Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other; and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your church needs you to be there.”

The other day a Pastor friend of mine shared an article on Facebook about church attendance. The title was, “10 Reasons even committed church attenders are attending church less often.”

Church attendance in the USA has been in decline for decades, and we’re slowly becoming like Europe. Once, Europe was a dynamic and thriving hub of vibrant Christianity that was impacting the world, but then the decline started. Today, most of the remaining churches in Europe are largely empty. For decades that same decline has been slowly happening in the USA as well. Christianity is thriving in many other places around the world, especially in China, Africa, and Latin America, and their churches are full, but not so much anymore in the USA. We’ve been headed in the way of Europe for a long time now, and we are continuing down that slippery slope.

What caught my attention about this article however, was that it is about the problem that even committed church members in the USA are much less faithful in church attendance than ever before. Not only is society as a whole less religious than in previous generations; and not only is it becoming increasingly difficult in the USA to reach people for Christ; but even committed church members are much less faithful than in the past. This makes the problem in our churches much worse than it would otherwise be if it was just the non-churched who weren’t showing up.

In previous generations the committed church member averaged 50 out of 52 Sundays a year in church. Today the average is much less than that. One estimate said that some members may attend only 26 out of 52 weeks a year but still consider themselves to be “committed”. This is a problem in almost all churches in the USA, regardless of size.

According to the research in this article, the number one reason committed church members in the USA attend so much less now than they used to, is affluence. When people have money, they have options. They can travel more, they can do more in terms of recreational activities, and, they feel they need God less.  And please note, by “affluent” the author didn’t mean rich. He was simply referring to middle-class comfortable. In other words, we middle-class American Christians may be too well off for our own good.

The research also showed other reasons why committed church members in the USA are less faithful now than in the past. Those included things like youth sports on Sundays, family events taking priority over church, technology options such as church services on television and the internet, and much more.

All of this serves to weaken an already weakened American church. When even the committed members are much less committed than they used to be, you can be sure the decline will continue, and even accelerate. The longer you stay on a slippery slope the faster you go and the further you fall.

In the past, our churches have always taught that just showing up in church wasn’t really good enough – you needed to be actively involved as well. With a chuckle we even teasingly referred to those who just showed up but weren’t involved in ministry as “pew potatoes”. But we’re not laughing anymore. Today we’re happy if we can just get people to show up on a consistent basis.

Our theme this month is “Your Life Matters”, and we’ve been exploring ways in which each of us makes a meaningful difference in our world. As a committed church member one of the most helpful habits you can have is to be faithful in your church attendance.

We have to strengthen our churches. Our society needs strong churches badly. Your regular attendance is important. Of course, we want and need you to be actively involved too, but first, we just need you to be there.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result – the survival of many people.” Genesis 50:20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God will use your circumstances for His purposes if you let Him.”

I once knew a fine Christian lady who was married to an extremely difficult man. He was angry, profane, argumentative, mean, and sometimes violent. She, on the other hand, had a sweet and gentle personality with a very pleasant demeanor. She was friendly and gracious, compassionate towards others, strong in her faith, and she carried herself with poise and dignity even though her homelife was often a nightmare. Amazingly, she stayed married to that man for over fifty years until he died. Many people thought she should have divorced him long ago but no, she honored her vows whether he honored his or not.

The Lord has used her example of faithful perseverance in a terrible situation to inspire countless others – especially her family. Her children and grandchildren have all noticeably been impacted by her sterling example, and they all exhibit similar character traits. It’s a fine family, and her example to them through all those years was so powerful that it was the strength of her character that had the most profound impact on them, rather than the negative traits they all witnessed and experienced from the man involved.

The account of Joseph in the book of Genesis tells a similar story. Joseph was a good man enduring difficult circumstances well. Sold into slavery in Egypt by hateful brothers; falsely accused of sexual assault; imprisoned for years for something he didn’t do; Joseph’s life seemed tragic. But he did his best to honor God in the midst of those tragic circumstances. Eventually God raised him up out of all that, elevated him to a high and influential position, and used all of it as a source of blessing to countless others.

