you have a right to be upset. God just doesn’t want us to use that anger against the person who wronged us. I shared with them how angry I was and the things I had wanted to do.

Thank God I never acted on the thoughts that entered my mind while I was hurt and angry. If I had acted on them, I would have missed out on the blessings I now enjoy. When you’re going through a difficult time where you’ve lost everything, you think you have nothing to lose because you don’t have anything. That’s a dangerous place to be.

It’s important to pay attention to the thoughts that enter your mind when you’re upset. It’s easy to entertain them. It’s easy to slip off into a fantasy world where you are deceived into believing you can get away with anything. The enemy sends thoughts into your head in a Trojan Horse. They start off harmless and end up with you really contemplating going through with them.

Scripture is clear when it comes to thoughts like that. II Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “We use God’s mighty weapons , not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning… We capture rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” When we entertain those thoughts that would take us from being angry to sinning, we allow them to take root in our minds and to build strongholds. We are to take those thoughts instead and teach them to obey Christ.

I know that’s easier said than done. It’s easy to entertain the thoughts that let you do what your flesh wants to do. It takes God’s weapons to break them down and teach them to obey Christ. It takes discipline. Usually you are missing those things when you’re hurt and angry. I want to encourage you today if you are hurt, angry or discouraged to know it’s ok to feel that way.

Emotions are given to us by God. He knows we need to vent at times. He knows we want to curl up in bed, pull the covers over our heads and pretend that today doesn’t exist. That’s why he said, “Go ahead and be angry.” He just doesn’t want you to do something stupid with that anger that would stint the future He has for you. Don’t limit what He can do through you because you are hurt and feel you have nothing to lose. This too will pass. You will survive. I’m proof of it. It just takes time. God still has a future for you even when you can’t see it.

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April 8, 2013 · 8:20 AM

Don’t be a Ye

This weekend was an exercise of faith for me. We were trying to raise money for a trip to build an orphanage in Haiti. We pre-sold BBQ tickets and Saturday was the day for them to pick it up. When I went to buy the meat, I decided to buy almost double what we had sold. I was believing that we could sell extra to people driving by. At the end of the day, I still had about 4 briskets left. The plan was to then sell plates after church on Sunday.

As I was prepping everything during church, my wife walked in and saw all of the meat. She immediately said, “I hope God honors your faith.” I told her that when it came to faith, I didn’t want God to call me “Ye”. We read all over the four Gospels, in the old King James, where Jesus would say, “Oh Ye of little faith.” Jesus was almost upset by the lack of faith especially when it came to His disciples.

I want to have the kind of faith that when I believe and ask God for something, He says, “Uh oh. I gotta go to work now. Chris is believing again.” I believe that if God gets upset with a lack of faith, He must get motivated by a lot of it. The thing that always makes my mind go haywire is that when I think I have a lot of faith, God looks at it and it’s not even the size of a mustard seed.

It makes me wonder, “How much faith is truly possible?” I must be limiting my own faith somehow. I can’t tell you the last time that I told a mountain to move and it did. Unless of course you consider 40 pounds of beef a mountain. Because that moved faster than I could anticipate. I was in position to block the exit doors of the church to redirect them to buy plates when I realized that people were automatically walking over there. I mentioned it to a few people as they left and when I looked back over, the mountain of plates was nearly gone.

As people walked up to the counter and the plates were gone, we apologized for having sold out. Many people that didn’t get a plate still offered money to help our team go. When all was said and done, we sold nearly 200 pounds of beef. God didn’t have to call me “Ye”. Instead, He acted on my faith and moved. He acted on our group’s ability to show up and work to be there when God moved.

That’s one of the great things about faith. Not only are we to believe, but we are required to do things with it. Peter had to get out if the boat. Martha and Mary had to roll the stone out of the way for Lazarus. Gideon had to step onto the battlefield with 300 men. Abraham had to climb the mountain without a ram. And you and I have to do the same. James says that faith without works is dead. Are you acting on your faith or just sitting their “believing” or hoping God moves? Trust that He will and work like He’s going to answer.

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April 4, 2013 · 9:14 AM

Driven by Love

I watched several episodes of “The Bible” on the History channel. I know they took some dramatic liberty in some areas and they admitted it. As I watched the final episode on Easter, one of the things that stood out to me was when Simon dropped the cross on Golgotha and they forced him away, they beat Jesus as he crawled to the cross. That’s one of those things that I don’t know if it happened that way, but I’m glad they portrayed it like that.

