service genset jogja
Psalm 28:7

Count Your Blessings

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 13, 2025

The New English Translation (NET) renders Psalm 28:7 like this: The LORD strengthens and protects me; I trust in him with all my heart. I am rescued and my heart is full of joy; I will sing to him in gratitude.” Just think about how grateful you would have to be to sing about it. We’ve become so accustomed to singing praise and songs of thanksgiving that we miss the significance of them and we tend to lose the intended expressions of gratitude in our music. It’s also true that we often take our many blessings from God for granted.

You might remember the old hymn by Johnson Oatman, a Methodist preacher. It’s entitled “Count Your Blessings.” It goes like this: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings—name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings—every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by. When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold; count your many blessings—money cannot buy your reward in heaven nor your home on high. So, amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged. God is over all; count your many blessings—angels will attend, help, and comfort you to your journey’s end. Chorus: Count your blessings—name them one by one; count your blessings—see what God has done.”

Counting my blessings serves as an antidote to life’s discouragements. It can also be a means of placing material possessions in proper perspective compared to the eternal inheritance that awaits me. When I review my personal, individual blessings, my problems and disappointments seem insignificant. I could spare myself a lot of misery and dissatisfaction if I applied this hymn to my daily life. I keep remembering the Psalmist’s exhortation to himself from Psalm 27:14. He urges himself, “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

Tags:
Permalink
Psalm 30:5

Joy In The Morning

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 12, 2025

Psalm 30:5 says, “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Commentators see the context of this Psalm of David referring to the plagues that befell the nation after David’s arrogant numbering of the people. Sickness came, but with confession and repentance came forgiveness, restoration, and healing. Like David, we all find ourselves with consequences for actions or words we wish we could take back. The Scriptures are clear on the reality of “sowing and reaping.” Yet, God’s anger with our sin and arrogance is much like a loving parent’s displeasure with his child. He might chide, discipline, or even spank the child, yet this does not diminish the love for that child. Discipline is brief, but God’s love is for a lifetime.

Mrs. H. B. Stowe wrote, “It is said that gardeners sometimes when they would bring a rose to richer flowering, deprive it for a season of light and moisture. Silent and dark, it stands, dropping one fading leaf after another and seeming to go down patiently to death. But when every leaf is dropped, and the plant stands stripped to the uttermost, a new life is even then working in the buds, from which shall spring tender foliage and a brighter wealth of flowers. So often, in celestial gardening, every leaf of earthly joy must drop before a new and Divine bloom visits the soul.”

Our hurts and sorrows, whether we bring them on ourselves by bad choices or hubris of spirit or not, are destined to pass. In our personal walk with the God who loves us, we can be sure that forgiveness is ours as much as it was David’s. We can be sure that the sorrows and sufferings of life will come to pass. In the night hours, things look bad. Everything looks worse at night. But, wait on the Lord. The morning is at hand. Fanny Crosby wrote many hymns. Among them are these words:

O child of God, wait patiently when dark thy path may be,
And let thy faith lean trusting on Him Who cares for thee;
And though the clouds hang drearily upon the brow of night,
Yet in the morning, joy will come and fill thy soul with light.

The Psalmist tells us, “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)

Tags:
Permalink
Hebrews 13:5

Honor Your Mother

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 11, 2025

One of my sermon illustration books tells us about Mother’s Day. It says, “The “Mother’s Day” concept has a long history of religious connections that seem to have been predominantly Christian in modern times. In ancient Greece, the idea of paying tribute to motherhood was given expression with a regular festival tantamount to mother-worship. Formal ceremonies to Cybele, or Rhea, the “Great Mother of the Gods,” were performed on the Ides of March throughout Asia Minor. For Christianity, the concept seems to date back to the establishment of England’s “Mothering Sunday,” a custom of the people that required one to attend the mother church in which he was baptized on Mid-Lent Sunday. Gifts were to be offered at the altar to the church and to worshippers’ mothers. The concept was divorced from any “mother worship” but nevertheless perpetuated its religious association.U. S. observance of Mother’s Day, too, has been characterized by church ties from the start. The first general observance of the occasion was in the churches of Philadelphia after Miss Anne Jarvis campaigned for a holiday for mothers more than 50 years ago.”