I’m betting that the circumstances of your life aren’t as bad as Joseph’s; and probably not as bad as the lady I wrote about above; but I’m certain you do have your own issues. All of us have things going on in our lives that we wish weren’t there.

God might not shield you from hardships in life, but He will use you and your hardships to accomplish His purposes. The things you experience in your life matter very much. God can redeem the difficult circumstances and use it all in good ways to bless you and others as well, if you let Him.

I encourage you today to consider your circumstances, ask God how He wants to use them for good, and then recommit yourself and your situation to Him.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another … We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:11;19 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You are a link in the chain.”

Last Sunday, as they were leaving church, several people complimented me on the sermon. They each made some comment about how it spoke to them, or that it was in some way helpful, and they thanked me for it.

Like you, I appreciate compliments. They’re encouraging and they inspire me to keep going and to keep trying. However, I’m well aware of the fact that I have nothing to share with others except what was first shared with me. Anything I’ve learned I have learned from others before me, and now I’m just paying it forward and passing it along. As a preacher I’m simply a link in an unbroken chain that extends all the way back to the cross on Calvary – and which will continue to extend forward to the day of Christ’s return.

But that’s true for you too, even if you aren’t a preacher. The love of God and the Good News that He will forgive sins through faith in His Son Jesus, is shared and passed along from one person to another, like links in an unbroken chain that extends all the way back to the cross, and all the way forward to the Second Coming. You are a part of that. This is what your life as a Christian is all about.

In 1 John 4:11;19 the Apostle urges us to love others because God first loved us. This unbroken chain of love started with God, was passed along from one person to another, eventually made it to you, and will continue to be passed forward. As has been noted in previous devotionals in this series, God has chosen to use His people to accomplish His work in this world. Although He does do some of it by means of miracles, and some through the ministry of angels, most of His work is accomplished through the lives of the faithful followers of Jesus Christ. The love of God, the blessings of God, and the Good News of the Gospel, all flow to the world through you and me.

You are a link in the chain. This is what your life is about. This is why your life matters.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea -for they were fishermen. “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Matthew 4:18-20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Following Jesus is the best thing you can do with your life.”

It’s interesting that as we read through the New Testament, we realize that most of the people God used to establish and spread the Christian faith were almost all simple ordinary people. Mary was a teenage peasant girl. Joseph was a simple carpenter living in a remote village. Jesus’ twelve disciples were mostly fishermen.

As we then proceed through the book of Acts and the epistles, we find that with the notable exception of Paul, virtually every faithful person mentioned in the New Testament was a regular person with no special skills or abilities – a person who had simply decided to follow Jesus by faith, and then to serve Him as best they could in the process of living their life.

This is also the story of the Christian faith over the two thousand years of its history. The overwhelming majority of faithful men and women God has used in His kingdom-building work were not kings and queens and Presidents; they weren’t millionaires and movie stars and celebrity athletes; they haven’t been Bible scholars and best-selling authors and television preachers with big hair and trophy wives. No, they have been ordinary men and women like you and me who simply lived their lives in a way that honored God.

I want you to know this morning that if you have faith in Christ as Savior, and if you are committed to following Him through this life as your Lord, then you have everything you need in order to live a meaningful life that is pleasing to God. Then, if you are active in the life of a good church, and if you are using your skills and abilities to serve God by serving others, you can believe that He is using your life to accomplish His purposes in this world. To you your efforts might not seem like much; the results might not seem splashy and note-worthy by worldly standards; but the fact is that your faithful life is contributing to the overall effort to make a meaningful difference for the cause of Christ in this broken and bleeding world of ours.

