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Deuteronomy 5:16, Ephesians 6:2-3

Live Long And Prosper!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 14, 2025

Only the good die young! We’ve heard that a thousand times. It’s a very popular saying, and Billy Joel made a million dollars off a song by the same name! Whenever we see someone die before his expected time, we often say that. Does that mean that those who live to be a ripe old age are not good? The Bible says differently. The patriarchs all lived to a “ripe old age.” Furthermore, one of the Ten Commandments promises that children will live long if they honor their parents. Some argue that the Commandment, as recorded in Exodus, doesn’t refer to a physical long life, but rather to a long occupancy of the land that God was personally giving to Israel. I wouldn’t deny the truth of that promise, yet the focus on this Commandment, along with the associated promise, was repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16 with a focus on individual lives. It reads, “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Paul further uses the Deuteronomy passage and implies the promise is one of a long physical life. Ephesians 6:2-3 says, “Honor your father and mother. That is the first commandment that has a promise. Then things will go well with you. You will live a long time on the earth.”

Whereas good men and women, boys and girls,  often do die young, the good more often live a long, healthy, productive, and happy life. Even Spock knows that one of the most profound blessings that can be pronounced on someone is to “live long and prosper.” It is a true honor and privilege to see your children’s children, and even more so to see your children’s children’s children. Through all the pain and suffering that Job endured, the final verses record God’s blessings on his life. It says, “And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. And Job died, an old man, and full of days” (Job 42:16-17)

It is not easy for some to honor their fathers because of their history. Some fathers have not been all that they should have been. Some have even maliciously harmed their children and have so alienated them that there is little if any, hope for reconciliation. Yet, the Bible tells us to honor our parents because they deserve it. The three biblical reasons for honoring Fathers have nothing to do with the worthiness of the parent. We should honor our fathers because it’s the right thing to do (Ephesians 6:1). Colossians adds another good reason: “for this pleases the Lord” (Colossians 3:20). But the reason that God gives in the Commandment itself is that honoring our parents serves our own best interests in the long run. Even though God’s greater purposes sometimes bring about untimely deaths of good people, anyone who wants to live long and prosper should take advantage of this special weekend to honor their father regardless of their perceived worthiness.

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2 Samuel 23:20

Hoi Pragmatikoi – Men of Action!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 13, 2025

On her website, Gwen Shamblin, the author of the popular “Weigh Down” Diet plan makes some statements about the Trinity that are troubling.  She may have changed these comments subsequently, but when I read this some years ago, her statements were rather subtle and difficult to grasp, but they were serious enough to cause Thomas Nelson Publishers to cancel the publication of her next book. Shamblin doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. “People don’t care about this,” she says, primarily referring to her women followers, “They don’t care about the Trinity,” she said, “what the women want is weight loss.” The older, late, reliable Bible expositor, J. Vernon McGee, rightly observed, after looking around at our society, “Men want to be vigorous and virile; women want to be sexy.” As wrong or right as you might think McGee is, you can’t deny that our society, in all its forms of mass media, promotes these ideas and sells them prominently to each generation. In my opinion, they are getting better at it with each generation. One obvious truth here, though, is that there is indeed a difference between the motives, minds, and missions of men and women.

In his “Foundations for the Family” series, Dennis Rainey explains the difference. He says that even in conversation, they are different. “Men tend to report facts. Women are far more interested in sharing feelings. Men feel compelled to offer solutions. Women want affirmation and assurance.” Men’s minds wake up, men’s passions are aroused, and men’s hearts will beat faster only when they are challenged. The Greek language has a substantival participle (don’t go to sleep!) that captures what should be the nature of man. It is (an English transliteration) “hoi pragmatikoi.” The Greek Lexicon translates this phrase as “Men of Action.” In 2 Samuel, we read about David’s “mighty men.” They were all men of action. Their deeds are sometimes listed in the Bible. One of them was Benaiah. 2 Samuel 23:20 describes him as “…a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds.” In general men aren’t motivated or challenged by dialogue, they want to “DO” something. Even the marketing industry has discovered this. Nike logo “just do it” is an example. Don’t get me started on professional and college team names and mascots. We’ve got wolf packs, wolverines, broncos, Spartans, bulls, rams, and, of course, the formerly all-boys school “fighting Irish.” It’s all about action, challenge, and overcoming opposition in a man’s world.

This is why the church, populated mostly by women, ends up exhorting the men on Father’s Day rather than speaking gently to them, telling them comforting and affirmative words. We probably give them too much of that in the Church in the first place. We need to be challenged! We need to be moved to action. We want to do something! Being one of them, I know a good challenge always moves me to action. Gary Ezzo, in his book “Men of Action,” writes, “I once asked my daughter Jennifer what she thought were the biggest problems fathers have with kids. She said, ‘Dads have too many tomorrows.’ You know, ‘I’ll play with you tomorrow; I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’ She was right. Dad, be there now for your children, building quality and quantity benchmarks of trust. Don’t wait until tomorrow—or you’ll end up wasting too many todays.”

