Oak Hill Baptist Church

Three miles an hour is a good pace

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” 2 Peter 3:8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Three miles an hour is a good pace”

This morning I want to continue our thought from yesterday regarding the pace of our lives. I noted that too often we blow through our days, just skimming the surface of life rather than slowing down and going deep with people and situations, savoring the moments of our lives.

Kosuke Koyama was a Japanese Christian and a professor of theology. He once wrote a book with the title, “Three Mile an Hour God.” The title comes from the fact that the average human, when not in a hurry, walks at approximately three miles an hour. That’s the average speed of a leisurely but steady stroll. It’s the speed at which we notice, appreciate, and enjoy our surroundings. We’re moving, but we’re not rushed.

Koyama’s premise is that God Himself is never in a hurry, and He seldom pushes us to hurry either because under normal circumstances, hurry is neither necessary nor helpful. Instead, He walks with us through life at the speed that is best for us – three miles an hour. Moving, but relaxed and enjoying the trip.

Read the Gospels. Jesus was never in a hurry. And if our Lord didn’t allow Himself to get frantic and agitated, rushing from here to there, and if our goal is to be more like Him, then perhaps we need to back it down a bit.

Peter’s point in 2 Peter 3:8 (above) is that God is outside of time. Time doesn’t apply to Him. Time is a construct God created within which human affairs unfold and are measured, but God is eternal and He is unaffected by time. Therefore, a day is the same as a thousand years to Him, and a thousand years is like a day. God has eternity to work with and therefore He doesn’t need to rush. And actually, the same is true for us. We have eternity to work with too.

So, do we really need to rush so much? In fact, since God walks with us, and since our best speed under normal circumstances is a leisurely three miles an hour, I can picture God with His hand on my shoulder saying, “Whoa, slow it down a little, Jim. What’s your hurry?”

Good question. What is my hurry? Life lived at three miles an hour is a pretty good pace.

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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Don’t just skim the surface of life

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Don’t just skim the surface of life”

One of the best books I’ve ever read regarding how to best use our time is “The Relentless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. I highly recommend it.

The basic premise of his book is that hurry is a thief. It distracts us from the things that are most important; it causes us to miss precious moments in life; and it steals our joy. Hurry makes it impossible to truly savor moments, people, and events that should be special to us. Hurry also makes us insensitive to other people, and it causes us to miss telltale verbal clues that might have alerted us to the fact that someone else is having a bad day, or is in need of a hug, or a kind word. Speaking of himself Comer realized, “All of my worst moments happen when I’m in a hurry.”

Amen brother.

Philosopher David Zach once referred to such a life as “hyper-living” or, “just skimming the surface of life.” We move through life at such a pace that we just blow by people and situations that really do deserve and should receive our focused attention. We greet people and ask “How are you?” without really listening to how they are. We speed past a beautiful view of meadows and mountains without seeing the meadows and the mountains. We’re just in too much of a hurry. We’re skimming the surface of life.

I love the picture Solomon paints for us in Ecclesiastes 3:1. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity. It’s a picture of a leisurely stroll through life, stopping to smell the roses and talk to the neighbors and pet the puppy. No hyper-living in that picture.

I encourage all of us to slow it down, take a breath, and enjoy the moments of our lives. No hyper-living. No skimming the surface of life. Instead, take the time to pay attention and to go deep with people and situations. Truly appreciate and enjoy the gift of this day that the Lord has given to you. Savor it.

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)

Relax and enjoy it

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Relax and enjoy it”

I have this vivid memory of a time from about thirty years ago. It was July. The previous year had been especially busy and trying, but I was on vacation now. My family and I had traveled from our home in Southern California to my parent’s house in New Jersey for a family reunion.

On the day I’m thinking about I was in their backyard (which was bordered by woods), lying in a hammock in the shade of a tree. There was a gentle breeze blowing, birds were singing, and I was reading a good book. Suddenly it dawned on me that I was as relaxed and stress-free as I could remember being in a long time. It seemed as if all the stress and all the tension had been drained out of me. I was serene, comfortable, and content. I remember thinking “This feels soooo good …” and I savored the moment – so much so that I clearly remember it three decades later.

One definition of “savor” is: “To relish; delight in; enjoy; to appreciate fully.” But if we’re going to be able to savor our time – especially our special moments, we have to slow down and truly focus on the person before us, or enter deeply into the event we’re participating in, or really notice our surroundings, so we can fully enjoy and delight in the moment. But how often do we do that? How often do we truly enter in to and savor the moments of our lives like that?

