BIBLE
Devotionals
Devotionals through the Bible. Selection of devotionals used in our Newsletters.
Beyond Repair Easter 2025
No one wants to hear that when they take their car in for repair. Or any other expensive device that you own. We’re always hoping that it, whatever it is, can somehow be fixed. And when it can’t, we just grit our teeth and go buy another one. But what about when it’s your life that feels like it’s beyond repair? What then? We can’t solve that with a checkbook. Well, as always, the Bible is the light unto our path. And the Bible is actually filled with people whose lives appeared to be beyond repair. How about Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33)? He was one of Israel’s most evil kings. He worshipped false gods, practiced witchcraft and he even sacrificed his own sons by fire. But disaster struck when God allowed the Assyrian army to capture him and take him to Babylon in chains. Everything he had was now gone, even his freedom. His life seemed to be beyond repair. But, with nowhere else to turn, he cried out to God in prayer. Then God, amazingly, extended grace to him and restored his kingdom. After which, Manasseh removed the false idols from the land and began to worship the true God. In Manasseh, we see that with God no life is beyond repair. Then there was the woman at the well that Jesus encountered in John 4. She had been married five times and was now living with a man who wasn’t her husband. As a result, she had become a social outcast. But Jesus could see the shame and loneliness in her life and how she was always looking for love but never finding it. But she found it in Him. He loved her just like he loves each of you reading this. And, of all people, she was the first one Jesus told that He was the long-awaited Messiah. God then used her to save many others! Now many might have considered her to be beyond repair, but not Jesus. We could also look at Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2) who was possessed by seven demons. Jesus healed her and she would become the first to witness the resurrection and told to tell others. And there are so many others. The thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) whose situation looked completely hopeless, but because of his faith, Jesus promised him heaven. Or the apostle Paul who was essentially a first-century terrorist that God turned into the greatest missionary of all time. And, of course, the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) who demanded his inheritance from his father then proceeded to squander it all away. He found himself broke, alone and longing to be fed even by what the pigs were eating. But “he came to himself”, left his sinful life behind, returned home to find both love and forgiveness from his father. Another life that seemed beyond repair yet Jesus tells that story to show us what God, our heavenly Father, is like. And if anyone’s life looked beyond repair it was Jesus. Arrested, beaten, a crown of thorn pressed into His head, nailed to a cross, a spear stabbed into His side and then buried in a tomb. No wonder that Thomas doubted when the other disciples told him that Jesus had risen from the dead. After all, people didn’t survive crucifixion. The Romans were really good at killing people and there is not one reported case in all of history of someone surviving crucifixion--except Jesus. So, there stands Thomas. Discouraged and disillusioned. His faith in Jesus shattered-- beyond repair. But then it happened! There is Jesus standing right in front of him alive (John 20:24-29). And Jesus can see Thomas’ broken heart, understands his doubting and says “…see my hands, touch my side, stop doubting and believe.” You see, with Jesus, no one is beyond repair. He has the power and the heart to help you no matter what your life is like or no matter how discouraging your future may appear. He can restore any life and redeem any situation. The resurrection demonstrated that Jesus had power over even death to deliver us from our fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). The apostle Peter calls the resurrected Jesus “our living hope”—1 Peter 1:3-4. The resurrection changed everything for Thomas and for all of the disciples and for Paul. It is the greatest documented historical event of all time and was witnessed by hundreds of people over a period of forty days. It caused the early church to explode in growth. It is God’s message to the world that in His Son is forgiveness and life and hope and anything else that a person could ever need. It is God’s message to you. If Jesus can conquer death, what can’t He conquer? Nothing! Nothing in this world. Nothing in your life. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9-10
Words to Live By Valetine's Day 2025
