Category: devotional

All of his young life Bazalel Katz hated his name.  He had to spell it for everyone and his father refused to allow him to change it.  In 1938 he fled Europe and moved to what is now Israel.  When at his port of entry he gave his name to the immigration inspector who without even looking up kept on writing.  “Can you imagine that?” Bazalel said. “He just wrote my name.  I knew I was home.”

There is a place where everyone knows our names.  If we have accepted Jesus’ gift our names are written in His Book of Life.  Note Revelation 3:5, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”  Can you imagine?  Jesus, Himself, the Creator of all things confessing our name – vouching for us.  In Revelation 20:12 it reads, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”  Some people think it is a list of all our deeds but for those who accept God’s grace there is only one thing written by our name. “Redeemed.”  There is no point in a list of the bad stuff we have done.  That’s why they are blotted out.  Acts 3:19.  Inquiring minds don’t want to know.

“Is our name written there on the page white and fair?”  Absolutely yes.  We would be pretty stupid if it was any other way.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 4, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

According to the latest Scientific American, “When people feel safe and secure, they become more liberal, when they feel threatened, they become more conservative.”  This helps explain one reason why elderly people tend to become more conservative as they age.  As we age and realize we are not as strong as we were at thirty we begin to feel vulnerable.  That’s why Granny has more than one lock on her door.  If what Scientific American says is true, Christians should be the most liberal people in the world.  And why not?  The mightiest being in the universe has promised to care for us.  He is our Rock and we abide in the shadow of the Almighty. We are eternally secure.  Yes, bad things could still happen to us here.  But God knows and He will more than make it up to us.  Another reason for Christians being liberal is Jesus’ story of the sheep and the goats where He says to the sheep, “I was hungry and you fed me.  I was naked and you clothed me.”  We are our brother’s keeper.   If we see our enemy in need we must offer Him aid.  This is Jesus’ way.  Matthew 25:31.

It comes down to trust in the one who gave Himself for us.  I love Romans 8 where Paul writes, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”  One of the great messages of Scripture is for us to fear not.  If we really understand and believe how can we not but want to share, want others to rise to our level of comfort or rejoice if they surpass our level.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 3, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The evening network news aired a clip of a reporter interviewing a Syrian rebel.  The reporter asked him how concerned he was because the rebels were incredibly out-gunned.  “God is on our side,” responded the fighter.  A minute or so later a member of the government was interviewed.  When asked about the rebels he responded, “God is on our side.”  And on and on it goes.  Each group, religious and political, no matter what the cause believes God is on their side.  I realize God is omnipresent and multifaceted but I’m sure God is not schizophrenic.

It is natural for us to feel like we are special.  But we are not special if that means others have to be demeaned. When we read something like this we think, “Those poor deluded people. Only we are really special.”  Our specialness is usually the fruit of our Biblical interpretation.  The Bible texts we have selected to support our belief structure can only mean what we say they mean and others misinterpret them.  If they would only let us tell them “The Truth” then all the world could believe as we.  The problem is if that would happen then how could we be special anymore.  I’m sure we would find a way.

Perhaps the accuracy of our beliefs is not nearly as important as our love for God and the sincerity with which we approach Him?  Perhaps it is the heart and not the head that ultimately matters.  Please do not misunderstand me.  I do believe understanding is important.  I am speaking of priorities.  When Sir Thomas Moore was about to be beheaded he said to his executioner, “He (God) will not refuse one who is so blithe to go to him.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 2, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There is a haunting quotation in Paradise Lost by John Milton.  He wrote, “Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe.”   To retaliate with force is a natural human reflex.  If someone strikes us, if we do not pause to think, we hit back.  Should we vanquish our enemy by superior force we still have to deal with the person we see in the mirror.  What is even worse, often our victory reinforces our native response and we are brutalized by our own prowess. We are internally worse than before we began.

Jesus’ message in the Sermon on the Mount to turn the other cheek is foreign to our nature.  If it had not been for what happened to Him from Gethsemane to the Cross we would have been tempted to say His teaching was mere idealized wishful thinking.  But it wasn’t.  For Jesus it was real.  He could have at any moment called legions of angels to come to His rescue. (Legions would not have been necessary.  One angel would have been sufficient to wipe His foes from the face of the earth like we swat mosquitoes.)