The moment I described from my parent’s backyard thirty years ago involved something very simple – lying in a hammock in a backyard. It was simple but special enough to be remembered, and it is one I try to recreate as often as possible. But the truth is that every moment has the potential to be savored. In Psalm 118:24 the Psalmist reminds us that every day is a gift from God. We can read that as every moment is a gift from God. And if properly handled, it can be embraced, enjoyed, and savored.

Let’s learn to slow down and savor life. Let’s relax and enjoy it. If we don’t, we will miss the best moments in life.

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)

Life is short, time is precious

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Life is short, time is precious”

Not long ago I performed the funeral of a friend who died rather suddenly. He was seventy-one, but he had been a healthy and vigorous seventy-one. However, one day they discovered he had cancer and just a few months later he was gone.

Many of you reading this know that a few years ago my daughter Tracy died suddenly as well. The cause was also cancer. It was exactly one week from the time they discovered she even had cancer until she died. One week. I have another friend who lost his daughter instantly, in a car accident. One moment she was alive and well, and the next she was dead.

This is what James was referring to in James 4:14. There’s a thin line separating life and death and any of us can cross it at any moment. Life is fragile, unpredictable, sometimes short, and it often ends abruptly. Therefore, we must savor, guard, and cherish the time we have. Time is precious and shouldn’t be wasted. That’s why one of my favorite sayings about time, and one which I often think about, write about, and use in my preaching and teaching, is the one from Benjamin Franklin which, when rephrased in contemporary language says, “Do you value your life? Then value your time. Because time is the stuff that life is made of.”

Too many of us waste our time; or we rush through our lives allowing ourselves to be so busy that we don’t really enjoy the time; or even worse, we don’t give our time to the people and things which are really most important. The older I get the more I appreciate and value my time.

All this month we have been focusing on the idea of slowing down, focusing on the people and events that matter the most, and truly savoring this gift of life the Lord has given us. Life is short. Time is precious. Let’s be intentional about truly savoring our time by using it in ways that really matter.

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)

Live more in the moment

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What we will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Live more in the moment”

“Living in the moment” means paying attention to what’s going on around you. In the military we called it “situational awareness.” Many of us don’t live in the moment. We’re too distracted. Our minds are filled with thoughts of the problems we believe we have, the things we need to do, and even fantasies of how we wish things were. There’s a lot of noise inside those heads of ours.

I know this to be true because it’s true of me, and since I spend so much time counseling people, I know it’s true of other people too. We spend way too much time brooding about the past and being anxious about the future; thinking about “what was” and “what could be” rather than about “what is.”

True Sabbath rest helps to quiet the voices in our heads so we can refocus on the present. I’m talking about mindfulness. It’s the ability to simply “be” and to see what “is”. It’s a time to savor and reflect and appreciate. It’s only then that we become truly alive. This is when we hear the birds sing; we pause to appreciate the beauty of a flower; and we finally notice – really notice – how spectacular the scenery all around us is.

This is also when we begin to hear that “still small voice of God.” Seldom does God shout to us. Almost always He uses His inside voice – the voice we hear inside our heads and our hearts. It’s soft and quiet and in order to hear it we need to be quiet too – and undistracted.

True rest can help us to live more fully in the moment. Then, hopefully, some of that will carry over to the rest of life. Perhaps then we will begin to live more in the moment as a normal way of life. In Psalm 46:10 the Lord said, “Be still and know that I am God.” That’s another way of saying “Learn to live in the moment.”

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)

What kind of person are you becoming?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “What kind of person are you becoming?”

Here’s a question to consider: “What kind of a person are you in the process of becoming?” The fact is that we are all in the process of becoming someone different from who we have been. Living things do not remain static. Even if you do nothing, time will change you. The days will pass, your body will get older, your patterns of thinking will become more established, and the effects of your habits will accumulate and compound. Let me say it again, even if you do nothing, time will change you – either for good or bad.

Therefore, it’s imperative that we be proactive and incorporate into our lives practices and patterns of living that will have a net positive effect on us and which will help us to continue changing for the better. Sabbath rest helps to do that because it draws us closer to God. You can be as close to God as you want to be, but it will depend on how much time you choose to spend with Him.

