Category: devotional

I misspoke this weekend while preaching.   I said, “The Bible says God loves each of us as much as He loves Jesus.”  Immediately my brain said to me, “Hey, there is no such verse.”  However, instead of stopping to correct myself I went on because in that instant of time my brain told me that while it is not actually so expressed in Scripture, recently I read it and I believe it.  I mentioned it to one of my friends and he instantly told me that I had read it in The Shack, a publication that will become a Christian classic.

I believe it is true because I am a father.  When Jesus told us to call God “Our Father” He changed everything in regards to our understanding of the true nature of God.   Actually we do not love our children equally because love cannot be measured.  However, we do love each of our children uniquely as each child is unique.  We don’t love one child more or less than the other.  We love each one differently than the other.   Each draws from us exactly what they need as we are willing to give all we have to each.  We would not die for one and not the other.  Each would receive the ultimate from us.  As we brought each into the world, we would give all to each to keep each as safe as possible in this world.

By giving us Jesus on the cross God by His actions has demonstrated that each of His children will receive all that is necessary, even at the sacrifice of the very One of which He says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; . . .”  Hebrews 1

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 5, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

I am in such trouble.  My wife just made cookies for a school event.  She used a new mix and didn’t want to take bad tasting cookies so I tested one.  It was wonderful.  No, it was beyond wonderful.  It was the most perfect cookie I have ever eaten.   I am in trouble because it is early evening and I have hours left before going to bed.  Here I sit at my computer knowing in the next room there is a box full of those amazing cookies and I cannot have any more.  I am salivating just thinking about it.  I need to wipe off my keyboard.  What am I to do?  I would have been so better off had I not had one.

I feel like Eve in the Garden with the forbidden tree.  Of course what happened to her was worse.  As her curiosity brought her close to the tree there was this amazing talking creature that enticed her with promises of enhanced intelligence.  If he a dumb creature could talk as a result of eating from the tree what would it do for her who already could talk? It would make her like God.   What is so sad about this is God really did want her to be like Him, just not this way.  God has spent the following thousands of years doing His best to transform us into His likeness.  See IIPeter 1. He even paid the ultimate price on the cross to make that happen.  Via His indwelling Spirit we can grow more and more like Him each day.  It is God’s goal for each of us.

In the meantime I know what I will do.  I will get a drink and wash the flavor out of my mouth.  That will help.  Ah, but there is still the smell permeating the entire house.  I need to take the dog for a walk.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 11, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org

When I could not find my cell phone last Friday evening I wasn’t concerned. It was obvious that I left it at the college.  It was not until I got to school Monday morning that I discovered it really was lost.  It wasn’t there. Most likely you have also had that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when something is lost.  Keys, wallets and phones have a way of attaching themselves to us. Upon coming home in the evening we turned up all the lights as bright as possible and there it was.  It had been sitting at eye level on top of the china closet all weekend.  How could I count the number of times I walked right by it with it just inches from my nose? It wasn’t until the lights were up that it became evident.

It is no wonder Jesus called Himself the Light of the World.  We are the lost and we wander around in a philosophical wilderness searching for meaning, wanting our lives to count, seeking peace in a very troubled world, and what we are looking for is right there all the time.  If my phone was animated and could speak by itself it would have called out to me each time I passed by, “Hey, I’m right here.”

Jesus is the light.  He can shine on us and fill us with meaning and joy. He gives us purpose.   He chases away the darkness of our secular society and says, “Before you were born I knew you.” “I have something special only you can do.  Trust me and I will take you to it and give you the wisdom and strength to make your life count.”   Ah, with Jesus we are lost no more.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 10, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

About 15 years ago I was riding to a cemetery in a hearse with the undertaker.  As we waited for a traffic light to change I suddenly realized the light was green and we were not moving.  Looking over at the undertaker, who was supposedly driving, I discovered he was dead.  What made it even more bizarre and sad was the EMT who responded to the 911 call was his son. I remembered this today when I heard that this week in South Carolina a first-time skydiver noted his instructor, to which he was connected and falling from 13,500 feet, had died. Obviously he was in a much more precarious situation than mine had been.

