Do I Have To?

By Cheri Cowell –

I don’t know what it is about children, but they all seem to be wired from birth with that same phrase. I’m sure you can hear the whine in that question, and if you are like me, you can picture yourself standing before your parents as you pleaded your case. If our parents let us get away with that too many times, we probably learned the pattern well and carry it with us today. Maybe not in the same tone or with the same childlike flair, but it is still there. Perhaps it looks more like a roll of the eyes, a big sigh, or maybe a digging in of your heels when someone asks you to do something you don’t want to do. Maybe you label such a person as a nagger, without regard to your own shortcomings. I have to admit I am guilty of all these things. Why do we do this and what is our solution? The Bible offers the answer in today’s passage.

Don’t get caught up in the customs of endowments and polygamy presented in this story. Instead, focus on the heart of Jacob. When he was asked what his wages for working on Laban’s land should be, Jacob requested Rachel’s hand in marriage in return for seven years of labor. Do you focus more easily on the work to be done or the reward to be given for work well done? When Jacob discovered he had been tricked, he was angry, and rightfully so. Yet, instead of taking revenge, he agreed to work another seven years to rightfully earn Rachel as his wife. When we are wronged, it is okay to get angry, but then we must decide to make the situation right. If you tend to blame others instead of looking at your own responsibility in the situation, take a lesson from Jacob and fix your eyes on the bigger prize. It will help the decisions you must make a little easier to handle.

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, for the prize You offer that is bigger than any obstacle I may face here on earth. Help me focus on that heavenly reward and not on the work to be done. Help me acknowledge Jacob’s lesson by allowing myself to get angry when someone has wronged me, but to then quickly turn my eyes toward the reward.

“When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, ‘What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?’ Laban replied, ‘It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.’ And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years” (Genesis 29:25-30 NIV).

Today’s devotion is by Cheri Cowell, who writes and speaks on topics of Christian discipleship. Her first book, Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life, is called a biblically grounded no-nonsense approach to decision-making. To order your copy or to learn more about Cheri, visit her website www.CheriCowell.com

An Off Brand Life

By Heather Allen –

Can I tell you what I want from life? Do you have a minute to pull up a chair? I want a smallish house with beautiful plants surrounding it and a roof made of shakes. Smells wafting from the kitchen that welcome visitors and make them want to stay for the cookies in the oven; sounds of kids laughing, with me straining to hear all the ridiculously cute things they are saying. Permanence: same house, same garden, new friends are okay, same grocery store, same streets. But ah, it seems that it is not to be.

My heart feels a little tattered tonight, like a rag flappin’ out on the line.

At age 13 I told my mom I did not want an ordinary life. How I wish I could go back and muzzle that big-mouthed girl. There is enough adventure in books. Fictional characters do not lay awake at night worrying about their kids adjusting.

So here I am another house in another state, but thankfully a little closer to those I love best. Yet I feel my life is an itchy sweater with seams that keep twisting up my body. The tag at the neck is driving me to distraction: it’s fixating. I cannot breathe right, I do not feel right, but I just keep yanking at that tag. It is easier than learning to live with it, or around it.

If God put His hand on my head my whole body would probably still be squirming. There is only one conversation I am looking to have but He keeps bringing me back to where we started “Set your heart on pilgrimage”.

I do not like being a pilgrim, and it doesn’t strike me as a very family friendly lifestyle.   My mind spins and forms an extensive list of questions, so I read the book of Job. He had questions about his life. It started well, but not even halfway through the first chapter he starts a downhill spiral. I am a bit dramatic, but I can relate to his confusion and his longing for some answers.

At the heart of my conflicted life lies a deep desire to see the extraordinary, even if it means traveling to the ends of the earth. So I will endeavor to set my heart on pilgrimage. Believing a God whose knowledge spans beginning to end, I will learn to trust.  He left His home to save me; I can leave mine too.

“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” Job 42:5 (NIV)

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” Psalms 84:5 (NIV)

Help My Unbelief

By Janet Morris Grimes-

I know myself well. So much so that it bothers me at times. I am well aware of my weaknesses. I spend more time with my flaws than I’d like to. And some days, I’d give anything to just snap my fingers and be rid of them forever.

Maybe you have felt this way.

But I have learned this much. My imperfections are magnified with each day I spend focusing on them. Anxieties, insecurities, guilt, regrets. The more power I hand over to these things, they more they take over my life.

