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October 22

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024

A common topic of conversation-not only among the elites, but also among common church (and non-church) people-is how Christianity is just one of many ways to God. You have probably heard it just as I have: “You Christians are so close-minded. You think you are the only ones who are right. All roads lead to God.”  In their minds, all religions are the same and none are better than another (unless, of course, you belong to said religion. Then you think you are the only one that is right). The common strain among all is they all have their good points and they all tell us how to get to God or some variation of that.

I beg to differ. While it is true there are many religions (obviously), it is not true that all roads lead to God. It is not my purpose in this devotion to tell why by listing every well-known religion and show why they aren’t. But I would like to sum it up with this: Each religion boils down to the creatures trying to get their god or gods to like them. Hence, the need for works. For alms. For treks to a city. For certain bodily disciplines. Each one is trying to reach up to their god and in the process gain his/her approval.

Christianity is different. Christianity teaches that we don’t have to try to reach up to God. We don’t have to work hard to get God to love us; He already does. We don’t have to work hard to get God to like us; He already does. In fact, God already showed us that! That is the meaning behind the Incarnation-God becoming flesh in the form of a baby. God has already reached down to us. He was fully human and fully divine, died on a cross to pay for our sins and rose again.

The best way for me to put it is the way I once hear it put: “Religion says, ‘Do’; Christianity says, ‘Done.'” Religion says this is what you must do; Christianity says this is what has been done. No matter what we hear from the crowd, there is still only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ, His One and only Son. Faith in Him is the only requirement for salvation. John 14: 6 is still true: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”  There is simply no other way to read that. 

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September 25

Wednesday, September 25th, 2024

Yeah. I know it’s early. Early for what? “I know Bill does these devotions at 0-dark-30. Is that what he means?”

In all honesty. No. As soon as I write what is to follow you will understand.

In one sense, the whole of Scripture is both a lesson in history and a promise for the future, in order that we may become like Jesus and glorify Him in the present. It’s often been said that in the Old Testament Jesus is predicted, in the Gospels He is revealed, in Acts He is preached, in the Epistles He is explained, and in the book of Revelation He is expected. (p.159)

Okay, so may that wasn’t so revealing. 🙂 This will be:

Christmas isn’t only a celebration of what our newborn King came down to earth to save us from; it’s a celebration of what He came to save us for-eternal life with Him in His perfected kingdom. (p.163)

Now you get my drift? This whole month of September I’ve been reading a new book by Alistair Begg entitled Let Earth Receive Her King. Yes. Christmas devotions. 24 of them to be exact. The preceding two excerpts were from #23, which I read this morning. “Seems awful early to be reading Christmas devotions,” you might be thinking. Really? Have you seen the Hallmark Channel? Christmas in July…August…September…October…you get my drift. 🙂

Putting all kidding aside, as I read #23 today-and particularly highlighted those  two excerpts as I read-it struck me how the Scripture all comes together. It is like one big woven story. I once heard someone say, “There is a scarlet thread that weaves its way from Genesis to Revelation.” I’ll add to that: the thread makes its way from the heart of the Garden and Adam’s sin through the sacrifices directly through the heart of the cross all the way through to the return of Jesus.

See the Bible as a whole-not as random pieces slung together. It tells a story-a redemptive story-one woven through the fabric of every scene, specifically designed for us to see and know and learn.

Don’t neglect the Book. And don’t slough off the story of Christmas…even though it is only September. In this one way the Hallmark Channel can teach us that the Christmas story-the real Christmas story-is timeless and to remembered all year long.

{Selections excerpted from Let Earth Receive Her King by Alistair Begg- The Good Book Company- Copyright 2024}

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September 11

Wednesday, September 11th, 2024

“NEVER FORGET!”

It’s hard to. Those words will be spoken and heard a lot today. Anyone who was alive and old enough to understand knows the significance of today. If you are like me you know where you were and what you were doing when you first heard of the well-planned, but cowardly, devastating attack on American soil. Life has never been the same and seeing the images again reminds me of watching the Twin Towers burn and then collapse. I’m also thinking of the all-too-brief days following when politicians put aside their petty gripes against each other and sang “God Bless America” on the steps of the Capitol. I’m also thinking of the few brief days/weeks when hearts became sensitive to God’s role in the founding and ongoing history of our country. I’m also thinking of when it wasn’t so much “God Bless America” but “America Bless God.” Many churches saw spikes in their attendance as people sought solace in the face of such tragedy. Sadly, it died quickly. 

September 11, 2023 a double rainbow appeared in the NYC sky where the Twin Towers used to rise. The rainbow is a symbol of God’s presence and promise that He would never again destroy the earth by a flood. It is a promise from a faithful and true God.

