TIME TO RETURN IT? Romans 1

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I’ve never been shy about returning or exchanging something we’ve bought that’s broken, the wrong size or not at all what we expect.  Companies often include free return shipping with on-line purchases.  I don’t hesitate ordering something sight unseen.  Easy-peasy.  Or back it goes!

The Apostle Paul mentions an exchange that’s a bad bargain from start to finish.  Romans 1: 21-23–‘For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.’  Humanity, knowing about God, refuses to bow the knee to Him.  No gratitude for all He gives.  No praise to the only totally deserving One.

Rather mankind exchanges what’s right for what’s ‘futile’, ‘foolish’, ‘darkened’, and ‘degrading’.  The truth returned and exchanged for a lie.  Worshipping created things rather than its Creator.  Serving them and not Him.  Relishing the least, banning the best.  Sounds like a rotten deal to me.

Only problem is that I’m as a much a participant as anyone else.  Before accepting salvation through Jesus alone, through trusting Him, I’m sailing in the same boat up a creek over the approaching edge of Niagara Falls.

Even after believing and becoming His child, I feel the tug back to the abyss.  The temptation to return to old, broken ways.  Exchanging the fixed, settling for the broken.  You know the feeling.  I’m not alone.  Unfortunately.

Being aware of sin’s tug-and-pull, opens my eyes to how weak I am, and how much I need Jesus’ help.  As in all the time.  In every way.  I need moment-by-moment Holy Spirit boosting of my inner resolve, strengthening me.  Just me?

Don’t be satisfied with a broken life, lowering your sights with half a loaf.  Wearing something that doesn’t fit and looks horrible, which needs to be returned and exchanged.  Send it back.  Return to sin’s sender.  After all, Jesus has the best reserved for you and me!

Don’t settle for seconds!  Keep and enjoy what He gives us.  No returns needed!

 

Thank you, Jesus, for all your good gifts.  And the help of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET! Job 26

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I’ve got it wrong.  Al Jolson, in what’s called the first ‘talkie’ movie, ‘The Jazz Singer’, actually says ‘You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!’.  But Job takes that a step further.  Yes, what we hear, but also what we see of God’s creation.  In Job 26, he responds to one of his friends, Bildad, who argues that humans are as rotten as can be.  ‘Maggots’ and ‘worms’, says Bildad (Job 25).  However, Job lifts high the character of creator God, who alone can make sinful man righteous.  No longer left as Bildad’s scum.

Considering all of creation’s marvels, can you not sense the mastery of God?  My pea-brain only scratches the surface, and that’s on a clear day.  How does He do what He does?  How would I know?  Or you?  We’re not God.

But we are made in His image.  Created…for His glory and purposes.  Nevertheless, our life-experiences are hardly worth talking about in the grand scheme of things.  We’re only a whisper, a fog which quickly dissipates.  Here today, gone tomorrow.  A small cog in a big wheel.  You get the point!

Imagine what heaven will be like when the blinders are taken off and we can see way beyond earth’s edges.  For those who think that we’ll only be playing harps while floating on clouds, I’ve got news for you.  You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Listen to Job, not Jolson–‘And these are but the outer fringes of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him!  Who can understand the thunder of his power?’ (Job 26:14).  See what I mean?  If the here-and-now reveals only the ‘outer fringes of his works’, what will heaven unearth?

Why, of course, Eden restored.  Paradise revealed, forever and eternal.  Takes that long… and then some… to comprehend all that Jesus will make plain to us.  Show and Tell… without end!

 

Thank you, Jesus, for vistas without limit.  Amen.

 

NO EXCESS BAGGAGE Revelation 14: 6-13

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It’s true that we can’t take excess baggage to heaven.  I’ve heard that we can only escort other believers to glory.  Those we’ve influenced for Christ.  Hardly excess baggage!

Supposedly John D. Rockefeller’s accountant, when asked what the world’s richest man had left behind when old John D. died, responded by saying, ‘every last dime’.  Left it all behind.  Everything.  As we will.  Remember, no excess baggage.