Following Jesus and faithfully serving others in His name is the most important thing you can do with your life. And I can assure you, it does make an important difference. Your life, and what you are doing with it, does matter.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Blue lives matter”

The social movement “Black Lives Matter” began in 2013 in response to the deaths of several young black men during confrontations with law enforcement officers. There were many in the African-American community and in the news media who believed these deaths were yet more examples of systemic racial profiling and acts of police brutality against young black men. News media outlets, social activists with an agenda, and opportunistic politicians then jumped on the bandwagon, fanning the flames of racial tension, and generating a backlash against the law enforcement community.

Granted, in one of the cases that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement (the shooting of Trayvon Martin), the actions of the security guard who did the shooting were questionable. But in the two other cases (Ferguson, Missouri and New York City), the actions of the young black men involved were clearly criminal, and their responses to the law enforcement officers were aggressive, placing the officers in danger. But facts didn’t seem to matter. The police officers involved, and the law enforcement community in general, became the object of protests, criticism, lawsuits, and discrimination that continues to this day.

This is tragic and wrong. Probably 99% of all law enforcement officers everywhere are truly exceptional public servants who put their own lives on the line everyday in order to protect the rest of us. They deserve our honor, respect, and gratitude.

In response to the unfair backlash unleashed upon our law enforcement professionals, other citizens formed another movement called “Blue Lives Matter”. The purpose is to remind all of us that our law enforcement professionals are dedicated public servants who risk their lives every day to protect our communities, and they deserve our respect.

Do black lives matter? Yes, of course they do. All lives matter. Including the lives of our law enforcement professionals. So there’s no way I could write devotional messages every day for an entire month on the subject of “Your Life Matters” without paying special tribute to our dedicated law enforcement professionals who risk their lives in order to protect the rest of us.

Thank you for what you do. Blue lives matter – they matter very, very much, and we are grateful for your sacrificial service to our communities.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Believe what God says is true about you.”

The other day I came across an interesting article written by Stuart Briscoe. He was writing about what it is that we as individuals tend to believe to be true about God, and how it is that our perceptions of God are often so distorted. Briscoe writes, “There’s a lot of speculation as to who God is and what he’s like. But we need to operate on the basis of revelation, not speculation. It is one thing for us to express what we think God is like; it is an entirely different thing for us to recognize what God says he is like … What better place to discover who God is than in his self-description?”

Briscoe’s point is that we often confuse and mislead ourselves with our wrong perceptions about God because we fail to simply accept what God tells us in the Bible to be true about Himself. In the Bible He describes Himself for us and He gives us a clear explanation of what He is like. So why would we not simply read it and believe it? Why do we allow our own distorted perceptions of him to determine our thinking, rather than simply accepting what He has told us to be true about himself?

The same principle applies with respect to what we believe to be true about ourselves, as opposed to what God says is actually true about us. In the Bible God has a lot to say about who we are and how He feels about us. So why don’t we just read it, believe it, and accept what God says is true of us?

In John 3:16 He says He loves us so much, and He wants so much for us to spend eternity in heaven with Him, that He sent Jesus to earth on a rescue mission to save us from our sins and to bring us to heaven. In 1 John 3:1 He tells us that He has adopted us into His family and that we are now His children. In Jeremiah 31:3 He says that He loves us with an everlasting love. In Jeremiah 29:11-13 He explains that He has a wonderful plan that He wants to work out in our lives. In Philippians 1:6 we are told that He will bring to completion that which He has preordained for us. In John 14:1-3 Jesus describes the wonderful home in heaven He is preparing for us.

And on and on it goes. All throughout the Bible God has given us description after description and promise after promise that helps us to understand who we are in His eyes and how much He loves us. So why do we focus so much on what we believe to be true about ourselves, rather than on what God has said to be true about us? It’s Satan who tricks us into doing that. Satan doesn’t want you to know how much you matter to God. Satan wants you to believe the lies that live in your head rather than the Truth that lives in your heart.

I encourage you to believe what God says is true about you. Read your Bible. It’s His love letter to you. The Bible tells you everything you need to know about who you are; about how God much God loves you; and why you matter so much to Him.

I encourage you to believe what God says is true about you. You are His, you are loved more than you realize, and therefore your life matters very, very much.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “Son”, Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.” Luke 16:25 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Things will be different in heaven.”

