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4 cups cooked rice
Before I took on the task of
driving, my dad made sure I knew how to read one.
Back in the day, when dinosaurs
roamed the earth, things called road maps existed. And everyone who wanted to go
somewhere they’d never been before—or had not been in a long time—used one.
Unless you knew someone who could give directions, no other way of knowing
existed.
Maps were interesting. Squiggly
lines covered them, along with symbols of various types. A key told the reader
what the symbols stood for and gave a mileage chart so the traveler could
determine how far one point was from another. All of this seems mighty out of
date now.
Now that GPSs, Google Maps,
Siri, and other satellite-based applications have taken over, knowing how to
read a map is almost an extinct practice. If I want to travel somewhere, I plug
the address into Google Maps and let the voice tell me every turn to make to
get there. The app also calculates my arrival time, tells me about traffic
conditions, and lets me know the fastest route to my destination.
Whether reading a map or using
technology, I must follow directions to arrive at my destination. Ignoring them
will take me in the wrong direction and to the wrong place. It did for God’s
people of old. After delivering them from Egyptian bondage and leading them to
Mt. Sinai, God instructed Moses to climb the mountain. God gave him and the
people the Ten Commandments and other ceremonial and moral laws there.
By Jeremiah’s time, the people
had done a miserable job of obeying. God told of a future time when He would
make a New Covenant that He would write on their hearts, rather than stone
tablets. In the meantime, He would send them into captivity as punishment for
their disobedience.
Just as the lines and symbols on old maps had a purpose, so do God’s principles. God has recorded them in the Bible.
When we follow His road map, we end up at the right places: forgiveness, salvation, peace, abundance, and joy.
We discover the opposite when we ignore
them or go in the opposite direction.
God’s rules are not His
opinions. We can debate them, but we won’t win. They are absolute truths He
won’t change His mind about. What culture says, or what we think, doesn’t
matter. And if we choose to ignore them, consequences follow, as they did for
the ancient Israelites.
On the other hand, obeying them
gets us where we need to go and where God wants us. Life is always better when
we follow God’s directions.
Make up your mind to learn and
obey God’s directions, regardless.
Prayer: Father, give us the
courage to obey Your road map for our lives.
Tweetable: Are you following the right map?
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Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. Hebrews 13:18 NLT
His remedy
for a good night’s sleep was easier said than done.
I was his
pastor, and he was one of the godliest men I’d ever met. One day our conversation
turned to sleep—specifically, my trouble doing so. Even though many elderly people
have difficulty sleeping, he didn’t. He did take a Benadryl before he retired
for the night, but that was for his allergies—not a sleeping aid.
When I asked
what his key for restful nights was, he said, “I go to bed with a clear
conscience.” Knowing him as I did, I believed him. He continually performed
kind deeds, his speech was uplifting and clean, and he made an honest living by
tending to a small farm while drawing his retirement.
Whoever the
writer of Hebrews was, his conscience was clear also. Many others may have been
preaching and teaching a corrupt gospel, but not him. Others may have felt
guilt over past mistakes, but he didn’t. Instead, he simply wanted prayer
support from his fellow Christians.
My conscience
hasn’t always been clear. During my periods of rebellion against God’s will and
commands, it bothered me tremendously. God tried to get my attention.
But when I
finally confessed my orneriness and straightened things out between God and me,
it occasionally still bothered me. No longer was God pricking my conscience. Now
it was Satan. He wanted to chain me to what God had freed me from: the penalty of
my sins, which I had confessed.
From God’s
perspective, confession and repentance cleanse our conscience. Satan would love
nothing more than for us to believe we’ve been too bad for God to forgive—but we
haven’t.
Based on what Christ has done—and our acceptance of his gift—we can live with a clear conscience.
Knowing we’re on good terms with God frees us from worry, anxiety,
and feelings of false guilt.
If your
conscience isn’t clear, ask God why.
Prayer: Father, we thank You that we can live with clear consciences because of what Christ has done.
Tweetable: Is your conscience clear?
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So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. Hebrews 13:9 NLT
The attraction
almost always ends in death.
Native to the
wetlands of North and South Carolina is the Venus Flytrap. What makes the plant
odd is that it’s a carnivorous plant, which means it eats meat—mainly insects
and arachnids. The plant’s leaves are bright red, but tiny hairs also decorate the
leaves. If an insect brushes two hairs within twenty seconds, the leaf closes,
trapping its prey.
The trapping
mechanism is so sophisticated it can distinguish between a drop of rain and the
prey that will provide sustenance. The meshwork of hairs allows smaller prey to
escape while encasing larger and more nutritious prey—subjects of a fatal
attraction.
The early
church preached a simple message: Jesus Christ was the Messiah, he died for the
sins of humanity, and God raised him to life. Unfortunately, fatal attractions
lingered. Jewish legalists preached the main one. A person must observe Jewish
ceremonies and customs for salvation. Believing this distorted the pure gospel.
I’ve
witnessed quite a few fatal attractions in my lifetime—beginning with the
hippie movement. Some of their religious ideas were unbiblical and proved
fatal. Mixed in was the Hare Krishna cult, along with several other attractive cults.
Also in the mix were Christian legalists who weren’t much unlike the Jewish
legalists of the first century—just with a different list of do’s and don’ts.
Fatal
attractions still attract. They’re embodied in anything that attempts to draw our
attention away from the pure gospel of faith in Jesus Christ. Only two commands
comprise the uncontaminated gospel: love God with our entire being and love others
as ourselves.
Our strength to avoid the fatal attractions—or distractions—comes from God alone.
