Looking for an earlier Watchword?
- Like an Orphan? - Corrie ten Boom, from Clippings from My Notebook: “Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strength.” Worry. We do, despite our Lord telling us “do not worry”, we just go right on worrying. Or do we? Some worry is not worry. Right? We look both ways, twice, before driving through an intersection. We use caution on stairs. Some of us check the ‘Use by date’ on foods, just to be safe. Is all that evidence of worry? Think of it this way: Pride says, what happens is up to me and this only creates more anxiety, worry. Humility says, “Lord, everything that concerns me is in your hands.” This is the beginning of peace. When you worry, God says, “You’re my child. Why are you acting like an orphan?” Continue reading
- Gifts and Graces - Gifts and Graces: Think about that and about the gifts or talents given to each of us. Every person has the task of releasing angels by shaping and transfiguring all those raw materials that lie within into our life, artistic works, careers, etc. We chip, and scratch, and file away at our raw material to discover our gifts, and the transformational process begins. When we talk about being ourselves -- being the person we are intended by God to be -- we are talking about gifts. We cannot be ourselves unless we are true to the gifts and graces that flow to us from His hands. Continue reading
- Truth and Grace - Truth and Grace: On matters of truth and grace, it occurs to me that we may not know the full definition of either one of those ideas. I have read essays that talk about what is truth, but when it comes to the matter of grace, I wonder if we fully understand. Do we see Grace as a ‘get out of jail free card’? You know that’s partly correct. Grace is God’s way of delivering us from what we really deserve. However, there is a condition in there.In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer draws a fine distinction between cheap and costly grace. The short version – Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, or repentance. Costly grace confronts us as a call to follow Jesus. Continue reading
- Healing vs Miracles - Healing vs Miracles:Ask any doctor and they will probably tell you that our bodies are designed to heal. It’s more than ‘take two aspirin and call me in the morning,’ and maybe you will feel better. Is that a miracle, or is the aspirin what causes the healing? Your child falls while climbing a kid’s apparatus and breaks their arm and although the doctor puts the arm in a cast, the body of your child works to heal the arm. Miracle or nature? There’s a part of our intellect and part of our common sense that can make some kind of a clear cut separation between a miracle and a healing, and yet I would submit that everything in the universe bears the “fingerprints” of our God. His nudges, his words, his voice is constantly active in our lives. In our lives, God has given us the tools. Continue reading
- The Power of Small Things - The Power of Small Things: Do we realize that when we do what could be considered small acts of kindness for others, in the name of Jesus, we are glorifying his Holy Name? When we express genuine concern for hurting people, give to worthy and helping causes, our generosity and compassion are seen by the All-Seeing, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Continue reading
- The IF of My Faith - The IF of My Faith: We keep running into conditionals and transitionals as we read God’s word. Sometimes it’s "therefore", sometimes it's "however", or "although", or it’s any number of other words that provide a contrast or a cause-and-effect, or a transition. When reading God's Word, we run into a lot of “if’s”, setting up the condition which follows, i.e. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. We’d like the Lord to grant us our every wish. But it doesn’t work that way. Along comes the “If” condition that God sprinkles into our yearnings, our greatest desires. Continue reading
- Psalm 46 - Psalm 46: Martin Luther had a great saying about Psalm 46 when he was in great distress. He said, “Let us sing the forty-sixth psalm in concert; and then let the devil do his worst.” Look at the passage, Psalm 46, broken into four pieces, and each piece has a familiar ring to it, on its own. Here the poet begins with God’s provision. He looked to God for help in difficult times and found it. He will not fear, even as he faced difficulties in his life that seemed overwhelming. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. Now there is a verse that really preaches. Streams of living water making glad, even joyful, all those who worship the one true God. Continue reading
- Ash Wednesday - Ash Wednesday: Lectio Divina? What is that? First of all, the phrase is Latin. You can probably figure this out, especially if you have any Catholic leanings. Divina would be divine or Holy. Lectio looks like the word lectionary, or reading of the Word. So, Lectio Divina means “divine reading”, or Holy Reading in Latin. It is actually more than a simple reading, it’s a meditative way of reading the Bible in which we let go of our own agendas and open ourselves to what God is saying to us, the focus of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday. Continue reading
- Every Good Thing - Every Good Thing: It’s hard to realize that this song, this Psalm 34, was written by David at a time when he had fled for his life out of the clutches of Saul and the Philistines, and took refuge in a cave where many other desperate men had joined him. The Message version of this passage reads like one giving their faith testimony to others, maybe those who gathered in the cave. He is also speaking to us when we’re confronted with trouble, adversity, sadness, and tells us to be joyful, to call on the Lord, to give him a hopeful smile, and to realize that we belong to Him. Continue reading
- Box of Rocks? - A Box of Rocks? We think we’re so smart. We think we’re so reverent, so dedicated to our Lord. Perhaps we work ourselves into exhaustion, doing our good deeds. We tell ourselves we are working for the Lord, and fashion our own direction and purposes. In my imagination, I see God of the Universe, sitting on his throne, watching over us, ruefully smiling and shaking His great head, and thinking our loud -- Dumb as a box of rocks! They think they’re doing my will but they’re missing the point. They take my Word, the rock of their salvation, and then take their chisel of their own desires and comforts to fashion what they think is my will. Come to think of it, I wonder if a box of rocks is smarter. I’ve got more teaching to do. Continue reading