I could spend time here talking about being ready to meet the Lord because we don’t know when we will check out.  Perhaps I should say “check in” since the next thing we will know is a face to face meeting with Him.  But I think I would rather speak of the assurance we have that the ultimate One in charge of our lives, if we have given our lives to Jesus, will always be there and we need have no fear of being on our own.  He promised, “Lo, I am with you always.”

I have always liked that promise.  When I was little I was told when I did something I knew was bad that Jesus and my guardian angel left me to be on my own.   That really bothered me because that meant when I needed them the most they would not be there for me.  As a father I could never imagine not responding to my sons’ needs even when or if they had just disappointed me.  I just can’t

He promised, “Lo, I am with you always.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 2, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org

The packaging carried all the usual fine print that comes with most all new items we purchase. Near the bottom of the list there was one thing that caught my attention.  It said-lifetime limited warranty.  I read it twice to make sure I had seen it correctly.  Yes, it was saying that the “lifetime warranty” was limited, so in reality it wasn’t a lifetime warranty.  Or maybe it just means the warranty is for the lifetime of the product and when something happens to it and it no longer works its lifetime is over; that is most likely the case.

When God created Adam and Eve they had a really truly lifetime warranty!  They were made to live forever and had they not eaten of the forbidden fruit and sin entered the world all the future inhabitants of this world would have had the same lifetime warranty.  Nothing bad would ever happen to us.  No sickness, accidents, aging, disease, or death-we would live in perfect health forever! But because of sin we now have a limited lifetime warranty.  We are subject to all the ravages of thousands of years of sin.  The effect is devastating any way you look at it.

But lest we think it’s hopeless there is good news.  John 3:16 says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”  Please notice, it doesn’t say “life for a long time” or “life for thousands of years.”   No, it says “eternal life”. There is no limited warranty for those who believe.  How grand!

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 22, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

I received a call today from a friend asking if he could submit my name for a reference.   He is hoping for a new position.  Giving references is a strange custom.  No one in their right mind would submit the name of someone they thought would tell all their sins.  We only ask people we believe will make us sound good.  While I have never lied while giving a reference I certainly have never told the whole truth just as I would not want my friends to tell the whole truth about me.

All this got me to thinking about asking God for a reference.   That would be frightening because He really does know the whole truth.  It reminds me of the Santa Claus is Coming to Town song.  “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake.  He knows if you’ve been bad or good.  So be good for goodness sake.”   Have you ever noted the incongruity of those lyrics?   We are supposed to be good because Santa’s watching.   However, we should be good for goodness sake.  The truth is we should always be good for goodness sake.   We should always do the right thing because it is the right thing and not because someone is watching.  It is God’s goal for all His children that we should do right even if the heavens fell.

The more I think about it the more I like having God as a reference.  He not only forgives.   He forgets.  He chooses not to remember our sins and as a good Father (Jesus told us to call him Father) He will make us look good.  He will not lie for us but He knows the two or three times in our lives when we actually did something good and He will talk about that.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 17, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org

We received a letter today from friends who just drove from California to Alaska.  Their letter was filled with tales of wild animals.  They saw moose, caribou, stone sheep, bison, porcupines, eagles and a lynx.  They had a grand time and reading about it was almost as good as being there.  Please note I said, “almost.” Nothing beats reality.  I like getting letters. Maybe that is why I enjoy reading Paul’s writings.  They are letters written to his friends.  Often he begins with greetings and he usually finishes with, “Be sure to tell…I said, ‘Hi.’”   See the last chapter of Romans.  He sent quite a list of greetings.

One of his letters is even filled with tales of daring do.  Please see II Corinthians 11.   His list of exploits is most adventurous and downright frightening.  He wrote, “. . . five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. . .”