As we’ve learned, Sabbath rest is rest with a redemptive purpose. It is rest that is specifically intended to be spiritually nurturing. The first and most important kind of Sabbath rest is periods of extended quiet time with God. But Sabbath rest can take other forms as well. It can include reading good Christian books (spiritual reading); it can include time spent listening to Christian music; it can include times of good fellowship with family and Christian friends; it can include playing and celebrating. As we’ve learned this month, there are many ways to rest, relax, and renew while keeping God as the central focus.

This morning I want to leave you with a question posed by Mark Buchanan in his great book “The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath”. Mark challenges us to ask ourselves, “Does the path I’m walking lead to a place I want to go? If I keep heading this way, will I like where I arrive?”

Another way to think of that is, “What kind of person are you in the process of becoming? If you continue doing what you’re doing, will you like the person you end up being?”

Sabbath rest is God’s gift to you. All of it – the permission to stop working, the liberty to play and to celebrate, the practices that bring about spiritual nurture, it’s all a gift from God. I encourage you to make the mindset of Sabbath rest a regular part of your life. It will change you for the better.

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)

Feed your soul

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Feed your soul”

Have you heard the old saying, “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.”? It means that if you don’t have a goal or objective, something to keep you focused and on track, then you will end up wherever you end up, good or bad.

As we have already learned, true Sabbath rest is rest with a spiritual purpose. It’s more than just resting your body it is renewing your soul. It involves physical, mental, emotional, and especially spiritual renewal. But that won’t happen automatically. If we aren’t intentional about it, we will end up frittering away the time we have set aside for renewal. Therefore, we should thoughtfully plan our Sabbath rest to ensure it will feed our soul. We need this. And if we aren’t intentional about planning it, the soul can be flooded with influences that are not positive, helpful, or renewing.

In Proverbs 4:23 Solomon issued an important word of caution regarding the critical role the heart plays in the quality and character of our lives. He says that the heart is the wellspring of life, meaning that the rest of life flows from the heart. Therefore, we have to guard the heart by controlling what is allowed into it. And if the heart has been polluted, then steps need to be taken to cleanse it.

Jesus spoke to this important truth on multiple occasions. In Luke 6:45 He told us, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” In other words, sooner or later whatever is in your heart will rise to the surface and show itself in words and deeds. So, you had better pay attention to what is allowed into your heart. Guard it.

As Brent Curtis and John Eldredge explain in their book “The Sacred Romance”, “Our heart is the key to the Christian life … Sadly, most of us watch the oil level in our car more carefully than we watch over the life of our heart.” It’s true – most of us pay much more attention to the external things of life than we do to the internal things of the heart. But God is more concerned about our inner life than our outer life because it’s the inner life that drives the outer life. That’s exactly what Solomon and Jesus were trying to get us to understand.

Sabbath rest, in all of its various manifestations, helps us to focus less on the externals of life and more on the internals of the heart. It is possible to reclaim a healthy heart-life by feeding your soul on the good things of God.

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)

Don’t miss the romance

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t miss the romance”

How happy are you with your life? How content are you with the state of your relationship with God? Down deep do you sense that you were made for more than this?

You were, and you know it.

In 1997 John Eldredge and Brent Curtis published a book that changed the spiritual landscape for untold numbers of Christians. Like Henry Blackaby’s Bible study, “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, and Richard Foster’s classic work “The Celebration of Discipline”, this book by Eldredge and Curtis provided insight and understanding about a deep relationship with God that became a game-changer for many of us.

The title of the book was “The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God.” In the book Eldredge and Curtis describe God as “The Great Romancer.” God is a lover at heart and His relationship with His people is one of an eternal romance – with God taking the lead. He calls to us and He woos us. He is always working to draw us to Himself and then, once we come to Him, He overwhelms us with His great love for us.

The true story of your life is the journey of your heart into a deep love relationship with God. The deeper and stronger that relationship is the more satisfied and content you will be. The weaker, more distant, and more superficial your relationship with God is, the less content you will be. There will be something missing in you at a very deep level and as a result nothing in this life will truly satisfy you.

This is where most of us are missing the boat in life. We’re looking for love in all the wrong places. We’re seeking fulfillment and satisfaction from the things of this world when in truth the only thing that will meet our deepest need is a rich love relationship with our Father in heaven.

Sabbath-rest helps us with this. Sabbath-rest (rest with a spiritual objective) places us in a position whereby God can have access to our full mind and heart. As we have learned this month, Sabbath-rest can and should include things like playing and recreation and celebration, but the primary and most important element is quiet time with God. This is the stuff of Psalm 46:10.

