Morning Devotion: Harvest math

Everything God does has a reason behind it.

And that includes His choice to send a blessing into your life.

The reason is that you’ll multiply that blessing into the lives of others.

We’re vessels, my friend.

Mark 4 describes us a soil.

The challenge is to be the soil that produces a harvest from the seeds of God’s blessings.

Here’s how Jesus put it in Mark 4:20.

“And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

This passage is typically understood within an evangelistic context with conversions. But it is also relevent to how we respond to blessings sent our way.

And that’s what I want to encourage you to ponder and pursue today.

When God sends the seed of a much-needed encouraging word from a relative or co-worker, please make it a point to speak some word of encouragement — no matter how brief — into the lives of every person you meet.

Whether a store clerk or an online tech support person or another parent waiting to pick up a child at school or wherever, ask God to lead you in finding something encouraging to say to him or her.

Will you encounter 30, 60 or 100 people today? Probably not.

But you just might do that during the course of a week.

Will God be honored by your intentional encouragement of so many?

Yes.

Will those encouraged be blessed?

Yes.

Will you and I be a better stewards of God’s blessing if we do this?

Of course.

God is SO good to us.

Let’s say more good things to others in order to bring God a harvest for the blessing He sent our way.

As always, I love you

Martin

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Morning Devotion: To the end

Like you, I’m saddened by the erosion of Bible-based morality in our communities that is even seeping into some congregations.

But I’m far from discouraged by it.

You see, this just serves as a reminder of the opportunities we Christians have to shine as lighthouses toward a darkened ocean.

Do I like that increasing numbers of people don’t care what scripture says about godly marriage and gender-appropriate conduct? Am I glad that so many have decided that congregational involvement is not needed in their lives?

Certainly not.

But the clear and repeated story of the Bible is that society ebbs and flows in the spiritual realm.

Based on my reading of scripture, we’ve got quite a ways to go before the downward slope of our national relationship with God hits bottom.

We can pray that national revival occurs long before that.

And we can pray for wisdom to love and serve people in such a way that our faith will shine like a lighthouse to those who feel like ships tossed in a dark, storm sea.

As long as there is even one neighbor or co-worker or struggling relative to whom we can show the love of Christ, we should be encouraged.

The power of grace abides and as long as we have hope to share, it’s vital that we remain faithful to the end of our days.

Perhaps “the end of days” Jesus described in Matthew 24:12-13 will happen before the end of our days physically.

In any event, let’s both be vigilant in looking for ways to guide others into the safe harbor of God’s gracious love.

As always, I love you
Martin

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Morning Devotion: Be like God

I want to be more like God.

I will never be God, something my imperfections remind me of quite frequently.

But I can certainly strive to imitate His nature.

Only good things will result from my demonstrating these characteristics so aptly described by the psalmist:

“But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15)

Do those around me want to see me display compassion and mercy and slowness to anger and unfailing love and faithfulness?

Of course.

People in your life want to see the same from you.

How much more influence would we have at work or home or school if people thought, “Yeah, that __________, he/she is so compassionate, so gracious, so cool-tempered, so loving and so godly.”

Let’s be like God, my friends.

God will love it.

And so will those whom God has placed into our lives.

As always, I love you
Martin

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Morning Devotion: God is in the lifting business

I love this message found in Proverbs 24:16 —

“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.”

Our being godly is not reflected by being flawless, but instead by being faithful.

And our being faithful is reflected by pressing forward in serving God even when our failures and the forces of darkness press against us.

We all trip by committing overt sins or sometimes we subtly sin by not trusting God to help us keep doing the right things when wrong things come against us.

The godly among us recognize that we’ve fallen short of God’s glory at such times and that we’re to seek God’s forgiveness so that He’ll put us back on our feet spiritually and emotionally.

It’s a wonderful thing to experience God’s forgiveness and restoration to being used by Him at home or work or school.

“He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.” (Isaiah 40:2)

God is in the lifting business, dear friend. Let’s call out to Him in faith whenever we’ve fallen.

It’s what the godly do.

As always, I love you
Martin

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Morning Devotion: Strong forever

What is the most important thing in life?

Being ready for the next life.

Here is King David’s view of priorities:

“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.” (Psalm 73:26)

On what — or on whom — is the strength of your heart based?

What gets you out of bed and motivated to pursue goals during the day?

Let’s make sure that serving God is our primary purpose in this life.

Even when our flesh and emotions are really struggling.

This way, we’ll be sure to serve and be blessed by Him forever in the next life.

Hmmm…. it really is a marvelous promise that God wants to fill our hearts and bless our souls forever.

As always, I love you
Martin

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