We can’t
muster it, nor can any person or substance deliver it. God’s grace, however, is
always sufficient.
What fatal
attractions attract you?
Prayer:
Father, turn our eyes away from the fatal attractions that would distract us
from serving You.
Tweetable: What fatally attracts you?
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The young lady was talking . .
. but not to me.
I entered the establishment to
pay our monthly bill. Two young ladies busied themselves helping other
customers . . . or so it appeared. One stood behind the counter, talking on the
phone to the customer she assisted. The other sat behind a desk. As I walked
through the doorway, the one behind the desk asked if she could help me. I
wondered how she could help me when I had just heard her talking to someone on
the phone.
I told her what I needed and
heard her say, “Hold on.” I thought she was talking to me, but she wasn’t.
That’s when I noticed the Bluetooth earpiece hidden in her ear and disguised by
her hair. If she could tell the person she was talking with to hold on,
obviously, she was on a personal call—something I assumed store policy forbade.
As she helped me, she continued
to talk with the other person. In the middle of completing my transaction, she
told them to hold on again, but then said, “Hello.” Now, she was in a three-way
conversation: two personal and one business. I held my tongue, although I
wanted to tell her if she wanted my business, she needed to tend to me and not
her personal affairs.
This young lady had mastered
the art of multi-tasking, even if doing so violated business policy—and is impossible.
I’m sure she wouldn’t have appreciated me talking on my cell phone while she
tried to wait on me. In fact, many businesses have a sign prohibiting customers
from doing so.
Paul addresses the matter of
talking, telling us to use words that help, encourage, and uplift.
I love technology as much as
the next person. Having grown up in a world where I didn’t have the luxury of
many forms of it, I enjoy it now. But it can interfere with personal
interaction if we’re not careful.
When we talk to others, we need
to recognize their worth. Trying to divide our attention between them and a
phone call or texting with someone else might send the message that the
conversation—or the person we’re talking with—isn’t that important at all. God
has created everyone uniquely and for a purpose. Giving them our full attention
when we’re talking with them recognizes this. Eye contact is still essential.
And since enough negativity
decorates our world, we need to spew words that encourage others rather than
take them down another notch. When we depend on God to guide our speech, He’ll
give us the right words to say.
When you talk the talk, do it
in a considerate and loving manner.
Prayer: Father, put words in
our mouths that build others us, not tear them down.
Tweetable: What does your speech say to others?
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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 NLT
She was the
most inconsistent person John had ever met . . . but she was his boss.
In an office
predominantly stocked with females, he was only the third male ever hired. For
that, he was thankful. He needed the job. He soon discovered, however, that
each day differed. Although he was hired for a particular position, he didn’t
occupy that spot until months later. Instead, he was put in another position,
then another, and then another.
From day to
day, he never knew what his duties might entail. One day, he might be a teller,
the next a custodian, and the next a supervisor. Nor did he ever know what type
of mood his boss would be in. One day, she might be playful and humorous and
the next morose and serious. Working for her was a challenge because of her
inconsistency.
The first
century was also changing because of the day of Pentecost and the church's birth.
No longer were Jewish customs and ceremonies needed or required. Instead, early
apostles said people only needed to trust in the crucified and resurrected
Christ.
Technology
has brought a constant flow of change also. No sooner do we learn to maneuver
one smartphone than another comes out, and we have to learn new features. Or, as
soon as we get comfortable with one computer operating system, the manufacturers
will change it to look and function differently.
Thankfully, there
is a constant variable among all life's variables: Jesus Christ. Belief in his
sacrifice on Calvary was my path to salvation initially, and I don’t have to
fear he’ll change the way. Faith was sufficient in the beginning and will be in
the end. He isn’t fickle as we often are. He doesn’t keep us guessing whether we
are on good terms with him. In an ever-changing world, he is the only constant.
Trusting in him will never lead us in the wrong direction.
Is Christ
your constant in a changing world?
Prayer:
Father, we thank You that the way to You will never change.
Tweetable: How do you deal with inconsistency?
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Fog swirled around Catalina
Island in the summer of 1952.
Florence Chadwick walked into the
surf and began swimming toward the California coast two dozen miles away.
Already an experienced long-distance swimmer, she had set a new record by
crossing the English Channel the year before. So, accompanied by supporters in
boats, she kept stroking on that July day. No doubt, the visible distant
coastline of her goal helped her keep going.
Finally, after fifteen hours in
the water—and as the fog thickened and obscured her view of the distant
shoreline—Florence surrendered to fatigue and frustration. Once on the boat,
she realized she was only a mile from her goal.
“I’m not excusing myself,” she
said later, “but if I could see the land, I might have made it.”
Yet, a few months later, she was
back in the water on a clear day to finish the course and set other new records.
Like Florence, I might sometimes cancel
a goal and give up too soon. For me, it’s usually spiritual, such as when I
halt my efforts on a God-given task. I might do it because I’ve lost my vision
for the Lord’s ultimate purpose or because of fearful confusion. After all, we
can’t always see our goal in God’s service as Florence Chadwick could with her
endeavor. When I give up, I have usually succumbed to doubt.
But how futile. God can see where
I’m going even when I can’t—and that’s enough. When it’s all over, I realize He
was always there for my benefit and His glory.
How can you be reminded of God’s
presence, even when the end is not in sight?
Tweetable: What do you do when you lose sight of the goal?
Anne Adams is a retired church staffer living in Athens, Texas, where she writes a historical column for the local newspaper. Her book Brittany, Child of Joy, tells about her mentally disabled daughter and was published in 1986 by Broadman. She has taught junior college history and has published in Christian and secular publications for forty years.
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