Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content – whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:11-13 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Is it just a happiness high?”   I love to watch children on a sugar high (as long as I can send them to their parents when it gets to be a bit much). As the grandfather of a four-year-old I can laugh at his antics, wrestle with him a bit, and then hand him off to his parents. Likewise, as the pastor in our church on donut Sunday when the kids have had one donut too many, I can direct the parents to get control of their kids. And fortunately, a sugar high passes pretty quickly.   Likewise with a happiness high. A happiness high occurs when we rely on something temporary and unsubstantial to make us feel good. A new possession, some fun entertainment, sex, or even a substance such as drugs or alcohol, all release the happiness hormones of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins, and they do make us feel good, for a short while. But like sugar in the blood stream of a four-year-old, the feeling passes quickly and then we’re looking for the next donut, or the next possession, or the next pill or bottle.   Happiness is fleeting and temporary. Joy, on the other hand, is deep-seated, it lives in the heart, and as the Apostle Paul described in Philippians 4:11-12, it is learned and cultivated. Paul was a content man despite whatever his circumstances were, because he had learned the secret of contentment (true joy). He found it in Jesus. Rather than focusing on outward circumstances and allowing those circumstances to determine his state of mind, he turned his focus inward to the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus.   But he learned how to do this. It was an ability he wanted to have, an attitude and frame of mind that he decided to cultivate. So, he trained himself in spiritual discipline and he practiced looking to Jesus for his joy and contentment. We must do this too.   If you are relying on a continuous series of happiness highs to make you feel good, you will always be chasing the next high. If you learn to find your joy and contentment in Christ, you will have it regardless of what’s going on in the world around you. I encourage you to seek true joy and contentment in Christ, rather than the temporary and fleeting happiness highs offered by the world.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “This is your life; this is your story”   Before John Eldredge became a world-famous author of numerous bestselling books, he was a stage actor. His life was in the world of the theater and as a result, he has always loved stories – especially grand epic stories. If you are familiar with his writing you know that he is a master at weaving and telling stories and incorporating them into his teaching.   Eldredge also points out that story is the language of the human heart. While we can and do memorize facts and figures, and we are capable of logic and reason, it is story that captures our heart and it is story that we relate to best. That being the case, John encourages us to see our lives as a story directed by God. From start to finish your life is an unfolding epic that you were born into, and which is currently unfolding and will continue to unfold until the final curtain falls.   The truth of that is revealed in the Old Testament book of the prophet Jeremiah. As Jeremiah 1:5 explains, God had chosen him for a purpose even before He formed him in the womb.  Then as we follow the unfolding story of his life through the pages of the book that bears his name, we find that God often reminded Jeremiah that he was involved in a grand and epic story, the script for which was written by God Himself. “For I know the plans I have for you – this is the Lord’s declaration – plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (29:11)   The key for Jeremiah was the same as it is for you and for me – keep listening to the Director: “You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you…” (29:12-14). As the story continued to unfold, Jeremiah was to keep looking to God for direction. That’s true for you and I as well.   In terms of good selfcare, it’s helpful if you will remember that the script of your life has been written by God and each day is a new scene in that unfolding story. Keep looking to the Director for the guidance you need and then throw yourself into each new scene with enthusiasm and gusto, giving it everything you have. This is your life; this is your story.     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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “For we are God’s masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)   Our thought for today: “You need to know this about yourself”   I love the way the New Living Translation expresses the reality of how God views us by using the word “masterpiece.” According to the Oxford dictionary a masterpiece is “a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship.” To be considered a masterpiece a work must have been created with extraordinary skill producing something that is unique and special and far beyond ordinary. According to the New Living Translation, that’s you in Christ.   The Hebrew and Greek languages are rich languages with words that carry a broad range of deep meaning. That being the case, it often requires several English words, or even an entire phrase, to fully capture the meaning of a single Hebrew or Greek word. The Amplified Bible is a translation of the Bible that uses all the words necessary to capture the full meaning of the original language. That sometimes results in cumbersome and awkward sentence structure in English, but it does provide all the English words needed to capture the full original meaning. Here’s how Ephesians 2:10 reads in the Amplified Bible: “For we are His workmanship (His own master work, a work of art), created in Christ Jesus (reborn from above – spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used) for good works, which God has prepared us for …” You are his master work, a work of art. Sadly, many people have difficulty accepting that truth. But once we do accept it, it changes everything.   