Category: devotional

Our dog loves to swim. Today it went into the high nineties and she sat looking at me with her head cocked as if she was trying to figure out why I was so slow about going to her favorite swimming hole. Finally we went. However, something strange happened. After a quick dip and a swim to retrieve a stick she wanted back in the truck. The mosquitoes and the black flies were so bad this evening she wanted refuge. I was not about to argue with her. They get in your hair and dig in for supper. Ouch! I wonder what the Native Americans did here in the summer before the pilgrims arrived? Surely they must have covered themselves with some kind of berry juice or they would all have been anemic or have scratched themselves to death by the end of July.

As I retreated to the shelter of the truck I wondered what irritates God. Most everything I could think of like mosquitoes and black flies He could easily fix. If there is something, it has to be something out His control. But, isn’t everything under His control? Actually no. Like a parent that gives their child the car keys He passes control to us. Yes, He could take back the keys but that would not foster the freedom and mature growth good parents desire for their children. God has given us the keys to our destiny. We can go where we want. And I am sure when we are going the wrong way He is way beyond irritation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 4, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

When I was a little boy my teacher asked me what came after twelve and I said, “One.” The other children in the room laughed at me. A girl with long brown locks looked at me with disdain as if to say, “How can you be so stupid?” But my teacher was very wise. Pausing for a moment she pointed to the clock on the wall and said, “Very good, Roger.” I remember riding home on the bus feeling very good. The others had laughed but my teacher vindicated me.

I remembered this years later when preparing a sermon on the Beatitudes. Jesus said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” (Matthew 5:11) For a few seconds I felt reviled and my teacher rescued me. The truth was I was wrong. The answer was, of course, thirteen. But a wise, caring teacher knew such moments in a child’s life plot the future. She rescued my self-esteem.

There is a story told in Matthew 26 of a woman pouring very expensive perfume on Jesus. It was an act that could not be hidden because everyone’s nose pointed to her and the reaction was not good. Nasty things were said and she could hear. However, Jesus spoke up in her defense, most likely not really to defend the act as much as to defend her. People were always foremost in His care. Her chief accusers were correct from a fiscal viewpoint. From a human viewpoint they were dead wrong.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 14, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

We have all seen pictures of teams rushing onto the field to fight with each other. It always amazes me that grown men would behave like little leaguers. But then I remind myself that most little league brawls occur among the parents and not the children. So I guess the men are acting like grownups.

I often wonder if most of the players run unto the field because it is a team thing and once out there they pretend to fight while asking their supposed opponent about the wife and kids. Unfortunately violence is the tool of those who have run out of logic. When we are bested by someone’s superior wit and embarrassed because they have humiliated us with words we often resort to fists or worse if the other is physically bigger than we.

Unfortunately when nations run out of words the resulting violence can be horrific with historic consequences. Our history books are printed with the blood of young men because old men lacked the wisdom to understand each other’s needs. We need to pray that God would enable the leaders of our world to see the world through the other’s eyes that they might understand how to talk instead of striking. What the world needs is 100 qualified candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. Let’s pass the Prize out like the leaves of autumn because there are so many worthies.

It is way over time to beat our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall we learn war any more.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 13, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

A surefire way of not eating ice cream, especially at night, is not to have it in the house. So you can imagine my delight this evening while rummaging about in the freezer I found an unopened pint of Ben and Jerry’s. This was nothing short of amazing. I have no idea how long it had been hiding behind boxes of frozen lima beans. Well, surely a spoonful would not hurt. I broke the seal and jammed a spoon into the unbroken surface. A half pint later I came back to reality and realized what I was doing. “Oh, well,” I thought, “it was only half the container and the container says, “Calories – 380.” So that was only 190. But wait a minute. It said “per serving.” How many servings could there be in a pint? It said, “Four.”

“Four!!!” “Who in the world thinks a quarter of a pint is a serving?” I ate a total of 760 calories.

Well there it was. Psalm 1:1. That verse keeps coming back to me over and over. It says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
It is the progression of sin. You walk by it, stop and look. Next you sit right down in it. Alcoholics know all about this. It is a lesson we all need to learn. If there is something we are trying not to do. Staying completely away is the only safe way.

If only I had not taken that first spoonful.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 9, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

During the day I often write myself a note so I will not forget what I want to share with you. The note jars my memory. Today I wrote down the word “squirrel.” However, as I sit here starring at my note the word “squirrel” means nothing to me. I haven’t the slightest clue why I wrote it down. Now I am going to have to start writing a note to remind myself what my notes mean.

Three times in Daniel 7 God is referred to as the “Ancient of Days.” I would worry about God’s ageing memory if it were not for other verses that proclaim God’s total knowledge of everything. In Daniel 2:20 we are informed and assured of God’s total comprehension. This is repeated again in 1 Samuel 2:3. Nothing misses His attention. Nothing slips past Him. He never sleeps. He never forgets. He knows all the secrets of our hearts. Psalm 44:21.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus goes so far as to inform us that our heavenly Father even knows how many hairs we have on our heads. Wouldn’t you like to know how many you had ten years ago or five years ago in relationship to how many you now have? He could tell you.

