THE COUNT -- Devotional for February 28, from "Good Seeds"

The very hairs of your head are numbered… So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Matthew 10:30; Psalm 90:12)

When I was a kid there was no such thing as “Sesame Street” (PBS’s puppet-based TV program designed to teach children to read). But when our three daughters were growing up we all got a steady diet of Bert and Ernie, Kermit the Frog, and my favorite, The Count. In appearance and accent this puppet resembled Count Dracula, but in temperament he was gentle and friendly, like Elmo or Big Bird. The Count’s entire life was dedicated to…counting. He found great fulfillment – even ecstatic delight – in counting the things around him, like the candles in his candelabra, the apples in a fruit bowl, the fingers and toes of all those in the room – and maybe even the buttons on their shirts! He counted with such happiness it almost seemed like he was “counting his blessings!” Maybe that’s why I was so enamored by him: he found great joy in the little things of life. He didn’t make mountains out of molehills, but I think he would willingly have made little vests and trousers for all the moles in the molehill – once he’d counted them! God is like the Count in that He concerns Himself with the tiniest possible details of His tiniest creatures, as well as all of our disasters and delights, small or large! It takes no greater effort for God to make an exact count of all the stars in space than to number the hairs on your head. Henry Dyer said, “God is great in GREAT things, but He’s very great in LITTLE things!” The very fact that God notices when the tiniest sparrow falls to its death is a reminder that He notices me, and cares about me, when I haven’t got a friend – when I haven’t got a prayer! He is intimately aware and in control of every ache and pain I endure. He is the only One who will never be irritated with my complaints about my medical or emotional or relational distresses. No one can endure a hypochondriac for long – no one, that is, except God! The psalmist wrote, “O God, You know when I sit or stand…and when I wander away. You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (Psalm 56:8 SM). Yes, God keeps a diary, and in it He writes about you and me, by name, every day! He notices everything, missing nothing. He watches us, like a doting father his tottering infant. And so, not just day by day, but moment by moment – not just mile by mile, but step by step, He guides and upholds us. Every hair on my head, every cell in your body, is of greatest concern to Him. So why should we hold back from bringing anything that concerns us – to Him?

IT'S ALL ABOUT PRIORITIES -- Devotional for February 27, from "Good Seeds"

“Consider now how things are going for you: Little crop comes from your much planting; you have food and drink, but not enough to satisfy you; you have clothing, but not enough to keep warm; you have money, but somehow it disappears, as though your pockets were full of holes. You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And what little you brought in I blew away. Why all this? Because My house lies in ruins while you are all busy building your own fine houses.” (Haggai 1:5,6 SM)

There is a hard and fast law that operates in life: The law of priority: Putting first things first. The question of why some things must come before others is easily answered: The second thing won’t be right, won’t satisfy, or possibly won’t come about at all, unless and until the first thing has been accomplished. For example, you couldn’t expect to reap a harvest if you didn’t bother to plant any seed! And you wouldn’t think to be accepted into a college, or hired for a job, if you didn’t meet the required qualifications. And certainly you couldn’t walk out of a store with goods in tow if you didn’t walk into it with money in hand – unless you were a thief! But that’s exactly how human nature operates: we try to beat the system: we shop for a bargain – a “steal of a deal.” We gamble a little money hoping to win millions, always trying to get something for nothing. We cut corners, like a 15 year old wanting to drive. He knows how. So what if he doesn’t have a license? It’s just a formality! Same with marriage: Isn’t love enough? What difference could a stupid piece of paper make? And before we know it, we are putting a whole variety of personal carts before their necessary horses! This was the case with the ancient Israelites. They went through the motions of their religion, giving their God a place in their week, in their budget, and in their thinking. Yeah...LAST PLACE! We might think we’re a lot better by moving Him up to third or even second place. But the universal law of priority applied in the spiritual realm says we are to “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). When God’s people back in Haggai’s day broke that rule they began to see “all these things” – both the necessities and the niceties of life – dissipate and disappear before their very eyes. It all started when they began putting their own houses before the house of God. God gave us families and homes and “all things richly to enjoy.” But it never works to worship the gift to the neglect of the Giver, or to honor the creature over the Creator. What does work is to put Him first -- for then He will put everything right.

MIND YOUR OWN BEE'S WAX! -- Devotional for February 26, from "Good Seeds"

We hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people's business. (2 Thessalonians 3:11)