That’s a phrase we’ve all heard. And we’ve all heard many examples of words to live by. Some of them humorous like “Don’t ever buy a car you can’t push.” Or Walt Disney’s famous line—“Don’t be afraid of small beginnings; remember, this whole thing started with a mouse.” But having words to live by can also be wonderful in guiding us through the inevitable ups and downs of life. Are there some that you can think of? Maybe some that characterize the way you live your life or that you wish would characterize your life? So, we just graduated another 45 students at ReIGNITE HOPE on Friday. They are now skilled workers—certified welders—and have an exciting future ahead of them! But, as most of you know, we don’t just teach welding to them, we also try to speak words of life into them each and every day and mostly through teachings in the Bible. But with this last class I also added something a little different. I had them memorize three statements—words to live by. 1. You can disagree with someone 100% and still love them 100%. Now we all know that none of us are going to agree with anyone on everything, but don’t let disagreement diminish your love for anybody. Let’s remember that the goal isn’t to get our way, but for God to get His way—“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”—Romans 12:10. “Love is patient and kind; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs.”—1 Corinthians 13:4-5 2. Don’t pull people down, pull them up. A term that has become well known with social media is “haters.” These internet platforms, unfortunately, often contain folks who publicly express hate and criticism toward others; tearing people down instead of building them up. But God says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”—Ephesians 4:29. Also in that past, you’ve heard me encourage you to avoid being a “basement person” pulling people down, but instead be a “balcony person” pulling people up. And remember, "The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm." 3. If equal affection cannot be, may the more loving one be me. Like it or not, we will all find ourselves in some relationships where there just isn’t equal affection. People who just don’t like us as much as we like them or just don’t love us as much as we love them. And while that can be really discouraging, even painful, don’t let it keep you from rising above that for their sake. For me, it helps to think of the word “anyway.” Maybe they’re not very kind to you; be kind to them anyway. Maybe they don’t deserve your forgiveness; forgive them anyway. Maybe they don’t love you; love them anyway. In other words, don’t just love those who love you, but love everyone—“even our enemies and those who persecute us.” Matthew 5:44-46 Well, I hope that you too will memorize those three statements and that they will help you remember that the best way to live your life is to live it for others—“No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”—1 Corinthians 10:24. And maybe the best of all words to live by are taught in Matthew 6:33—Put God first in your life and He’ll take care of the rest of your life.
Looking for Loopholes Christmas 2024
Vaudeville was a very popular theatrical genre in the early 1900s. It originated in France and featured a mixture of comedy, songs and dancing. And W.C. Fields was one of its most famous actors. He was also known to have a very critical view of religion in general and preferred to be an atheist. But, as the story is told, when he was near the end of his life and in the hospital one of his friends came to visit. The friend was surprised to find him reading a Bible and immediately asked why he was reading it. He famously replied, “I’m looking for loopholes.” Webster’s dictionary defines a loophole as “a means of escape; especially: an ambiguity or omission in the text through which the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded.” So, attorneys often look for loopholes in the law or in a contract--some way out, some way of escape for their client. For example, there is the somewhat humorous “Pizza Is a Vegetable Loophole." In 2011, the U.S. Congress passed legislation stating that a serving of pizza could count as a vegetable in school lunches because the tomato sauce on pizza was considered equivalent to the nutritional value of a serving of vegetables. Now pizza is a popular and low cost option for schools, but the loophole was understandably highly criticized. It allowed schools to meet federal nutrition standards without actually providing a healthy food choice for the kids. But back to the Bible. I’m writing this because I recently heard a pastor comment that there are no loopholes in God’s law. That God’s law is perfect and when you stand before God someday no attorney is going to be able to help you. And I certainly understand and agree with what he was saying. God’s law is perfect and in it we learn that all of us are guilty of breaking it—Romans 3:23. Then, as a consequence, Isaiah 59:2 says that “Our sins have separated us from God.” But here is the great news: There is a loophole in the Bible! There is a way of escape; a way out. Not only that, but God Himself provided the loophole and He did it on the day we call Christmas! God sent his Son into the world on a rescue mission; to rescue us from our sins. The loophole is called forgiveness. It’s greatest loophole of all time. The Bible tells us that even though we are guilty, there is a way out. We simply need to turn to God and ask for the forgiveness He offers through faith in His Son. Ask Jesus to come into our life. Ask Him to take over and lead your life. Then you will not have to fear standing before God. You can even look forward to it! This is what Christmas is all about. We don’t know if W.C. Fields found the loophole in his reading of the Bible even though its pages are filled with it. I hope he did. I hope you have. May I encourage all of us as we are celebrating the giving and receiving of gifts this Christmas to remember the greatest gift of all--the loophole found in the person of Jesus Christ.
