Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

Every time Dad and I go to the local gym they are there - the tall, thin man in the warmup suit and the tiny, muscular woman in leggings and sports shirt. Every time, this pair is doing the same thing - he studies a stopwatch while she runs short sprints. He teaches, corrects, and keeps time. She listens and follows his directions. Every time we watch the procedures we experience success in the making - a seasoned coach guiding a willing athlete. Behind every successful winner there is usually hidden a faithful advocate of victory. Teachers who inspire, coaches who challenge, and family members who support all have a place in helping the achiever to win. We all need them. Today many even hire life coaches to guide them in making life goals and developing a plan to reach them.

Following people today is all the rage! Constantly we are bombarded with requests from friends and businesses to “follow me” on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more. The more followers a person has the higher their status, business reach, or message platform becomes. But what is the purpose and benefit in following all these entities? Often we follow friends and loved ones to keep informed about their lives. Large events such as engagements, births, and deaths are now routinely announced on social media. If you are not a follower, you may miss out on important information. Sometimes we follow businesses so we can keep apprised of upcoming sales and receive coupons for future purchases. Numerous blogs share pertinent information about work or hobbies for which we desire to gather information. Church, school, extracurricular organizations – you name it – everybody invites you to follow them so you can stay informed.

A mother sits by the bed of her terminal child longing to ease the pain and suffering. She would do anything to suspend the death sentence for this little one she cherishes so deeply. Yet all she can do is sit by and wait. She is helpless to turn the tide. A once strong warrior who has been able to accomplish much in the past, now finds himself enduring terrible pain that confines him to a wheelchair. He helplessly waits for assistance to accomplish the most menial of tasks. When will this pain and frustration end? Changed circumstances, deteriorating health, difficult life stages, large time commitments, lack of opportunity – all of these can prevent us from doing what we want to do. We are left to wonder about our changed roles and what will come next.

There is a process for every accomplishment. In order to excel at anything you must follow the prescribed pattern for success. For example, a musician must spend hours rehearsing his instrument, an athlete must build muscle and prowess through regular exercise, and a student must focus on his studies to achieve a degree. But many people like to circumvent the process. They like to look for a shortcut! As a child I lived in Northern New Jersey just outside New York City. Our house was nestled among many others with only alleys and driveways for separation. To visit our Grandma several blocks away we needed to walk to the bottom of our hill on Stewart Avenue, follow the River Road (Passaic Avenue), cut the corner on Jefferson Avenue to the Manner Park, take the sidewalk around the park, and then walk to the end of Hamilton Avenue before we would reach Grandma’s house. This took up an awful lot of time so Uncle Chuck and I developed a network of shortcuts.

The mind is a crazy thing! It is often jumpy and unsteady. Thoughts, like wild horses, can grab the bit from the mind and gallop away to places unknown, taking the unsuspecting rider with them. How many times have you been concentrating on an important task when you suddenly find your thoughts in a completely different place? More than once I have begun something only to realize sometime later that I never finished the job – like the numerous times I have gone to the basement to retrieve a canned good, only to forget why I was there. Or how about the times a loved one is unusually late coming home on a stormy night, and in a matter of minutes the mind has carried you crying to an open funeral casket!

All children of God are called to be witnesses of the salvation He has provided for the world. There are millions of people inhabiting the globe who are in slavery to sin and need to hear about the way to freedom through Jesus Christ. What often keeps us from sharing this good news? Second Timothy 2 gives four roadblocks that we must overcome in order to have an effective witness.