Category: Devotional Thought

It was a Monday morning in March. It was the start of another work week. It had been a hard winter, but spring was in the air. Janet, a middle-aged woman, went to work as usual. Life seemed to be turned around for her.

Janet was divorced after more than 25 years of an abusive relationship. Her two sons had married. She had purchased a nice home a couple years ago. She was enjoying fixing it up, and she had just become a grandma!

On that Monday morning in March, Janet’s life took another turn. She suffered a severe stroke. It left her paralyzed on her left side. It also affected her reasoning abilities and her emotional stability, as a stroke often does.

If that had been you who had suffered that stroke that Monday morning in March, how would you have reacted? Many people might say, “I would have had my doubts about being able to go on with my life.”

What if you were one of Janet’s sons? What kind of doubts would cross your mind?

When troubles come to live with us, doubts are numerous. We doubt ourselves. We doubt others, We doubt medical science. We even doubt God.

We ask, “Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Does God care for us? Does God really love us?”

What should we do when we experience doubts? Where should we turn? The answer is simple. We need to turn to Jesus. He came to seek and save sinners like us. By his death on Calvary’s cross, he freed us from the consequences of our sins and delivered us from all punishment.

We know we will never be worthy of God’s love and care. But then again, we don’t have to earn it. God has reached out to us through his Son, Jesus, and has given us the gift of eternal life. It is Jesus himself who comforts our troubled hearts with the words, “Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:27).

Pastor R.

“I just can’t. I’d like to, but I don’t have the time.”

This is not a very truthful excuse. We all “have time.” In fact, we all get it at precisely the same rate:  365¼ days, or 8766 hours, or 525,960 minutes each year.  Nobody gets more than anyone else.

Usually our excuse really is, “I can’t because I’ve chosen to spend my time on something else.” The reason for that, of course, is that something else is more important or enjoyable than what we have just been asked to do.

The truth is that our life decisions are almost never about not having time. They are about priorities. Unfortunately, our priorities rather easily get out of whack. We all know stories of people, for example, who spent so much time working for their families that they lost them.

How do we keep those things from happening to us? How do we keep our priorities straight? How can we “find” more time for what really matters?

Books, DVDs, and courses on time management can help. The best way is via a fundamental “paradigm shift,” to steal a phrase from one of them. That is, do not ask, “How should I manage my time?” Rather ask, “Whose time am I managing, anyway?”

We can put it another way. We can say, “Who gave me my life? Who put me here? Who decides how long I’ll be here, and when I’ll leave?

The Bible’s answer is clear. Our time is in God’s hands (check out Psalm 31:15). Every new day is a gift from him. He gives us our time so we can get to know him. He wants us to enjoy the boundless, amazing love he offers through his Son, Jesus Christ.

God gives us a lifetime, whether short or long. Our lifetime is a time of grace. It is the time we have to come to know Jesus as our Savior. It is our time to have our faith grow. It is our time to show our appreciation for God’s gifts to us through praise and service.

Here we are at the beginning of another year, with the days, hours, and minutes God allots to us.  How will we use them?

Pastor R.

What makes a Christmas tree a Christmas tree? Is it the bright-shining lights? The dazzling garlands and tinsel? Maybe the ornaments.

Many would argue that a Christmas tree just isn’t a Christmas tree until the star is put on the top. Without the star, something is missing.

The Christmas season is adorned with many attractive decorations. Christmas music floats through the air. Christmas greetings arrive from old friends. Families gather joyfully around Christmas dinners. Children try unsuccessfully to contain their excitement as Christmas draws nearer.

Among all the gleam and glitter you may feel something is still lacking. Does it all seem pointless? Every year it starts earlier and becomes less satisfying. Is all the activity swirling around nothingness? What is missing?

If Christ is left out of the Christmas celebration, then there is nothing to celebrate. Something is missing! Something from the very top. The Star is gone.

Christmas is about Christ — God’s Son born as a child of man! It’s about God coming to humans so humans can go to God! It’s about the birth of the One whose name is above all names!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given . . . And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

We need a Counselor. We need fatherly love. We need peace. We need God.

That’s why Jesus came that first Christmas — to be our Counselor, our Source of Love, and our Peace. Jesus came to be our God.

We celebrate Christmas. Our Christmas has meaning because we celebrate Christ.

Pastor R.

In the classic movies It’s a Wonderful Life, the lead character, George Bailey, is at the brink of despair. He is stuck in a job he doesn’t want. He cannot provide for his family as he wishes. Suddenly, through no fault of his own, he is about to be thrown in jail.

He looks to friends for help. He begs his enemy for help. He tries to drown his sorrows in a bottle of booze.

Finally, in desperation, he prays. The rest of the movie is Hollywood’s fanciful story of God’s answer to his prayer.

Many people, like George Bailey, do not turn to prayer until all other avenues of help prove fruitless. It’s as if the axiom is true: “When all else fails, try prayer.”

Our Father in heaven urges us always to come to him with our prayers. He gives us this invitation, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

We will go to others and tell them our troubles, but we forget our privilege of prayer. We can come to our heavenly Father at any time, in any place, and pour out our hearts to him in prayer.

What is best of all is that God also promises to hear us. Look again at what our loving God says, “Ask and it will be given to you . . . you will find . . . the door will be opened.”

What a privilege we have in prayer. It is Jesus who has made prayer possible. Through his death and resurrection Jesus paid for our sins and has established peace between us and God.

If our heavenly Father has taken care of our greatest need, the forgiveness of our sins, he will surely answer our prayers.
Pastor R.

It’s that time of year again. Dads and moms sit around the Christmas tree and wonder how many of the gifts and toys will last past the holiday weekend.

Perhaps you can recall a gift you gave your children last year that disappointed both you and them. It broke in the first week.

Wouldn’t it be nice to receive a gift that would last forever? Like the pink rabbit on TV, with special batteries powering him so he can continually pound his drum, we would like to look at just one gift and say, “It’s still going!” Even the product that carries a lifetime warranty will wear out when the “life” of the product is done.

There is a gift that has lasting value. It is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. At Christmas we celebrate the gift which God gave to the world — Jesus. God says to us, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

We all need God’s gift of Jesus. We need him to take away all the sins we have committed. Sin leaves us with the curse of death — even death in hell. We need the gift of Jesus to give us eternal life instead of eternal death.

Jesus was born to rescue us from sin and to win the gift of eternal life. He lived perfectly in our place. He died for the world’s sins. Then he rose from death and now lives forever to bring us to heaven.

What a wonderful gift! On top of that, it’s free! That’s why it is called a gift.

As you sit this Christmas with a pile of gifts at your feet, remember the special gift God has given to the world. That gift is Jesus Christ, the Savior. He is the one gift that lasts forever.

Pastor R.