When Staying the Same Is Better Than Change

  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

 

   One of the best times I remember as a teen was going on a scavenger hunt with friends. We had a list of things that had to be retrieved to win a prize. Things like “hair off Grandpa Dale's head” and “get a dime from a woman parked at Simone's Drive-In” topped the list.  Whoever collected everything first would race back to a pre-determined spot and wait for everyone else, gloating over the win.

           Recently I had the joy of experiencing a scavenger hunt again . . . at Wal-Mart. Our local store began rearranging everything on shelves and in aisles so their store would be a carbon copy of every other Wal-Mart. The idea served a great purpose: whatever town a shopper was in, they could easily find what they needed because all their stores were arranged exactly alike.

    For a directionally challenged person like me, it sounded wonderful. I had a great time during my first visit after the changes but I also think I spent twice what I had planned. For example, when I went to the cereal aisle and found chips instead, I thought that I might as well get a bag or two. Looking for a can of corn took me to the candy aisle and who could resist that? After all, candy corn is corn, I reasoned.

           Not everyone shared my thrill of the hunt. As I was looking for peanut butter, I noticed what appeared to be a very frustrated woman walking up and down aisle after aisle and periodically looking heavenward as if needing divine help in her search.

           Thinking I could be of assistance, I asked “Are you looking for something?” to which she responded “Seriously? Are you kidding?” and then followed that with a huge sigh and a “Sorry. Plastic bags. I need plastic bags. They are not in the store anywhere! Why would they quit carrying plastic bags?”

    “Where were they before the changes?” I asked her. “Where the soda pop is now,” she answered, rolling her eyes. I shrugged. “So maybe the plastic bags are where the soda pop was . . .” “Nope, already checked,” she replied, shaking her head.

    A Wal-Mart employee walked by and I couldn't resist: “Hey, I'll give you $5.00 to find plastic bags for this lady.” What he didn’t realize was that I was determined to make it a competition and find them first; however, five minutes later, I heard “I've found them!” and the employee held up the box of plastic bags.

    The previously frustrated customer pumped her fist in the air and yelled “Yes!” as she grabbed the plastic bags, threw them in her cart, and left to find a can of spaghetti sauce. The employee politely declined the money I offered, stated that it was a pleasure to help a customer, and left to help someone else. That was okay with me. Because when I went to the peanut butter aisle, I found the cereal aisle instead . . .

    Changes occur in our lives every day – sometimes every minute! But how wonderful that  Hebrews 13:8 reassures us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He never changes. His Word is solid. You will never turn to Jeremiah 31:34 and, instead of reading “I will remember their sin no more,” find that God has changed His mind and has decided “I will remember every single sin you have ever committed.”

     We will never need to fear that “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (Matthew 28:6) has been replaced with “He is not here; I’m not sure what happened.”  God’s Word is truth and it is never going to change. Ever. Be comforted in knowing that the God of the Universe who loves you and stood firm in your yesterday and did not change will also stand firm in your today and tomorrow. For eternity.

     Father, thank you for never changing and for your words of love and truth in my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

 Reflect

• Have you ever had people in your life totally change from how you knew them? 

• What was your initial response?

Apply

• Journal people in your life who have completely changed from their beliefs and describe how they have changed.

• Now journal promises from God’s Word that reassure you that He will never change. Thank Him for His faithfulness.

 Power

• Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

• Isaiah 40:8 (NIV) “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our not destroyed.”

• Malachi 3:6 (NIV) “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.”

Sitting On the Corner of the Roof

 “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.” 

Proverbs 21:9 (NIV)

   I wasn’t the only person in the long checkout line who tried to casually peek around to see the owner of the woman’s voice. At any given time, there are hundreds of people shopping and talking at this department store. But the one-sided conversation began to feel like an annoying bee that keeps trying to nest in your hair on a hot summer day as you balance on a tall ladder with a paintbrush. You just want it to stop. Immediately.

   The longer this woman spoke, the higher the pitch of her voice. The higher the pitch, the more harsh the comments. These were some of her nicer comments to her husband: “You never take me anywhere. All you do is work in the yard or play golf with your buddies. But THIS woman has needs, too. I need to go shopping. I need to see MY friends. I need to have a social life. Why can’t you understand that?” His response was a mumbled “yes” or “okay” or an occasional nodding of his head. 