That Seems Like a Setup Thanksgiving 2024
“That seems like a setup, man.” This is what one of our students recently said when he walked into my office at Reignite Hope feeling a little troubled by something I had shared with the class during our daily Bible time. On that particular day I had shared what I call “The Bible in Two Minutes.” Since many (probably most) of our students are not Christians, and some have never even opened a Bible, I’ve found it helps early on to give them a very short overview of the main storyline of the entire Bible -- from the first book of Genesis to the last book of Revelation in just about two minutes. So, in the story, I told them about Adam and Eve bringing sin into the world by doing the one thing God asked them not to do—eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God had placed in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15-17). The student went on to say “God knew they would eat of that tree, since He knows the future, so why did He do it. God knew they would fail. So why did He even create them in the first place?” That is actually a very common question that both Christians and non-Christians often ask—Why did God create them if He knew they would sin? It’s a really good question and something that, on the surface, seems puzzling to say the least. So I asked him if he had kids and said he did. Then I told him that I imagine both he and his wife knew that having kids could turn out to be the blessing of their lives or could turn out to be utterly heartbreaking. It’s a risk. Kids can grow up to love you or they can grow up and want nothing to do with you as millions of parents have, unfortunately, experienced. In fact, one study found that about 1 in 4 children will eventually break things off with their parents. But then I asked him, “Was it worth the risk?” And, without even a pause, he said “yes.” Then I explained to Him that it is the same with God. When He created us He knew that some of us would grow up to love Him and some would want nothing to do with Him. But God knew it’s worth risk. God lovingly blessed us with free will--the freedom to make choices. And not to tempt us to do wrong, but to encourage us to do right. The freedom to choose things like love, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, generosity. But also the freedom to choose to be self-centered; to go our own way. That was the choice represented by that tree in the garden of Eden. To love and obey God or go their own way. And whether we realize it or not, that same tree stands before all of us. The same choice that Adam and Eve faced faces us as well--what shall we do with our free will? In fact, that tree stands in front of us every day. Like it not, in every choice before us, there stands the tree. And we must remember that God didn’t create evil, He created free will. And free will can be used for good or it can be used for evil. The student then nodded his head and said, “Ok. Now I get it. I can see that. That makes sense.” Imagine, if you can, a world in which there are no choices. A world of fatalism or determinism—a belief that all events are determined by causes external to the will and that free will is merely an illusion. What a dismal existence that would be. You see, free will isn’t a setup at all. It’s an opportunity. An opportunity to love God. An opportunity to turn to Him and to accept His invitation of forgiveness and eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16). An opportunity to live in the promise that God makes to us in Isaiah 41:10—“Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” I’m sure that we all have many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, but one of them, the best of them, is to be thankful that God loves each and every one of us. And that He doesn’t force His will on us, but instead invites us to use our will to choose Him. And thankful, that though we often fail in our choices just like Adam and Eve did, God is ever faithful to forgive (1 John 1:9).
Burn the Ships Labor Day 2024
Way back in the 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes and his army landed in Mexico to conquer the Aztec Empire and claim the land for Spain. However, he quickly discovered that he and his 600 men were heavily outnumbered and he knew that, given the numbers, it would be difficult to convince his men to really commit to the task ahead. The ships they arrived on were sitting right there in the harbor and Cortes knew that it would be very tempting for his men to want to get back on the ships and sail home. So, he gave orders to “Burn the ships!" Now just imagine that you were one of the soldiers standing there watching the ships burn. With the ships in the harbor, everyone knew there was always an option to turn around and go back home, but not anymore. No plan B. The choice was simple—conquer or die. And no half-hearted effort was going to work. They had to be all in or they’d never live to tell about it. So the fighting commenced and two years later on August 13th, 1521 the Aztecs surrendered at their capital city (Tenochtitlan), which is modern-day Mexico City. But what can we learn from this idea of burning the ships? Well, for starters, we have examples of this idea in the Bible. One is found in 1 Kings 19 and 2 Kings 2 where the great prophet Elijah is coming to the end of his ministry to the nation of Israel (around 850 B.C.). Then God tells him to choose a young man named Elisha to succeed him. But Elisha was just a simple farmer, not a prophet. And Elisha knew that the life of a prophet was not going to be easy. Prophets were often persecuted and even killed. But Elisha was, most importantly, a man of God, and if this is what God wanted, so be it. He was going to be ALL IN. So, he decided to burn the ships if you will. He took his plow and burned it. He took all of his livestock, butchered them and gave away the meat. He now had nothing to return to if the road ahead got rough. And then he simply asked God to give him the ability to serve Him as Elijah had done. And God did just that! But what about us? Do we need to burn some ships? Are there things in our lives that we need to burn? Some things that might be holding us back from being all in for God? Ships always have titles. Maybe there is a ship in your life named “Lukewarm in My Faith” that needs to burn. Maybe a ship named “Destructive Habits” or one named “Addictions” or one named “Self-Centeredness” or one named “Bad Influences” or one named “____________.” You fill-in the blank. At ReIGNITE Hope we’ve had many, many students who have turned to Christ and decided to burn the ships—pouring the pills into the toilet or the alcohol down the drain or even moving to another city to get away from harmful influences in their life. Whatever it takes! Now, if we’re serious, we can’t be like Lot’s wife longingly looking back to her old life–Genesis 19:26. And Jesus said “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit the for the kingdom of God.”--Luke 9:62 It may mean getting out of your comfort zone or taking a risk. It won’t be easy, but just turn to God with a heart to be ALL IN. He’ll help you just like He did Elisha!
