I’m going to follow my own advice

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Take care of yourself”

Our Bible verse for today: “So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “I’m going to follow my own advice”

Recently a friend commented about how personal many of my daily devotionals are. What she meant is that I tend to be somewhat transparent in my writing of them and I often include examples from my personal life. I explained that for me writing is therapeutic and therefore I have always had the habit of writing about my thoughts, feelings, and experiences – usually in my private journal.

Originally, I wrote these daily devotionals for myself and God only. It wasn’t until thirteen years ago that I began sharing them with others via email reader groups, Facebook, and on the church website. But almost always, these devotionals pertain to things that I’m personally working through with God, and then I share those lessons with you hoping that you might find them helpful too.

For the month of June our theme has been “Take care of yourself.” It is a topic that’s important to me personally, for myself, but I also care very much about all of you and I want you to take good care of yourselves too. However, my advice carries much less weight if I don’t practice what I preach, and since an important part of taking good care of ourselves involves sometimes putting work aside and completely shutting down, I need to do that sometimes too.

Today I will begin two weeks of family vacation. And so, I will be turning off and shutting down in terms of ministry, and that will include these daily devotional messages. This will be the last one for a couple of weeks. The next daily devotional should appear in your inbox or Facebook newsfeed on Monday July 15^th.

Rest and relaxation are an important part of maintaining a healthy balance in life. The great writer T.S. Eliot once observed that, “Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.” In other words, if you come out of it rested, renewed, and refreshed, then it was time well-spent, not wasted time. I’m going to do that now, and I encourage you to make plans for your own rest soon as well. It will be time well-spent.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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