   While I admit I had no idea what caused this woman’s observations, I did have a few of my own. First, he HAD taken her somewhere – shopping – which covered two of the  “needs” on her list. Secondly, I silently wondered if she even HAD any friends or social life if she spoke as negatively around them as she did her husband. 

   I glanced one last time at him: shoulders drawn together and hunched over the cart, eyes glancing at her with a silent pleading to at least stop the negative talking until they could be out of the store, teeth clenched together so tightly that water could not get between them. His body language was more deafening than his wife’s shrill voice.

   Solomon must have been married to a woman just like the one I listened to in the checkout line. Not once but four times in Proverbs he wrote about a woman who made him long for solitude in a desert or on the corner of a roof rather than living with her. He even wrote that she reminded him of a constant dripping that wouldn’t stop.

   But Solomon also wrote about a precious woman in chapter 31 of Proverbs. He described her as being like a rare and priceless jewel. She was a woman who worked hard in her home and her community and loved her family but what he admired most about her was her love and reverence for the Lord.

   I wonder . . . if  Proverbs were written about me, what might it say? Would my neighbors look out the window and exclaim “Oops. There’s LeRoy on the corner of the roof of the house again. Must be another crabby, nagging day for Nancy!” Or would they see my love for the Lord and how I am doing everything I can to honor my husband and respect him as Scripture teaches? 

   My prayer for each of you is that, in your marriages, there would be no references to corners of roofs or deserts or constant drips but instead, it would be spoken: “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but SHE is a woman who fears the Lord and is to be praised.”

   Father, forgive me for the times I have spoken to my husband in such a way that would make him want to be on a roof or desert alone. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.  

R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever listened to conversations around you that were like the one described in the devotion?

• Did you consider that you have had similar conversations with your husband without realizing how they sounded?

 Apply

• Memorize Proverbs 21:9. 

• When you are tempted to speak like the quarrelsome wife in Proverbs 21:9, picture your husband sitting on a roof corner rather than with you. 

 Power 

• Proverbs 21:9 (NIV) “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.”

• Proverbs 31:30 (NIV) “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

• Proverbs 21:19 (NIV) “Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.”

 

 

 

 

 

He Knows My Name

 “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

John 10:3 (NIV)

     Remembering faces has always been easy for me - even faces that I haven’t seen for years. A student can move away her kindergarten year from the school where I work and not move back until high school and I will see her and remember her from years before.

     But remembering names is completely different. For some reason, I struggle terribly when it comes to meeting people and keeping their names stored in my brain. I’ve tried all the helpful tips I’ve been given, from saying the name the minute I am introduced to mentally rhyming it with something familiar or funny so it stays in my memory but nothing has worked.

     As a new member of the workforce, just out of high school, I learned an important lesson about remembering names. I worked at a savings association and we were taught to always remember names when assisting customers with their accounts. We dealt with hundreds of thousands of dollars daily and acknowledging a person’s name helped the customer to see that we truly cared about their decisions and about them. 

    One particular elderly man – a frequent customer – came in to make a huge deposit of several thousand dollars . . . and I went blank. I recognized his face instantly but, as hard as I tried, could not remember his name. “Think quick, think quick,” I told myself and then it came to me. As I filled out the deposit slip, I smiled at him and said “I am so sorry, but I cannot remember how to spell your last name.” He smiled back and said “Oh, that’s okay. S-m-i-t-h.” Mercy. 

   In John 10:3, we read about a watchman who was hired to guard a sheep pen. In those days a watchman usually had several flocks in one pen at night. The walls of the pen were made of stones with a gate that was the entrance. When a shepherd came to the pen to collect his sheep, the watchman opened the gate. As the shepherd called his sheep, they recognized his voice and followed him out of the pen. He knew their names and they knew the voice of the shepherd.

   I am certain that there were many sounds in competition for the shepherd’s voice. Other shepherds were also calling their own sheep. There were all the night sounds of wolves and other animals who were intent on pulling the sheep away from their shepherd so they could carry them off. But the sheep knew the sound of their shepherd’s voice and followed him.

