Category: devotional

I began one of my classes this morning by reading the close of I Thessalonians 5.  Verse 24 is wonderful.  It says, “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”  The mind is a strange thing.  Memories that have been tucked away for decades are suddenly released as if someone turned a key and opened a door.  As I finished voicing the text my mind immediately remembered something that happened to me sixty years ago.  On Sundays my Dad and I would take our dog and head for the mountains in central Pennsylvania.  He knew where there were saw mills and they were great fun because of the giant piles of sawdust generated from the saws. We loved to climb to the top and then roll end over end to the bottom.

One would think I would never forget about one particular day but I had until I read the above verse.  We tumbled down an especially huge pile of sawdust and arrived at the bottom surrounded by rattlesnakes that were not overly pleased by our sudden appearance. We had disturbed their sunbaths.  Instantly my father said to me, “Freeze. Don’t move at all.  I’ll take care of them.”  Was I afraid?  Most likely I should have been.  But my Dad said, “I’ll take care of them.”  And so I sat frozen in place as one by one he took care of them just as he said he would.

And so this morning a door opened in my mind as I remembered Jesus saying, “If we as humans know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more will our Father in heaven.” Thank you Paul for I Thess. 5:24.  “The one who calls is faithful.  He will do it.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 4, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I am about to reveal how uninformed and unobservant I am.  While I was staring at the keyboard on my laptop I saw something new to me.  There is a small number 1 on the j key and a 2 on the k key and a 3 on the l key.  I have had this laptop for five years and use it daily.  I never noticed this prior to now.  If I hold down the fn key while pressing one of those keys with the little numbers, that number appears on my screen instead of letters.  Duh!  They are right there before me and had you asked me about it I would have insisted there was no such number pad.

So, how many other things are right before me that I have never seen?  Am I uniquely unobservant or could this be a shared human trait?  I don’t know what I would say if asked in a court to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  I don’t know what the whole truth is.  I can only say what I know and what I know appears to be very limited.

So many churches are convinced they are the repositories of truth.  Members knock on my door and have been very definite that I will be lost because I am not one of them.  That is so fascinating because that is salvation by being right.  Paul is so very clear that we are saved by faith in Jesus.  Truth for them has become the avenue to heaven but is there anyone with the truth?  How much is right in front of us and we have never seen it?   I am most anxious for the day when Jesus will say to us, “You all were wrong.  Let me now tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 3, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

At the Connecticut/Massachusetts border on I-84 there is a unique restaurant that not only has good food but also allows you to browse shelves of books and take a book home – free.  It’s one of my favorite places.  This past week I found a treasure.   Before my eyes was a copy of Conrad Richter’s Trees.   I was ten years old when I read it.  I could hardly wait to get home to once again lose myself in the forests of Pennsylvania and Ohio when Indians roamed between the walnut and oak trees.  Soon I was absorbed, not in the story as I was as a boy, but this time in the quality of writing.  Richter’s descriptions are awesome.   After the first ten pages I left my dictionary on my lap because I kept getting up to look up a word.  Did I really know those words when I was ten or did I just skip them?  If I knew them I have a terrible memory.

If it’s been a few years (decades) since you read one of the Gospels maybe it’s time for a reread.  You have matured and you are bringing a different mind to the text.   Authentic reading is a mental dialog in which you bring to the page just as much as you take away.  A careful reread will surprise you with ideas you did not find there the first time around.   Your more mature mind gives the Holy Spirit so much life with which to work.  Try David and Goliath, Daniel with the lions, and other stories you think you know.  You are in for a surprise.  Many of the proverbs will make you smile.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 2, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Recently I met a man who cannot read.  He doesn’t know I know.  It took me quite a while to catch on.  He is very skilled at covering.  When eating out he will browse the menu and then always say to the server, “I’ll have what he’s getting.”  If outside he will say things like, “The sun is in my eyes can you tell me what that sign says.”  He is an excellent listener.  He has honed this skill and never needs something to be repeated.  I have tried to imagine how very challenging life must be for him.  Use of the Internet must be very limited.  I spent some time in Russia and I remember feeling handicapped because I could not read signs.  That was for a short time.  It must be most unpleasant for it to be like that all the time.