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Luke 15:20, Luke 19:10

A Father’s Love

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 12, 2025

I’ve often thought that the story of the prodigal son should be called the story of the “Loving Father.” In this story, we see not only the wayward son, but we also see the self-righteous older brother. The Father affirms his love for both of his sons. The story of the wayward son is just one of three parables that talk about God’s passion for the lost. It’s nestled amongst the stories of the lost coin and the lost sheep. Some commentators even argue that the three parables are really one extended story about God’s heart for the lost. The father is the central theme of the story and is mentioned 12 times in the story.

God has a passion for the lost. He wants to save all that are lost. It is the father’s response to his wayward son that gives us a picture of the Father’s amazing grace. John Newton experienced this grace himself. We’ve all sung about this grace in his unforgettable hymn “Amazing Grace.” One of the best-known lines of that hymn says, “I once was lost, but now am found…” Newton explained that he took this line from the story of the prodigal son. Upon the prodigal son’s return, the father said he “was lost and is now found.” We get the idea that the father regularly looked down that long, lonely road that led away from home for any sign of his child’s return. The Greek text emphasizes the fact that the father saw the son coming “from a long way off” (Luke 15:20). David Jeremiah suggests, “From a distance, the father recognizes the walk of his son. He was no doubt dressed in rags, unwashed, bearded, hair a mess. Yet the father saw something that told him his son had come home. I can imagine that Jesus’ intent is to suggest that the father went to a vantage point outside the city and looked far down the road every day for any sign of his lost son.”

When the father saw his son, he ran to meet him. I imagine this as an incredibly emotional scene; the father, full of grace, embraces his prodigal son even before the son has a chance to repent and ask for forgiveness. We think that the son is the protagonist in the story because he makes the first step to come home, but when you study the story, we see that he did so not because of his love for the father but because of his need for food and shelter. The central theme of the story is the love of the father, who watches every day for the return of his son. In all three parables, The Lost Son, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Sheep, the attention is placed on the searcher, who would not give up until he found that which was his. Jesus said, “I have come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

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Genesis 3:9, Romans 12:5

Adam, Where Are You?

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 11, 2025

We’ll celebrate Father’s Day this month. It comes after Mother’s Day. That’s so the bills for Mother’s Day will arrive just in time for Father’s Day. A small boy’s definition: “Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day, only you don’t spend as much on the present.” In my collection of illustrations for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, I find that there are way more jokes about fathers than about mothers. Mothers are honored more, while fathers are exhorted more. Everywhere I look, I find fathers being exhorted and challenged to be better fathers in all the details that entail. I’ve been troubled about it more than once. I think I’ve found the answer! It’s simple: men ARE responsible.

In Romans Chapter 5, Paul contrasts Adam, the first man and the father of all humanity, with Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the founder and father of a new humanity. In verse 12, he says, “Therefore just as through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin …” If we would just consider the implications of this verse with reference to Fathers in General, I think we’d see a certain responsibility for the act of rebellion that condemned all his ancestors to death. Further, even though Eve was the one Satan picked to tempt with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and even though she was the first one to eat of the tree, that didn’t make any difference to God in Genesis 3, nor to Paul in Romans 5. God and Paul both hold the man responsible for the rebellion.

In Genesis 3:9, we read, “The LORD God called the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?” He didn’t call the couple; he called Adam. The responsibility was his. And when Paul talks about how sin entered the world and how we are all now sinners because of that first sin, he looks straight to Adam and not to Eve as the responsible one. Men have a spiritual obligation that cannot be passed on to others. This has been demonstrated over and over again in studies on families and spirituality. According to a reliable and popular study, we find that if both your parents worshipped with you regularly while you were growing up, there’s an 80 percent likelihood that you’ll worship God regularly as an adult. If only your mother worshipped regularly with you, there’s only a 30 percent probability that you’ll worship regularly as an adult. If only your father worshipped regularly with you, the likelihood that you’ll worship regularly as an adult increases to 70 percent! Fathers have an enormous impact on their children’s faith and values. One of Father’s most important ministries is worshipping with their kids! Yet, in the modern church, there are more women in attendance, more serving, and more in most ministries. I think God is still asking, “Adam, where are you?”

