Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

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.

The world is a big place! It is made up of many nations and peoples with numerous languages, customs, and physical characteristics. Most of the time we get caught up in our own little personal world and we forget about the bigness of God’s creation. But when you take the time to think about it, the fact is overwhelming! Recently, I was thinking about prayer. God wants us to pray all kinds of requests for all kinds of people. This is a good and acceptable practice to Him. Though there are millions throughout the world who have not heard the name of Jesus Christ and many more who have heard and rejected Him, there will come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The nations will be His inheritance and the very ends of the earth His possession as He comes to reign in His heavenly Kingdom. We should ask for this to happen.

When the going gets tough sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged. We start out gung ho with an endeavor but time runs short, problems occur, and a thought of abandoning the whole idea teases the brain. This is when we need to focus on the goal and continue to plug along. Last Wednesday I was so excited. It was the first day of a photography class I signed up for. I arrived early with my Canon and my laptop ready to go. My motivation was high and I was sure I would be taking brilliant photos by the end of the week. By the middle of the first class my hopes drooped as I realized this new hobby was harder than I thought, and my appreciation of skilled photographers rose to a new level. This was going to require time and work. Isn’t that just like the Christian life? Often when someone comes to know the Lord as their Savior they are thrilled about being a part of the body of Christ. They have become a new creation and now have a relationship with God along with a sure hope for their eternal future.