Sleepless Nights (Friday Devotional)

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

- Psalm 55:22

My family had been on the road all day, having finished our weeklong trip to Colorado and begun our journey home. In 12 hours we had made the journey from Denver to Great Sand Dunes National Park to our destination for the night, a motel in Amarillo. It was 1:00 AM and everybody was exhausted. After getting the kids into pajamas, I finally collapsed into the bed I was sharing with my eldest son, Andrew.

And try as I might, I couldn’t sleep.

Some of it was the caffeine coursing through my veins, courtesy of the Dr Pepper I’d been nursing on the drive. Some of it was Andrew, who kept stretching over to my side of the bed. And much of it was my mind exiting vacation mode and now thinking about all the responsibilities, activities, and stresses awaiting me when we got home. I just couldn’t sleep.

I suspect you’ve been there before, tossing and turning, counting sheep, trying to will yourself into a slumber that refuses to come. Few things are as frustrating or as exhausting as a mind so full that your body can’t rest.

In such times—or better yet, before then—the Bible encourages you to turn anxiety into prayer, to cast your burdens upon the Lord. Instead of letting stress consume you, give it to God. Instead of worrying yourself to death, pray your way to faith—faith that, when you feel out of control, God is still sovereign.

Prayer won’t make your problems go away. Faith isn’t a magic cure for all of life’s ills. But when you have the humility to acknowledge that God can handle what you can’t, you’ll find peace. And maybe even a good night’s sleep.

A Worthwhile Challenge (Friday Devotional)

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 

- Luke 14:27-28

On Wednesday morning, my family and I set out for a road trip to Colorado. After many hours of driving, we stopped for dinner in Amarillo at the legendary Big Texan steakhouse, which is most famous for its 72 oz. steak challenge—anyone who can eat a steak of that size in an hour gets their meal for free.

Naturally, the kids thought one of us should try the challenge. After all, those who do so get lots of attention in the restaurant—an announcement to the whole place, a table in the center of the restaurant, and a timer counting down your meal. But what we had to explain to the kids was that there is a price to the challenge—if you pulled it off, it was free, but for those who failed, the meal cost a cool $72. As exciting as it seemed to take the challenge, it was not something to be attempted lightly.

Jesus offers that kind of warning to those who would seek to follow him—it’s not all walking on water and multiplying loaves and fishes. Indeed, even before his death at Calvary, he warned that anyone who thought they understood his message must be prepared to pick up their cross and follow him. Being a disciple of Jesus comes at a cost.

The church, with its emphasis on salvation by grace through faith, doesn’t always remember to share that part of the message. People hear the news that Jesus offers them forgiveness and redemption and eternal life, and that this comes by his work, not theirs. And praise God for the truth of that message!

The key is for us to know and to share the fullness of the gospel message—that following Jesus comes at a cost, and it’s more than worth the price. “In this world you will have trouble,” the Lord said, “but take heart—-I have overcome the world.”  Today, may you count the cost of obedience to Christ—and may you find it worth the while every time.

What the Book is For (Friday Devotional)

 

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work".

- 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“Ikey, no!!!”

That was the sound that sent me and Lindsey running into the bathroom a few days ago. We had left our two youngest kids, Isaac and Katherine, in the bathtub while we worked on the dinner dishes, but now we found ourselves rushing to see what had gone wrong. When we made it to the bathroom, we saw the source of the commotion: Isaac, age 2, had dropped a book in the bathwater. And while we were ready to scold Isaac for what he’d done, I think Katherine put it best: “That’s not what the book is for!”

That simple exclamation got me thinking this week about how we interpret the Good Book, God’s Word. There are many teachers in this world—I would be so bold as to call them false teachers—who use the Bible primarily as a bludgeon against their enemies. For them, Scripture is primarily a collection of proofs that God is on their side and that he hates the same people they hate. Their agenda comes first, and the Bible is the divine tool used to justify that agenda.

But here’s the thing: that’s not what the book is for.

Scripture tells that all Scripture, from the Law to the Prophets to the Gospels to the Epistles, is inspired by God. More specifically, it is “God-breathed,” given to a series of writers through the Holy Spirit. While humans did the writing, the Lord gave the message.

Why? For “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.” God gave us the Bible to help with our sanctification, not to fuel our holy wars. God’s Word is given so that we might be “equipped for every good work,” so that we will have the theological foundation to bless others in Jesus’ name.

When the Bible helps you grow in faith in Christ, you are using it as intended. When you read it for ethical instruction, so that you will know how to share the gospel in word and deed, your aim is true. When the written Word of God leads people to the Word made flesh—Jesus, the Son of God—we see its purpose fulfilled. The Bible is God’s revelation of himself to humanity, it is a treasure of ethical teaching, and it offers us truth in a world of lies.

It is the Spirit’s sword, not yours. It is God’s Word, not mine. And the criterion by which we interpret it is not our own opinions or agendas, but Christ—for ultimately, it leads us to him. That’s what the book is for.