Augustine Mandino was an insurance salesman who was a troubled, tortured soul. He struggled with alcoholism and consequently, virtually every area of his life was a trainwreck. He had a terrible self-image and he even attempted suicide. But long story short, Mandino eventually surrendered his life to Jesus, accepted the fact that he was deeply loved by his heavenly Father, and he slowly learned how to love and respect himself. Augustine Mandino, better known as “Og Mandino,” went on to be the most successful inspirational writer and motivational speaker of his day. His eighteen books have sold over fifty million copies and are still in print today.   In my opinion, his two best books are a semi-autobiographical series with the titles “The Greatest Miracle in the World” and “The Return of the Ragpicker.” This is his story, but it is also all our stories. In those two small books Mandino does a masterful job of proving that you are God’s greatest miracle and that you are loved by Him beyond description. I promise you, if you read those two small books you will find yourself feeling much, much better about yourself.   You need to know this: you are God’s greatest miracle; you are loved beyond description; and you have every reason to feel good about yourself.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Jeremiah 31:3 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Selfcare through Self-love”   Do you love yourself? Many people don’t. Many people are deeply disappointed and unhappy with themselves, sometimes even to the point of hating themselves. They feel unworthy. Some even have the tragic belief that they are being very spiritual by thinking poorly of themselves. “I’m just a sinner, a miserable worm, I’m completely unworthy.”   But is that Biblical? Well, not according to the Bible it isn’t. It is true that without Christ we are lost in our sins and completely unworthy before God (Romans 3:23). But it’s also true that He loves each person deeply and longs for us to come to Him through faith in Christ (2 Peter 3:9); and it’s true that once we do place our faith in Christ our sins are washed away and we become a new spiritual creation (2 Corinthians 5:17); and at that time we are adopted into the Father’s family, becoming one of His precious and much-loved children (Romans 8:15); and the Holy Spirit then begins molding and shaping us more-and-more into the image of Jesus (Galatians 5:22-23).     The truth is that you are loved by God and therefore you should be loved by you. In God’s eyes you are a masterpiece of perfection because you come to Him through His perfect Son Jesus.   But still, we struggle with our self-image. The enemy whispers lies to us about ourselves and we believe him. In 1969 the late Dr. Robert Schuller wrote a book with the title: “Self-Love”. It became a bestseller. In it he argued that because God loves you, you should love yourself and if you don’t learn to love yourself you will end up being your own worst enemy.   Bob Buford wrote about that as well in his excellent book “Half Time,” “The well-intentioned (and biblically correct) doctrine of depravity is not the whole story. Without God we are, indeed, in need of “amazing grace,” but once we are transformed by his grace, we become new, beautiful, and valuable creatures capable of self-love …”   Learning to love yourself is not narcissistic. God loves you and He wants you to love yourself. He has created you anew in Christ; you are His highest form of creation; and the Holy Spirit is progressively building into you the attributes and likeness of Christ.   Tomorrow I will tell you a story about a man who was at one time a gutter-crawling drunk with no self-esteem but who went from that to being one of the most successful self-help authors of all time. The change in his life came when he accepted the love of God for him, and then learned he could love himself because he was loved by God. One of the most important things we can do for good selfcare is to learn to love ourselves.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Enjoy life in all its fulness”   In recent days there is a theme that I keep encountering in my personal reading, and in my study for sermons and Bible studies, and even in conversations with people. It was a topic in the discussion time during the Bible study I taught last Wednesday, and it worked its way into my sermon yesterday. It was also discussed in the opening pages of an old book I picked up the other day and was leafing through.   That issue is the fact that so many people go through life mildly dissatisfied, knowing that they are missing something but not sure what that something is. It’s like the great American writer Henry David Thoreau famously wrote in his book “Walden”: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Likewise, the passage from the old book I was leafing through which I referred to a moment ago reads like this:   “I feel a restiveness in man … a dissatisfaction of a universal sort – the average human being, as I judge it, is uneasy. He is like a man who is hungry, gets up at night, opens the refrigerator door and doesn’t exactly see what he wants because he doesn’t know what he wants. He closes the door and goes back to bed.” The passage goes on: “Not knowing what we really want, we go through life with a strange inner hunger unsatisfied. It’s something like having a holiday without knowing exactly what you want to do, where you want to go, or how you want to spend your limited time. When you finally decide what you want to do, and where to go, it’s too late.”   