Our literature, our films, our entertainment(?) is replete with tales of revenge and retaliation. We feed on this. It makes us feel good when the bad guy gets his due. The challenge for our characters is to truly become like Jesus and to respond as He.  The close of the Book of Revelation presents us with the final destruction of evil and Lucifer.  We are tempted to think it will be a moment of great joy and personal satisfaction for Jesus. However, as grand as it will be to have sin no more, Jesus will weep.  Lucifer was a dear old friend.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 1, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

Officially it is July 31.  In actuality it is February 30.  Dear old Julius Caesar, this month’s namesake, decided his month should have an extra day.  To steal a day from February and add it to the end of his month was a safe political move.   Caesar Augustus did the same for August and poor February got fleeced twice. The keeping of time is a fascinating topic.  Other than the seven day week all other forms of time keeping are man-made.  There is the Julian calendar, the Hebrew calendar, and the Chinese calendar.

Time is important to us.  Each passing year increases its value.  Jimmy Durante’s September Song closes with the poignant reminder words,

“Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December

But the days grow short when you reach September.

 

Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few

September, November

And these few precious days I’ll spend with you

These precious days I’ll spend with you.”

I can’t imagine how precious time must be to those without Jesus.  Value is relative and often correlated with quantity.  The fewer of something the more precious.  However, those with an endless supply of days are rich and they might not pine over the aging process.  Jesus, the author of time itself, has made us some extremely powerful promises such as John 5:24, “”I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life . . . he has crossed over from death to life.”  You can only give what you have and Jesus has an endless supply to give each of us.   How very grand.

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 31, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

In today’s Sunday cartoon episode of Calvin and Hobbes, a philosophical little boy and his toy tiger, Calvin ponder the morality of the universe. After not receiving a sign that he should not throw a water balloon at a little girl, he, of course, throws it.  After she beats him up he wisely exclaims, “Why does the universe always give you the sign after you do it?”  And there it is.  Great theology and great philosophy all wrapped up in one insightful comment. While most religions espouse lists of taboos, real morality is nothing more than avoiding that which will produce negative results. God forbids us from stealing because the consequences are ruinous to us and society as a whole.  The same goes for killing and each of His commandments. There is not one thing that God forbids that has a positive outcome.  If it’s good for us God encourages us, within balance, to do it.  Even good things in excess have bad results.

How sad that most of us don’t learn this until later in life when it is too late.  After the damage is done we look back and say, “If only.”  That combination of two words is one of the saddest in our language.  What follows is usually a rueful description of an event that didn’t turn out the way we wanted.  God is not some great avenger of sin.  He warns.  We disobey.  We reap the harvest.  Perhaps sermons should instead of being filled with hellfire and brimstone, focus on the art of logic and good thinking.  Many years ago a Pogo cartoon showed a pond with a sign “No Swimming.” The last picture in the panel gave the reason.  The water was poisonous.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 30, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There is a fly at my window.  He can’t get out.  He must be puzzled. He can see the outside.  There are trees, azaleas, blue sky and squirrels right in front of him, but try as he might he can’t get to them.  There is this invisible barrier that keeps him from buzzing off to freedom.  He is so much like us.  In First Corinthians 13 Paul tells us we see through a glass darkly.  So the fly is better off than we.  His glass is transparent.  God has shared so much of Himself to us.  Yet there are still so many questions, so many mysteries. Sometimes we think we almost grasp some eternal truth only to have it fade back into our pool of unanswered questions.

Jesus once said to His disciples, “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.”  John 16:12.  It was their last night together. He would be dead the next brutal day.  They were struggling with their dream of a physical kingdom.  He wanted them to understand the bigger picture.  I am not so sure we are much different than they.  When we speak of heaven we speak in such physical terms. But there is much beyond the physical.  The physical is only a part of our being.  We are also spiritual beings.  It is there so many of the unanswered questions reside.  What does it mean to be the temple of the Holy Spirit?  Why the necessity for so much suffering?  What is eternity and what does it mean to never stop growing?  How far away is heaven?  Is it light years from here or already here in another dimension?  How can I live according to the Sermon on the Mount?

