Nuts For God...

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Today's Devotional Thought: Nuts For God

2 Corinthians 9:7-8, "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

Pastor Ken Shigematsu shares the following true story about his wife's pet chipmunk named Forte:

My wife Saiko's family loves animals. They regularly take abandoned cats or dogs or even an abandoned ferret into their home. In the city of Osaka, Japan, her family's home has become the neighborhood's de facto pet refuge. At one point she even took in a wild chipmunk. This chipmunk had been the runt of the pack and the veterinarian had said it would probably only survive for a few days. She named him Forte—with the hope that he would grow strong. He not only survived but he began to thrive.

When Sakiko came back to her apartment in the evening after work, Forte would wake up and run excitedly around her apartment doing figure eights. Or if Sakiko was working on her computer at home, he would scamper up and down the keyboard, pressing on random characters. She noticed that Forte would take his most treasured possessions—his walnuts—and place them where he slept. Apparently this was a kind of hibernation instinct for him. But as his relationship with Sakiko developed, he began to take half his walnuts and put them under her pillow. He somehow came to understand that Sakiko was the one who provided for him and was his family. So out of gratitude, he wanted to share with her what he had so freely been given.

Do you have enough nuts? I do. God has blessed us with nuts, if we’re honest. God has blessed us with an abundance of nuts so we can share those nuts. In 2 Corinthians Paul gives three reasons why we should share our nuts.

First, there is a need for nuts. Paul was taking up an offering for persecuted Christians who were in great need. When we see a need it is God’s way of saying to us, who have nuts, to help meet that need. As James says, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16).  God expects us to share. Every parent recognizes the necessity of teaching their children to share. God is no different.

Secondly, there is a principle of generosity. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Paul is not talking about an earthly return. This isn’t a strategy for getting rich. At least not earthly riches. That which we will reap for being generous is heavenly wealth. It is spiritual wealth. Jesus told us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). An eternal perspective, which Christ gives, should give us an eternal motivation.

Lastly, we should share our nuts because of gratitude and love for God. For when you share your nuts in the name of Christ you are giving God glory. Those who receive our generous gift will thank God and praise His name. Paul says, “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11). Our giving shows our gratitude for a God who has so abundantly blessed us and that generosity will become to Him a gift of what He truly deserves--praise and glory.

Will you share your nuts today? Will you do it with a cheerful and grateful heart for all that God has done for you? Even a chipmunk knows that gratitude is shown by giving back some of the nuts that have been received. “Freely you have received; freely give” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:8)

Prayer: Father God, we thank You for Your abundant generosity to us. Will You open our eyes to see the opportunities You have have given us to be generous? May our generosity bring You praise and glory. We love You. In Jesus name, amen.

A Modern Violence

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Today's Devotional Thought:

Ephesians 5:15-16: "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

I remember as a young boy being examined by a Doctor. He had a stethoscope. Lifting my shirt he put its cold metal to my chest and I looked on in obvious fascination. The Doctor perceiving my interest let me listen. Ker-chunk, ker-chunk. There is something profound in hearing your own heartbeat, even for a little boy. Now as a middle-aged man I still remember that ker-chunk, ker-chunk. It has stayed with me all my life because in a very primal way it is my life. There is a number of ker-chunks that I get and I will get no less and no more. There is only One who knows my number, God, and when my number is up I will find myself standing before Him to give an account of what I did with those ker-chunks. The Bible says, "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment..." (Hebrews 9:27).

It may be a morbid thought but it is the motivation that undergirds a well-lived life. For the "days are evil," and we must redeem the time for good. Everyone who has ever lived to do great things for Christ, to become something great for God, lived with the sense of their limited ker-chunks. Not that the work is all ours but neither is it not ours. If life is a boat some view life as a row boat where they must do all the work to get ahead. They live life under their own power and always come up short. Others view life like a cruise ship where they do none of the work and God does everything. They love Ephesians 2:8-9, that salvation is a gift from God, not by works, but they stop reading before they get to verse 10, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." So, life is neither a row boat or a cruise ship but rather like a sail ship. It is up to us to raise the sails but it is the power of God's wind that moves us forward.

