Category: devotional

I’m sitting here eating a peanut butter and blackberry jelly sandwich.  I have to tell you it is wonderful.  I have a friend who can easily overindulge with peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  One of my favorites is peanut butter with bread and butter pickle chips.  As I listen to the news I find it distressing to think so many people have recently become ill and a few have actually died from eating contaminated peanut butter.  How can something so good become so deadly when it contains something one cannot see?

Do you remember Jesus telling His disciples to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees?  See Matthew 16.  There was something in the good teachings of the religious establishment that was dangerous.  And so it is in today’s world.  Jesus warns us to beware of false prophets.  See Matthew 24.  People come with wonderful sounding ideas claiming to be speaking for God.  They often tell us they have new truth for new times.  Usually 99% of what they have to say is more than okay.  The contamination of heresy doesn’t have to be much.  But it can destroy.

The one idea that makes Christianity different from all other religions is that salvation is free.  It is a gift of grace.  The Good News is that Jesus paid it all.  But how many times do we hear people say such and then follow up with a “but.”  What most often follows the “but” is the contamination. It is the yeast.

When a person truly understands the wonder of what God has done, the good works and the Godlike life that follows is the fruit of being redeemed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 9, 2009

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

I woke up in the night with cold feet.  I found myself longing for an old electric blanket we used to have that had a feet zone.  That part of the blanket was warmer than the rest of the blanket.  When I got up this morning I could not help but note the socks I put on during the night were two different colors.  I guess the moral of the story is if one wants to be fashionable one must not get dressed in the dark.   Actually there are very few things one does well in the dark.  Star gazing is one of them and yet the whole point of that is to seek lights in the sky.

The history of the world is man’s quest for light. The age of discovery, scientific methodology, billions spent for research all is to know more. The more we know the more life improves.  Most all of us have at sometime in our lives benefited from some form of medicine developed by researchers. Yet I wonder if we were not better off prior to our knowledge of splitting the atom.  The specter of a gigantic mushroom cloud haunts modernity.

It was no accident that Jesus called Himself the Light of the World.   John 9:5.  Jesus illuminates our minds.  He answers the great existential problems of where did we come from, where are we going, why are we here. When one allows Jesus to flood one’s mind with truth the darkness is overwhelmed by light.  Philosophers who speak of the angst of being can resolve their issues as quickly as aspirin cures a headache. The light is there. The abundance is waiting for all who will receive.   There is no need to walk around with mismatched socks.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 24, 2009

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

 

Today a prominent United States senator switched parties causing amazed joy in some rooms and agonized despair in others.  It’s always that way when somebody converts.  Jesus describes it like this, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them . . . goes after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. . . . I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”  Luke 15

Jesus doesn’t mention it but it is safe to assume there is added misery in hell when they lose someone; after all, misery loves company.  Surely they can’t stand it to see one of their own become happy and gain what they themselves once had but threw away in moments of stupidity.

So if you would like to stick it to Satan because of some horrible thing he has done to you, (He doesn’t treat his followers well.) then make Jesus the Lord of your life right now.  It’s a chance to get even.  Now isn’t that just the wrong reason to accept Jesus? Yeah, it is.  How about accepting Jesus because it will make both you and Jesus happy!  Now that’s the right focus.

Please do not carry this illustration too far.  This devotional is not a political commentary about one party being good and another evil.  It’s just that it was too good an experience to pass up when seeing the joy on one side and the despair on the other.

Written by Roger Bothwell on Apri 29, 2009

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

Cash for Clunkers was an amazingly successful program.   One of my best friends along with tens of thousands of other Americans took advantage of the opportunity to exchange an old gas guzzler for a very pretty brand new gas sipping car.  As I watched him drive away in his shiny chariot I could not help but think of God’s stimulus program.  He takes our clunky old lives and exchanges them for resurrection lives.  I Corinthians 15 is a stirring chapter that describes and whets our appetites for what is to come.  He tells us our resurrection bodies will be as many times more magnificent than our old bodies as a seed is to a full grown plant.  A tiny white seed becomes a big juicy tomato.  An acorn becomes a mighty oak.  The imagery is limited only by our imaginations.  As the government eliminated rust buckets from our highways, God eliminates sin-filled disease ridden, human flesh from His universe.  It is the ultimate stimulus package.