Think for a second if you were innocent and about to be killed for something you didn’t do. Would you willingly get on the cross? No. You’d be kicking and screaming and they’d have to get an army of people to drag you onto it and then to hold you down while they nailed you to it. You’d be acting like a crazy person even if you were guilty I think. That’s why I loved what they did.

Jesus left Heaven willingly to come here. His sole purpose was to die for your sins. He knew what He was going to endure and did it anyway. I loved that they had Him crawl willingly on the cross. Against what you or I would do, He was driven by love to endure the beating, the shame and the nails for you. In John 10:18, Jesus said, “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily.” We often think that it was the religious leaders or Pilate who had Jesus killed, but that’s not the case.

He not only voluntarily laid His life down, He even called out to God on behalf of those who killed Him. Jesus cried out from the cross in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” He was willing to forgive them while He was still in pain. While He was still hanging on the cross. To their faces. I don’t know about you, but I know I couldn’t have done that. Most of the time we don’t forgive others who have betrayed us at all or we wait years until the bulk of the pain is gone.

Jesus wasn’t like that. His desire was that not one person would perish, but that all would have everlasting life. Even those who killed Him. None of us deserve it really. Each of us have done something, or in my case, many things to offend God. We are not perfect, nor can we be. That’s why God’s love and grace are so amazing. He knows we can’t do it on our own so He shed His own blood to cover our sins. All we have to do is accept that act of love to cover our sins. The lyrics to “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” say it all: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

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April 2, 2013 · 7:55 AM

Lord Help!

I love Psalm 107. It talks about people in all kinds of situations and were all at the end of their ropes. He talks of those who were wandering aimlessly, those who were hungry, those who were having difficult times that caused them to live in darkness and gloom, those who have turned from God and rebelled, and those who were enduring a storm longer than they thought it would last. In each case, the people cried out, “Lord help!” And He came to the rescue.

In their cases and in most of our cases, we wait until it is an act of desperation to call out to God. It must be the way he hard wired us. We try to do everything on our own and in our own strength. I’m the first to admit that I’m the same way. I don’t think it’s so I get the glory and not Him. It’s more of an “I can do this” attitude. I don’t need anyone’s help. I got myself in this mess and I’ll get myself out.

Meanwhile, God is patiently waiting for us to call out, “Lord help!” He wants to rescue us. He wants to deliver us. We say, “the Lord is my shepherd,” but we don’t let Him shepherd us. We don’t let Him lead us to the still waters or the green pastures. When we go our own way and fall into distress, He is there looking for us to lead us back to safety. He’s not content to leave us in our situation simply because we’re headstrong and moved away from the pack.

What I’ve never understood about God is how He continues to love me no matter how far or often I move away from the heard. It’s a love I don’t deserve. None of us do. We all do things that get us in the situations listed in this Psalm. There also times where life just happens. There’s nothing we can do about it and don’t feel like we deserve it. Even in those times we have a choice. We can either have a pity party while life continues to rain on us or we can cry out, “Lord help!”

Psalm 145:8 says, “The Lord is close to all who call on Him.” He is waiting for us to call on Him. We often think we’re too far away from Him or done so much that we can never go back. I’ve been there. I was embarrassed and didn’t want to deal with facing those whom I thought I had let down. When I was near my lowest a friend said, “Boy, what are you doing? You need to get your butt back in that church where people know you and love you!” I gave every excuse I could as to why I couldn’t, but none were good enough.

Don’t let pride stand in your way of calling out for the Lord’s help today. Don’t make excuses why you can’t go home. His ear is listening for your voice. His eyes are searching all over for you. Jesus said that He would leave the 99 to find just one. You. You mean the world to Him. Don’t delay. Cry out today, “Lord help!” I promise you that He will come running to you. He will save you and rescue you.

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April 1, 2013 · 7:41 AM

Seeing Isn’t Believing

Yesterday we celebrated Easter. To me it’s the most important day in Christianity. If Jesus had not died and resurrected, His birth would have been pointless. Even His death was not enough. His resurrection not only showed He had paid for our sins, it proved He had power to do so. It was in the resurrection that victory was won. We don’t have to live defeated lives. We have a victorious savior who fights for us.