After all, we won’t need anything.  Forget about that U-Haul truck behind your hearse.  Family, friends and the local Goodwill Store will divvy up our accumulated stuff.  What about my cherished library of biblical commentaries and complete Dickens’ works?  Chucked out with nary a tear?  My New York Yankees baseball card collection sold for a hefty sum?  Maybe?  Who knows?

But I’ve discovered that we can take much with us to heaven.  Really?  Like what.  None of those collectibles or monied assets, however.  Sorry to disappoint!  But something far better.  Revelation 14: 13–‘…Then I heard a voice from heaven say…they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’  No excess baggage, but all that we do for Jesus, both big and small, significant or not, all deeds for Him, are taken with us to heaven.

Did you hear that?  We can take myriad acts of kindness through the pearly gates.  Like those mission dollars given so that the oppressed people of North Korea can hear about Jesus on their well-hidden radios.  And that cranberry bread hand-delivered to neighbors at Christmas.  Or a word of encouragement to your pastor.  And especially telling all your family and friends about a fabulous Saturday devotional that they too can access for free!  You can think of lots more, can’t you?

Nothing is wasted when done for Jesus.  They’re given legs to follow us all the way to heaven.  ‘…for their deeds will follow them.’  Now that’s something, indeed!

I can’t wait to do more for Him.  You too?  For brownie points?  No way.  Extra stars in your crown?  Hardly.  To be better than someone else?  Ixnay.  Then why?

For Jesus.  Of course.  To do something lasting for Him is all that really matters.

 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for life worth living.  Amen.

JUST NOT FAIR Galatians 6: 1-5

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I ask you–why don’t my devotional books sell like Max Lucado’s?  Or Billy Graham’s?  Or almost anyone else?  Just not fair.  Mine don’t sell like hot cakes.  More like chilled jello!  But I work so hard.  No appreciation?  Come on, cut me some slack!

Maybe that’s exactly what I need.  Some breathing space.  A lull and hiatus from playing the old comparison game.  Not as rich as so-and-so?  Had a run-of-the-mill upbringing unlike that ‘whodiwho’ raised in the most Christian family you’ve ever known?  I wind up on the losing team.

There’s way too much competition today.  Someone wins, someone loses.  I’m up, you’re down (notice the order!).

Reading Galatians 6, I’m feeling as if the Apostle Paul has my back to the wall, pinned up against it.  Why?  Well, take a gander at verses 4 and 5.  Get the picture?  His message?  In a nutshell–I need only to be faithful.  Do what God wants me to do.  What He’s gifted me with.  For myself, it’s writing.  Plugging away.  Nose to the computer grindstone.  Writing, editing, and then even more editing.  Keep on keeping on!

But why aren’t there more readers of my Saturday devotionals, let alone my two books?  Would Max be satisfied?  Or Billy if he was still with us?  Paul says to forget it.  As in ‘grow up, Fischer’.  Do what you do for Jesus.  My audience of One.  And ‘leave the driving to’ Him.  In His hands.  Out of mine.  If Jesus is pleased, what else matters?

Get off your keister.  Get going for Him.  He’ll take care of the rest.  Mind you, I’m talking directly to myself, allowing you to overhear in case any of this applies to you-know-who!

Galatians 6: 4-5–‘Each one should test his own actions.  Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each should carry his own load.’  The Bible says it best.  Always does.  I’ll leave it at that.  Hopefully.

 

Thank you, Jesus, for gifts given to us.  In your name and for your sake.  Amen.

 

 

‘STICKS AND STONES…’ James 3: 1-12

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Is there a more ridiculous nursery rhyme than this one–‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me’?  Who are they kidding?  Why is it that I still remember name-calling from over 60 years ago?  Like the word ‘hunker’.  Yes, that was one nickname hurled at me by friends across the street.  All because I was chunky and flabby.  Still am.

Bones heal.  Name-calling lasts a lifetime.  James, the half-brother of Jesus, the biological son of Joseph and Mary, raises red flags about the toxicity of what leaks out of our mouths.

James 3: 6–‘The tongue…is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.  It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.’  No beating around the bush.  ‘Mr. In-Your-Face’ pulls no punches.  Can’t miss the point.  Bulls-eye.

