June 4 - Paul and Women Leaders

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 28,29; Psalms 60; Romans 16

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 We believe in woman leaders for one reason - God does! 

When I was being interviewed for this job, I was asked how I felt about women leaders. This was a pertinent question as I would be working with a woman chaplain. The answer was easy – it’s a non-issue! I say that not because I’m part of a denomination founded by a woman, nor because it’s the politically correct answer. I’m not a feminist; in fact I believe the agenda to make women the same as men misrepresents women. It certainly misrepresents God, the one who uniquely designed us as male and female. The truth is, I believe in woman leaders for one reason - God does!

Reformers who misunderstand God’s sovereignty because of Romans 9 (ignoring the counterbalance on free will in the next five chapters), also struggle with endorsing women leaders because of two passages in Paul’s writings - 1 Corinthians 14:34,35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15. They fail to note the specific context of these two letters, the first addressing women disrupting public services, and the second, women spreading the teachings of false prophets. If the context isn’t obvious enough, then our reading in Romans today should convince everyone that Paul, and the Holy Spirit who inspired him, believed in women leaders.

Paul mentions women who worked with him, evangelized with him, taught with him, and led with him ten times in this one short salutation. They include Phoebe, a Deacon (vs. 1,2 - those who think pastors can’t be women because of 1 Tim. 3:2, “husband of one wife”, need to read 3:12 - the same was said of deacons); Priscilla, a church planter and teacher (vs. 3,4); and Junia, an apostle (check it out - v. 7). Women often responded to the gospel first as Paul went from town to town, and he was smart enough to know that if God was calling them to serve and lead in the church, that was good enough for him.

Paul said it best: watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them (v. 17). “Lord, Your Word is clear and I pray that I would never put obstacles in the way of those You are calling to serve through leadership, Jew or Gentile, male or female, old or young” (Acts 2:17,18; Gal. 3:28).

June 3 - Grin and Bear It!

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 25-27; Romans 15

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 There’s no one more powerful than a praying grandma.

I long suspected it was true but now I know firsthand. Working with seniors has provided me with plenty of evidence to support this theory: as we get older, our attitudes intensify.

If we tend to be self-centered, we will likely become the stereotypical crotchety Mr. Wilson (neighbour to Dennis the Menace). Our world shrinks so we can’t see past our own needs, which, as we get older, become harder to satisfy. “Crotchety” sums it up: demanding, impatient, complaining, intolerant, judgmental, angry, and bitter.

On the other hand, if we care more for others than we do for ourselves, we will become the most endearing, inspirational, influential people on the planet. There’s no one more powerful than a praying grandma. I recently sat beside a dear saint, languishing in a hospital next to a bedside chart overflowing with untreatable problems, who seemed to have no concerns for herself. Everything she needed was met in her vibrant relationship with Jesus. As she sang with us, “God Will Take Care of You,” I believe she was thinking more of her grandson’s safety overseas than she was of her own needs. Her beautiful toothless smile and supernaturally strong singing voice inspired me more than the best sermon I’ve ever heard or preached!

The book of Proverbs is filled with promises for those who care for and give to others. Today, Solomon, with the same inspiration we find in the words of Jesus, took it to a whole new level: If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink (25:21). Our Romans passage says this: We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbour for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself.....Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God (15:1-4,7).

This then is the secret to a happy life, now, through our senior years (if God blesses us with long life), and on into eternity. Grin and bear it, but not in the fake way we normally apply that expression. Smile from the inside out and bear the burdens of others around you. “Lord, You showed me today if that’s the way I want to be when I am old, then I must choose to live that way today!”

June 2 - Fight For Your Right - Wrong!

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 22-24; Romans 14

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
Doing the right thing is far better
than asserting my own rights! 

It’s a nonsensical song, but it embodies the philosophy of this generation: “You gotta fight for your right to party!” I’m not sure when the Beastie Boys started having more influence than God’s Word, but the “right to party” flies in the face of both our readings today. It also just so happens to fall well short of the lunch table discussion I had with my work mates!

First, let’s look at Proverbs: Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” (23:31-35). That’s funny stuff, Solomon! Methinks he spoke from experience!

Next, consider Romans: It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves (14:21,22).

So first of all, drinking to excess leads to more excess. Second, drinking any alcohol at all can become a stumbling block to those who have spiraling addictions. Prior to reading either of these passages, I had a fascinating discussion with some Salvation Army officers who laid down their rights to drink for the sake of the alcoholics they were trying to help. That’s the spirit of Jesus, who as God had the right to do anything He wanted. Instead, He laid down His rights as God and then laid down His life for us.

Sorry to be a party pooper Beastie “Boys” but I would rather follow “The Man!” I’d rather grow up than throw up! Real love, personal sacrifice, true selflessness is worth fighting for. “Lord, I’m grateful for all the role models in my life who’ve helped me understand that doing the right thing is far better than asserting my rights!”

June 1 - Happy Wife

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 19-21; Romans 13

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 The right spouse transforms our perspective
from tunnel vision to Panavision!

A more obscure theme arises out of our readings today. Solomon had a unique perspective on marriage, likely because he did it 700 times! At first he was positive. Yesterday we read that he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord (18:22). So far so good. But today we read that a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping (19:13); better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife (21:9); or better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife (21:19).