It is rare that one reads such adventures happening to an intellectual, but that is what Paul was.   He grasped the complexities of the Jewish law and culture.  He understood the philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and best of all he knew Jesus.   I rejoice in having letters from such an amazing man.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 26, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org

I have come to believe it is possible to spin any position into the opposite of what it really is.  Depending upon what we want to believe we carefully select words to create fantasies about those whom we either do not like or with those we disagree. Truth becomes the victim.  In our eagerness to support a particular viewpoint half-truths become the paint brushes with which we create something that really is not.  Unfortunately what we create becomes to us truth because we have invested so much of our reputations and energies on our twisted endeavors.

Even God Himself was the victim of such a campaign.  “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”  Revelation 12:7.    No rational person could interpret this passage in any other way than to understand it was a war of words and ideas.  The mastermind of this rebellion was clever enough to totally confuse a third of God’s angels.  See verse 4.  If the loving God who sent us His own Son to die for us can be made out to be a monster to the brilliant minds of angels, how easy is it for humans to cast other humans into things they are not.

Our egos lie to us regarding our intelligence.  We think we are too smart to be fooled.  Thus we open ourselves for deception.  We don’t want to admit we do not see all the sides of an issue.  We don’t.  We only know what we know and there is a universe of things we do not know.  Jesus so wisely told us not to judge others. Should we not then as Christians follow His wise counsel?  See Matthew 7.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 23, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

Recently I have been trying to hone my birding skills by learning bird songs.   I figure I can go birding by sitting in a folding chair and just listening.  Once I hear and identify a bird call I can add it to my day’s list.  Obviously some calls are fairly easy to learn.  Is there anyone who can’t identify a robin by sound?  However, the flycatchers and the warblers are something else.  I have a lot of learning to do.  A lot of it is learning to listen.  We take listening for granted since we have been doing it prior to our birth.  But skilled listening is another story.  It takes practice; lots of practice.

I think the same can be said for hearing the still small voice of God.  He wants so very much to talk to us but He is careful not to blow us away with a big thunderous voice. He chooses to whisper.  He is gentle that way.  If we fill our ears with the sounds of life and add to them the sounds of music in the car, music while we walk, music while we study, we make it difficult for Him.  We overpower Him.

He especially likes to talk to us when we read His word.  He has excellent commentary to add to Matthew and John.  He likes it when we read about Jesus and He wants us to feel the breeze from the shores of Galilee.  He wants us to savor the sweet scents of food in the marketplace of Nazareth.  There is so much to experience when we take our time.  Don’t try to read the Bible through in a year.  If you set that for a goal there will be days you will rush to keep on schedule.  Those might be the very days He has something special to say.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 22, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

I’ve been carrying my cell phone in a leather holder on my belt.  It is very convenient. It works well.  However, I notice when I get close to my computer the computer starts making a faint buzzing sound.  The cell phone is emitting some kind of electronic signal.  I wonder just how good this is for my kidneys to be constantly irradiated by whatever signal this is. Most likely it is harmless, but I am having second thoughts about carrying it there.  One thing I have discovered through the years is ignorance can kill.

In Romans 10:14 Paul asks a very important question.  “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”   He is speaking of the important need for us to tell the story of Jesus. Ignorance hurts.  Knowledge helps.  God has called us to spread the Good News.  Jesus loves us and has enough grace for everyone no matter what we have done.  However people need to hear. Some of the most difficult people to tell are those closest to us.  They know our faults and we fear they will say something like, “Well, you’re not so good.”  And the truth is we most likely aren’t so good.  But that does not negate the importance of what we have to tell.

God is honored by intelligent followers.  Ignorance doesn’t solve the problems of the world.  Ignorance doesn’t make us better people.  Knowledge is power.  God is all powerful because He is all knowing.  His power emanates from what He knows. Sometimes we have to trust Him and obey even if we don’t understand why He asks certain things.  It is smart to obey someone who is smarter than we are.  He is definitely smarter than we.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 1, 2009

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

rogerbothwell.org