Devotions

There’s no Place like Home
Read: Hebrews 11:9-10, 13-16

“… they desired a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” Hebrews 11:16 (NASB)

The forecast called for snow, snow, and more snow! Sure enough, the snow didn’t stop falling for two days after 13 inches had accumulated. Schools canceled classes; businesses closed, and only emergency services stayed open. My family was snowed in for days! Fortunately, I had paid attention to the forecast and purchased enough food and milk for a week. We were also fortunate that our electricity stayed on.

So that week was spent at home. Each day we slept late, the children played in the snow and I was still able to wash their wet clothes and give them warm dinners each evening. The big snow that shut down my southern city was many years ago now but I still recall it as one of the most pleasant weeks of my life because I and mine were safe at home.

We all have the instinctive desire to long for home. Hebrew 11 talks of men and women of faith who longed for a better home – one that is built by God Himself. Verse 16 amazes me. It says of these people that God was not ashamed to be called their God. What does it take for God to be pleased to be called your God? Do you have to do some mighty deed or achieve a high level of spirituality? No, you simply have to have a longing for a better place – a heavenly place, a city whose architect and builder is God!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You have placed deep in our hearts a longing for home. Help us to realize this is because you are preparing a home for us. Help us to understand that we are truly strangers on this earth making our way to the city whose builder is you. In your Son’s name, Amen.

Thought for the day: There’s no place like home!

Through my Window

I usually don’t write about current events on my blog. As a Christian writer, I try to use my writing to focus on the Lord or the things of the Lord. But last weeks’ horrendous tragedy ripped at my heart and I know it has deeply touched most of us.

A man, like the Las Vegas shooter, who would do such an unimaginable thing must have a heart filled with hate.

We have so much hate in our world today—people hating others who are different from them, or who hold apposing practices, beliefs, or political views. Sometimes we feel others’ hate for us and the things we hold dear, and we react in kind. (The people gunned down last week were at a Country music concert. I love Country music so this hits home for me. I feel that man’s hate against people like me and am tempted to hate back.)

There is a better way than to hate and to fill our minds with hateful thoughts. Philippians 4:8 says, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these."
We can and should make a conscious effort to keep our minds focused on good things." Personally, I find that warm thoughts of people and things I love always makes me feel better too. Thinking on these make me want to smile at someone I meet in the grocery store instead of snarling at them.

For me good things might be fall scenery, a lit Christmas tree, laughter with family, or a fond memory. The Bible boils good down to an even more basic form in Micah 6:8 when it says, “He has shown Thee O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.”

Do yourself and your fellow man a favor … think good thoughts today!

Strange and Interesting Bible Facts

Once a month, I write a short column for a writer’s newsletter, “The Write Life" called “Strange and Interesting Bible Facts.” Since 2010, I have thoroughly enjoyed digging in my Bible to come up with Bible tid-bits for this column. So, now I will pass on the interesting facts I have found to you – my blog readers – in a new section I will post periodically under this same title.

Here are four to get us started:

1) “Pass me not Oh gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry!  While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by.”  This is a famous hymn written by the late Fannie Crosby. Where do we find the words, “Do not pass me by.” in scripture?  …. Do you give up? Abraham said it in Genesis 18:3. The setting is by the oaks of Mamre, where the Lord appeared to Abraham. In verse 3 Abraham says to the Lord, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.”  

 

2) Have you ever heard the name Ichabod?  Most of us have heard it in the context of the story by John Quidor of Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman. But did you know the name appears in the Bible?  1^st Samuel 4 tells the sad story of the Philistine victory where the Ark of the Covenant was stolen, Eli’s sons were killed, and Eli also died upon hearing the news of the battle and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant.  This sad chapter ends with the story of Eli’s daughter in law also dying in childbirth after the news of her loss caused her to go into labor.  As she was dying, she named her newborn son Ichabod, which means “No glory” because she said the glory of the Lord had departed. (1^st Samuel 4: 21)

3) This tid-bit of information is drawn from a book by David Jeremiah. He tells of a geophysicist who explained that oil deposits result from the decomposition of plants and animal life that once covered the earth until a vast cataclysm (like a flood, perhaps?) The richest and largest deposits of oil are just east of Israel, where the Bible places the Garden of Eden. In presenting his argument that the last battle will be over oil, Dr. Jeremiah states, “It’s ironic to think that Satan may finance the Battle of Armageddon at the end of human history with revenues generated from the garden he spoiled at the beginning of human history.”

4) Sometimes verses strike me as humorous. This one did that when I read it. Paul said these words just before his shipwreck. He had a dream in which God had told him he would appear before Caesar. Then Paul tells the men on his ship, “Keep up your courage men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.  But we must run aground on some island.” (Acts 27:25-26) Maybe there is something wrong or irreverent about me for finding these verses so hilarious.  Or maybe I’ve just been there too many times in my life. But I can truly relate with these words, “Things are going to be OK!  I believe God!...Oh! - but first we are going to have a major shipwreck. There will be pieces of us everywhere; a major mess!!  Just overlook it! Everything is going to turn out just the way God wants it too! 

 

 

The Two Edged Sword

The “Better Than” Book

Hebrews is the “Better Than” Book. This New Testament book points the way to a better life. In it you will find references to things that are better many, many times. Some examples are:

Christ is:

better than angels – 1:4

worthy of more glory than Moses – 3:3

the builder of the house (the creator) and as such has more honor than the creation - 3:4

a great High Priest (4:4) which is better then men’s high priests – 5:1-2

Men swear by things that are better then themselves, but God swears by Himself. Why? Because He is better than everything else. 6:13-16

It tells of:

a better covenant enacted on better promises – 8:6

a greater more perfect tabernacle – 9:11

a better possession – 10:34

a kingdom which cannot be shaken (a better kingdom) – 12:28

and a better city – 11:10 & 13:14

What could be better than that?