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Philippians 2:7-9, Hebrews 12:2, John 14:2-3

A Heavenly State of Mind

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 10, 2025

During the 2-hour 20/20 special on heaven, hosted by Barbara Walters some time ago, the question regarding the nature of heaven played a significant role. Richard Gere was interviewed (what qualified him as an expert on heaven, I’ll never know!). He suggested that heaven and hell were both here and now and were pretty much a “state of mind.” Many liberal theologians agree with Richard Gere. It’s not a place but just a state of mind. It can be experienced now. If you are in the heavenly state of mind, you are at peace with all, content, joy-filled, and at perfect rest with the world. Many Eastern religions recommend chanting as the means by which one might enter into the heavenly state of mind. It’s to escape from the hellish state of mind of confusion, regret, dismay, and anguish. These religions exhort us to escape the realities of our lives here and now while focusing all our energies on personal peace and happiness.

Christianity, on the other hand, teaches us to use our daily lives to deliver others from their sufferings and hardships in this life. It is true that heaven might be described as a state of mind. It’s the state of mind and heart that believes in God and His Son, Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, unless one enters into a state of mind of faith, one will not see heaven in the world to come. For those of faith, the knowledge of heaven in the next life motivates us to live active lives of service to others in this world. We are not to focus on achieving heavenly peace in this world for our own pleasure and edification but to focus on the needs of others around us by which we are investing in the heavenly world to come. Jesus said that he did not come to be served “but to serve” and to give His life for us all. His ultimate joy now is the result of His sacrificial life on earth. Paul explains this in his letter to the Philippians. He writes in Chapter 2, verses 7-9, that Jesus “…emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. …and he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name…” The writer of the book of Hebrews confirms this truth when he writes, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (See Hebrews 12:2).

Heaven is not a state of mind. It is a real place. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may also be.” (John 14:2-3). It is the place where all our service in the lives of others on earth will be rewarded in a real and everlasting way. It won’t be something we make up in our heads or contrive to create through meditation. It will be real, and it will be glorious. Max Lucado explained it this way, “For all we don’t know about the next life, this much is certain. The day Christ comes will be a day of reward. Those who went unknown on earth will be known in heaven. Those who never heard the cheers of men will hear the cheers of angels. Those who missed the blessing of a father will hear the blessing of their heavenly Father. The small ones will be great. The forgotten will be remembered. The unnoticed will be crowned, and the faithful will be honored.”

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Revelation 19:1, Matthew 7:13-14

Much People

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 9, 2025

We usually use the word “much” as an adverb. It adds intensity to an action like we laugh too much, or the opposite, it doesn’t matter too much. In the days of the King James Bible, the word much was also used as an adjective in the same way we use the word “many.” It appears 25 times in the KJV, referring to people. When Joshua went out to go to battle, he had armies that consisted of “many people” (Joshua 11:4). The NIV calls this a “huge army.” In the Gospels, “much people” is now translated with the phrase “great crowds” or something like that. There are many more references like this. But the one I’m interested in this morning is from Revelation 19 and verse 1. It says that there will be heard a “great voice of much people…” who will be worshipping and praising God in heaven. The English Standard Version puts it all this way, “After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just…’”

Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Was Jesus telling us that there wouldn’t be very many people going to heaven? Although we don’t know how many people will be in heaven, Augustine speculated that it would be the same percentage as the angels who fell (one-third; see Rev. 12:9), but the Bible nowhere says this. Others take Jesus’ words in Matthew 7 to be teaching that only a small fraction of all the people who ever lived will be in heaven.

Some scholars argue that this takes the passage out of context. B. B. Warfield, for example, says that Jesus is referring to ‘the immediate and local response to Jesus’ message, not to the ultimate and universal statistics of heaven.” Geisler also argues, “Indeed, granting that all who die in infancy go to heaven, that life begins at conception, and that the mortality rate before the age of accountability down through the millennia has been roughly half of those conceived, it would seem to follow that there will be more people saved than lost. This is to say nothing of much of the world’s population since the time of Adam being still alive at this time; a great revival before Christ’s return could sweep even more souls into God’s kingdom.” Also, if we keep Augustine’s analogy, there are two-thirds of faithful angels, there will also be two-thirds of all adult humans who will be saved. This is just speculation, but since we know that God does not “want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance,” we can be sure that there will be “much people” to sing God’s praises along with the faithful angels.

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Matthew 6:21

My Heavenly Home

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 8, 2025

Mary Slessor, an English missionary residing in West Africa, received word of the death of her mother and sister. She then wrote to a friend, “Heaven is now nearer to me than Brittan.” When I used to think of heaven, I would think of the wonderful biblical descriptions: the streets of gold, the beautiful colors, the tree of life, the end of sadness, sickness, and disease. I would picture a perfect world with complete harmony and ultimate fulfillment of my desire to know more about God. When my dad died in 1979, I began to think of heaven a little differently. It was a great place to go before (and, of course, it still is), but now I knew someone who was there. I had someone there. Then, when my Mom died in 1985, it became a more interesting place with a deeper value to me for reasons other than the joys and pleasures I’d experienced. When my sister died at 48 years of age in 1993, heaven started to look more like home for me. Then, Kathy’s mother died in 2012. Her younger brother died in 2024. The population of the people we know in heaven is growing. It makes heaven a little more interesting.  With my grandfather and grandmother on my father’s side who passed away before I was even born, I’ve often wondered what they were like. I think I’m beginning to understand the biblical description of all the patriarchs, as well as Moses and others. When they die, it is recorded that they “were gathered to their people.”