It’s true. You know from personal experience that you crave something more and deeper than just simple pleasure. All the human appetites for food, sex, wealth, possessions, accomplishments, accolades, and sensory satisfaction can be met and still, you sense that something is missing. That is the basic human condition and it is why in Matthew 16:26 Jesus posed the rhetorical question, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”   In John 10:10 Jesus spoke directly to that dilemma when He told us clearly that life in all its fulness is found only through him. That’s why, in terms of our pursuit of selfcare, there is nothing that will help us more or bring us more true and lasting satisfaction than to deepen our relationship with Jesus. That is what your soul is really longing for. I encourage you to spend extra time with Him today and enjoy life in all its fulness.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Enjoy life in all its fulness”   In recent days there is a theme that I keep encountering in my personal reading, and in my study for sermons and Bible studies, and even in conversations with people. It was a topic in the discussion time during the Bible study I taught last Wednesday, and it worked its way into my sermon yesterday. It was also discussed in the opening pages of an old book I picked up the other day and was leafing through.   That issue is the fact that so many people go through life mildly dissatisfied, knowing that they are missing something but not sure what that something is. It’s like the great American writer Henry David Thoreau famously wrote in his book “Walden”: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Likewise, the passage from the old book I was leafing through which I referred to a moment ago reads like this:   “I feel a restiveness in man … a dissatisfaction of a universal sort – the average human being, as I judge it, is uneasy. He is like a man who is hungry, gets up at night, opens the refrigerator door and doesn’t exactly see what he wants because he doesn’t know what he wants. He closes the door and goes back to bed.” The passage goes on: “Not knowing what we really want, we go through life with a strange inner hunger unsatisfied. It’s something like having a holiday without knowing exactly what you want to do, where you want to go, or how you want to spend your limited time. When you finally decide what you want to do, and where to go, it’s too late.”   It’s true. You know from personal experience that you crave something more and deeper than just simple pleasure. All the human appetites for food, sex, wealth, possessions, accomplishments, accolades, and sensory satisfaction can be met and still, you sense that something is missing. That is the basic human condition and it is why in Matthew 16:26 Jesus posed the rhetorical question, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”   In John 10:10 Jesus spoke directly to that dilemma when He told us clearly that life in all its fulness is found only through him. That’s why, in terms of our pursuit of selfcare, there is nothing that will help us more or bring us more true and lasting satisfaction than to deepen our relationship with Jesus. That is what your soul is really longing for. I encourage you to spend extra time with Him today and enjoy life in all its fulness.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN  38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Be careful and wise”   “Be careful and be wise” Paul tells us. Much of our trouble in life comes when we are not careful and we are not wise. In yesterday’s devotional we considered the important role prudence and common-sense play in our quest for good selfcare. This verse communicates the same truth. We must pay careful attention to how we live, not as unwise people but as wise.   The truth is that we bring many of our problems and suffering on ourselves by the way we think, and by the decisions we make, and by the actions we take. The more careful and wiser we are the better life will be for us. Paul is talking about Biblical wisdom, being wise in the ways of the Lord. He goes on in verse 17, “So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” And then in verse 18, “And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled with the Spirit.”   In those verses Paul is encouraging us to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day so that we will then live carefully and wisely – making good decisions and engaging in right actions. He then gives us some examples of how to do so: “Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Christian fellowship); “Singing and making music with your heart to the Lord (worship); “giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (living with a sense of thankfulness and gratitude); “submitting to one another in the fear of Christ (accountability).   Living carefully and wisely, exercising prudence, using good common-sense, and relying on sound judgment, are all learned behaviors that grow out of good discipleship practices. As we submit ourselves to the prompting and guidance of the Holy Spirit day-by-day and moment-by-moment He will help us to be wise and careful.   What Paul is calling us to is consistency in our life as a Christian. Place yourself in a position before God every day whereby the Holy Spirit has full access to your mind and heart. Over time, The Spirit will teach you how to live carefully and wisely in ways that truly do honor and please the Lord.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “Learn to be shrewd, you who are inexperienced; develop common sense, you who are foolish.” Proverbs 8:5 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Prudence and common sense are what’s needed”   In fourteen years of writing these daily devotional messages I have seldom continued writing on the same theme for three straight months, but I am going to do that with our current theme of selfcare. There’s just so much more that needs to be said about it. Taking proper care of ourselves (body, soul, and spirit), is essential for living fully and well.   An important element of good selfcare is to maintain a calm, rational, thoughtful approach to all of life. I’m talking about exercising prudence and common sense when it comes to arriving at conclusions, making decisions, and taking action. When we are prudent we deliberately take time to consider all the facts of a situation and then we thoughtfully and prayerfully arrive at conclusions about it. For big life issues we also get good counsel before making decisions and taking action.   