Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Read Colossians 1:15–16, 18
In many churches, Christians tend to get so caught up in a success-and-size race that the primary calling of following Jesus gets lost in the journey. We have skidded into a pattern where the “haves”—the most influential or financially successful individuals in life—and not the “have-nots” call the shots. Truth be told, it is difficult to follow when you’re used to being out front leading the pack.
Read Philippians 2:3–4
I love the story of a sea captain who, while navigating his ship through a storm, found himself on a collision course with what he thought was a large vessel in the distance. He ordered the approaching vessel to alter its course ten degrees south. The reply came back: “Alter your course ten degrees north.” Incensed, the captain shot back, “Alter your course ten degrees south. This is the Captain! I am a battleship!” The reply came back: “Alter your course ten degrees north. This is ensign third class. I am a lighthouse!”
Read Matthew 20:21, 25–28
Journey back with me for a moment to one of the many scenes that demonstrated just how ordinary Jesus’ disciples were. What makes this account interesting is that mother of two of the disciples. She’s Mrs. Zebedee, wife of a Galilean fisherman and mother of James and John. Her bold request still makes me smile:
In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left. (Matthew 20:21)
Read Mark 10:45
Ever wonder if Jesus would have agreed to star in His own reality TV show? Let’s allow Him to answer in His own words:
The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
No mumbo jumbo. Just a straight-from-the-shoulder response. Jesus came to be a servant. Being a celebrity wasn’t in His DNA.
Read Romans 8:28
Our world has become a large, impersonal, busy affair.
Read Psalm 42:5–6
What happens that causes you to be disappointed? Someone or something has failed to fulfil your expectations. You had set up in your mind and then anticipated a certain outcome or response, but it never materialized. Your wish fell flat. Your desire became an empty, unfulfilled dream. Such feelings of disappointment are painfully familiar. As I play the record of my memory, I hear several sad songs from different voices:
“I’m not happy in my work. When I got the job I never realized it would be like this.”
Read Acts 2:43–47
Even though I don't like it, I’m tempted to stand back, shrug, and agree with the wag who wrote:
This is the age
Of the half-read page
And the quick hash
And the mad dash
The bright night
With the nerves tight
The plane hop
With the brief stop
The lamp tan
In a short span
The big shot
In a good spot
And the brain strain
And the heart pain
And the catnaps
Till the spring snaps
And the fun’s done.
Read Hebrews 12:1–2
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was awarded many years ago to the iconic Ritz-Carlton Hotels. When I congratulated the owner of that outstanding organization, he told me that they would need to work even harder to earn the respect that comes with the prestigious honour. He also mentioned that the award declares that quality is “a race with no finish line.”
Read Colossians 3:1, 3
It happened to me last week. Isaac Watts did it again. One of his best hymns (he wrote over six hundred!) lingered in my head for more than an hour before I formed the words with my mouth. I suddenly listened to what Watts wrote over two centuries ago:
Alas! and did my Savior bleed? / And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head / For such a worm as I?
Read Isaiah 50:4
Many years ago, my brother, Orville, introduced a hymn to me I’d not heard before. Its moving strains often accompany me as I drive or walk in solitude or return late from a day of demands.
Art thou weary, heavy laden,
Art thou sore distressed?
“Come to me,” saith One, “And coming,
Be at rest.”
Growing weary is the outcome or consequence of many experiences, none of them bad but all of them exhausting. To name just a few...
We can be weary of waiting (Psalm 69:3).
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