Jesus has given us a reminder to remember Him by. Just as there will be gatherings today to honor the 3000+ souls who lost their lives 23 years ago (and since), so this memorial reminds us of the loss of life, but also the gaining of something greater. It reminds us of the ultimate sacrifice-one Man dying for the sin of the world. The perfect, sinless, Son of God, our Savior, taking the place of sinful, rebellious, unholy people to make the ultimate sacrifice to die in our place.

NEVER FORGET. 9/11.  The cross of Calvary and the price paid for people (you and me) who didn’t deserve it.

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January 15

Monday, January 15th, 2024

One of my favorite pastimes/hobbies was doing 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles. Many, many hours have been spent bent over a table building puzzles. Cold, winter weather was only good in my mind for killing insects and staying inside to build puzzles. I’ve slowed down in recent years because I have to admit to being a “puzzle snob” i.e. there are only certain ones I would do (Titanic & trains mostly), plus I didn’t want to spend the money on the ever-increasing price of having leisure. However, I was given a panoramic puzzle of PNC Park (Pirates baseball field) which I did, glued and gave away to a sports memorabilia collector, and one of the Pittsburgh skyline. I finally decided to do the skyline starting last Thursday.

I’ve been watching it come together. Sorting pieces throughout the “edge-finding” stage, has me sort of guessing pieces that go together. I then bunch them in a certain pile to be sorted later. Often, I find out I was wrong and they actually belonged somewhere else. This puzzle is s-l-o-w-l-y coming together, piece by piece (makes sense right?). Often I will have little side projects going on as “like pieces” are found. Eventually, I get to incorporate them into the greater puzzle. Sometimes it is literally a slog through seemingly endless tries. And then sometimes it is like voila! One piece pulls in another and another until multiple pieces later a bigger picture emerges.

One of my favorite groups is a Christian power metal group called Theocracy (I know that is probably not most of my readers cup of tea). Their most recent recording includes a song called Mosaic. The song, as you can probably surmise by the title, is a take on broken pieces made into a beautiful piece of glass. Out of the ugliness of broken glass the artisan can make something beautiful. A snippet of lyrics says, “‘Cause after all, the pieces fall landing where they may/You never left or chose to throw it all away/An unknown future, broken past/Like imperfect panes of glass/Revealing a larger grand design.” (Lyrics by Matt Smith-2023)

Life is a mosaic, very often made up of broken pieces of glass. No one’s life is perfect; we are made of broken pieces of glass. But we have an Artisan, a Creator, a Master Craftsman, who loves us, never leaves us, and puts us all back together. Sin breaks us; He rebuilds us. He will take broken, disjointed fragments and put them back together in the right place, making sense of it all. He makes a beautiful mosaic out of broken, shattered lives.

He’s done if for me. He’s done it for people I know. Let Him do it for you.

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October 19

Thursday, October 19th, 2023

It seems incredible to me, and maybe to you as well, that on a planet of millions of people, in this world of school, work, sports, church, organizations, family, friends and a whole host of other options, there are people where one emotion would describe their world.

LONELINESS

Singer, Roy Orbison (probably before your time) captured that emotion in a song he called “Only the Lonely.” A couple of the lines were “Only the lonely know the way I feel tonight…Only the lonely know the heartaches I’ve been through.” That song resonated with a lot of people.

The soft rock group, America (again, probably before your time), sang, “This is for all the lonely people/Thinking that life has passed them by/Don’t give up ’til you drink from the silver cup/And ride that highway to the sky.” Yeah…like many of America’s lyrics I’m not totally sure what that is saying except, “Don’t quit. Don’t give up. There is someone who cares.”

Dan Peek, the writer of that song, once said that even though he had achieved success, he had cut ties with his family and friends, and was in fact, lonely.

Tragic isn’t it? One has the world by its proverbial tail and still has nothing. One can have it all; one can have nothing; and still be lonely.

Jesus spent 3 1/2 years with many lonely people. But He didn’t leave them lonely. The woman scorned by so many, bankrupt because of a blood issue, took one last grasp to the hem of Jesus’ garment and was made whole. The man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5 who was abandoned and had no one to help get him into the water found his health and purpose when Jesus reached out to Him and said he was healed. The outcast leper (multiple times) whom Jesus touched and healed and gave life and hope back to him.

Maybe you. I want you to know you are not alone. I don’t know your situation, and you possibly don’t know me. I want you to know that if you reach out to me, I’ll listen. I’ll listen because I have Jesus in me and He doesn’t want you lonely.