I cringe thinking of what I’ve said with a tongue that gave little indication that I’m one in Christ.  What I thought was funny yet wasn’t.  What I imagined was clever turned out to be twisted and hurtful.  Words and names I can never take back.  You can’t either.

James issues dire warnings about the tongue.  I wonder why?  Maybe, just maybe, he remembers growing up with Jesus and what came from his lips to Jesus’ ears.  When his mouth was too big for his britches.

Jesus Himself says this–‘…only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor’ (Mark 6: 4).  From His family comes everything but respect and gratitude.  This includes brother James, who no doubt remembers and regrets.

Or when Jesus and His disciples are mobbed, shoved and pushed around, that this is recorded–“When his (Jesus) family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind'” (Mark 3: 21).  Jesus must be nuttier than a fruitcake.  Out of His cotton-pickin’ gourd.  Unstable on the best of days.  My, what a great family of yayhoos!

Maybe James remembers his wagging tongue.  Think so?  Not bad to wander back, asking forgiveness.  Always bringing our sins to the Lord.  He’s able to handle them.  Forgive…and forget.  Maybe that’s why James wrote with such fervor and vehemence.  As if giving himself a tongue-lashing.  Knowing that his brother probably wouldn’t.

By the way, note the prayer below.  It’s mine.  Yours as well?

 

Lord, give me restraint, guarding what I say.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

A-OK! 1 Corinthians 3

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I received a gift of a lapel button from my district manager when I was a financial planner.  It said–‘A-OK!’  Thanks for the encouragement, Ron!  Managers often aren’t so appreciative, wanting more and more out of you.  Greedy types.  Not mine.  I was blessed to have both manager and friend.

‘A-OK!’ meant something different than what I thought.  Its initials stood for ‘Action-Oriented Kind!’  Not just talk.  No snow jobs or tooting your own horn.  No braggadocio or blathering.  Some of the most boring people I’ve known only talk about themselves.  Talk…talk…talk.  Don’t you dare try to get a word in edgewise.  Weariness and dreariness shoves me out their back door!

Be ‘A-OK!’  Action-oriented kind…with what God wants in your life.  If you’re busy for Jesus, you won’t have to broadcast it.  No one else needs to know.  Only Jesus.  Your audience of One!

Are you ‘A-OK’?  In 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle Paul talks about God’s people making a difference in this life.  Doing what He wants.  Activating the gifts, passions and abilities we’ve been given.  Pursuing them, focusing on Jesus while helping others.  Doing your bit… for Him… for a change.  ‘By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder…if what he has built survives, he will receive his reward’ (1 Cor. 3: 10,14).

Our abilities, whatever they may be, are God’s gifts.  Do you know what yours are?  If you do, wear your own ‘A-OK!’ button.  Action-Oriented Kind!

If you don’t have a clue, don’t lounge around as if in a fog.  Pray.  Ask for guidance.  Don’t stop until the answer comes.  When will it?  I’ve no idea.  What will it be?  Don’t ask me.  Ask Him.

Let me assure you that the answer will be on the way.   Wait.  Hang in there.  And when it comes, get going.  Get off your duff and do what God wants.

Okay?  Be ‘A-OK!’…for Jesus!

 

Thank you, Lord, for good we can do for you and others.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

LEARNED MY LESSON Psalm 119: 9-16

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Here’s a familiar verse–‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you’ (Psalm 119:11).  God’s Word, hidden in our hearts and minds, becomes an impregnable wall against encroaching sin.  A holy hedge.  A godly fence.

The word ‘hidden’ often translates as ‘stored up’.   Sometimes you hide something if you’re afraid it could be stolen or when you don’t want to share.  But here ‘hidden’ refers to having a storehouse of needed help.

Let’s store up God’s Word.  Take it in.  Chew on it.  Squirrel it away.  A godly rainy day fund.  Stashed away.  Then put to work for Him.

When I was a student at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute, my spiritual immaturity stored up too little of God’s Word.  I was a top student.  Loved the biblical scholastic challenges.  Graduated 2nd in my class.  And, yes, there were more than 2 of us.  Like hundreds, wisenheimer!  But I seemed to relish food even more.