The well-lived life is a life lived under God's power but also lived wisely. It was Thomas Merton, writing in the 1960's, who described his day as a form of violence. He said, "There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence. The rush and pressures of modern life are a form of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, to succumb to violence ... The frenzy of the activist ... destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful." [Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Image, 1968), page 81]. This was written well before iPhones, the Internet, Facebook, personal computers, and the proliferation of TVs. Merton may have been underestimating the rush and pressure and "innate violence" of our age. 

The wisdom then is a wisdom of priorities. Consider Japan. Japan will host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Ironically their initial designs for the National Stadium did not include a place for the Olympic flame. Such a glaring oversight further affirms what the late Stephen Covey (1932-2012) wisely wrote, "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." [Time, 3/28/16, p.74; Primary Greatness, Stephen Covey, 2015, p.74] We must be wise not only in what we choose to do but also what we choose not to do.

Ker-chunk, ker-chunk. What will you do today? Ker-chunk, ker-chunk. It's time to raise the sail and see where God will take us.

Prayer: Holy Father, You who know the exact number of our ker-chunks. Our lives are Your gift to us. What we do with them is our gift to You. May You be pleased in how we raise our sails. May You fill those sails with Your power so we can redeem the time You give us. For Your glory, we live and we pray, in Jesus name, amen.

Self Talk or God talk?

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Psalm 103:1-2: "Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—"

"One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody's listening," Franklin P. Jones once said. Now a new study shows that talking to yourself in a positive way may be an indication of health. Psychologists Daniel Swigley and Gary Lupyan gave 20 people the name of an object (like a loaf of bread or an apple), which they were told to find in the supermarket. During the first set of trials, the participants were bound to silence. In the second set, they repeated the object's name out loud as they looked for it in the store.

Test subjects found the object with greater ease when they spoke to themselves while searching. Saying things out loud sparks memory. It solidifies the end game and makes it tangible. According to psychologist Linda Sapadin, talking out loud to yourself helps you validate important and difficult decisions. "It helps you clarify your thoughts, tend to what's important, and firm up any decisions you're contemplating." [David Finch, Elk Grove, California; source: Gigi Engle, "People Who Talk To Themselves Aren't Crazy, They're Actually Geniuses," EliteDaily.Com (7-8-15)]

We are always talking to ourselves, giving ourselves messages. What messages are you giving yourself? Are these messages rooted in God's Word, in truth, and in love? David is a model of Biblical self-talk (Psalm 103:1-2) when he encourages himself in the Lord. The Proverb writer says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so he is" (Proverbs 23:7a NKJV). Our thoughts, or self talk, can shape us, can change our mind set. What kind of person would we become if instead of the usual messages we find in our heads we changed them into praise and gratitude to God? So, praise the Lord and speak to yourself of His benefits! 

Prayer: Father God, praise Your holy name! You are great and You are good. We remember all the ways you have delivered us, saved us, given us a hope and a future. We praise Your holy name. In Jesus, amen.

A Long Time To Create Something Worth While...

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Devotional thought: A Long Time To Create Something Worth While...

Philippians 1:6, "...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

When Peter Jackson released the first movie in the trilogy, The Lord Of The Rings, in 2001, millions became enchanted in a world of fantastical creatures and magic. The movies were an instant hit due in some part to the genius of Jackson but mostly due to the immersive world that J.R.R Tolkien created in his fantasy series. The world that Tolkien created feels so complete in detail and so effortless in its creativity, so perfect, that most do not realize the expansive amount of time it took to create.

Tolkien did not initially set out to write fantasy novels and create an entire world that he called "Middle Earth." He first ventured into his brilliant writing career when he read the phrase "Middle Earth," in an Old English manuscript and it inspired a poem. That was in 1914 and he was only 22. Three years later in 1917, he wrote "The Fall of Gondolin," which was the first story of his fantasy works.

