Daily devotion

A Superglue Love!

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? …Romans 8:35

I have always loved this verse, though holding on to it at times of trouble has seemed elusive at best. Usually when the going gets tough in relational conflict, under financial pressure or sickness I forget about God’s love and revert to anxiety or stressed out overreactions. But God’s love is supposed stick to us like superglue; so what are we missing?

Maybe our common weakness in situations needing God’s love is expecting to find the source in ourselves; and when that is failing we fall back into fear, stress or shame. But this morning I noticed how this superglue love that sticks through every possible circumstance has nothing to do with me or you. Its holding power is linked to who Jesus is and where He is in the previous verse.

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Romans 8:34 ESV

Yup…that superglue love is all about Jesus interceding for us with the Father right there in heaven. Remember He told us, “I and the Father are one.”? His love for us superglues Him to that place in Heaven. No situation of life or death, sickness or persecution can unstick His love or make Him give up on us. His love is superglued right to the throne of God and nothing in creation will ever separate us from the amazing….unbelievable…all powerful and wonderful, love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! Now that gives me hope and puts a drop of God’s superglue love in me!

Third Shift Shepherds

/ pastorpete51 / 8 Comments

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  Luke 2:8 KJV

When I briefly worked from 11pm till 6 am, I found myself suddenly a part of an exclusive group of people who only see the world from mid-night till dawn. On the night that Jesus was born, just above Bethlehem were shepherds who were the third shift workers of their day. The more important shepherds got the first shift jobs. But in the darkness of that night, those unnamed and seemingly unimportant third shift shepherds were about to become the first people on earth to hear the good news of Jesus Christ! That message was that God had remembered His people, He remembered Bethlehem and He even remembered shepherds whom everyone else had forgotten.

Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com

Did you ever stop to think that God also remembers you? He is not satisfied to visit only the better homes in the better neighborhoods with the biggest churches with their beautiful appearances. Just as the shepherds were watching their flocks at night so God watches over us when we are going through the darkest moments of our lives. He knows right where we are. He hears us and He still sends angels with His message of good news. There is no better place than right where you are to hear the news; that Jesus Christ came to bring hope and salvation to us all: even to third shift shepherds out in their fields at night!

Our Very Best Chapter is Now

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 KJV

As we grow older often our tendency is to look back at past chapters in our lives and wistfully wish we could relive them. We think of how much energy we had when we were younger, forgetting our doubts, fears and impatience with others. We were always in a hurry but often getting nowhere. Or perhaps we look a little later, remembering fondly how we held our babies or walked our toddlers to their first day of school.  But God has an entire novel to write in our lives and though our earlier chapters were needed to build the plot, He has no desire to include them in the climactic ending of His story line.

In today’s verse where Jesus told us to pray for our daily bread, He was referring to the days when the people of Israel were wandering for forty years through the desert. They had no crops to harvest or village markets to purchase food in. Instead, God provided them every morning with one day’s supply of a Heavenly food called manna. It was said to have the sweetness of honey and the lightness of wafer. (A true angel food cake!) God also provided some rules about the manna. There was to be no gathering extra. Those who chose to disobey found that by nightfall it turned rotten and had worms crawling around in it. Yuck! But on Friday they were told to gather for two days so they could rest on the Sabbath. That manna stayed good for two days. God was determined to teach them the same lesson we need. We should not waste time and effort piling up manna and missing the living we should be doing with those around us. By tomorrow, yesterday’s manna will stink! We must always trust that each morning God will give us what is best, and that it will be what is the very best for us. He hasn’t forgotten us, and the very best chapter that He is writing in our story is now!