The Bibles Button July 4th 2024
Even though the Bible is a book made up of 66 individual books it is actually one story from the first page to last. One book flows to the next telling what many have called the greatest story of all time. Now sometimes folks get the impression that Bible is a rule book of sorts filled with lots of dos and don’ts. And yes, there certainly are the dos and don’ts in there (for our own good!), but if you read the entire Bible you will discover that it is primarily a love story. A love story that God wrote to us through human writers that He inspired. And many good authors recommend ending a story with what you really want the reader to remember. You want the closing thought to linger in the reader’s mind. And that closing thought is sometimes referred to as the button on a story. It buttons up or brings the whole story to a close. So, imagine if you were God and you had inspired the writing of the entire Bible (over 1000 chapters and 30,000 verses!). What would you want the last sentence in the Bible to say? What would be the last thing you’d want the reader to see? The final impression that you want to make? Well, God chose this: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen-- Revelation 22:21 There it is. That’s the button on the whole Bible! That’s what the whole story in the Bible has been pointing reader toward—the grace available through God’s son, Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? Well, grace is defined as the act of doing something kind toward someone who has not earned it and does not deserve it. So, throughout the story, we learn that we’ve all, in way or another, turned our back on God and gone our own way—Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23 Then we learn that that resulted in us being separated from God and in danger of a future judgment. We all owe God a debt that we can’t pay and so we need grace. And grace also carries the idea of being inclined to lean toward someone as reaching out to them, which is then what God did—For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 Now that is most famous verse in the Bible, and it seems then that Jesus is the solution to our problem, but what does it mean to believe in Him? It simply means that God is graciously offering to save anyone who is willing to believe (or trust) in Jesus. To trust that he paid that debt that we owe when He died on the cross. The story tells us that Jesus did that by God placing our sins on Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). And if we are willing to turn from our sins, turn to Jesus and receive Him as the Lord of our life, then we become children of God—John 1:12—and we then receive God’s grace, stand forgiven in God’s sight and are blessed with eternal life with God in heaven. Consider the lyric from the song “Were It Not For Grace.” Were it not for grace I can tell you where I'd be Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere With my salvation up to me I know how that would go The battles I would face Forever running but losing the race Were it not for grace The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. That’s button on the Bible. I want to encourage you to make that the button on your life.