Then, 13 years later (1930), he began telling his children a bedtime story about a strange and funny creature called a hobbit. Seven years later his book titled The Hobbit was published. The publisher immediately asked Tolkien for a sequel, and 12 years later in 1949 he completed the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The trilogy was published five years later (1954). In other words, from the time he first saw the phrase "Middle Earth," to the time his masterpiece about Middle Earth was published, it took Tolkien 40 years of creative effort. It can take a long time to create something worth while.

Shouldn't the same be true of us? The Christian life is not a sprint but a marathon. Though when we are born again we receive the benefits of Jesus Christ's perfect, sinless life upon us that is only the beginning of a process by which God is creating us into the image of His Son Jesus. God is working in you to change you and this process takes time. 

I once visited a saintly elderly woman's house who had the familiar sign on her wall, "Please be patient with me. God isn't finished with me yet!" This isn't an excuse for living a sinful lifestyle but a reality that calls us to press on towards the upward call in Christ Jesus. Paul explains this later in Philippians 3 where he says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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 3:12-14).

You are a work of God and He is not finished with you yet. It is a work of a lifetime. It can take a long time to create something worth while. So, be patient with yourself and press on, never giving up. For I am certain of this, "...that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Prayer: Holy Father, we are grateful today that you are working in us and that You will be faithful to finish what you've begun. Help us to never give up but to press on knowing You will not give up on us but will see us to completion in Jesus Christ. In His name, amen.

God Puts The Lonely In Families...

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Devotional Thought:

Psalm 68:6, "God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land."

Yvette Vickers, a former [model] and B-movie star, best known for her role in Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, would have been 83 in August 2011, but nobody knows exactly how old she was when she died. According to the Los Angeles coroner's report, she lay dead for the better part of a year before a neighbor and fellow actress, a woman named Susan Savage, noticed cobwebs and yellowing letters in her mailbox, reached through a broken window to unlock the door, and pushed her way through the piles of junk mail and mounds of clothing that barricaded the house. Upstairs, she found Vickers's body, mummified, near a heater that was still running. Her computer was on too, its glow permeating the empty space.

The Los Angeles Times posted a story [about Vickers' death] that quickly went viral. Within two weeks … Vickers's lonesome death was already the subject of 16,057 Facebook posts and 881 tweets. She had long been a horror-movie icon …. Now she was an icon of a new and different kind of horror: our growing fear of loneliness. Certainly she received much more attention in death than she did in the final years of her life. With no children, no religious group, and no immediate social circle of any kind, she had begun, as an elderly woman, to look elsewhere for companionship. Savage later told Los Angeles magazine that she had searched Vickers's phone bills for clues about the life that led to such an end. In the months before her grotesque death, Vickers had made calls not to friends or family but to distant fans who had found her through fan conventions and internet sites.

Vickers's web of connections had grown broader but shallower, as has happened for many of us. We are living in an isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, and yet we have never been more accessible …. We live in an accelerating contradiction: the more connected we become, the lonelier we are. [Steven Marche, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" The Atlantic (May 2012)]

Among the blessings God bestows on us in Christ is the blessing of adoption. We have been brought into God’s family and made God’s children. From God we have received “the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father’” (Rom. 8:15). As far as our status is concerned, we are no longer “strangers and aliens” to the people of God but “members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19). Our adoption by God has many benefits— chief being we can call God, "our Father,"—but one we do not often think of is that by it God places us in a family with many brothers and sisters that we call the Church. God never intends for us to do life or faith alone. We are designed for community and so God provides the community we need.

As a Pastor I deal with many who struggle with loneliness. This modern epidemic is why I strive to make the Church where I serve not just a place for families but a family itself. If God creates in us a need, such as the need for family, He does so because He wants to meet that need. Do you belong to a Church family? (I'm not asking if you attend Church because you can do that and not belong to a Church family.) Are you involved in connecting with those who God has made your family? If not, isn't it time to make those connections?

Hebrews 10:25, "We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming" (God's Word Translation).

Prayer: Abba, Father, we thank You that You have placed us in families, people we are to love and who will love us in return. We thank You that You care for the lonely among us and by Your adoption of us we need not be lonely any longer. Help us to do a better job of loving those who are lonely and make the connections in our Church family we need. In Jesus name, Amen.