I should think there is a fine line between properly and benevolently concerning ourselves with the cares and woes and needs of others, and sticking our oar in where it doesn’t belong. We’ve all been in the situation where we’ve been tempted to say (or have actually said) to someone guilty of the latter: “Go mind your own business, will you!” Because we are social creatures by nature, we inevitably butt heads with others when we just wanted to rub shoulders! We huddle together to make plans, and make war instead! We snuggle for warmth, only to freeze to death from the cold shoulder we encounter! We too often come to the same unfortunate conclusion about someone close to us that is often expressed by a frustrated husband: “My wife – I can’t live with her, and I can’t live without her!” These comments, so far, reflect nothing more than common knowledge, but today’s Scripture provides some uncommon wisdom on how to think and what to do about this problem: “Refusing to work, they meddle in other people’s affairs.” In other words, people with the greatest tendency to meddle in other people’s business are those who just aren’t busy enough in their own! But people don’t make other people’s business their business without a good reason. And that reason is that they haven’t an agenda of their own, so they beg, borrow or steal someone else’s. This is not as innocent or harmless as it may sound, for isn’t this the very sin of Satan? Jesus called him “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Is this specialty of his something unique and noble? No! Lying is not new knowledge but rather a perversion of truth. Then Jesus said that he was “a murderer from the beginning.” And what is murder if not the desecration and destruction of life? The “new morality” Satan inspires is nothing more than the old immorality. The devil has not one original “bone in his body” – and neither do any of his followers. But for the followers of Christ God has personal, unique and glorious plans, and He expects us to busy ourselves with them. He wants us to test our mettle in positive, constructive, creative endeavors, every moment of every day of our lives. Mettle…now there’s an interesting word! Webster defines it as “vigor and strength of spirit or temperament.” Think about it: Maybe if we were more mettlesome, we would be less meddlesome! The best examples of such character are the tireless ant and the industrious bee. Maybe if we spent more time carrying our own load, and “minding our own bee’s wax,” for the glory of God, we’d have less time to bug – and buzz around – the people around us!

OPPORTUNITY IS NOT A LENGTHY VISITOR -- Devotional for February 25, from "Good Seeds"

So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! "Bring me another jar," she said to one of her sons. "There aren't any more!" he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. (II Kings 4:5-6)

This passage contains a thought I deliberately omitted in the February 23rd devotional reading: “Bring more jars, boys!” “There aren’t any more, Mom!” And instantly the heretofore non-stop oil spill…came to a stop. Lesson #3: Container determines content. Let’s play with some what-if’s here: What if the widow’s sons were uncooperative or lazy and returned with only two or three containers? We know the answer: The household would wind up with two or three jars of oil. But what if the boys were particularly ambitious (and the neighborhood exceptionally replete with jars, and their owners wonderfully generous), so that 50 containers were collected by our dynamic duo? Again, we know the answer: There would be a HUGE supply of oil, with not one empty jar in the house! Can we find an equivalent scenario in our everyday lives? This was no everyday occurrence; it was a miracle of God. Nevertheless, several well-known principles come to mind: “You get out of life just what you put into it.” “You reap what you sow.” “Cast your bread upon the waters, and soon it will come back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.” Now, these laws work for any man, regardless of his belief in God, or lack of it, right? But there is a spiritual application here that we dare not miss: “The depth of your faith determines the breadth of God’s blessings.” It may be laziness that prevents you or me from diligently serving the Lord, maybe in reaching out to others with material sustenance or spiritual bread. Or, it may be something far worse than neglect or bad habit – it may be unbelief! Did those two sons believe what Elisha said, or were they just doing what they were told? Obedience to parents is always honorable, but an obedient faith linked to their faithful obedience would have impassioned them to redouble their efforts. Lesson #4: In this life, there’s always a time limit. The mother was able to keep pouring the oil from her original flask as long as there was something to pour it into. When the jars stopped, the oil stopped. Is there a time limit for us, to get the gospel out? Yes. Doors of opportunity close. People move away or die. Are there some more jars you need to go get – while the getting is good? Turn off the T.V.! Get on the phone! Get in your car…and go to it!

ANOTHER WORD FOR HYPOCRITE -- Devotional for February 24, from "Good Seeds"

We have heard of your LOVE for all of God's people. (Col 1:4)

“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love…” Oh if that were only true of me and you! Christians reveal their identity all too often by far less noble characteristics. Let me dare to name a few: skillfully picking apart someone else’s theology, a holier-than-thou attitude, condemning those who disagree, arguing over fine points that divide while ignoring key ideas that unify, legalistic nitpicking, criticizing differing worship styles, tongue-wagging gossip about fellow believers, tongue-clicking condemnation of unbelievers…Need I go on? Jesus made his own list in Matthew 23. Too bad when Pharisee – or Christian – can be just another word for hypocrite! And what a dreadful thing this is when LOVE is one of the components, along with FAITH and HOPE, of the Christian’s job description. Sadly, as the apostle so deftly states in I Corinthians 13, Christians can be experts in Faith and professionals in Hope, but totally incompetent and unengaged when it comes to Love! The shortest and probably the best of all the books written by Francis Shaffer is entitled, The Mark of a Christian. You can read it in an afternoon, but you couldn’t learn it in a lifetime. Why? Because the “mark” is none other than the quality of love that distinguished Jesus from the rest of mankind, and would do the same for His followers, if we ever actually began to achieve it. In the Boxer Rebellion in China Christians were being sought out and killed. They fled the persecution, of course, but no amount of hiding could conceal their true identity, for their love for God and man, and especially one another, was written all over their faces, and spelled out in their every word and deed. The distinguishing details of true Christian love are listed for us in the Love Chapter, but in this tiny verse in Colossians the single most important nuance of Christian love is made even more clear: True Christian love is the love between Christians. The book of Acts records the formation of the early church, but not once is the word love used in its pages! It took one of its pastors, John, the Apostle of Love, to take us beyond the history and government to the heart and soul of the church – and he didn’t pull any punches! “If you say, ‘I love God,’ and hate your brother, you are a liar!” (I John 4:20). You might love the Bible, the unsaved, even your enemies –- all commendable things -– but if you don’t love God’s people, God knows you still don’t really love Him (and the world knows it, too!) Do you know anyone who knows you are a Christian primarily because of your love for Christians? That’s the final test.

GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES -- Devotional for February 23, from "Good Seeds"

Tell me, what do you have in the house?" "Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil," she replied. So Elisha said, "Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and pour the oil from your flask into the jars." So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, "Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over." (2 Kings 4:2-7 NLT)

"God helps those who help themselves."
Is that true? Can you find this statement in the Bible? Well, maybe not exactly as quoted here, but the principle is illustrated in the story of the desperate widow. She had no husband to bring home the bread, but two sons under foot and always hungry! But they weren’t going to bother her much longer, for her dead husband’s creditor had just given notice: “Two thousand dollars, or your two sons – your choice!” (Those were indeed harsh times!) Now, what was the first thing this woman did? She cried out for help. It doesn’t say she prayed to God. She may have, but when the man of God came by she also made her needs known to him. Lesson #1: Pray to God, but don’t be shy about turning to God’s people, too. They can do three things for you: 1) They can storm the gates of heaven on your behalf; 2) They can be used by God to answer your prayer; or, 3) They can give you wise counsel as to what to do next. And that’s just what Elisha did. From his counsel comes Lesson #2: Start with what you’ve got. Isn’t that what Jesus did when He turned a lunch for one into a feast for five thousand? God did a miracle through Jesus for that crowd, just as He did a miracle through Elisha for that widow. But in each case He didn’t make something out of nothing (He could have, of course. Remember how the world was created?) God truly takes over where our resources run dry, but let’s truly run them dry! One man said, “Pray – but row away from the rocks!” Absolutely! If you’re little boat is in trouble, and you have some oars, can’t you pray while you row? This widow seemed helpless, and God was going to intervene, but He chose to work through what she had. She had some oil. Not enough to help, but enough to plant, for as it turned out it was seed for God’s harvest. But GOD wasn’t going to plant it. WE plant, WE water – then “let go and let God” bring the increase. Beware of prayer: don’t let it prevent you from doing what God (through God’s people?) is telling you to do!

M.O. FOR THE CHRISTIAN -- Devotional for February 22, from "Good Seeds"

We give thanks to God…since we heard of your FAITH in Christ Jesus, and your LOVE for all the saints, because of the HOPE laid up for you in heaven… (Colossians 1:3-5)

Modus Operandi: this Latin term used by crime-fighters refers to the method of operation, the distinct pattern or predictable procedure that suggests the work of a single perpetrator of more than one crime. There’s a good reason to apply this term to a Christian. Oh, he’s not a criminal, but see how the two are linked in this sober reflection: “If you were accused of being a Christian in a court of law, would there be enough evidence to get a conviction?” That evidence would fit into a particular set of values leading to a pattern of behavior difficult to conceal, as clearly listed in today’s passage: FAITH, LOVE, and HOPE. I remember a song from my childhood: “I’ve got faith, hope and charity; that’s the way to live successfully. How do I know? The Bible tells me so.” It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered the Bible really does say it, that success for the Christian is defined by these three things. Now, Faith is not just part of our Sunday finest that we pull out and put on before going to church. Hope is not that wishful thinking we turn to when all logic and reality tell us “it ain’t gonna happen!” And Love is not “that feeling you feel when you feel like you’ve never felt before!” (I heard that definition at Bible camp when I was a kid, and it stuck!) But true Faith, Hope, and Love are three very distinct marks of the Christian – whether he’s fellowshiping with other believers, or hobnobbing with mainstream society. And, try as he may, he cannot hide them. Hope, for the Christian, is not putting our minds in neutral, trying to deny all that we’ve been taught in school, so that we can dream about a fantasy certainly too good to be true. No! Paul speaks of “that blessed hope” in Titus 2:13, as the looking forward to the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus, when He returns to take us to our real home. The Bible doesn’t speak of Hope as an attitude or opinion so much as it is a person and a place. Hope is the focus of our thinking, the direction of our journey. But Faith IS that attitude, far more than a strong opinion, but an assurance rooted in the evidence God gives us by the work of His hands (things seen), and His work in our hearts (things not seen), that the things we hope for are not a mere dream, but a reality yet to be realized. Without this faith (and hope and love) it is not only “impossible to please Him,” but impossible to distinguish the Christian from the world-ling. How about you? Is there enough evidence to convict you of the crime of being a Christian?