I wonder what would happen if I got over my shortcomings and embraced the more abundant life God intended for me. I wonder if the reason I feel so alone is because God created me to be unique, and I will never be fulfilled until I am fully following His, and only His, plan for my life. I wonder what would happen if I took such massive leaps of faith that I have no choice but to let God carry me the rest of the way. I wonder if all along, He was just waiting for me to leap. I wonder if the only weapon Satan has left to use against me is myself.

Yes, I wonder.

What if I did the opposite of what comes naturally to me, each and every day? What if I got out of the way, recognizing that the less there is of me, the more of Him others can see? What if God is able to use these weaknesses to touch the lives of others? What if my weaknesses only serve as a spotlight to God’s strengths?

What if, by not believing in myself, I am actually saying to God that I don’t think He can do it? Can He really use me, in spite of myself?

There is a story in Mark Chapter 9 about a man who brought his demon-possessed son to see Jesus. He begs Jesus, in verse 22, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

If he can? Jesus challenges in verse 23, “If…? Everything is possible for those who believe.”

The heartbroken father answers in a painfully honest way, a way in which most of us can relate.

“I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

That is my prayer for each of us, that God will recognize our unbelief and strengthen us. We do believe. We want to. We hate the doubts, the regrets, the times we forgot to leap. Help our unbelief, and use us to touch a broken world.

Joint Maintenance

By Robin J. Steinweg –

Joint Maintenance—TV, magazines, newspapers, health journals—everywhere I look I see supplements for joint maintenance. Well, I’m here to tell you I tried them and they don’t work; I look around this joint and it’s as much a mess as ever!

If the joint to which I refer is my soul, then the statement above isn’t precisely true. It’s not in the mess it was before Jesus saved me. In my early twenties I opened my heart’s door to Him, and He came in and swept the place clean as a whistle. White spankin’ new. He powered away my sin-stain as far as the East is from the West. The Bible word for it is justification (“just as if” I’d never sinned).

The tricky part is ongoing: maintenance. To keep up the purity Christ initiated in me isn’t possible on my own. It would be like trying to pound a nail into a board with a wet noodle. The Bible word for it is sanctification (being molded into Christ-likeness), and it requires God working in me with my cooperation.

• His Spirit convicts me of wrongdoing. I confess it to Him and ask Him to change me.
• I read His Word, the Bible. He interprets and explains it to me.
• I pray (not just asking for things, but listening to Him). He responds to me and communicates with me.
• I spend time with other growing, maturing Christians. He loves on me and speaks to me through them.
• I praise Him (because He is worthy). He inhabits my praises.
• I obey Him. He makes Himself real to me.

So if I want the joint to stay clean, I have to maintain it. But I need supernatural help. A joint venture or joint ownership requires working together.

Joint Maintenance!

AUTHOR QUOTE: The high-potency formula for the maintenance of this joint is God at work in me + me yielding to God’s work in me.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20, 21 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

Now Is the Time

By Cami Checketts –

Do you struggle with procrastination like I do?

I often find myself putting off important things. Tomorrow I’ll study and ponder my Scriptures… instead of just reading them. Tomorrow I’ll make more time for fun and I’ll play with my boys longer than five minutes. Tomorrow I won’t eat a bowl of ice cream (but I really need one tonight!).

The Bible warns us not to put things off. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:11-12, KJV).

And many wise people have spoken to us about it too:

• “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” Thomas Jefferson
• “I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, let me do it now; for I shall not pass this way again.” S. Grellet
• “When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no, I’ll start tomorrow. Tomorrow is disease.” V.L. Allineare

The time to get healthy and fit is right now!

It’s great to make goals and to plan for tomorrow, but we need to live for today. I enjoy having a list of lofty goals, but if I don’t focus on today I’ll never accomplish any of them. Today I will eat in a healthy way. Today I will go visit my adopted grandma. Today I will respond with patience and love when my four-year old is flailing on the ground screaming for a donut.

It is easy to get overwhelmed if we think we have to do everything perfectly for the rest of our lives, but if we can take it one day at a time, it seems more manageable.

Today is the gift we’ve been given. For some, there might not be a tomorrow. Savor today. Make it great. Accomplish the things that are important and love the ones you’re with.

What are you going to do today that you have been putting off?

Cami Checketts is a wife, mother of four boys, exercise scientist, and author. http://camicheckettsbooks.blogspot.com – http://fitnessformom.blogspot.com

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