Home Field Advantage Christmas 2023
Recently, in college football, #3 ranked Michigan beat #2 ranked Ohio State 30-24. The game was played at Michigan and I couldn’t help but wonder if the outcome would have been different had the game been played at Ohio State because, throughout sports, the home team has a distinct advantage. Statistically, down through the history of sports, teams tend to win more at home than they do on the road. For example, in college football, nearly 70% of the time the home team wins. Which means that only 30% of the time does the visiting team win. That’s pretty significant. In fact, Las Vegas even takes the home-field advantage into account when they establish betting odds. So what is it about playing at home that gives a team an advantage? Well, it turns out that there has been quite a bit of research on this and it seems that a number of factors can come into play. Maybe the visiting team, for example, is a little fatigued from the travel it took to get the game. Or the game is played in Green Bay where the Packers are more used to playing in the freezing temperatures of Lambeau Field than the visiting teams are. But many researchers believe that the most significant factor of all is the home team’s fans. Having thousands of fans screaming and rooting for the home team versus the visiting team really makes a difference. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some sports didn’t allow fans to attend the games. Teams were playing in empty stadiums or sometimes they just significantly limited the number of fans that were allowed to attend. And one of things that resulted from that was that the home-field advantage disappeared! Without the fans there, the home teams didn’t tend to win any more than the visiting teams did. So why am I bothering to write about this? Well, sometimes in life if can feel like you’re always losing. Things just don’t tend to go your way no matter how hard you try. Every day it feels like you’re the last one being picked when they choose teams on the playground all over again. But what if there was a place that you could go where you’d have the home-field advantage? Someplace where everyone is rooting for you; everyone is cheering you on. Well, for many of our students, Reignite Hope is that place. Every day I love watching our team encouraging the students when their welding is not going so good or they’re struggling with their math homework or they walk in the door discouraged by all that’s going on in their life. But no matter what it is, our staff and volunteers are there for them. We never give up on them because we know that God didn’t give up on us. Jesus told his disciples that it would be the love that they have for one another that would let the world know that they belong to Him--John 13:35. You see, the real home-field advantage is being in the family of God. Being around people whose lives have been changed by God; people who will never give up on you. The Bible tells us that if we will turn from ourselves and turn to God, He will adopt us into His family and forgive us of our sins and give us a new heart—Ezekiel 36:26. I want to encourage you, if you haven’t, to become part of the family of God where you can enjoy the home-field advantage and where you can then become the home-field advantage for others!! How’s that for a New Year’s resolution? That’s what Jesus is like and that’s what God wants us to be like!—Romans 8:29.
Ever Seeing, Never Perceiving Thanksgiving 2023
I was returning from San Diego recently and noticed a corn maze alongside Interstate 5 and it reminded me of a story that appeared in the L.A. Times many years ago. The article was talking about the latest Japanese import—human maze parks. So, they construct these huge mazes and you pay money to go out into them and see if you can find your way out. They say it takes the average person about 1-2 hours to make it out of the more elaborate ones. There used to be one back on the east coast that people have been lost in for up to 9 hours! But early on, maze parks learned that they needed to position people up on observation decks to keep an eye on everyone in the maze because some people can’t find their way out. Some even start to panic and experience vertigo or claustrophobia. Some even become despondent and others just sit down and cry as they are overwhelmed by the feeling that they aren’t going to get out. So then these folks on the observations towers rush out to help them get out of the maze. One maze park employee stated that “People don’t understand it’s actually complicated and hard to get out of. I wouldn’t go in without a rope tied around my waist.” Yikes! And I don’t know about you, but I think that life can sometimes feel like a maze. The world is filled with people who feel like their life is just one dead-end after another and no matter which way they turn they still feel lost. Where do I go next? Should I turn left or right? Should I keep going straight or turn around? How do I find the life that I’m looking for instead of the one that I have? Now getting out of one of those man-made mazes would be easy if someone would just give you a map. That’s what you need! Well, thankfully, when it comes to our lives, God has done just that. He has given us a map—the Bible. C.S. Lewis famously said that the Bible is like a map and trying to go through life without the Bible “Is like trying to drive a car blindfolded. You could do it, but it’s not a good idea.” There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death.