I remember a Mother’s Day card I saw that was really cute. It was a great big card written in a little child’s printing—little first-grade printing. On the front was a little boy with untied sneakers. He had a wagon, and toys were everywhere. He had a little cut on his face, and there were smudges all over this card. It read, “Mom, I remember that little prayer you used to say for me every day.” Inside was the prayer: “God will help you if you ever do that again.”

Like all of us, I remember my mother’s favorite sayings. I’m sure all mothers used the same sayings. “There’s always something with you,” she would say to me. She wouldn’t just say it, though. She would “sigh” it. I suppose because it was true. There was always something I had done to make life a little more difficult for her. Like the time I knocked down the wasp nest and my cousin Steve was stung a dozen times. The second thing she’d say was, “If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Right? Like the time I shot Dickey Jones with a pea shooter, and the pea went up his nose, and they had to take him to the hospital to get it out. Or when we were wrestling in the basement, Billy Foxhoven broke his arm. Or the time Butch and I shot holes in the front of the kitchen cabinets with a bow and arrow. Or the time I got caught stealing candy from the Cliff’s Corner store on 30th & Laurel. Or the time I got caught sneaking into the Orpheum, she had to come down and get me. Or the time… Well, I could go on! I was not an easy child, and I often think back to those things with regret that I caused my mom so much grief.

But Mom never threatened to stop loving me, or stop feeding me, or stop clothing me, or stop putting band-aids on my cuts and bruises. Somehow, I knew she’d always be there for me no matter what I did! Looking back now, I see that she was. She taught me a lot about God, who said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Tags:
Permalink
Exodus 20:12

Honor Your Mother

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 10, 2025

God is chiefly concerned about our attitude toward our parents. He even made sure that the command was included in the top ten. It was either the fourth or fifth commandment, depending on the denomination you listen to. But we can say that it is not only in the top ten but one of God’s top five commandments. Exodus 20:12 says, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” As we approach Mother’s Day, I’m reminded that, as a son, I have not been that good at honoring my mother. My sons, on the other hand, have always been great at honoring their mother on Mother’s Day. They would often write their own Mother’s Day Cards. I wish I had kept all of them, but unfortunately, we don’t always think things are going to be important at the time they are happening. But I have a few of them.

Chuck 3rd was ten years old when he wrote this one. “MOM, I got the greatest one of all. Better than the rest. She comes whenever I call. She’s better than the best. Whenever I am hungry, whenever I get hurt, she’s always there to feed me and pick me up from the dirt.”

JD was eight years old when he wrote this one. “Dear MOM, You are a better mother than the rest. But everyone says theirs is best, too. But that’s only because they haven’t met you.”

I don’t have any cards that I made for my mom on Mother’s Day, and I’m sad about that. I know we made some for our moms in school, but for some reason, we didn’t keep them. However, I do have one Mother’s Day card written by my dad in 1925, when he was 11 years old, to his mother. It just says “Mother’s Day” and has hand-drawn flowers all over it. My dad could draw pretty well, and these flowers are well done. You can see the detail he went into for each pedal. I remember my dad talking very favorably about his mother a lot. She died in 1936, so I never got to meet her. The more I learn about her, the more I admire her.

God even added a promise to his instructions regarding our parents. He promises that honoring them will be good for us. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12). This promise seems to relate to the Israelites specifically regarding their control and possession of the land of Israel. But Paul adds to this promise as he repeats the instruction to believers in the New Testament. He applies the promise to all of us. Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”Paul adds to this in Colossians 3:20: “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” All of God’s commandments are given for our benefit, but God especially highlights this one for the blessings it brings to the individual, the family, and society in general. Happy Mother’s Day, Ladies!

Tags:
Permalink
Ephesians 6:1-2

Honor Your Mother

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 9, 2025

When Paul exhorts children to “obey” their parents, he is simply asserting an inherent obligation. Obedience to parents is not the sole teaching of the scriptures. Every ancient and contemporary civilization commands obedience from children to their parents. It’s part of the natural law of the universe. We need no special revelation for this truth. It’s readily apparent to everyone. But God goes out of his way to instruct us according in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. We see the command to honor your parents in the Ten Commandments themselves and then again in Paul’s writing to the Ephesians.

