Tag: daily devotional

  • Ecclesiastes: Everything Has a Season

    A gravel path runs straight ahead between trees in orange and rust autumn foliage, with fallen leaves thickly covering the ground on both sides.

    Happy birthday to us. Kathy and I celebrate our birthdays today 139 years of combined life experience.

    It’s getting into late autumn. The trees are increasingly bare, and the pathways, roads and trails are more covered in fallen leaves. It isn’t a surprise; it happens every year and will continue until this world passes away. Everything has a season.

    The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us …

    For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate;

    a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV

    If you are of a certain age, you just heard that in song. Turn, turn, turn.

    Whether you heard it in a song or read it, it rings true. Everything comes with a season. Sometimes everything goes as it should, and things look like they might get even better. Other times, everything that can go wrong does, and there is nothing but bad news on the horizon. Most of us spend the bulk of our lives between the two extremes.

    Whatever season we are in, God remains in control. He sits on His throne and never varies in his love, mercy or character.

    For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. Malachi 3:6 ESV

    Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. Psalm 102:25-27 ESV

    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 ESV

    Whatever season you are in, you can hold fast to the Lord. If you are His, He holds you fast, and nothing can ever take you away from Him. He will never let you go.

    Hold fast and praise His name no matter your circumstances.

    Be blessed Kevin

    SUMMARY

    Everything in this life has a season, and the seasons keep changing. Whatever season you are in, the Lord does not change, so hold fast to Him and praise His name.

    TAKEAWAY

    Everything comes with a season. Some go better than we hoped, some go wrong in every way, and most of us live somewhere in between.

    Whatever season we are in, God remains in control. He never varies in His love, mercy or character.

    If you are His, He holds you fast and will never let you go. So hold fast to Him and praise His name, no matter your circumstances.

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  • Spiritual Maturity: A Beauty That Grows

    Lakeshore under a gray sky with willow branches, reeds topped with dark seed heads, purple and white clover, purple thistle, yellow stinkweed and browning amaranth beside gray water, a small mud flat and trees across the lake.

    The sky was gray; a light drizzle was falling, and the water on the lake looked cold as the wind blew across it. I stopped for a few minutes and savored the scene’s beauty. Gray sky, drizzle, and cold water might not sound attractive, but there was beauty to behold. 

    The water was gray, reflecting the dreary sky above, but it had a subtle appeal all its own. As I watched the waves break on the shore, I was struck by autumn’s deep colors. Tucked in behind some grasses and reeds, a small mud flat was visible. It was the color of a deep, rich cocoa. 

    The reeds were a deep green and topped with dark seed heads. The grasses were green, turning yellow, then brown. The amaranth heads were turning from vivid red to chocolate. 

    The clover added subtle shades of purple and white. The thistle added even more purple/ Scattered stinkweed plants added a subtler yellow to highlight the scene. The silvery, green leaves of a willow gently caressed the tops of a clump of grass as it swayed in the breeze. 

    The waves, the wind rustling the grasses, and the quivering willow leaves combined into a wonderful symphony of nature. The sound was punctuated now and then by the quack of some ducks swimming on the leeward side of the island. It was a perfect accompaniment to the scene my eyes were taking in. 

    It really was magnificent when I stopped to look and listen. It wasn’t the bright, vibrant beauty of summer or the crisp freshness of spring, but it was stately, subtle, rich and deep. 

    People are the same way. We have the fresh beauty of young babies, the vibrancy of youth and the richness of maturity. The delineations aren’t clear-cut as we slip from one phase to the next, but they are there. 

    A similar thing happens when we come to know Christ. There’s the joy of first discovering the love of one who loves you as much as He does. There’s the unabashed vibrancy of newly fired young Christians who are off to save the world and the wonderful, deep, committed faith and ministry of mature Christians. 

    Few things are sadder to me than seeing a person come to life as a baby Christian, then wither away as a pew warmer not growing in their faith. They seem to view their salvation as the goal not understanding that it’s merely the opening of the door to a wonderful journey. The beauty of their maturing is lost. 

    Being a Christian is a process. It should never be stagnant. As we know and love the Lord more, we spend more time in His Word and ministering in His name. As we do that, we get to know and love Him more. We are called to maturity. 

    But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 ESV

     Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.  1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV

    There is an incredible beauty in a deep committed relationship with Jesus Christ. A beauty that grows as the relationship matures. A faith that has been tested and knows God’s steadfast faithfulness is one of the most beautiful things in all of creation. 

    Until next time, may your relationship with the Living God grow deeper every day. 

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    There is an incredible beauty in a relationship with Jesus Christ that grows as it matures. May your relationship with the Living God grow deeper every day.

    TAKEAWAY

    Salvation isn’t the goal. It’s the opening of the door to a journey.

    Being a Christian is a process. It should never be stagnant.

    A tested faith is beautiful. That beauty grows as the relationship matures.

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