In Luke 16:10-31 Jesus told a story about a rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. In the story the rich man enjoyed a comfortable and leisurely life while Lazarus endured a life of poverty and sickness. The picture Jesus paints for us is of a rich man who reveled in his luxury and who seemed unconcerned about this poor sick beggar right there in front of him. Lazarus longed for scrapes and crumbs of food that might fall from the rich man’s table, but there’s no indication that the rich man helped him or even noticed him.

Then they both died. Lazarus went to heaven and enjoyed an eternity of pleasure and joy, while the rich man went to hell and experienced agony and suffering. In eternity their situations had been completely reversed.

Someone once commented to Billy Graham that they were sure that he (Billy) would have an exalted place in heaven because of his tremendous faithful service in this lifetime. Billy responded (I’m paraphrasing), “I’m not so sure about that. I am sure that I will be in heaven, and that I will be eternally happy, but God has blessed me so much in this lifetime with abilities and resources and talented people to help me. In heaven I think the bigger blessings belong to those who didn’t have the things that I have had and who lived faithful lives serving God and blessing others anyway.”

I think that will be true for my daughter Tracy too, and for other mentally and physically handicapped people like her. They go through this life without the mental capacity, physical ability, or resources that the average person has. There is so much in this life that they don’t have and which they cannot do because of their physical and mental limitations. But I think God will more than make that up for them in heaven. They have little now, but they will have a lot then.

Our world is filled with people who, through no fault of their own, go through life in deep poverty, or with physical and mental limitations, or they live a short life in a torturous prison in North Korea, or in some other way suffer tremendously while the rest of us have it comparatively easy. It seems so unfair.

But in terms of eternity this life is a puff of smoke which is here today and gone tomorrow. This is why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Things will be different in heaven. Many situations will be reversed. I believe there will be rewards in heaven for those who suffer and do without in this lifetime, but who are faithful to God and a blessing to others anyway.

Your life matters, and that’s true regardless of your circumstances. Be faithful to God now, and He will bless you later.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “Serving others adds meaning and value to your life.”

Linda and I live in a community that consists almost entirely of retirees. It’s not an exclusively “adults only” or “retirees only” community, but almost everyone who lives here is retired. (Except me. I’m probably one of the most “not retired” people I know. Lol. I’m as busy as I’ve ever been but, I’m not complaining. It’s by choice. I love what I do as a Pastor and I have no desire to stop.)

Over the years that we’ve lived here I’ve noticed a trend among the retirees. Usually they begin their retirement years with a big sigh of relief and the intent to rest and play and travel. And they do! They play endless rounds of golf, they sit around playing cards and drinking beer, they go where they want when they want, and basically, they live a life focused on fun and sun and on themselves. But then, after a year or two of that, it all begins to feel pretty empty. Soon they start wondering what the point of their life is now, and they begin yearning for meaningful ways to spend their time.

And so, another characteristic of this community is all the civic clubs and volunteer organizations there are. We literally have hundreds and hundreds of bored retirees looking for ways to enhance the quality of their own lives by finding meaningful ways to help make this world a slightly better place. And … they are right. Not only are there people in need of help all around us, and not only does every act of mercy, kindness, and compassion help to make this world a little bit better, but engaging in those activities improves the quality of our own lives too.

The truth is the more you serve others the more meaningful your own life will seem – to you, and to everyone around you. People will recognize you as someone who is kind and compassionate and attentive to others, and they will think well of you for it. But beyond that, you will think well of yourself for it. Serving others makes us feel good about ourselves – it helps us to feel that we are doing something meaningful with our life. And you are! That’s why the Bible is filled with exhortations to serve others. Doing so furthers the cause of Christ on earth, it brings relief to someone in distress, and it blesses you as well.