Paul wrote, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. . . I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

It doesn’t get any better than this!

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 11, 2009

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

My wife and I went car shopping today.  She actually enjoys it.  I have this perverted idea that once upon the lot I have become prey as the vultures begin to circle.  I stopped buying new cars decades ago and now look for a nice pre-owned (Don’t you love that substitution for “used.”) car.  Today we spotted a really nice 2006 with factory warranty left.  It had lots of bells and whistles and I was eager to take it for a test drive.  Much to our disappointment it didn’t ride any better than the car we have and the one we have desperately needs new struts.  I guess after 128,000 miles that isn’t too bad. Sorrowfully I walked away from it.  It was a beauty.  I would tell you the name of the car but we have some really good friends who own one and I don’t want to hurt their feelings.

The feelings of friends are very important.  I like my friends.  Friends are way more important than any car or any opinion I have about one.  Don’t you hate it when you misspeak and suddenly realize you have hurt a friend?   Once the words are spoken you can’t suck them back Jesus’ brother James certainly understood this. His third chapter is full of valuable counsel regarding our need to watch what we say.

Have you ever met a Christian who thinks being honest means saying everything he thinks?  These people leave a trail of devastation behind while thinking they are honoring God by always speaking the truth.   The truth is one can be honest and loving by being judicious.  Jesus was a model of such behavior.  The night He stood before Herod He must have been thinking amazing thoughts.  He chose to be silent!

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 25, 2009

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

A time honored philosophy of investment is to “Buy and Hold.”    Do your homework, learn all you can about a good company and then purchase stock and sit with it through thick and thin.  In recent times many financial advisors are saying that strategy might not be the best way to prepare for retirement.  While it is true tax laws favor long term investments over short term capital gains, it does appear many investors are doing well with a “Buy and Sell” philosophy.  Electronic trading companies that supply instant stock prices and guaranteed three second trades are rapidly changing the financial landscape.

There are many ways to invest in the future.  Getting a good education is without a doubt the third most important investment one can make in one’s future.  Once you have it you cannot lose it.  It is yours.  Maintaining excellent physical health is the second most important investment one can make.   There is little value in gaining wealth if one is too ill to utilize the power it brings.  The top ranking most important investment anyone can make is investing one’s life with Jesus Christ.  This is an investment with eternal growth.  The only recession in this investment occurs when the investor ceases to pay attention and loses focus.

Investing in Jesus is a definite “Buy and Hold.”    If we hold on He holds on.  Listen to this promise found in John 10.  “. . . follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 30, 2009

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

 

 

I had an interesting exchange with a student this morning.  Grades are due tomorrow and he failed to turn in a major paper.  He said, “Since you allowed me to turn in a late paper at midterm I knew I could ask you again.” So, let me see if I can translate.  “Since you gave in once, you will give in again.”  Or “Since you gave in once, I know you are a man of mercy.”  Or “You gave once, therefore, you owe me another.”   Or “Since you didn’t mean it the first time, you don’t mean it now.”  Or “You are so easy!”  Or “I knew I didn’t have to have it in on time.”