It’s especially important that we don’t act rashly out of emotion. Feelings are temporary (especially feelings that stem from hot emotions). The singer Jimmy Buffet once wrote a song about “A permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.” I have a tattoo that fits that description. I was a young eighteen-year-old military man doing a tour of duty in Vietnam but on R&R in Hong Kong with some friends. I did the things a young sailor typically does in situations like that and I woke up the next morning with a tattoo. I don’t really remember getting it but it has been on my left arm for fifty-three years now. It’s a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.   We could consider other examples. A moment of unrestrained and inappropriate passion could result in an unwanted pregnancy, or an incurable sexually transmitted disease, or a divorce. All of those would be examples of a permanent reminder of temporary feeling and they illustrate what happens when we are not disciplined and wise.   Good selfcare calls for sound judgment, discipline, prudence, and common sense. All of this is learned behavior and that is why we will continue exploring this important subject for a third straight month.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Lord, make me live in safety.” Psalm 4:8 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “You need a good night’s sleep”   How well do you sleep at night? It’s an important question because getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most helpful things you can do for good physical selfcare. Being well-rested is a critical aspect of good health and being consistently sleep deprived can literally be a killer. Chronic sleep deficiency is linked to many health problems including heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression. It is also a primary cause of job-related injuries and traffic accidents.   That being the case, one of the most helpful things you can do to improve your overall health is to take steps to improve the quality of your sleep. The average adult needs between 7-9 hours of good sleep consistently per night. Less than that, especially a sustained pattern of poor sleep over an extended period, is bad for your health.   Fortunately, there are actions we can take to help improve our sleep. First, you need a good bed. Since consistently getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your overall health, that makes your bed the most important piece of furniture you own. Your dining room set, living room set, recliner, or any other piece of furniture might look nice and may serve a functional purpose, but none of them will have the impact on your body that your bed does.   Recently I invested in a “Sleep Number” bed. It was expensive but it made a big difference in the quality of my sleep. I sleep much better now (consistently night-after-night), than I ever have on any other mattress. When I consider how much money I have spent on things like flooring, cabinets and countertops, bathroom renovations, etc. and how little those things improved the quality of my life, I realize that the cost of a good bed is money well-spent.   There are many other things we can do to improve the quality of our sleep (Google it). You will be surprised how many studies there have been and how many helpful strategies there are that will help you to sleep better.   You need a good night’s sleep. Every night. That’s the way God designed our bodies. Taking steps to improve the quality of your sleep is simply good selfcare.   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”   Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is true worship.” Romans 12:1 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Boundaries for your body”   In previous devotionals in this series, we have considered the importance of establishing good boundaries to help facilitate good selfcare. Those discussions pertained primarily to boundaries designed to help us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But we also need good boundaries for physical selfcare.   For instance, we need to establish boundaries regarding the situations we will allow our physical body to be exposed to. Adventure is fun, but participating in high-speed and high-risk sports without appropriate safety precautions is foolish. Riding a motorcycle without a helmet or rock climbing without a safety harness are examples of risks that are unnecessary and which should not be taken. Doing so is crossing a boundary of common sense.   Staying in a home with a difficult and argumentative spouse and trying to work through the problems is Biblical. But a violent and physically abusive spouse has crossed a boundary that should not be crossed. Such action is unacceptable and drastic action must be taken to stop it.   There are other physical boundaries we must set for ourselves for the sake of good selfcare. Do you get enough sleep each night or do you have the habit of staying up too late and then going through your days sleep-deprived? If so, then you need a better boundary regarding bedtime. If you are someone who chooses to use alcohol as a beverage, what are your boundaries? How many beers or glasses of wine do you allow yourself and do you make excuses for crossing that line? One cold beer with your cheeseburger might be within the realm of acceptable conduct for you, but how about three, or four, or six? Have you set and do you keep an appropriate boundary?   Good nutrition is another boundary that we must have the discipline to set and observe. One donut for breakfast, on occasions, is probably okay, but four in one sitting is gluttony.   There is more that needs to be said regarding physical boundaries which will help to facilitate good selfcare. So, we will come back to this discussion in the days to come. But for now, what are your boundaries and do you respect them?   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

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571