We ate well at Moody.  Institutional food there was surprisingly delicious, especially those Sunday morning cheese omelets.  So yummy and gooey!  When I overslept weekday breakfast, I’d go to the Sweet Shoppe and order one of Pop Mitchell’s own, over-the-top, 3-egg cheddar cheese omelets.  Fluffy and tangy.  Slid down my gullet so easily!

Walking back from historic Moody Church, about a mile from the school, I’d stop by a funky hot dog stand that served the most amazing loaded franks, along with gobs of the greasiest French fries I’d ever eaten, all wrapped in old newspaper.  Needed protective clothing to avoid the dripping stains!  Don’t remember much of the sermons I heard at Moody Church, but have never forgotten that jaw-dropping hot dog stand.  See what I mean?

Distracted.  Earthbound.  Carnal.  Too little storehouse of God’s Word.  It was telling.  Took it’s toll on me.  How about you?  Interruptions galore, making your time in the Bible only if available, with nothing better to do?  Weather-permitting?  Anybody have a TV Guide?  Where’s my I-phone?  My I-pad?  Sound familiar?  Sadly, I know.

But not any longer.  I’ve learned my lesson.  No more scratching the surface for me.  Taking the low road of nibbling on the Bible, toying with the Word of God, snacking and sampling, leads to nowhere fast.  And that’s on a good day.  Regretfully, I know.

So, get into your Bible.  Get it into you.  Hidden.  Every day.  Let it be a storehouse.  Will come in handy, for sure!  Gladly, I know!

 

Thank you, Lord, for help found in your Word just when I need it most.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

ABRAHAM’S FRIEND AND OURS 2 Chronicles 20 and John 15

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Do you have many friends?  The older we get the more precious they become.  Ironically, that’s when we start to lose them.  Making new ones?  Hard as nails.  Pointedly difficult.  When we need them most, their numbers decrease.

One friendship we can count on above all others is with our Lord.  He’s our totally trustworthy friend.  Immovable in His caring for His own.  That means you…and me!  Makes a difference in our daily lives?  Should.

But does it?  To know He’s reliable and dependable.  Not fickle or competitively jealous.  Won’t drop us like a hot potato.  He’s our friend.  Jesus says–‘I no longer call you servants…Instead, I have called you friends…’ (John 15:15).  We are Jesus’ friends.

Here’s a question.  Can He count on us to be trustworthy and true?  To stand up for Him?  To be Jesus’ friend?

To be honest, sometimes.  At other times, I’m less than resilient.  Weak-kneed, lacking prayer and patience.  Sadly, not always His best friend as He is for me.  Don’t you wish you could be a better friend…to Jesus?

Abraham, the premier Old Testament patriarch, is far from perfect.  Read his story in the early chapters of Genesis.  Tells lies.  Gives his wife into someone else’s harem to save his own skin.  Somehow avoids ‘Divorce Court’!  Nevertheless, in 2 Chronicles 20:7 the author writes this–‘…of Abraham your (God’s) friend…’  Abraham is friend to God.  How wonderful!

Friendship.  Something mutual.  Give-and-take.  Two-way street.  A covenant bond, like marriage between a man and a woman.  Commitment.

Not of equals for God is the only perfect One.  He holds our hands, knowing full-well we need His constant help.  Even as imperfect as we are, He cherishes our friendship, such as it is.  That’s grace.  With gobs of mercy.  But we strive to be better.  Don’t we?

Yes.  And Jesus loves me enough not to leave me the way I am.  Wants to clean me up.  Wipe off the dirt and grime from my knees, which have wallowed in sin and shame.  Nudges me, stubborn old me, to grow up and mature.  To get out of my grubby, ungodly ruts.  Thank the Lord, He’s not done with me yet!

On top of that, He won’t abandon me.  He reaches out even when I’m in resistance mode.  After all, He’s my friend.  Yours too.  Stays closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

We can count on Jesus.  Can He with us?

 

Thank you, Jesus, for your friendship.  Amen.

 

‘LOVE MAKES THE WORLD…’ Psalm 136

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The first musical play I attend is ‘Carousel’, starring a teenager named Liza Minelli, performing at the historic Papermill Playhouse in my hometown of Millburn, New Jersey.  The popular song in ‘Carousel’ is ‘Love Makes the World Go Round’.  A catchy tune with memorable words.  Love, at the very heart of this world, makes it go round-and-round.