In my mind I see someone knocking on the door of Noah’s ark. It has started to rain and a man says, “You’re a good man. Open the door.” Isn’t there a verse in Revelation 22 that goes, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still”?  It is the end of the road. The merciful God of love has finally said, “No more.”  I can see someone saying, “But God, you always forgave me in the past.  How about just one more time?”  In Matthew 7 Jesus said, “Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”

This is not easy.  Jesus also said, “If we being human know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more does our heavenly Father know how to give good gifts.” Should I or should I not?  That is the question.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 23, 2009

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

During breakfast this morning we had a delightful array of birds at the feeder just on the other side of the window.  Feasting on the seeds and suet were Black-capped Chickadees, Cardinals, Blue Jays, a Carolina Wren, three kinds of woodpeckers and of course sparrows.  We have yet to have house guests be upset by the variety of birds in our yard.   We have a yard list. This means they have to actually be in our yard. They can’t be counted if we only see them next door or across the street.  There are 72 birds on our yard list.  The more variety the happier we are.

So how is it that we can rejoice in God’s creative display among birds but harbor not so nice feelings about God’s variety of people?   We enjoy seeing an array of birds at the same bird feeder but we don’t have the same joy when an array of different colors of people show up at a church potluck or move in next door.  We talk about being in heaven with a great array of people but often we fail to make the connection that Jesus’ basic message was that the Kingdom of God begins now.

Perhaps we feel threatened by differences.  We are comfortable with those like ourselves.  There are reasons, some legitimate and others not so legitimate, why birds of a feather flock together.  It is natural to be concerned about things and people we don’t understand.  Understanding seems to be the issue.  Education and exposure often enable us to grow more comfortable.  Paul said it so very plainly in Galatians 3:28, “In Christ there is no Jew nor Greek.  We are one in Christ.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 6, 2009

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

I really rely on the GPS in my car to get me places.  The GPS has probably saved more gasoline than any other recent improvement to cars.  Those of us who are directionally challenged don’t waste gallons of fuel trying to find our destination.  However, we must not overly trust these handy devices. Recently I was doing my usual daydreaming and missed a highway exit.  It took less than a second for the GPS to recalibrate with new instructions. As I got to the ramp where traffic was coming onto the highway my GPS told me to take a sharp right.  Had I obeyed I would have saved myself ten miles of driving but I also would have been driving the wrong way on a one-way ramp.  I wonder if she (I’m sure it’s a she.  It has such a nice feminine voice.) would have paid for the ticket.

We really need to pay attention to whom we pay attention. Some people speak and act with such confidence; it just seems right to listen to their counsel. Yet they can be as wrong as wrong can be.  Just forty-eight hours before Lehman Brothers went belly-up a very loud voice on a financial television program told us all to buy Lehman Brothers because “it was solid.”  So much for authorities.  When we are children we obey our parents.  When we are in school we obey our teachers.  When we are in church we obey our pastor.  Or do we?  Should we?  At some point in our lives we mature and stop checking our brains at the door.  In Isaiah God tells us to reason.  God is not honored by blind obedience.  He is best served by thoughtful, intelligent, principle-driven decisions.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 20, 2009

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

If the rejected contestants on American Idol are a sampling of our culture then lack of self-esteem is definitely not an American problem.  Individuals with no talent, who cannot begin to carry a tune, become angry when they are told “no.”  If their parents are present they seem amazed that the judges could reject their sweet gift to the world.  While it is true we should not destroy a child’s self-esteem it also seems that we do them no favor when we fill them with dreams for which they have no gift.  Does love make us so blind or have we become such a child worshipping culture that cannot be honest and say to a child, “Let’s work together to find your real gift”?

When we over praise our children we do them no favor.  If we create in them false expectations of success in areas in which they have no talent we do them no good. Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” is not merely about morality, it is mainly about helping a child match abilities with opportunities.  My father wanted me to be a physician.  It was not my gift.

Finding the right balance of self-esteem is not easy.  We should be proud of who we are.  We should feel good about what we do. We should be pleased to come to the end of life and know that we have done well.  That is impossible if we are never honest enough to look in the mirror and see the truth.   The best truth of all is that Jesus died for us.  Now there is cause for great self-esteem balanced with gratitude and humility.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 5, 2009

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