Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

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.

Communication is one of the most important aspects of any campaign. When this crucial link is missing or faulty, a message can be lost or misunderstood and tremendous damage can be done. That is why we must seek to share what God has given us and ensure that our words and our methods of communication are appropriate and clear. The Apostle Paul had spent most of his life taking the gospel throughout the world. As he approached his last days on earth, he was concerned for the integrity of the truth. He knew false teachers would seek to tarnish the message, and if godly men and women didn’t step up, the spread of the gospel would be hindered. He urged his spiritual son, Timothy, to keep the chain of communication going. By entrusting the things he had learned from Paul to other faithful men and training them to teach the truth, it would remain strong and spread even farther throughout the world. The word we use for this today is discipleship.

As we live our lives there will be times when we reach special milestones. Learning to walk, entering school, accepting our first job, and getting married are a few. Yesterday I celebrated another landmark event: yesterday I turned fifty. I have never been one to care much about my age. I have enjoyed every stage of life and had much to look forward to. But somehow turning fifty has felt different. This particular number causes a person to stop and take notice.

Have you ever had someone fail to keep his promise? I have. A number of years ago someone promised to pay me for work I did, but never came through. I kept waiting and waiting but “no go!” I don’t know if he forgot, didn’t have the money, or didn’t care, but whatever the reason I was left in the lurch. Sometimes this happens with people but never with God. I was reminded of this truth yesterday while reading Genesis 21. The Living Bible words the Scripture as follows, “Then God did as He had promised . . .” What a comfort these seven words were! The power of this statement becomes real when you read the rest of the story.