How very reassuring it is to know the One in charge of everything doesn’t need a note in His pocket. I think the only thing He really needs is you. Love is like that. Love needs someone to love and since God is love you are that someone.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

I’m sure we have all seen the morning sun warming a roadside causing the dew of the night to rise as vapor. Mystically it ascends from the grass into the morning air waiting to become evening’s dew. Driving past such splendor this morning I thought of the warming effect of the Son of Righteousness shining on us. In Acts 2 the disciples heard a sound like the blowing of a wind and they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire resting on each other. The result was incredible.

Jesus once said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” He was speaking of lives changed by a relationship with Him. Just as the sun transformed the dew into morning vapor so association with Him matures our characters into His likeness. It is impossible for it not to occur. Just as filling one’s thoughts with mental trash will ultimately produce a trashy character so the opposite is true. We are what we eat. If we eat filth we grow filthy characters. If we feed on that which is uplifting, noble, positive and morally challenging we will ever so slowly elevate to what we are thinking about. We couldn’t stop it if we wanted. It is natural.

Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches and if you stay connected to the vine you will bear much fruit.” There is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. It is a truth we so badly need to understand. Computer experts have it down pat when they say, “Garbage in. Garbage out.” Let’s go for “Quality In. Quality Out.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 6, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Recently I listened to a very proficient person play the saxophone. I carefully choose the adjective proficient instead of talented because while he played all the notes properly and never missed a beat there was something missing. There was no soul. One would think if someone played a piece of music the way it was written that would be adequate. But it wasn’t. It was mechanical. It did not flow.

I was reminded of Christians who are so careful to obey the commandments. They pay their tithe and make sure they eat only prescribed foods yet something is missing. They seem not to have discovered the joy of living by principles and are stuck in rules and regulations. They have a mechanical faith without soul. They are like those Paul speaks of in I Corinthians 13 when he says, “If I give my body to be burned it means nothing if I do not have love.”

The reversal of this is I have seen musicians who don’t always play the right notes and their music is incredibly great. I have seen Christians who “break the rules” and yet are so filled with love I want to be like them. Jesus is not looking for robots. He is looking for warm compassionate people who are not afraid to do the “right” thing instead of the “legal” thing. He is looking for people with soul.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 2, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

While rummaging around in the top drawer of my school desk, a museum of semi-useful artifacts, I found a key engraved with the room number J172. This should have caused not the slightest attention except no one in our Jones building knows of a room 172. While I walked about looking for the mystery door one of my younger colleagues suggested I needed to join AARP since I had a key but didn’t know where the door was.

While it is true I never did find a door for the key, I have a much more important key and I know where the door is for that one. Jesus said in John 10, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” The key is a simple understanding that eternal life is a gift and God stands with outstretched arms offering the gift. All we need do is take it.

There are those who would have us believe the door to the kingdom has a combination lock and only they have the code. “Come,” they say, “Study with us and we will open the door for you.” That is a way to enslave us to their will. But Jesus has set us free from others’ control over our eternal future. We need no other mediator than Jesus Himself. He is the Door. He is the Way. Perhaps the problem is that it is not complicated enough. If it is so easy anyone can get in and maybe it is not exclusive enough for some. Well, it is not exclusive. Jesus said, “Whosoever will, come.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 30, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

The Butterfly Club is an exclusive organization. Membership is by invitation only and members recognize each other by a secret sign. Membership brings prestige and insures elevated social status. None of us could qualify since membership is limited to 5-year-old little girls in a kindergarten in Bronxville, New York. I learned of this prestigious organization this weekend from my card-carrying member of the Butterfly Club granddaughter. She was very reluctant to speak about it and definitely would not reveal to me the secret sign.

I am fascinated by this very early display of the human need to be somebody special. We hunger for recognition and unfortunately most often it comes at the expense of another. Everybody loves a winner and brushes aside the loser even if it is by one point or one vote. Who remembers the name of the first runner in the Miss America pageant? Most likely just her family.

How grand it would be if we could gain our sense of worth by what we were able to do to elevate another. In Romans 12:10 Paul writes, “Honor one another above yourselves.” It sounds so nice to say, but how do you control that inner pang of pain when someone else wins something you wanted so badly? I could say, “Pray about it.” But that seems like the copout answer we use when we don’t know anything else to say. Perhaps it is something that comes with the assurance we are somebody important. And how do we know that? Surely the only way is to be reassured we are God’s children. That makes us royalty.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 29, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Each student in my human development class is required to give an oral report on a helping agency. Recently a student began, “My report is on the National Association of ahh sorry.” He momentarily forgot and started over. His error caused me to wonder who would belong to a National Association of Sorry. Would they be people who are continually sorry about their behavior, their speech or their appearance? I knew of a man who thought he was so ugly he would select seats in subway cars so people would not have to look at him.

I wondered if our prayers are often sorry appeals for God’s mercy. Do we fill our petitions to God with tales of remorse because we are not good enough and thus continually beg for forgiveness? If so we really are a sorry lot and should join a National Association of Sorry.

Jesus instructs us to approach God as our father. I would be truly dismayed if each time I talked with my sons they had to begin by telling me how sorry they are about not being perfect. Actually they are perfect. But I refuse to brag. In Hebrews 4:16 we are instructed to come boldly before the throne of God. In Romans 8 Paul assures we are God’s sons and daughters with full rights to the inheritance that Jesus received.

I am not saying we should not be repentant and sorry for our sins. We should be. I am instead referring to an attitude of joy instead of one of continued remorse. Christ calls us to the abundant life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 25, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453