Reading Psalm 136, I discover love’s source.  Who makes it happen.  Love, not only keeps the world spinning on its rotation and axis, but permeates the very air we breathe.  Rather than sing Carousel’s hit song, let’s delve deeper into the heart of God’s love, found in this psalm.  With me?

Immediately you’ll notice a refrain, repeated at the end of each verse.  Twenty-six times this phrase is sung by God’s people–‘His love endures forever’.  Every verse reminds us of God’s love.  Hard to forget when it’s said over-and-over again.  Love makes this psalm go round!

Not love on its own.  It’s His love that’s celebrated.  God’s love.  Disconnected from the Lord, at best you get a lesser form of affection.  A liking that rarely lasts for long.

But love, fused to God, clamped tightly to Him, embraces an eternal quality.  It comes from One who has no beginning and no end.  Therefore, ‘His love endures forever.’  An unbroken circle.

The Hebrew word ‘chesed’ (‘love’) is hard to translate into English.  Lots of synonyms come to mind.  Like faithfulness and kindness.  Covenant relationship and promise.  Commitment and loyal love.   ‘Chesed’ reaches to God’s highest goodness, though that’s merely the outer reaches of His love’s fullness.  And even that’s only the beginning!

‘His love endures…’  Even puts up with the likes of me…and you!  Now, that’s something!  His loving care outlasts our sin and shame.  When we get on our knees before Jesus, He never throws salt in our wounds.  Never keeps nagging us about our faults.  After all, He forgives AND forgets.  Something I’ve experienced in no one else, including and especially me.

‘His love endures forever.’  How long?  Forever.  That’s a long time.  As in never running out.  No final straw that breaks His camel’s back.  No.  Forever and ever…and beyond!

This Valentine’s Day week, let’s celebrate God’s love that created the world, rotating it round-and-round on its axis,  running through every bit and morsel of our daily lives.  Yes!  ‘His love endures forever’!

 

Lord, thank you for your love which lasts forever.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

 

 

 

WHAT? NO YANKEE BASEBALL CARDS ALLOWED? Revelation 14: 6-13

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Let’s talk about family.  Maybe not!  Wish I could report that our clan exhibits only peace and tranquility.  Not so.  However, we’re not alone, are we?  Hardly.

Sad to admit,  I’ve let down lots of family.  Please don’t ask them!  You may get an earful!  I’ve given big hurts through the years, with some of the same aimed directly at me.  I wonder about the greeting I’ll get at heaven’s family gates?  ‘Well done…’?  Or ‘what are you doing here?’

Consider  Revelation 14:13–“Then I heard a voice from heaven say,  ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’  ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'”

When down-in-the-family-dumps, this verse is for you…and me.  In Jesus (here’s the key), when our time is up on earth, in Jesus we find ‘rest’.  And peace.  Burdens lift.  Sorrows cease.  Failures flee.  Sins given a swift kick-in-the-pants.  Joys dominate.

But only if you’re ‘in the Lord’.  In Jesus.  Being His.  Committed to the Son of God.  Born anew.  That’s you?

In addition,  we’re told that, if we’re in Jesus, we’ll bring something with us to heaven.  Like all my vintage Yankee baseball cards?  No.  Too bad Mickey, Whitey and Yogi!  How about my Hull Pottery ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ ceramics collection?  Sorry, Charlie!  No can do.

But something much better–‘…for their deeds will follow them’ (Rev. 14: 13).  Anything we’ve done for Jesus, even things tiny as a mustard seed (Luke 13: 18-19), will accompany us to Heaven’s gates and beyond.  Whatever they may be, they’ll all be welcome in Paradise.  Each and every one.  Big or small.  Accompanying us to Jesus Himself.

Good deeds for Jesus’ sake will go with us through the valley of the shadow until we see Him face to face.  Talk about the red carpet treatment!

The more we do… Well, you get the point!  And the more the merrier!

Thank you, Jesus, for welcoming us into your presence.  Amen.