The Great Romancer, the One who loves you more than you can know, is calling to you. He is saying “Come and spend time with Me.” I encourage you to respond to the call.

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)

Experience the peace of God

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, relax, renew”

Our Bible verse for today: “My soul finds rest in God alone …” Psalm 62:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Experience the peace of God”

As I mentioned in the first devotional in this series, I’m on vacation for much of this month but I also wanted to continue sending daily devotionals as well. So, I decided to revisit some devotionals written in past years that pertain to resting, relaxing, and renewing, and simply retool them a bit rather than starting from scratch each day.

This morning I return to a devotional that was originally written more than five years ago, during another time of vacation. It’s a bitter/sweet memory for me because it’s about one of my many father/daughter trips with my daughter Tracy. At the time I originally wrote this, we didn’t know that Tracy had cancer and that in two years she would die from it. We miss her terribly but I am so deeply grateful for the special times like this that we had together. (I encourage you to savor and cherish the times you have with your loved ones. We never know when they will no longer be here.) Here’s that devotional:

“I had an interesting and enjoyable experience yesterday morning. It was an experience I’ve had many times before, but not so much recently. I’m on vacation right now and I began it with a trip to California to spend a few days with my daughter. Tracy is an adult but she is developmentally disabled, both physically and mentally, and therefore she requires a lot of assistance and attention. I always enjoy my time with her very much, but after several days of providing 24/7 care as we did some vacation activities together, I found myself a bit worn out. Beyond that, my flight home to Tennessee was delayed and I didn’t get home until 3:30 AM.

After about four hours of sleep I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat out back on the porch. There was a gentle breeze blowing, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. After four days of airports, rental cars, and caring for Tracy, now it was just me and God, along with the cool breeze, the singing birds, and coffee. There was a deep sense of relaxation and peace. I just sat there soaking-in the stillness and enjoying a great sense of God’s presence. It was deep and rich and very soothing.

Although I begin every day in quiet time with the Lord, almost always it’s with the awareness that I have a full day of responsibilities and activities waiting for me right on the other side of that quiet time. Therefore, there’s often a subtle sense of urgency underlying it all, and my time with the Lord isn’t entirely the thing of peace and spiritual nurture it should be.

However, when I allow myself time for true Sabbath-rest, when my schedule is free and I can therefore just sit with the Lord as long as I please, I can relax and just enjoy being with God. There are no pressing concerns, there are no distractions, it’s simply me and God, the soft breeze, the singing birds, the shining sun, and coffee.

My trip to be with Tracy was a gift and it was special, but it was also busy and stressful. My time with God was restful, relaxing, and renewing. Psalm 62:1 was very real for me that morning. My soul found peace and rest in God. I hope that’s sometimes true for you too. I encourage you to be intentional about carving out those relaxed, unhurried, peaceful times with God.”

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)

Stop working so hard at playing

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Rest, renew, relax”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Stop working so hard at playing”

Gordan Dahl was a professor of economics at the University of San Diego. He once published an article in the magazine “The Christian Century” which reported his findings about the work and vacation habits of the average American worker. He wrote:

“In truth, for millions of Americans … leisure has come to mean little more than an ever more furious orgy of consumption. Whatever energies are left after working, are spent in pursuing pleasure with the help of an endless array of goods and service. This is “virtuous materialism” par excellence. It offers men the choice of either working themselves to death or consuming themselves to death – or both.”

What Dahl was referring to is the habit many of us have developed of being as busy in our leisure as we are in our work. Rather than really resting and renewing, we instead fill our leisure time with endless activities that leave us exhausted. We essentially work at our play. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone complain that they needed a rest after their vacation.

The great Christian writer A.W. Tozer once observed that we modern Christians have lost the ability to simply “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). We’re entirely too busy to be still.

As we’ve learned, there’s a lot to be said for playing and having fun and engaging in activities we enjoy. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s even good. But true Sabbath-rest also needs to include quiet times of inactivity. It needs to include what the Psalmist was writing about in Psalm 23:1-3, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.”

In order for Sabbath-rest to renew and restore – in order for it to be spiritually nurturing, it needs to include times of quiet inactivity. There needs to be time for reflection and just being still before the Lord.

I encourage you to stop working so hard at your play. Take some time to really rest.

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)