Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

Autumn is my favorite season. I delight in the cooler weather and vibrant foliage. Pumpkins, apples, scarecrows, hay bales, and candy corn – it all gives me a happy feeling. But this time of year also finds me constantly cleaning. The dust from the fields fills the air; leaves scatter daily over the porch; and, of course, there are all the pesky cobwebs. They show up overnight in the craziest of places. Regularly I find myself brushing them away so they won't create a real eyesore. As much as we fight to keep away the unsightly webs of a spider, I wonder how often we seek to clear away the cobwebs from our hearts. Life goes on from day to day, and without taking time to examine ourselves regularly we can fall into thought patterns or actions that are not appropriate for a child of God. Sometimes our sinful tendencies occur without our even realizing it. Jealousy, anger, anxiety, and more can pop up over night and threaten to overtake our well being if we do not regularly brush them away.

We live in a prejudiced world. Though our country has worked hard to eliminate discrimination in its outward manifestations, no one can erase the sinful tendencies of the human heart. Watching our words carefully is not enough. There must be a heart change. God is not a respecter of persons and those who belong to Him should not be either. Working in the auction business I often come across some interesting memorabilia. Monday our team spent the day recording and photographing items for an upcoming online auction. There were numerous old advertising signs. One that intrigued me reminded me of the discrimination that was prominent at one time in our country. The sign read, “Help Wanted – No Irish Need Apply.” That was a shocker for a family with the name of Sheridan. Who would have been so prejudiced to hang a metal sign like that outside their door?

It is easy to feel insignificant in such a huge world. We may have desires to do great things for God, but wonder how we can when we are unknown or seem to possess so little. But God is not looking for many mighty or noble persons. His eyes are searching to and fro throughout the earth for those who possess willing and obedient hearts. He has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and, someday when we get to heaven we will find out, as Paul Harvey used to put it, “the rest of the story!” Edward Kimball was no one in particular. He lived in Boston in the mid 1800s and attended the Mount Vernon Congregational Church where he was committed to teaching a Bible class for young men. One particular Sunday an obviously poor and uneducated boy joined the class. This “greenhorn from the country,” as the other teasing students dubbed him, did not know much about the Bible and struggled to find the passages they were studying.

Prayer is part of a conversation with God. We speak to God through prayer and He speaks to us, in part, through His word. This is why it is good to use the Bible to guide our communication with our heavenly Father. One day while Jesus was praying one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus took the opportunity to instruct His followers in the appropriate way to communicate with God. He reminded them to have a proper attitude. They should not be like the hypocrites who pray for attention from others. These haughty ones would often stand on a corner or public place where they were most visible and pray out loud for all to hear. Instead, Jesus told His disciples to pray in a secret place where they would not be tempted with pride. God would hear their requests and reward their humbleness with His presence and listening ear.

It’s harvest time! How do I know? I know because the crops have turned brown, dust infiltrates the air, tractors rumble along the road blocking traffic, and bright combines lumber through the fields spitting a golden reward into the beds of gigantic grain trucks. It is harvest time, and my farmer friends are scurrying to bring in the fruit of all their labors. This week I sat in the living room of our neighbor’s house. Three of us were there to read and study the Bible together. As we discussed the passage their husbands and other farmers working together outside the window distracted me. I sensed the urgency and excitement of the task as I watched one run on foot full speed up the lane and reappear with a John Deere gator in full throttle. Back and forth they went working together to accomplish their task. Even as the darkness hid the crops the lights were still seen moving to and fro through the fields.

It is always a thrill to receive opportunities that most others will not get. This does not often happen because of who a person is, but more likely because of whom the person knows. In past years our family has had the privilege of meeting a couple of celebrities. When Luke was a little boy we were honored with the opportunity to have breakfast with the long-time country comedic storyteller, Jerry Clower. Our favorite memory of this now-deceased country comedy legend was when we first met him. Dad asked two-year-old Luke if he knew who the large, jolly man was, and Luke immediately replied in his childlike way, “Je – wee Kwower.” Jerry looked Luke in the eye, and with the Southern drawl he was well known for replied, “Well, ain’t you something!” I’d love to say that Jerry searched the phone book to look up the Sheridan family and ask us to have lunch with him, but that isn’t how it happened. We had an audience with him only because Grandpa Sheridan was on the Greene County Fairboard and Jerry was the featured show that year. Grandpa was scheduled to pick him up from the airport and make sure he got fed. We got invited not because of who we were, but because of who we knew. No other reason was sufficient.