We are flies desperately trying to be free.  See Galatians 5.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 13, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

Luke 4:22 reads regarding Jesus, “(They) were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.”  The Jews were so sure they were the chosen people there was no room for others in God’s Kingdom.  It was often said the gentiles were born to be fuel for the fires of hell.   It was Sabbath and Jesus was in the synagogue in his hometown.  The gracious words Jesus spoke were words of grace for the surrounding nations.  He spoke of Elijah with the widow in Sidon and Elisha healing Nathan, a Syrian.  It was a radical idea that God’s grace might be extended beyond their closed world.   It was so foreign they became so angry they tried to hurl Him off a cliff. How could God love anyone but them?

Paul became the apostle to the gentiles.  In order for that to happen not only did God have to knock him off his horse but also had to reeducate him at the expense of three years of study in Arabia.  It is most difficult to unlearn the myths of our childhood.

It seems that for us to be like Jesus we also need to amaze people with our gracious words.  It is easy to be gracious when others around us are also being nice.  The challenge is to be gracious when we are not being treated so kindly.  To be gracious when others are taking advantage of us is beyond a challenge.  At least it is for me.  But when we are gracious it is amazing, both to others and probably to us.  When Herod was mocking Jesus, dressing Him in an old royal robe and crowning Him with thorns, Jesus never said a word.  Amazing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 14, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

When we go grocery shopping my wife and I always buy a loaf of bread.  I am not sure when we got a loaf ahead.  But the new loaf cannot be used until the old loaf is gone.  That means this week we will eat last week’s bread while this week’s bread will wait until next week to be consumed.  The end result is we are always eating semi-stale bread, while the fresh bread ages in the cupboard. Couldn’t we, instead of eating the semi-stale bread, put it out for the birds?   We must have inherited this compulsion to be frugal from our parents who lived through the Great Depression.

One of the many remarkable things about Scripture is there is never a need to read stale stuff.  Because God’s Word is imbued with His Spirit, who knows us better than we know ourselves, God is able to continually feed us fresh ideas.  One could spend their entire life just feeding off the Gospels and still be overwhelmed by the story of God’s love for us.  However, in addition to that we have the wonders of the Psalms and the wisdom and humor of the Proverbs.  Romans, Galatians, Colossians and Ephesus can challenge the greatest of scholars no matter how many doctorates they have accumulated.  It is like a spring of fresh water, each time you come there is new water.

What would grow stale is rereading these devotionals.  I am delighted to know that people read them once.  My point is not to denigrate myself but to point out if all we do is listen to another person’s sermons or read their books we are reading second hand material.  The really fresh bread is in Scripture.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 15, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

The green gecko promises me I can save 15% on my auto insurance if I will go with Geico. State Farm promises a 40% saving on car insurance.  But I am not sure it is 40% of what.  Allstate promises 45% savings for safe driving and 30% if I bundle my car and home.  I’m sure that doesn’t add up to 75%.  And Flo, the lady with the bright red lips, promises me the cheapest insurance is with Progressive.  I believe them with the same measure of trust as I do the political ads that fill our screens.

Who to trust is one of life’s great questions.  Corporations, institutions and individuals are primarily self-interested entities.  We can’t help it.  Self-interest is at the heart of our being.  In the past 12 people in Colorado were heartlessly slaughtered.  It  dominated, rightfully so, our airwaves.  It was a horrible national tragedy.  But I could not miss the fact that at the same time 1200 people were heartlessly slaughtered in Syria and I heard one fifteen second mention on our news.  They were not us.  They were them.  I do not wish to distract from the loss in Colorado.  It was beyond horrible.  I merely want to illustrate our humanness, our self-focus.

It is no wonder that Paul says in I Corinthians 15 “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.”  Fortunately he goes on to explain that we will be changed and this corruption will put on incorruption.  It is the only way God can trust us.  As we are, we are not fit for eternity.  We must trust Him to do it for us.  I know you have a sweet grandma but even she is not trustworthy until she is changed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 26, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org