Serving others adds meaning and value to your own life. The more of it you do, the better you will feel about yourself.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You bless Jesus when you bless others”

In yesterday’s devotional we learned that Jesus reminds us that we will always have the poor with us. When He said that He wasn’t just talking about the poor, that was simply the example He chose to use. His fuller meaning is that because this is a sin-stained and broken world, there will always be lots of people in various kinds of distress and need. We also learned that the awareness of someone suffering or in distress will often serve to bring out the good in others. It will elicit acts of kindness and mercy and compassion. That still doesn’t make a bad situation good, but it does add value to it.

Since suffering in all forms is so much a part of the world we live in, the Bible is filled from beginning to end with exhortations for God’s people to do something about it. We are to be the conduit in this world through which the love, mercy, kindness, compassion, and resources of God flow to people in need. This is so important to God that in Matthew 25:40 Jesus said that when you do it for one of those in need, you have effectively done it directly for Him. He receives your act of mercy and compassion as if He Himself was the one in need and you did this thing for Him personally. Here are a few general principles which apply to situations like this:

First, if you are the one who is suffering or in need of assistance, please know that God loves you unconditionally. Your disability, or the tornado that destroyed your home, or the death of your loved one, does not mean that God doesn’t love you, and it doesn’t mean that your life is of less value because of this. Your suffering grieves God and He wants to minister to you in the middle of it.

Second, recognize that most of God’s blessings come to us through other people. Your suffering is an opportunity for them to serve the Lord by serving you – so let them. Be humble enough to graciously accept the help.

Third, for those who have the privilege of being on the giving side of the equation, recognize that “There but for the grace of God go I.” In other words, it could have been you in the place of that needy or suffering person. And, in the future, it very well may be. So, treat that person the way you would want others to treat you if it was you in that situation. Treat them with compassion and kindness and especially … with respect. Don’t treat them like they’re your ministry project. Don’t assume the attitude that they’re poor and you’re not and therefore you are going to throw them this little bone of assistance. This is a hurting person in need of help. This is a person God loves and whose suffering grieves His heart. This is Jesus in disguise.

Just because someone is limited, disabled, suffering, or in need, doesn’t mean their life is any less valuable than yours. Instead it means that you now have an opportunity to make this world a slightly better place, one person at a time, one situation at a time, by blessing them in their time of need. I encourage you to find someone you can help today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Your Life Matters”

Our Bible verse for today: “He also said to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a lunch or a dinner; don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:12-14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Those in need often bring out the best in others”

I travel a lot and often it’s with my wife, using her walker or wheelchair, and sometimes it is with my daughter, using her walker or wheelchair, and sometimes, on rare occasions, it’s with both of them at the same time.

Traveling with a disabled person can be tough. However, I’ve found that people are very nice and very considerate when they see a situation like that. They will rush to hold the door for you, they will offer to handle your luggage, they will smile and ask if there is anything they can do to help.

The fact is that seeing someone in need, whether it is a disabled person in an airport, a family stranded on the side of the road, a lost child crying for her mother,  a community devastated by a flood or tornado, or anyone else in a difficult or distressing situation, often brings out the best in people. Situations like that elicit acts of kindness, compassion, and mercy from people who otherwise might not be naturally disposed to be kind, compassionate, or merciful.

In Matthew 26:11 Jesus told us that “You will always have the poor with you …” That’s just a statement of fact. And in Luke 14:12-14 He told us to do something about it. We live in a broken and bleeding world filled with lots of people in all sorts of distressing situations. It’s not God’s fault. Sin and the devil are responsible for the evil and the suffering in the world. But the Bible teaches us that those situations are opportunities for us to show mercy and compassion. The awareness of someone else in need will often bring out the good in other people.

It is of course sad that someone is physically or mentally disabled, or that their car is broken down on the side of the road, or that their home burned in a fire, but in the middle of the pain and the sorrow and the struggle, God can and will redeem those situations by using them to bring out acts of mercy, compassion, and kindness. That doesn’t make a bad situation good, but it does add value to it that wasn’t there before. Your pain brought out something good in someone else. God has used a bad thing for a good purpose. We will think more about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor