This week's 'thought' comes to you from Aaron Tabor's book, the Jesus Daily devotional. I picked
up a copy on sale a few months back and have been using it in the mornings with
my girls. The entries are short, well written, and with true to Scripture.
He makes the daily verses from the Bible understandable and uses
good visual contemporary illustrations.Tabor is founder of the Jesus Daily Facepage which has over 27,000,000 followers from 20+ countries. He is also a medical doctor, having graduated from John Hopkins School of Medicine, and president of Gene Facelift, a gene therapy biotechnology company.
I have selected two sample entries "The Source of All Power" and "The Love of Money." Enjoy.
The
Source of All Power
"The God of Israel
gives power and strength to his people." Psalm 68:35
"In many parts of the
world, electricity provides a standard of living that's easily taken for
granted. Lamps, heaters, air conditioners and other conveniences rely on
electric power to generate illumination, warm and cool air, and time-saving,
effort-reducing assistance for our homes, businesses, schools and churches.
When a power outage occurs
for any length of time, we're forced to return to the basics of surviving.
Suddenly, how we remain at a comfortable temperature is not so easy. Ways
to preserve our fresh food become a priority. Tasks that take seconds or
minutes seem to require minutes and hours.
When things are going
smoothly in our lives, we might be tempted to take God's strength and power for
granted. However, when our own abilities fail us, we once again get back to
basics. We realize that the Lord is the source of all our power. Anything we
accomplish is only because of him.
Unplug [from the internet]
for at least an hour today, using the time offline to pray, meditate, or rest
in the strength of the Lord."
The
Love of Money
"For the love of money
is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for
money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs." I Timothy 6:10
"When a weed takes
root in your garden, it drains nutrients in the soil away from other plants,
such as flowers or vegetables. Many weeds often bind themselves around the
roots of other plants to anchor themselves into the soil deeper. They not only
choke off the other plants, but they also secure themselves into the ground.
Eventually, they replace the flower and its natural systems of survival with
their own roots, shoots, and tendrils.
The love and pursuit of
money can be an enormous weed in our spiritual garden. With thorns that entrap
you and greed that grows like dandelions, desire for wealth can block your
vision, disrupt your path, and kill your heart [for God]. There's nothing you can
save, buy or spend that you can take with you for eternity. Only the fruit
of the Spirit that you cultivate now will last.
Spend time today tending
your spiritual garden and eliminate the weed of greed. Make a
donation to your church, a charity, or a ministry today -- something more
than just your usual tithe."
The
older one gets, the more obvious these truth become. God, as Paul says, is the One who "gives us life, and breath, and everything
else." (Acts 17:25) I derive from Him the gracious
gift of life, and strength, and all I need for everything I do -- even if I am
not conscious of my dependence of Him for all of it. Every breath I take
to fill my lungs and feed oxygen to my blood, and every beat of my heart that
pumps that blood throughout my body, is empowered by Him. Were He to speak
the word it would all stop. Apart from Him I really could do nothing. He
sustains my life -- and yours as well -- from the simplest functions to the
most complex.
Likewise,
the older one gets, the more they realize that things are merely
things, and they must leave every last one behind. In fact, in youth we seem driven to
accumulate, but as we grow older we seem more driven to clean out, unload,
give away and pare down to the essentials. Things that seemed so important and
necessary to our happiness before, now seem so trivial and
unnecessary -- as they sit stored in the attic, closet, cellar,
garage or storage unit, untouched and sometimes unseen for years.
If only we had the
perspective of time and the wisdom of age when we were young. It would
cause us to travel through life with a much different focus. As the
apostle Peter could write to all in the church when in his old
age: "Dear friends, I urge you, as strangers
and aliens in this world, to abstain from its sinful desires, which war
against the soul." Strangers and aliens (foreigners) don't seek to accumulate.
They travel light, because they realize their true and permanent home is
elsewhere. Precisely.
I pray you might do
as Aaron suggests and "unplug from the internet" -- for at least an hour or maybe an entire day or
week(!) -- and use the time to pray, to meditate on
Scripture (or the many things you are dependent upon God for), and not only
rest in His strength, but thank Him for the gracious and continual
supply of it.
In His Service, Pastor Jeff