I’ve heard it said many times, mostly from my own lips: “happy wife, happy life!” Solomon is basically saying the same thing but from the negative side and with much more descriptive language. Keeping one wife happy is a challenge (or so I’ve heard!), but pleasing or at least appeasing 700 is the definition of impossible! Solomon, despite his beautiful palaces and summer estates, at times preferred the corner of his roof or the backside of the Judaean Desert. For one of his wives, he had his local plumber on speed dial (to fix the “constant dripping” - for those who need the joke explained).

Women - you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. That may not be a proverb but it’s close. I agree more strongly with the second part. My beautiful wife has completely complemented my life (no misspelling, I don’t mean complimented - she does the opposite to keep me humble, or so she says). She has strengths where I am weak. She has insight where I have blind spots. She has emotional depth while I tread on the surface. And she widens my perspective to see things I would normally never notice.

The job I have today she found. She thought I would enjoy it when I had no interest. After prayer, God told me she was right (I hate it when He does that, and it happens far too often). It turns out they were both right - I love my new job! And I love my wife for encouraging me to think outside my own limitations. I agree with Solomon: he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord (he may also be right about the quarrelsome wife but I wouldn’t know!).

“Lord, thank you for the wife of my youth who is a source of refreshing water for my soul (5:18), not a dripping faucet!”

June Devotional - Graduation Day

June is a month to remember milestones, especially Graduation Day.  My home church always uses this month to recognize our children moving up a grade in Kid’s Church, and to honour our high school and college grads.  The photo below is of my youngest granddaughter, Gracie, when she graduated from Wee College, a 3 year Bible training program.  You can see it in her face - Graduation Day should always stir up gratitude for past accomplishments and hope for an even better future.

Unfortunately, reality can often burst the bubble of youthful ideals. You have to smile at this story I heard at a recent graduation ceremony:  Having just graduated from Yale, a young man is fired up to meet his best friend for lunch and map out their futures.  He opens his Uber app and calls for a ride. The car shows up, the young man hops in, and the driver says, “Nice day. How you doin’?” The graduate replies, “I just got my diploma from Yale. I’m off to go conquer the world.” The driver comes back with, “Congrats! Nice to meet ya. I’m Howie, Yale 1999.” 

As we live our lives, putting one foot in front of the other, we really have such a limited view of the horizon in front of us.  Today at Buchanan, when I wrote this, we had just finished singing one of our most requested hymns, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. The story behind this great song is fascinating: Thomas Chisholm, who wrote the hymn, trained well to become a minister but on the day of his hope-filled graduation he had no idea his career would last only one year.  Chronic illness led to a life of being cared for, selling insurance when healthy enough, but ultimately spending much of his adult life in a nursing home.  Yet, his gratitude to God inspired this line from the hymn’s last verse:

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. “Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!” Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided - “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

The best advice we can find about graduations at every stage of life comes from the highly educated St. Paul, inspired by God Himself, when he wrote:  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).

“Heavenward” - now that’s a “graduation day” we should all look forward to!

May 31 - Loud and Proud

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 16-18; Romans 12

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 God chose to invite all of us into His family
but we must choose to accept His invitation. 

Yesterday we talked about the themes emerging out of what seems like a random collection of proverbs. The theme that first came to my mind today fits neatly into the Romans reading. Paul is addressing the destructive pride he sees behind Jewish resistance to Gentiles being welcomed into the church. Today we let God’s Word speak for itself.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought....Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves....Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited (3,10,16).

Solomon wisely echoes Paul’s warnings, under the inspiration of the same Spirit: The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: they will not go unpunished....Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall....Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud (16:5,18,19); A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.... A fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating.... Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor (18:2,6,12).

Two things I noticed: pride shows up in words and those words destroy unity among God’s people. That may be why God “detests” pride. The proud are often loud, voicing opinions and stirring up strife. Unfortunately the destruction they leave in their wake affects more than themselves. “Pride goes before a fall” - we joke about it all the time, but it’s no laughing matter. Just as love is at the core of God’s nature, pride is at the core of Satan’s.

“Lord, I’m quick to notice pride in others but slow to see it in myself. But I know it’s there. I sometimes hear it in my words and see it in the strife I stir up. Forgive me and help me to take pride as seriously as You do!”

May 30 - Sleepy Sluggards

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 13-15; Romans 11

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 All hard work brings a profit,
but mere talk leads only to poverty. 

Proverbs is so filled with practical wisdom that you could post a year’s worth of journal entries from this book alone! The wise sayings come fast and furious after chapter 9 but there are themes that emerge. One of my favourite themes is encapsulated in one of my favourite words: “sluggard”. Some of the modern versions use “lazybones,” but that makes a serious problem sound too cute.

Whenever we can, we like to teach our grand kids, the value of work. When we were putting in new lawns we combined the reward of a wheelbarrow ride with 10 shovels “full” of topsoil. Kids will love to work when you make it fun – and in my mind, work is fun! Proverbs speaks for itself when it comes to hard workers vs. sleepy sluggards.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man (6:9-11); Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son…. As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him (10:4,5,26);

One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed (11:24,25); He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment….

Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor (12:11,24); The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied (13:4); He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy…. All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty (14:21,23); The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway (15:19).

“Lord, thank You for parents who taught me to love work, especially Your work. Help me to pass that legacy on to my grand kids. There will be no ‘sleepy sluggards’ in our family!”