Moses must have been frustrated over and over because so very few of those he led out of Egypt could read.  Visuals are very important to us.  We are judgmental and hard on the Children of Israel for building the golden calf.  But Moses was gone.  They did not yet have the Ten Commandments and even if they did they couldn’t read them.  We are blessed to have our Bibles.  We can read and reinforce our faith when we have moments of doubt.  We can delve into the treasures of God’s wisdom in His word.  We can use our imaginations and walk with Jesus through the crowded streets as we read the Gospels.

We must not take the gift of literacy for granted.  Even today there are millions of people who cannot read and cannot feed on the riches of God’s Word.  If you were able to decode the words in this devotional you are, in the history of the world, very special.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 1, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Last summer a sea gull tagged the top of our car with two large white deposits.  Much to my distress they would not wash off.  I tried different kinds of auto polish and WD 40 and gasoline, all to no avail.  I exhausted my repertoire of solutions and finally resigned myself to the fact that they were permanent.  This Thursday while getting in the car I inadvertently reached up and wiped my hand across them and presto they came off.   I didn’t rub.  I didn’t polish.  I merely swiped my hand and they were gone.

While driving down our hill I remembered Lady Macbeth lamenting her grave sins and crying, “Out damned spot.”   It is a powerful passage regarding the futility of human efforts to atone for sins.  We can shower, we can chastise ourselves, we can try to buy forgiveness but the spot is still there.  We have not the power.  We have not the means.  We have not the competence. If it were not for Jesus and the gift of forgiveness we would be most miserable.

This is why the first four books of the New Testament are called Gospels.  They are the incredible good news that there is a way.  Someone with the power, and the means and the competence loves us and does it for us.   The Old Testament system provided for a Day of Atonement.  The New Testament provides us with 24/7 atonement.  It is available any moment we need it.  One of my friends once said to me, “Someday in heaven I am going to check your records and find out the truth about you.”   He is going to be so disappointed because all the dirt vanished when Jesus swiped His hand across my account.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 28, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Jesus was a very social person who apparently enjoyed gala events and weddings.  Many of His parables are built around weddings and feasts. As a matter of fact the only real accusation his enemies could mount against Him was His attendance at feasts with questionable people.  This is one situation when the old adage about birds of a feather just didn’t hold true.  He likes the metaphor of a marriage when He speaks of our relationship to Him.   In Revelation there is a brief description of the wedding feast of the Lamb with Him being the lamb and the bridegroom.

One of my favorite feast stories took place at Simon’s house when a woman of a most questionable reputation bathed Jesus’ feet with precious anointment.  It really was scandalous.  It would be surprising if there were not men in the room who had tasted her favors.  I wonder how many of them were silent and if any were critical. How often do we play Mr. Holy when the real truth about us would be shocking and devastating?   I just love it when Jesus told the critics in the room to leave her alone.  She had honored Him above even the host of the feast.

My next favorite is when there was room at a feast for more and the servants went out and rounded up anyone and everyone.  Whosever will come.  Awesome.  Street people, bag ladies, people who hadn’t had a bath in who knows how long.  There is room – bring them in.  Fill the banquet hall because there is provision for all.  To me this story is the essence of the Gospel.  One thing for sure, it strikes right at the heart of any exclusiveness we might want for ourselves.  God is an equal opportunity saver

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 29, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Do you have your invitation in hand?   Do you have your plane tickets to London all booked?  Did you buy a new suit?  Well, just in case you are one of the rest of us peons who did not receive an invitation to the royal wedding, I have something even better for you.  It’s found in II Peter 1.  I am going to use The Message paraphrase.  Just enjoy.  “Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.”