I can imagine that Sunday morning in Jerusalem. Since Friday evening at sunset, they had not been able to do anything about Jesus’ death. They had all day Saturday to sit and wonder about what just happened. They were in shock. A week before, Jesus had triumphantly entered Jerusalem. Surely He was about to set up His earthly kingdom and overthrow Rome. His death was a pill they couldn’t swallow.

They had barely enough time to get Him into the tomb on Friday before the Sabbath began. They needed to embalm Him better and find a more long term solution for His grave. This tomb was simply borrowed in order to house Him until other arrangements could be made. So Mary Magdalene and some others went as dawn was breaking in order to get an early start. They were unprepared for what they found.

The stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. She ran back, woke the others up and told them. They ran to the tomb expectantly. When they saw the empty tomb, they remembered what they had read in the scriptures and what Jesus had told them. They went away believing, but Mary stuck around. She was distraught. With tears coming down her face, she looked in the tomb again.

Two angels were sitting where Jesus had been laid. They asked her why she was crying and she told them. She then turned around and walked out of the tomb into the garden. She saw someone else who asked her why she was crying. She said, “Sir, if you have taken Him away, please tell me where you have put Him and I will go and get Him.” Then she heard, “Mary!” It was Jesus who was talking to her. She then recognized Him, grabbed Him and hugged him tightly.

I started thinking, “How many times does God show up in our lives and we don’t recognize Him? How often are we seeking Him or His will when He is right there in front of us?” We search for Him and think we know what we’re going to find, but we aren’t really looking. Mary had allowed her mind to cloud her vision. She couldn’t see the Savior standing there in front of her because her mind wasn’t open to it. The disciples didn’t see Him when they went looking, but they believed anyway. They found their answer in the empty tomb.

What are you looking for? What are you believing God to do? Are you allowing your mind to control what your faith sees? Or are you like the disciples who didn’t see what they were looking for, but believed anyway? Jesus said it best in John 20:29. He said, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” We don’t have to have that face to face meeting like Mary did in order to believe. The truth is that many of us have had that experience and didn’t recognize Him. Trust God today to bring you the victory even when you can’t see Him.

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March 26, 2013 · 8:23 AM

Cleaning Your Temple

One of the first things Jesus did after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem was to go to the temple. When He got there it was crowded with merchants who were buying and selling the items needed for sacrifices. There were even people there who would loan people money to buy what they needed for the sacrifices. The Message calls them loan sharks. Jesus became angry and kicked over the tables and threw them out of the temple.

As I read that, I’m reminded that I Corinthians 6:19 says that our bodies are the temple now. It got me to wondering, “What would Jesus kick over in my life? What things have I set up that make Him upset? What keeps me from being a ‘House of prayer?'” They’re tough questions to ask, but they need to be asked. None of us are perfect, nor will we ever be. That doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t try to do what’s right.

As Jesus was heading to the cross, He wanted to make sure that people understood what was important to Him. The first thing on His list was to clean out the temple. It was so full of other things that the poor and the crippled couldn’t get in. When we fill our lives with so many things that aren’t what God wants in them, we don’t have room for the things He wants to put in them. We miss out on blessings.

The options are clear. We can have Jesus come in, kick things over and make room, or we can make the adjustments ourselves. Personally, I prefer the latter. If we become people of prayer, we will hear God more. When we hear a God more, we will know more of what His will is for our lives. His will isn’t for us to live our lives for ourselves, but for others. The problem is that most of us don’t have room for others in our lives because we’re full of things for ourselves.

Hebrews 12:1 says that we are to cast aside and to strip off every weight that clings to us and entangles us. Verse two tells us how to do it. It says, “We do this by keeping our eye on Jesus.” He wasn’t concerned about Himself, He was concerned for others. His entire reason for coming here was to seek and to save the lost. He knew what kind of a price He would have to pay to build the bridge between us and God. He knew it meant sacrifice. Even when He got to Jerusalem for Holy Week, He told them what was about to happen.

Am I willing to make sacrifices in my life so others may know God? Is there room in my life for the emotionally, physically and spiritually poor and crippled? Am I concerned more with others eternity than my own temporary, physical comfort? What do I need to move out of my life in order to make room for what God wants to put in? These are tough questions that I’m asking myself. Hopefully, you’re asking yourself the same questions. It’s time we did a spring cleaning of our temples.

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