- Hypocrisy - Hypocrisy: When someone brings up the matter of hypocrisy, does our mind wander to other people, our acquaintances, maybe we look around the congregation. As we look to others, do we consider our own maybe prideful mind and, in honesty, conclude that there are times when that label has fit. The mirror is very revealing, and the truth is hard to duck. Could it be said that in our Christian walk we are sometimes critical of those who don’t seem to be responding as we understand how Christ would have us respond. Are we judging? Continue reading
- Really Good Reads - Really Good Reads: Want a good read? I mean a really good read, one that stretches you, that opens your faith. I know you read all different kids of books for entertainment, for knowledge, to gain information for a project you are working on. I know because I’m in one of those people. However, I’m talking about really good reads, I would define as ‘faith-blessed’. Really good books that might be recommended by your pastor, when you asked “What are the great classics of Christian literature? I came across a list of faith reads that was compiled in 1989 by a group of us attending a weekend retreat. Continue reading
- Sing a New Song - Sing a New Song: Ever have your heart so full of joy that it seems you can’t stop singing, or humming or even dancing? You want to shout, “I feel goooood!” You can say that you were happy, but it’s more than that, far more than that. The Psalmist tells us to sing to the Lord a new song. I think at the very heart of our joy is the knowledge we have been invited to come to Him and he gives us rest. How do we do that? How do we lay down our worries, our fears, the sense of uncertainty about the future, and replace it with a light burden, that brings gladness to our lives, which is what our Lord has promised? Continue reading
- Being There - Being There: The Christian life is not one of competing for a trophy, rather it is one of involvement, of loving others. It is Christ honoring interaction with other people that allows us to be rooted in the light of God‘s Word. It is participating in the walk of Christ. If, as children of God, our role is to love others and encourage them to do the same, then we have to display that loving spirit, we have to be present, demonstrating that love is more than just a verbal expression, we are to love by Word, by deed, and by being there. Continue reading
- The Loophole - The Loophole: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Did you get that, he is faithful and just? He lives up to his side of the bargain, and in the transaction, there is an expectation, but if you’re going to follow him, it’s with everything. God is faithful and just and he forgives our sins, and he cleans us from unrighteousness, but our role is in that first phrase of Verse 9, if we confess our sins to him. The choice is ours; the decision is ours. There is the loophole. There is the escape clause. Continue reading
- Your Good Intentions - Your own good intentions: You sit in church every Sunday. Good for you. You have read through the Bible multiple times. Good for you. You tithe 10%, just like God has told you. Good for you. How’s your scorecard looking? Are you there yet? Do you have enough points? Have you earned your ticket to heaven? What’s happening within our hearts when we sit in the pew, and we gaze at the cross? What thoughts go through our minds when we meditate on what the cross truly means? What a sacrifice, what a price to pay for us! Continue reading
- No Matter the Cost? - No Matter the Cost? Would you sell your good name for a bowl of chili? What if you were starving, then? What if the chili were known as the best in the whole world, then? How about if it’s the only way you can save your life, would you sell it then? Is our spiritual birthright, ‘Child of God’, more precious to us than the name we were given at our birth by our parents? Is it? Peter was really dedicated to his Lord, and clearly stated that he would follow him to the death, but then, when the chips were down and the opportunity extended, Peter chose to save his own hide. Are you a Peter? Continue reading
- The Power of Christ - The Power of Christ: We often hear that faith is a decision, and some elements of living our lives certainly rest with our deciding one way or another on a matter. But faith through which we are saved is a free gift of God. We become children of God not through our good works, our best efforts, or services we render to others, our salvation is a gift from God and entirely based upon His grace. Continue reading
- I Shoulda… - I Shoulda: What, you ask, is a ‘shoulda’? A ‘shoulda’ in your life are all those times when the Lord has led you to a point where you have an opportunity to live what you believe and do the right thing, but instead you turned your back and walked away. Or perhaps there were other times when you watered down your faith so as not to ‘offend’ those listening or those you wish to impress. I ‘shoulda’ done this or a ‘shoulda’ done that, or I 'shouda' done something. A ‘shoulda’follows doing nothing and is a sign of sin. Continue reading
- In Christ Alone - In Christ Alone: The Apostle Paul wrote to his friends, the Christians in Philippi, from his Roman house arrest as he waited for his court appearance before Caesar. It had been ten years since Paul and Silas had founded the church in Philippi, during his second missionary journey. This was the first church established on the continent of Europe, and it is obvious from this letter that as he considers this congregation, it brings him joy. One might say that when Paul prayed for the Philippians, he became happy. It is remarkable to see that Paul’s first reference to his own feelings or frame of mind in this letter is that of joy – though he wrote from as a prisoner facing possible execution. This is Paul’s great singing letter. Continue reading