Jesus personally invites us to God.  He gives us the wedding garment.  Check out Matthew 22.  We don’t have to rush out and purchase a new suit.  It comes with the invitation and it is very well tailored.  It fits us to perfection.  Literally.  What is really good about this is we are not just invited to watch.  We are invited to participate.  We now participate in a divine experience.  Literally.  This is not a wordy empty promise.  This is an absolutely terrific promise that says we can actually begin right now living a divine life.  When God adopts us into the family we begin to develop family traits.

I have a young man in one of my classes this semester whose father I have known for years.  One would not have to tell me which student in the room was his son.  He is his father all over.  Rubber stamp!   This is our invitation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 28, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Today I watched love being used as a brutal tool.  There is no question in my mind but that the father loves his son.  There is no question that the father wants the best for his son.  There is no question the father believes his son’s happiness will only come from the father’s definition of success and the pressure to achieve.  The problem is the boy is exhausted.  He has a life-time of successes to this point. It is time for him to graduate but he is only twenty.  Course overloads, clepped exams, summer schools have all gotten this young man to this stage.  But now he wants, he needs, he has to have a break before he breaks.  But, how can he disappoint a dad who’s living out his fantasy through his son?  The pressure continues on to med school.  When does it stop?

Love is one of the most powerful if not the most powerful human emotion.  The last thing we want to do is disappoint one who takes so much pride in us.  We don’t want them to think we are ungrateful for past guidance and encouragement.  We want them to be able to say to their friends, “My son – the doctor.”

One of the wonders of our heavenly Father is His understanding of who we are as an individual and while He makes available to us all we need for happiness and success, He never forces it on us.  In II Peter 1 we read, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. . .”  If we continue reading we discover He actually allows us to participate in His divine nature – right now. It’s the right kind of love.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 27, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Our grandfather clock has boldly reminded me that another hour of life is gone.  I have silenced the quarter hour reminders and will most likely soon silence the hourly herald of the coming of the grim reaper.  But wait, that’s really morose.  There is a completely different way to understand this.  When we were children we wanted time to rush by.  When asked how old we were we proudly said, “I am three and a half.”  I wanted to be six so I could go to school. (Only rich children went to kindergarten.)  I wanted to be sixteen so I could get a driver’s license.  I wanted life to rush onward.

Something strange happened when I became a father.  I no longer wanted time to rush to my boy’s first birthday.  I wanted to savor every hour.  My wife and I never accepted invitations to dinner or go to anywhere the boys were not invited.  Why should we spend precious hours with others who didn’t mean nearly as much to us as our boys?

Now I sit in a very quiet house.  The dog occasionally stirs.  Other than that there is no sound.  The sounds have all moved to other homes.   I need to reorient myself to the realty of Jesus’ promises?  In John 5 He promised that when we accept Him we have already crossed over from death to life.  Is not our grandfather clock ticking off the hours until we will move beyond this pale of sorrow and pain?  Should I not be excited about the coming of a whole new experience when the only use for time will be to make sure we meet together somewhere?

I think I shall reset the grandfather clock to announce the passing of the quarter hours.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 22 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Every once in a while one of my undergrads delivers a great line.  This morning we were discussing the value of personal appearance and the topic roamed to very plain people marrying spectacular looking people.  One of the jocks on the back row spoke up and said, “The outside is a perk.”  There it was – the perfect description for what really matters.

David was one of the beautiful people set.  The Bible even says, “He was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to.”   David also had an eye for beautiful women.  Remember Abigail, “A woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance.”  All this has a bit of irony in it considering the context of Samuel selecting David after the Lord said to Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him (Eliab): for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

However, even as good looking as he was David knew the truth about what really counts.  After his almost unforgivable sin against Uriah, David wrote, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Realizing that very few of us have ever seen ourselves in 3-D, (photos and the mirror being 2-D) let me help you to feel better about yourself if you are as common as the rest of us.  You look much better in 3-D than in 2-D.  That’s very good news.  You are better looking than you think you are and hopefully absolutely stunning on the inside

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 23, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org