But the Bible adds a new dimension to children’s relationship with their parents. Both Moses and Paul say we are to “honor” them.  The Hebrew word “kabed,” for honor, means to be heavy or weighty. We still use terms like this today. When we talk of people who “carry a lot of weight,” we are talking about those who people listen to and have influence.  Weighty people are important people in our lives. In Scripture, there is an antonym to honor, and it is all. It means “to curse.” Literally, it means to “be light or of little weight.” Again, today, we think of people who carry no weight with regard to certain situations. We might even refer to them as “lightweights.”

To honor our mothers is to regard them as highly valued and make them “heavyweights” in our lives. I think it was Smalley & Trent who said, “Some people treat their parents as if they are a layer of dust on a table. Dust weighs almost nothing and can be swept away with a brush of the hand. Dust is a nuisance and an eyesore that clouds any real beauty the table might have.” When we treat our mothers as lightweights, it is not only wrong, but it is also dishonoring to God. God calls us to value them deeply. I don’t think I’ve lived up to that as well as I should have in my younger years, but after becoming a Christian, I took my role as a son more seriously. I’ve lived most of my life away from my parents. For much of that time, I would ignore them. Later, I determined to Honor my mother, so I would write to her at least once a week and try my best to call her on her birthday and Mother’s Day. It wasn’t much, but she often told others how important my letters were to her. Now that my mother has been gone for many years, I think of so many ways I could have honored her. I often wish I had given this command more attention in my life. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother – this is the first commandment with a promise.” Ephesians 6:1-2

Tags:
Permalink
2 Corinthians 5:14-15

God’s Compelling Love

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 8, 2025

One cannot love until he has experienced God’s love. Even John, the “love” apostle, explains this truth when he says in 1 John 4:19, “We love because God loved us first.” I’d argue that all the apostles truly grasped this truth. They understood that no real life change can occur apart from a growing apprehension and experience of God’s love for us. Paul makes this crystal clear in his prayer for the Ephesians: “And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. May you have power with all God’s people to understand Christ’s love. May you know how wide and long and high and deep it is. And may you know his love, even though it can’t be known completely. Then you will be filled with everything God has for you” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

The woman that Jesus met at the well in John 4 is an interesting study. She is often described as a woman who looks for love in all the wrong places. She moved from man to man, from husband to husband, and never found what she needed until she encountered Jesus, who “knew all about her” and still loved her. She even left her water jar at the well and ran to town to call everyone to come see Jesus (John 4:28-30). Why? It wasn’t gratitude. That would have kept her at the well. Was it a new understanding that Jesus was the Christ? That should have kept her at the well with Him also. Most reasons you might consider lead me to think that she would have stayed with Him, not run off to get others. I would argue that what she found was so wonderful to her that she just had to share it with others. Boice says, “It was love, the love of the Lord Jesus already beginning to spring up within her. She had learned of this love from Christ. He had loved her, a sinful woman. Now, she was to love as he loved. Before, she had loved in one sense only. It was an imperfect human love. Perhaps it was even largely sexual. Now, she was able to live with a measure of the love with which Christ had loved her. This was a divine love, and it changed her completely.”

Robert J. Thomas was a missionary en route to Pyongyang in Korea when a fight broke out between the American sailors and the Korean coast guard. The ship was burned, and all the passengers were killed. As the ship was sinking, Robert leaped into the water and struggled to make his way to shore. He staggered out of the water with an armload of books. They were Bibles. He thrust them into the hands of the Korean, who clubbed him to death. It was through such love and commitment to his mission that the gospel first came to Korea in 1866. Today, Korea is one of the most Christian countries in the world. Today, there are over 12 million Christians in Korea. The biggest churches in the world in major denominations, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches, are all located in Seoul. Boice concludes his comments, “The Bible sets this pattern for us when it declares, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor. 5:14–15).

Tags:
Permalink
John 18:14, 2 Peter 3:9

NMLB!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 7, 2025

God is always seeking for the lost. There are so many mentions of this in both the Old Testament and the New. He says, “I myself will search for my sheep” (Ezek. 34:11); “…seek me like a lost sheep!” (Ps. 119:176); “I will seek the lost” (Ezek. 34:16); “searching for the straying sheep” (Matt. 18:12); “you will be called, ‘Sought out, a city not forsaken’” (Isa. 62:12); “the Father seeks such to worship him” (John 4:23); “though they hide on the summit of Carmel I will search them out” (Amos 9:3); “I will search Jerusalem with lamps” (Zeph. 1:12).

