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!”

May 29 - Whosoever Will

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 10-12; Romans 10

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

Now that I’m serving as a chaplain for seniors, I finally get to sing the hymns again. One came to mind when I was reading in Romans today. The composer is the prolific hymn writer, P. P. Bliss (I used to laugh at his name as a kid in church), and he clearly had chapter 10 in mind:

Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the sound!
Spread the blessed tidings all the world around;
Spread the joyful news wherever man is found:
“Whosoever will may come.”

“Whosoever will, whosoever will,”
Send the proclamation over vale and hill;
’Tis a loving Father calls the wand’rer home:
“Whosoever will may come.”

This is why context is so important and why I recommend reading the whole Bible throughout the year. After reading chapter 9, it’s easy to see why reformers believe God determines who will be saved and who will not. But they miss the point of what Paul was saying. Many of the Jews in Paul’s day believed they were the only chosen people, the elect, but God can choose to include whoever He wants, just as he did Jacob over the rightful heir, Esau. In this chapter we read, “anyone who believes” (10:11), “all who call on him” (10:12), “everyone who calls” (10:13 – “whosoever will” in KJV). 

God chose to invite all of us but we must choose to accept His invitation. That’s why the Spirit of God inspired Paul to make this plea: How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach , except they be sent? (10:14,15). Another choice is involved - will we go and invite “whosoever will” to come to Jesus?

“Lord, thank You for the opportunity to offer the hope of eternal life to those who have only a short time left to make that choice!”

May 28 - Make Good Choices

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 7-9; Romans 9

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Dabbling in sin is like playing with fire
and the burn marks stay with you. 

You may have heard your mom say this to you as you left the house for school each morning, “Make good choices, Bobby!” (actually, the Bobby part was just me; hopefully your mom knew your name). Many, many years later, I still have the voice of my mom in my head and I’m still trying to follow that wise advice. Solomon is saying the same thing in our Proverbs reading today and it is even more emphatic when coupled with our reading in Romans.

Romans 9 is often misunderstood because it gives the impression that God makes our choices for us, at least the most important choice of our eternal destination. I stated my view on this controversy back on December 2nd (see “Stop – You’re Both Right!”), but for this journal entry I’ll give the simple version.

God is sovereign. In other words, He’s in charge and makes the ultimate choices. But He created us in His image, giving us the ability to make choices as well. That’s one of the things that distinguishes us from animals, which live out their days largely by instinct. Like the God who designed us, humans can make plans, set goals, exercise logic, listen to God’s Spirit, and make choices that will determine their eternal future. The rest of Romans makes that clear (9:33; 10:9,11-17; 11:12,15,20-23).

So does all of Proverbs, which is essentially advice on making good choices. In this passage the choice is between the wisdom of God and the seduction of an adulterous woman. What struck me was how one bad choice can lead to ultimate destruction: little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave (7:21-27; 9:16-18). Genuine remorse and repentance can change that inevitability, but there are still consequences to every bad choice. Solomon may have been the first to use the analogy, “it’s like playing with fire!” (6:27-29) and the burn marks stay with you.

“Lord, thank You for Your Word and Your Spirit (and my mom!), for providing me with everything I need to consistently make good choices. Today I choose to follow You and Your wisdom!”

May 27 - Guard Your Heart

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 4-6; Romans 8

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY
Knowing that our eyes are the windows to the soul,
there are times we need to pull the shades. 

We often try to modify behaviour from the outside in. Within correctional facilities, rehab centres, even our own homes, we reward good behaviour and punish bad. But trying to bring about conformation from the outside can harden the heart, creating attitudes of legalism and judgmentalism. Instead, Romans calls for a transformation that can only happen from the inside out (Rom. 12:2). That’s the only way we can daily “walk in the Spirit” the way Paul describes in our NT reading today.

To respond to the gentle nudgings of the Holy Spirit, we must keep our hearts soft. Signs of a soft heart are humility, dependence on God, and a readiness to repent. Ironically, Solomon, who once had such a soft heart, hardened his through compromise. Again, he should have heeded his wise words: Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil (4:23-27). 

Solomon correctly described the best way, the only lasting way, to modify behaviour - from the inside out, from heart to mouth to eyes to feet. If you keep your heart pure, your words will reflect that purity. Knowing that our eyes are the windows to the soul, there are times we need to pull the shades. We can’t allow our heart to be contaminated by the outside world. If we maintain our internal compass we won’t stray from the center of the straight and narrow. No dead ends, no detours, no soft shoulders, no sudden drop-offs!

“Lord, I need to guard my heart every day to keep it soft and open to You. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me, Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.”

May 26 - Word to the Wise

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 1-3; Romans 7

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 Sometimes what God asks us to do makes no sense
to our human logic or emotional impulses. 

Solomon was definitely wise, but he wasn’t always smart. The book of Proverbs he wrote, by the inspiration of the Spirit, is filled with memorable words to live by, but he didn’t always listen to his own advice. 

The verses that stood out to me have been meaningful to me my entire life, but never more so than my first day working as a chaplain at Buchanan. The words I read that morning were the words I needed to hear in that moment: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (3:5,6).

An hour later, as I stepped through the doors of this wonderful ministry, I was conflicted. The work I was beginning was very different from anything I’d done in my previous 40 years of pastoral ministry. And yet, after spending a day with God before making this decision, I was certain He was asking me to do it. In that moment of contradictory emotions, these verses came flooding back to me. Instantly, my spirit was filled with God’s incredible, inexplicable peace, the kind of peace that transcends human understanding (Phil. 4:7).

Sometimes what God asks us to do does not make sense according to human logic or emotional impulses. Solomon faced that same quandary, knowing what God wanted of his life, but torn by trying to make too many women happy. Though not a proverb, the saying, “happy wife, happy life” is very true. Unless, of course, you are Solomon, with 700 wives and 300 concubines! Before I got married, I envied his life; now I pity him. Trying to appease all those women, and their foreign gods, pulled Solomon away from simple trust in and obedience to the one true God. Solomon illustrated what our NT reading talks about, the war between flesh and Spirit, human and godly desires.

“Lord, Your ways and Your words are trustworthy, far more than my own. I acknowledge You as the one who led me into this new and exciting ministry, and I look forward to the straight path ahead!”