Oh…and by the way: Dan Peek changed his tune. Before He passed away in 2011, he came to know Jesus and left America because he tired of the emptiness of the sex and drugs lifestyle. He found the solution to being lonely. You can too. It is not in stuff or pursuits. It is a Person. His name is Jesus.

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September 25

Monday, September 25th, 2023

Bryan Johnson is sad.

Not sad as in “Boo-hoo” sad. Not the “cry-me-a-river” type of sad.

But sad as in the “clueless” department.

So you might be wondering, “Who in the world is Bryan Johnson?”  (No, I am not talking about the lead singer of AC/DC. Besides, he spells his name with an “i.”)  You can Google his name or you can take my word for it in my short synopsis. Bryan was a tech millionaire who sold his BioHacking company to PayPal for $800million.  Yeah, you read that right. That’s not a bad thing. I don’t begrudge that at all. More power to him.

Here’s what is sad. Bryan Johnson is on a quest for immortality. You read that right: I.M.M.O.R.T.A.L.I.T.Y.  To accomplish that he has some strange habits.  He takes 111 pills a day.  He goes to bed every night at 8:30 and is up by 6:00.  There is nothing in his bedroom besides his bed, except a laser face shield that shoots collagen into his face, and one unmentionable item I’ll let you research. He avoids the sun. He doesn’t go out at night.  He drives 16 mph (He would be one who would put me in an early grave if I was following him). He has multiple other habits.

I’ve seen stickers on trucks that say, “Silly boy.Trucks are for girls!” I want to say to Bryan, “Silly Bryan. Immortality is for One.” He believes at age 46 (which he is as I write this) that he has a heart of a 37 year old and the bones of a 30 year old. His goal is to be 18…and to live forever.

Sadly, he is moving in the area of F.U.T.I.L.I.T.Y. There is only ONE who has conquered death and it isn’t and won’t be Bryan.

I hope Bryan learns soon enough, i.e. sooner than later, that he is wasting his time and $2million/year for nothing. Envious? Not a bit. One half of what he is spending is more than I’ll make my entire lifetime.  Personally, I hope he learns the lesson of the rich man that Jesus taught about in Luke 12. It says the land of the rich man produced plentifully so he thought to himself, “What shall I do? I know. I’ll build bigger barns. You know…eat, drink and be merry.” But that night God said to him, “You fool! This night your soul is required of you.”  What good was his money then?

I sincerely hope Bryan learns sooner than later that one thing is certain: we all die.  He won’t cheat that. His money will not get him out of the one date we all will keep. No concoction will save him. There will come a day when Bryan will go the way of all of us. I just hope he finds out before it is too late.

To die in his lost condition? Now that would be sad.

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September 20

Wednesday, September 20th, 2023

It was not a pretty sight. In fact, they were a downright mess. Years of fitful care came home to roost. Some of it was DNA. Some of it was a failure to have checkups regularly and proper maintenance. So at the age of 55 I found myself having radical dental work done culminating (I thought) with wearing braces for almost 3 years.

My DNA was not good. Dentures all around, except for my mom whose teeth were not the best (but she still smiled a lot). The shape of my jaw caused me to chew in such a way that I wore off the bottom teeth. Nerves became exposed. Flossing and brushing were not enough to make up for the years of early neglect. The lack of maintenance at the dentist (like none) as I raised two daughters certainly didn’t help. X-rays were needed and revealed a lot. So the process began. Two surgeries to remove one the largest torus mandibularis, aka tori (bone growth) the doctor had ever seen. This tori was between the bottom teeth and had I not been a side sleeper he said I would have probably died in my sleep because my tongue had nowhere to go. Then began the process of pulling teeth, wearing braces for almost 3 years, crowns, implants…well, you get the picture.

It didn’t happen overnight. It took time. And even after the braces came off (I followed the rules religiously), I’ve had other procedures. They are too numerous for me to mention (or to remember!). 🙂

I wear retainers every night to keep the alignment correct. I’m not going to throw over $15k down the tubes because I wish I could go to bed without them. They make me lisp when I talk and dry-mouthed when I wake up.

The life and growth of a Christ-follower is like that. After years of living in sin, of making a royal mess of our life, we find ourselves having radical treatment. It’s called salvation, where sin is dealt with and treatment is done. It takes awhile to learn, understand and respond to the truth of the Gospel, and then there is the ongoing care which lasts a lifetime. There are glitches along the way, but maintenance is still necessary. Prayer. Bible reading. Fellowship. They are all needed for ongoing spiritual health.

Salvation happens immediately when our sins are forgiven. The ongoing growth and maintenance requires the rest of our lifetime.

Where are you in the process?