In Luke 19, after just four chapters earlier telling the parables of the one lost son of two, the one lost coin of 10, and the one lost sheep of 100, he gives his mission statement: “I have come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The parables emphasize the one that is lost. It doesn’t matter if there is another son at home, or nine more coins on the dresser, or 99 more sheep in the field. He wants and will search everything and everywhere until He finds it. God’s heart is for each and every individual in the world. His heart is for me and you. In Matthew 18:14, He says, “So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter describes Him as “not wishing any that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It reminds me of the NMLB acronym. It stands for “No Man Left Behind.” It’s been the motto of the U. S. Rangers but it is also used by firefighters regarding those trapped in a burning building. It’s a commitment to risk one’s own life to reach out and save others. April 30, 1975, was the last day of the RVN (Republic of Vietnam). While on a Navy Destroyer, we rescued many who fled for their lives when America withdrew troops. One eye witness wrote, “On the Republic of Vietnam’s final day, as I looked down into the … terrified eyes in the upturned faces of hundreds of Vietnamese nationals and citizens of other countries friendly to the United States, who were being left behind, I knew that I would be haunted for many years to come.”

Jesus’ followers, His Disciples, were given the same commission that Jesus had. In John 20:21, he says, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” We are always on a mission to seek and to save the lost. It’s often referred to as the Great Commission. God calls us all to embrace His mission in the world and make it our own. I like what Bock says in his commentary on Luke regarding this truth. He writes, “Disciples… need absolute commitment. Their mission, even though others grumble at it, is to seek the lost, just as God does. God rejoices in finding lost sinners, so Jesus’ call is to pursue them as one would a lost sheep, a lost coin, or a wayward son. When the lost come, open arms are to await them. Celebration and joy greet them in heaven.”

Tags: ,
Permalink
John 10:11

The Shepherd’s Love

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 6, 2025

The parable of the prodigal son instructs us regarding the depth of God the Father’s love for us. As I mentioned yesterday, the parable of the lost coin might easily be understood as a story focusing on God the Holy Spirit’s love for us. The parable of the lost sheep then would be seen as an illustration of God the Son’s great love for us. It is often argued by commentators that John 10:11 is a direct reference by the Apostle John to Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep in Luke. Jesus says in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus then says in John 15:13, “That no greater love than this has any man; that one lay down his life for his friend.”

These three parables, the parable of the lost son, the lost coin, and the lost sheep, all picture the Godhead’s great love for each and every single one of us. When John writes in 1 John 4:8 that “God is love,” he is referring to the entire Godhead. The unifying force of three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is love. Jesus, as the messenger of the Godhead, clearly expressed His purpose in taking on flesh in Luke 19. He says, “I have come to seek and to save that which is lost.” When we read Genesis three, we see the triune God involved in the creation account, but He is not only involved with creation, but also He is intimately involved with our redemption. No matter how many souls there are in the world (currently approaching 8 billion), God’s focus of redemption is on you! The Father waits for your return. The Holy Spirit searches far and wide, holding his lamp high as he sweeps through the rubble in the world to find you. The Son, our Great Shepherd, becomes the sacrificial lamb to redeem you! I expect that Peter was referring to this parable when he wrote that we “were like sheep going astray…(who) have returned to the Shepherd of our souls.” (1 Peter 2:25).

God loves each and every one of us sheep. Jesus tells us the difference between the hireling and the shepherd. The hireling is a mercenary who is only in it for the money! The shepherd is in it because of his love for the sheep. One commentator writes, “Without love, there may be care, but it will not be tender care; there may be guardianship, but it will not be incessant, unwearied, jealous guardianship. The heavenly Shepherd loves the sheep of his flock with deep, true, patient, and abounding love, surpassing far the utmost affection whereof man is capable, surpassing even the utmost conception that man can form of love.” It’s Love that holds the Father to the fence, longing for His son’s return. It’s love that moves the Spirit to search far and wide for his lost souls. It’s love that moved the great shepherd to give up His life for us sheep.

Tags:
Permalink
sewa motor jogja
© Chuck Larsen 2019. Powered by WordPress.