In my 78 years, especially in the last 20, I’ve seen many friends and relatives leave this world for the next. Every time I look at the obituaries in the paper, I see someone I know in the course of my life. I don’t so much think of heaven in terms of what wonders, pleasures, and joys await me as much as I do as a community of my friends and loved ones who have gone on before me. The residents of heaven are all my friends and relatives. Remarking on the same emotions, one commentator wrote, “It sometimes seems that so many of my loved ones have gone there that I know more people in heaven than I do on earth.” I can’t help but think, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

In her book, “Who Walk Alone,” Margaret Evening tells of a dream that helped her understand the nature of heaven and hell. She writes, “In the dream, I visited Hell, where the sub-Warden showed me round. To my surprise, I was led along a labyrinth of dark, dank passages from which there were numerous doors leading into cells. It was not like Hell as I had pictured it at all. In fact, it was all rather religious and “churchy”! Each cell was identical. The central piece of furniture was an altar, and before each altar knelt (or, in some cases, were prostrated) green-grey spectral figures in attitudes of prayer and adoration. ‘But whom are they worshipping?’ I asked my guide. ‘Themselves,’ came the reply immediately. ‘This is pure self-worship. They are feeding on themselves and their own spiritual vitality in a kind of auto-spiritual-cannibalism. That is why they are so sickly looking and emaciated.’ I was appalled and saddened by the row upon row of cells with their non-communicating inmates, spending eternity in solitary confinement, themselves the first, last, and only object of worship. The dream continued . . . but the point germane to our discussion here has been made. According to the teaching of the New Testament, Heaven is community. My dream reminded me that Hell is isolation.”

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1 Corinthians 2:9

What is Heaven Like?

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 7, 2025

Children often have strange ideas about what heaven is going to be like. For example, 8-year-old Eric thinks, “It is a place where there is a lot of money lying around. You could just pick it up, play with it, and buy things. I think I am going to buy a basketball, and I am going to play basketball with my great-great-grandmother.” Seven-year-old Scottie says, “Heaven is up in the sky, and you could look down at circuses for free if you want to, except you have to ask God for permission first.” Seven-year-old David says, “Heaven is kind of big, and they sit around playing harps. I don’t know how to play a harp, but I suppose I should learn how to play that dumb thing pretty soon.” Finally, seven-year-old Tommy says, “I know what heaven is, but I don’t want to go there. I want to go to North Carolina instead.”  I think Tommy might be right. When I hear the cultural descriptions of heaven, I sometimes think I’d rather go to North Carolina, too. But I think the normal assumptions all miss the mark.

I don’t suppose we’ll ever be able to grasp the nature of the wonder and glory of heaven. As a matter of fact, the mystery of heaven makes it even more attractive. I can take the biblical descriptions for face value and not have to wrestle with making more out of them than’s intended. I know it’s a wonderful place. When Paul quoted from Isaiah that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, Isaiah 64:4, 65:17), I’m confident that the details of the experience are hidden alright but the glory of the place and all the joy that awaits us is clearly what has been revealed to us by God’s Spirit as Paul continues to say in 1 Corinthians 10. Also, remember that when Paul speaks of the one who was caught “up into the third heaven,” he spoke of a person (probably himself) who had witnessed things that were unspeakable. He could not and knew that he should not talk about those things.

Marco Polo, the famous Venetian traveler of the thirteenth century, when lay dying and was urged by his attendants to recant—to withdraw the stories he had told about China and the lands of the Far East. But he said, “I have not told half what I saw.” Whatever awaits us is something beyond the scope of our experience on earth and, therefore, something we cannot understand until we arrive. Whatever is there, it will be the most glorious that we can ever imagine. Our sorry descriptions will all seem so futile. The most important detail about heaven is it is where God and Jesus live. When I see Jesus, I will become like Him! Billy Graham said in his book “World Aflame,” “Heaven will be more modern and up-to-date than any of the present-day constructions of man. Heaven will be a place to challenge the creative genius of the unfettered mind of redeemed man. Heaven will be a place made supremely attractive by the presence of Christ.” I’m sure Billy Graham is enjoying all of that at this moment. I hope to join him someday.

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