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August 21

Monday, August 21st, 2023

Get a bunch of people together and ask them to discuss their favorite characteristic/attribute of God and you will hear all different answers. Love. Patience. Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy. Omnipotence. Omniscience. Omnipresence. Faithfulness. I seriously doubt you will hear, “I want to talk about the wrath of God.”

On July 8, 1741 Jonathan Edwards preached one of, if not the most famous sermon of all time. It was called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Reports say people literally felt like they were being dangled over the pit of hell and were screaming out of fear.

Truth is God’s wrath is real. God’s judgment is real. Frankly though, it is hard to accept that because we don’t want to see God as one who judges and will do so impartially. We don’t want to see Him as a God of wrath.  It gets even harder to accept when we are told by our culture-and even by some religious teachers- that we all go to the same place in the end (Universalism which says we will all go to heaven), or that there are many gods so choose the one you want.  The answer to both of those is No and No. They are lies from the pit of hell and they smell like smoke.

The wrath of God can be avoided or experienced. You can avoid it by hearing the Word, repenting and confessing your sin and accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord. One can experience God’s wrath by rejecting God’s Word and all it says about sin and turning your back on Jesus.

The follower of Jesus avoids God’s wrath; the one who rejects Jesus will experience it. Which one are you?

And by the way: the reality of that should burden us, should want us to go our family and friends with passion in our heart and say, “I have to tell you about Jesus. I want you to be able to avoid what is to come.”

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July 10

Monday, July 10th, 2023

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know: 1) We are inundated with commercials; and 2) they are getting more and more bold (and annoying) in their message and display. I think you might also agree that commercials are best watched or listened to or even ignored with the mute button in use.

Furthermore, I think you might agree that most commercials seem to focus on the outward. Take this pill and you will lose weight. Wear this and certain parts of your anatomy will be enhanced or more comfortable.  Cold sculpting will help you get rid of the “pooch.” I could go on ad infinitum ad nauseum.

We worry a lot about the way we look. At 70, I am very aware-even though I tried through the years to stay in shape by riding a bike or lifting weights or watching what I ate (I seldom missed my mouth 🙂 )- that time hits all of us and plays havoc with our body. Skin gets thin. I have a small brown spot by my thumb on each hand. “Arthur” visits way too frequently. I can’t say hair loss happens because that ship sailed l-o-o-o-o-n-g time ago. 🙂

I thought of the effects of aging as I read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 this morning. “So we don’t lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (ESV) Note particularly that phrase “though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” That verse pushes us to the realization that our most important efforts should not be spent on the physical but the spiritual. I remember one health guru who thought he was going to live forever. Even if he lived to be 100, he would still die. IT. IS. INEVITABLE.

And so is judgment. I realize that there are some who might read this who don’t believe in an afterlife, or even God, but trust me when I say you don’t want to be wrong about this.

Outward or inward? One is temporary. One is eternal. You choose.

 

 

 

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June 21

Wednesday, June 21st, 2023

Many years ago, whenever Jo and I would visit her parents/family, we would play a game called Trivial Pursuit. As you moved your disc-like piece sectioned off like a pie, you filled it with different colored tiles as you answered trivial questions from different categories. It was aptly titled: Trivial Pursuit. The questions in each category were random and often very, very trivial, unless, of course, you got a specialized game like the music of the ’60s or ’70s (I was good at both of those).

I thought of that game as I read Proverbs 21:21- “Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.” (ESV)

We pursue many things, most of them trivial. I knew a guy whose pursuit was to be financially independent by 30. I’m not sure if he ever made it or not; I lost track of him.  Others pursued being married and having a gaggle of kids. I used to hear that a lot. We all know people who pursue fame and fortune. From simple, everyday people to Hollywood stars who seem to have it all.

And yet, I just read the other day of some actors who pulled away from acting in order to spend time with family, to find solitude, or to move to another country to spend time with a wife who sacrificed much for him to pursue his career. Now he is turning the tables.I say, “Good for him.”

There is one pursuit which is not trivial. It is the one which really matters. It is the one with real eternal rewards. All the fame and fortune, accolades and possessions will amount to nothing. It all withers. We leave it all behind. We may be mourned, but eventually life moves on.

The only pursuit that matters is the pursuit of God. THAT one has eternal ramifications. Some may say, “I don’t believe that. I don’t believe in God or a hell.” That may be true, but do you really want to take that chance? You see, if you are right and I am wrong, I have lost nothing. BUT, if I am right and you are wrong, you have lost everything. Do you really want to take that chance? If Richard Dawkins was right and there is no God (as he proclaimed even on his death bed), he has lost nothing. HOWEVER, if I am right and there is, he has lost everything.

I don’t believe I’m wrong. Who or what will you pursue?

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