Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

It is so much fun to experience something new. Sometimes when you learn new things you can transfer the techniques to other parts of life and other times you can’t. I have really been enjoying my photography class, but one of the challenges has been learning a program called Photoshop. It is pretty complicated when you dig into all that is available, but I have been thrilled at the few things I have been introduced to. One of the best features for me is that you can take a good picture and make it even better – in fact you can almost make it perfect. I applied these techniques the other day to an image of our house. The photo was beautiful but it really showed the flaws that were there. So, no problem, I repainted the peeling paint on the front door, removed the weeds from around the porch, brushed away the dead grass that covered the foreground, and added a little extra light to brighten things up. In a matter of minutes I Photoshopped away everything I didn’t like. And it felt so good!

Do you ever want to just break out in an exclamation of praise to God? If you don’t, why not? Our God is worthy of all praise. There is so much to be thankful for and so many blessings to enjoy. Even in the middle of a deep crisis there are little things that should turn our hearts toward God and prompt us to glorify Him. Paul interrupted his correspondence to his friend, Timothy, with words of praise to God. After explaining how God had saved his soul even though he was the worst of sinners, Paul couldn’t contain himself. He erupted into praise: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” These words burst from his heart and exploded onto the paper as he wrote about God’s goodness.

If there is one thing our world is lacking it is patience. No one wants to wait for anything. We quickly get frustrated when someone or something interferes with our plans to attain our goals now. And we especially get frustrated with people. Who wants to mess with someone who is taking too long to understand our point of view or who just doesn’t fit into our lifestyle? It’s much easier to write them off and move to the next person. Thankfully, this is not the way Jesus is. He has perfect love and perfect patience for each individual on this earth. We never have to worry that the Lord will become frustrated with our slow progress in a certain area. He has our best interest at heart and will patiently continue to discipline us for the purpose of growth. When we belong to Him He promises to establish our hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all the saints (1 Thessalonians 3:13). He is faithful and will bring this to pass by patiently working with us through all of our weaknesses and setbacks.

The truth is the truth no matter which way you slice it. There are many in our day and age who believe the truth is relative, but there are some things that don’t change. No matter how we present them, the facts remain the same. I had a rude awakening the other day. With the advent of autumn, I decided it would be a good time to go through my clothing and start bringing out my fall apparel. I grabbed a pair of pants that had not seen the light of day for quite a while and tried them on. Much to my dismay, they seemed to have shrunk while tucked away in the plastic container that had housed them. I looked at the size on the tag and was confused. The number seemed somewhat large. In fact, I had just worn another pair of pants with a lower number and they fit fine. I continued to rummage through my closet, checking all the tags, and became aware that other well-fitting articles of clothing also had lower numbers than the one on my too-tight pants. In fact, years ago when I was younger and slimmer my number was double what it is now. That’s weird! Subconsciously, I asked myself, “Why can’t designers come up with a standard so that sizes stay the same?” Then it hit me. It’s a mind game.

I did a whole lot of shaking and stomping today! No, I wasn’t line dancing, but I was helping to man our Sheridan Team booth at the Farm Science Review near London, Ohio. The crowds swelled as the morning progressed and we shook hands with many old friends as well as making some new ones. Later, when we had a lull in the rush I joined the many boot-clad farmers stomping around the grounds, visiting the vendors and booths. Dad and I stopped at the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association tent for lunch, said howdy to our friends at Farm Credit Services, picked up a newspaper at the Farm World headquarters, and later I hobnobbed with our neighbor at the JD Equipment booth. I am always fascinated by the many different pieces of equipment and hardware for sale to make the agricultural crowd’s life and business a little easier. My favorite today was a booth across from ours. This company was selling Sole Scrapers. Their motto was “Leave the mess outside.” How apropos! This handy tool would be a huge help for the many men and women whose business requires them to walk around in a lot of muck. I know from experience that after visiting the barn it’s important to clean the soles of your boots before reentering your house.

The Christian life is lived by what we know as opposed to what we feel. Every human being experiences a wide variety of emotions from time to time. Even those who seem to have leather tough skin have moments when feelings hit the mark. These inner stirrings have a way of coloring our perception of truth, and clouding our mind. So when our thoughts and actions are being disturbed by our circumstances, it is imperative that we focus on what we know and not on what we feel. Love stories in books or movies regularly play on this principle. The guy misunderstands the girl’s actions, becomes jealous, and leaves the scene hurt and forlorn. The girl, confused about his quick exit becomes frustrated and sad. The relationship seems to be on the brink of shipwreck, but, of course, in the movies there is always some last minute reunion where things work out. Unfortunately, in real life the story doesn’t always turn out so well. There is no place where this human trait of following our feelings is more detrimental than in the Christian life. We do not see God with our physical eyes; we see Him by faith. Upon receiving the Lord Jesus as our Savior we receive a restored relationship with Him. We put our trust in His grace to save us and begin the journey of trusting Him with every other part of our lives.