—Proverbs 14:12 However, the Bible describes itself to be the lamp unto our feet—Psalm 119:105 We need God directing our paths. Provers 3:5-6—Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Let God lead your life and He’ll rescue you out the maze. Those mazes are a picture of people all over our world who live their lives apart from God. Only they live in a maze that they can’t even see, let alone find their way out. The Bible actually calls it the kingdom of darkness and you can’t see very well in the dark. Satan has blinded people by creating a bewildering world system that is worldwide invisible maze.—2 Cor. 4:4 The prophet Isaiah said that people who live their life apart from God are “Like the blind, we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. Isaiah 59:10 But here is the solution!--He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.-- Col. 1:13 And I know that many of the students who come to Reignite Hope feel like they are in the maze and wonder, Is this going to get me out or is this just another dead-end? So I share with you the story of two brothers who were in our last class up in Sacramento. They came to be there by their brother who graduated from one of our classes in Gardena. It changed his life, so he called them up and told them that should go to Reignite Hope because “This is how you get out.” In other words, to get out of the life they were trapped in and into the life they need. Even as I write this, several more students in Gardena and Sacramento gave their life to Christ yesterday! Our teams at Reignite Hope are just like those folks up on the observation decks watching and rescuing. I hope that you can imagine how fulfilling it is to spend your day as a rescuer. And I want to encourage you to be a rescuer wherever God has placed you. He is asking all of us to help people out of the darkness, out of the maze. You needed a person in your life to help you find the way out. Go and be that person in someone's life. And remember, you're not alone as you go!—“And behold, I (Jesus) am with you always…” Matthew 28:20
The Butterfly Effect Labor Day 2023
Perhaps you’ve heard of it. The Butterfly Effect is a concept developed by the meteorologist Edward Lorenz. Lorenz found that tiny events as seemingly insignificant as the flapping of a butterfly’s wings could begin a process that can affect the weather miles away. A famous question arose out of this—Could a butterfly flapping its wings in South America cause a tornado in Nebraska? Some scientists say yes; others disagree. Either way though, the concept of the Butterfly Effect really does happen all around us, but not necessarily with the weather. For example: Ezra Kimball, a Sunday School teacher, shares the gospel with D.L. Moody, a local shoe clerk, who becomes the foremost American evangelist of the nineteenth century. Moody then creates a passion for evangelism in the heart of Frederick Meyer, the pastor of a small British church. Meyer, while speaking in America on a college campus, leads J.Wilbur Chapman to Christ. Chapman becomes an evangelist who hires a former baseball player named Billy Sunday to help him. Billy Sunday then leads a revival in North Carolina that causes the people there to want another outreach and they invite Mordeccai Ham to town to preach. There, a young man named Billy Graham goes forward to place his trust in Christ. Billy Graham went on to preach Jesus to more people in live audiences than anyone else is history—nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries. And all of that was started by just a conversation with a shoe clerk. That’s the Butterfly Effect! A small action resulting in something very big. Think of Joseph in the Bible. Out of jealousy, his brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37). But there, God worked in Joseph’s life to give him the ability to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh, which led to Joseph not only being released from prison, but being promoted to second in command over all of Egypt. Then, during a great famine, Joseph’s entire family were able to travel to Egypt and find food and safety under his leadership. An entire nation was saved! Then, in due time, Moses would be raised up and lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt to The Promised Land where Jesus, the Christ, would be born. And that entire chain of events started with Joseph’s brothers selling him for twenty shekels of silver. That’s the Butterfly Effect! Now a light-hearted example of the Butterfly Effect was told by a young woman. She said that her mother decided to wear high heels to work one day and accidently caught her heel on the carpet while going upstairs. The high heel broke causing her to fall and break her leg. While at home recovering from her injury, she developed an allergy for which her doctor prescribed Penicillin. “But unknown to my mom, the penicillin interfered with the effectiveness of her birth control pills and I now have a little brother.” A broken high heel leads to a little brother! So what does all of this have to do with us? Well, none of us have any way of knowing what the little actions in our lives might turn into. But consider that just a small act of kindness might cascade into changing someone’s life. Or who knows what just a simple word of encouragement might turn into in someone’s life who needs it. There are now countless stories of how Reignite Hope’s simple heart to help people find Jesus and a job has completely and forever changed their lives. Sometimes we hear that it was just one sentence or one act of kindness or one Bible story that started their life moving in a whole new direction. So how about we all get in the habit of regularly flapping our wings and see what God might do with that!