   Can you see the parallel between those sounds competing for the sheep’s attention and the voices in the world today? False prophets disguise lies by touting power and wealth and happiness as the answer to all of life’s problems. “God wants you happy,” they try to shout over the voice of Truth, “so whatever makes you happy is okay!” And one sheep after another, who has neglected to stay close to the True Shepherd, follows lies that will ultimately result in eternal death. They no longer listen for the voice of the One who calls them by name and offers life and instead follow the voices that lead to eternal destruction. 

    How thankful I am that we worship a Father who not only knows our names but calls us BY name as His children. We are not a number on a list or a face in a crowd to the Lord. We are loved by the Creator who knows the name of each one of His creations. The gate is open. Are you listening for the voice of the Shepherd? He is calling you by name today.

     Thank you, Father, for calling me by name and keeping my focus on you. Thank you for being my Shepherd and keeping me in your care. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 R.A.P. it up . . .

 

Reflect

• Have you ever met an acquaintance and could not remember his or her name? How did you feel?

• Have you ever met an acquaintance who could not remember your name? How do you think they must have felt?

 Apply

• Journal the Scriptures in Power and replace “him” or “you” with your name.

• How does it make you feel when you realize that God knows you personally by name as His child?

Power

• John 10:3 (NIV) “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

• Isaiah 43:1 (NIV) “But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”

• Isaiah 49:16 (NIV) “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

The Poison Called Hate

 “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”

I John 4:20 NIV

    There are some positive reasons why I use Facebook. First, I have friends and family who live far enough away that I can’t see them often. But I can keep up with their lives through pictures and posts. I love seeing how little ones are growing and hearing about their school activities. Also, I post weekly devotions and, as I publish a new book, I can update friends who may be interested.  But there is another side of Facebook that is not positive and it seems to be growing worse almost by the second. 

    It involves posting one’s opinion - which is a right we each have - but it goes much deeper than that. It is posting hate. As Christians, we lose our influence to share Jesus when we post hate. Yes, you read that right: Christians posting hate. Surely not, you say! We serve a God who loves all people, you reply. True. But can I share a sample with you? 

       “She/he is not only ugly but stupid and could never lead our town/state/country!  If you support that man/woman/philosophy, you are ignorant and as dumb, blind, and evil as they are and headed to the pit of hell. Hey, be sure to come join me this Sunday at church! Everyone is welcome!” What?

 

    Hate. That’s what was just shared. Not love. Not compassion. Not praying for those we disagree with. Being filled with hate toward someone is just like drinking poison, thinking it will hurt the person you hate. But instead, it only hurts you and your witness. And that hate does something else: as it fills your heart, it chokes out your joy from Jesus. In other words, it consumes you. And before long you will notice something else. People will begin to avoid you. Former “Hi, how are you?” friends will wave and move on. 

    Hate does not look good on anyone claiming to be a Christ follower. It does not draw people to Jesus through us but instead pushes them away. A person commented to me, after reading that post, “If that’s what their church is like, I have no desire to go there.” My heart was broken as he shared how he felt. But it also convicted me to look deep into what I share on Facebook. 

   I like reading opinions, whether I agree or not, because there have been instances where I have stopped, considered what they shared, and then researched my beliefs. Was my opinion based on just what I thought or was it based on fact? Did I decide my opinion because of Scripture or because I just wanted to be right? Was my response one of hate? I pray the answer is no!

    John shares very clearly the Truth found in the New Testament. If we say we love God but hate our brother (fellow man) we are liars. Wow. Not mistaken. Not misguided. But liars. That convicts ME to repent for anything I have posted in hate and it encourages me to continually keep watch over my heart. Please join me in getting rid of the Poison Called Hate. 

    Father, please keep watch over my heart and show me where I need to clean out hate in my life so I can be filled with you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever posted on Facebook after reading something you disagreed with?

• Was your response hateful, either toward the person or the post?

Apply

• Go back through your Facebook posts for the last month.

• If you find anything posted in hate (check your heart on this), delete the post and ask a Christian friend to keep you accountable.

Power

• I John 4:20 NIV: “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”

• Proverbs 10:12 (NIV) “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.”

• I John 3:15 (NIV) “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”