Forever Words July 4th 2023
As I write this, I’m frequently seeing stories in the news about something called “forever chemicals” because it’s now been discovered that about 50% of America’s tap water contains “forever chemicals.” These are chemicals that can be harmful to our health and they can’t be broken down and eliminated from our bodies. They are forever there. They are called PFAS (poly-fluoroalkyl substances). First introduced in 1946 as Teflon coated non-stick cookware, these chemicals are now found in many products such as food packaging materials, stain-resistant carpets, some cosmetics and microwave popcorn bags. But as I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that words can be like that too. They can last forever. Some words seem to never go away once you’ve said them or had them said to you. Words that can hurt forever or help forever. No wonder that the Bible warns us to be careful how we use words--“How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness…staining the whole body…It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:5-8 James goes on to say that with the same tongue we both bless and we curse. If you think about it, most wars between nations begin as a war of words. The first shots fired weren’t bullets, they were words! Words also often destroy marriages, families and friendships. Consider a couple of famous quotes concerning the power of words: “Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.” Nathaniel Hawthorne “A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.” Benjamin Franklin Now imagine, like many of our students at Reignite Hope, you’ve been told by your parents that you are a loser and that you will never amount to anything. Or hearing your mom say that she wishes you’d never been born. Words like those can hurt forever. I’m sure that those words were often said in the heat of the moment and they didn’t really mean to say them, but the sound of those words can still be in your ears decades later. Yes, words can hurt, but words can also heal; words can restore. So we do all that we can to speak words of healing into their lives. Daily we speak the gospel into their life. And we speak words of love, encouragement and healing into their lives. These are the kind of forever words they need to hear; the kind everyone needs to hear. Each day we can see the impact our words are having in our students. Just this week one student, in tears, was thanking me for how the things we are saying are “reigniting hope” in their life. Another told me how they walked into Reignite Hope with a “hole in their soul”, but now she said that the hole is being filled by all of the encouraging words that we are speaking into her life. And I’m sure that we all can think of things we’ve said and wish we hadn’t. We can’t change that. But we can change; our words can change; our hearts can change. God can bring that about in your life if you let Him. The apostle Paul was no different than us in this regard. He said and did many things that he shouldn’t have before allowing Christ to lead his life. Thus, in Philippians 3:13-14, he says, “…But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” So, while we might not be able to avoid all of the “forever chemicals” around us, let’s do our best to make sure that our “forever words” are words of life for those around us. And let go of the past, look to the future and always remember, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”—Proverbs 25:11
Heads Carolina, Tails California Memorial Day 2023
Jo Dee Messina is a famous country music singer and one of her hit songs is titled “Heads Carolina, Tails California.” It speaks about the longing of two people wanting to pack up and change the course of their life together. She sings the melody--“Heads Carolina, tails California. Somewhere greener, somewhere warmer. Up in the mountains, down by the ocean. Where don’t matter, long as we’re going somewhere together. I’ve got a quarter, heads Carolina, tails California.” Now the song is a very enjoyable story, but I doubt many of us would really want the flip of a coin to determine the direction of our life; our future. But when I hear the song, it reminds me of a famous philosophical idea that is sometimes used by well-meaning evangelists. It’s called “Pascal’s Wager.” Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician and physicist who lived in the 17th century. And in one of his famous works called Pensees (“Thoughts”), he developed this argument for the existence of God known as Pascal’s Wager. In it, he argues that everyone must wager whether God exists or not. It’s not optional. You have to bet whether you like it or not. He then lays out the gain and loss of both choices…whether heads or tails turns up so to speak. If you wager that God exists and it turns out that He doesn’t, you gain nothing, but you also lose nothing. If, however, it turns out that He does exists, then you gain everything (eternal life with God in heaven). On the other hand, if you wager that God does not exist and it turns out that He doesn’t, you once again gain nothing, but you also lose nothing. If, however, it turns out that He does exist, then you lose everything (banished from God’s presence forever in hell). So, according to the great mathematician, the only smart bet is to bet on God; that it’s in your own best interest to wager that He exists. Yet I can’t even count how many times down through the years that I’ve heard people, who don’t want to believe in God, say “I’ll take my chances.” Again, according the odds, that’s not the smart bet. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool says in his heart ‘There is no God’.” Now while Pascal’s Wager might be a helpful idea to get people thinking about God and eternity, it unfortunately doesn’t go far enough. We need to be careful to not represent true saving faith as a mere cost-benefit choice a person can make. True saving faith is much more than merely believing that God exists (Luke 6:46; James 2:19). And surveys show, that even today, over 90% of Americans say that they believe in God. Yet most of those people actually live as though God does not exist. In other words, their belief in God has had little to no real impact on their life. It’s much like saying that you believe exercise is good for you, but you don’t take it any farther than that. Merely believing that exercise is good for you won’t improve your health. Leo Tolstoy, who is considered to be one of the greatest authors of all time with books such as War and Peace and The Kingdom of God Is Within You, once said, “There are two Gods. There is the God that people generally believe in—A God who has to serve them (sometimes in very refined ways, say by merely giving them peace of mind). This God does not exist. But the God whom people forget—the God whom we all have to serve—exists, and is the prime cause of our existence and of all that we perceive.” The true God created us to be in a loving and obedient relationship with Him. And true faith not only requires believing in God, but also surrendering your life back to Him and letting Him take over. The Bible calls that being “born again” (John 3:3). Not a physical rebirth, but a spiritual rebirth. It’s a miraculous work God wants to do in every heart where we come to realize that we’ve lived a sin-filled life and we owe a debt to God that we can’t pay; that we need help; that we need to be rescued; that we need a Savior. Then, with gratitude and love that God stirs in our heart, we turn from our sins and turn to the Savior He has graciously provided. The one that paid for our sins on the cross—Jesus Christ. Fortunately, your future does not rest on a coin flip. It rests on a person and His name is Jesus. Bet your life on Him!
Lions and Bears February 2023
It’s been called the most beautiful poem ever written and famously known as The 23rd Psalm. It was written by David, the king of Israel around 1000 B.C. It’s also, according to research, one of three most popularly read chapters in all of the Bible. And that’s saying something given that there are 1,189 chapters in all. The other two are Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 13. Perhaps in a future devotional I’ll share with you why I think those three chapters are the most popular of all. But for this one, I feel led to simply focus on this psalm, particularly the first verse—“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Now at first, the reader might think that’s pretty easy for David to say. After all, he’s a king. Kings don’t tend to be in need. But David’s life was far from easy. As a young man, before becoming king, David was a shepherd of sheep. Every day he had to care for, protect and lead his sheep. At times, he even had to fight off lions or bears in order to save his sheep—1 Samuel 17:34-36. Later, when he was a very successful military leader, King Saul, out of jealousy, continually tried to kill him. And then as a king, and throughout David’s reign, he was often surrounded by enemies, even his own son Absalom. But now look at what David says in verse four—“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…” Please don’t miss this! David, just like us, wasn’t perfect, but he loved God and did his best to try and follow Him. In fact, twice the Bible calls David “a man after God’s own heart”—1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22. But that doesn’t guarantee that life will be easy. The best of Christians still have struggles and trials in their life. Nobody escapes that. So here is the big take away—Having the LORD as his shepherd didn’t take away the trials in David’s life, but it took away the fear! I will fear no evil David says. And why? Because “you are with me.” Think about that. Wouldn’t you like to be free of fear in your life? David knew, and so can we, that no matter what life brought his way, the LORD would shepherd him through it. He knew that the LORD was all that he needed. He had no need to “want” for anything else. Notice also back in verse one that David referred to the LORD as “my shepherd.” The LORD was personal to David and He should be personal to you. The LORD isn’t just a shepherd to mankind in general, but He wants to shepherd each of us individually. He wants to be your shepherd. In John 10, Jesus says “I am the good shepherd” who lays down his life for the sheep (us). The apostle Peter calls Jesus “the shepherd and overseer of your souls”—1 Peter 2:25. And even though David was able to say “I shall not want”, there is one thing that we all need to be in want of. We need to want Jesus to be our shepherd. To paraphrase Charles Spurgeon--before anyone can truly say that “the Lord is my shepherd,” a person must realize that they are, in many ways, just like a sheep—foolish at times, dependent and helpless. The Bible says the we are all like sheep who have gone astray; each one to his own way—Isaiah 53:6 But all anyone has to do, like Peter said, is to turn around and return to the shepherd and overseer of their soul. Turn from your sins and turn to Christ. So, David closes the psalm in verse six saying--“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” In fact, you might consider this psalm sort of a pathway to heaven. First recognizing that you need the Lord as your shepherd—v.1, and then allowing Him to lead your life--vv.2-3, which then enables you to have real peace even in the midst of trials—vv.4-5 and ultimately leads you to heaven—v.6 Heaven is the believer’s final destination, but in this life all of us will, at times, have lions and bears in our lives, but with Jesus as your shepherd, you too can say with David, I shall not want...I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Countless millions of people have found great comfort in this psalm. I pray that it will forever comfort you.