Category: devotional

We stopped at a Dollar Store this afternoon.  I was very impressed.  People with limited incomes could eat fairly well by shopping there.  There was a nice array of shelved and frozen foods.  My problem was I bought things I didn’t really need because the price was so good.  I couldn’t resist.  There are two ways of looking at our visit.  I could tell you how much money I saved on the purchases.  Or I could tell you about how much money I wasted because I didn’t need what I bought.

This was one of those glass half-empty or half-full situations depending on one’s perspective.  I thought about applying the glass half-empty half-full metaphor to our accepting Jesus as our personal Savior.  However, the more I thought about it the more I couldn’t do it.  From every perspective I saw the glass full.  I couldn’t think of a half-empty perspective other than one.  Sometimes when one accepts Jesus the other members of one’s family rejects them or shuns them.  Actually in some situations in the Middle East one’s family actually kills them for accepting Jesus.  That certainly counts as the glass half empty.

Jesus did call for us to take up our cross and follow Him.  Matthew 16:24.  I can speak of this for others.  I cannot for myself.  If heaven’s rewards were in proportion to one’s suffering for Christ on this earth my mansion should be a slum  for my glass has always been full.  If that would be the case (I don’t think it is.)  I will not complain.  Do you remember the text about being a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord?  Well, I would rather live in heaven’s “slums” than in the palaces of the wicked.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 7, 2016

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, Ca 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

She was a pretty girl with a very sweet demeanor.  It would have been a labor to dislike her.  She was always on time in her seat when class began.  She turned in her assignments on time and yet she was one of the poorest students I ever had.  Her written work revealed that she just did not get it.  As simple as I tried to explain things, all I would get was a sweet smile but no indication that what I said helped. Her quizzes and exams were disasters. When I gave her a final grade of “C” totally based on effort, I wondered if she had gotten that far academically because other profs did the same as I.  I wondered, when I closed my grade book, could someone so endearing get her doctorate someday without ever learning anything other than to be nice.

I have to admit when I enter heaven’s gates it will not be because I have learned a lot along the way or for being likeable.  It will be a gift because I am loved.  There’s the question.  Do I have to be loved to be saved?  Actually that question is mute because I am – we are.  A better question would be do we have to be liked?  Will Jesus like everyone He saves?  Was the thief on the cross likeable?  Were the two mad men from Gergesa (Matthew 8) likeable?  I doubt it.

What is wonderful about our God is He doesn’t save any of us because He likes or dislikes us.  All of us are saved because He loves us and best of all He knows what we will become.  We are bundles of potential likeability.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 7, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

According to the evangelical publication Christianity Today, “Two out of three persons surveyed said that a person obtains peace with God by seeking God first, and then God responses with grace.”  A few months ago I said the Gospel via modern media has spread to most of the world.  I am going to have to take that back.  I was wrong.  It appears that we have yet to spread the Gospel to so called Christians.

Right from the beginning it has always been God seeking us.  When Adam and Eve hid in Eden it was God who came in the evening seeking for them.  Hungry to save, God is a hunter.  Perhaps I should instead say wooer.  It was God who came to Abram’s tent.  It was God who drew Moses to the burning bush.  It was God who was the cloud that led the Children of Israel and the rock that supplied them with water.  When Jonah tried to run away God chased Jonah clear into the stomach of a huge fish.  It was God who sent His only beloved Son to earth.

In the parables of Jesus it is the shepherd who goes in quest for his lost sheep.  It is the wronged landlord who sends his son to the tenets.  The story goes on and on.  God first loved us and when we finally catch on we return the love.

I fear we are not as close to completing the proclamation of the Gospel as I thought.  Having been a mission teacher in Uganda for six years I would not discourage the value of missions.  But the truth seems to be we have a gigantic mission field among the “Christians” in our families.  We haven’t done such a great job.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 6, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

In my “man room” – a place where I can maintain a permanent mess without being chastised – there is a large jumble of wires twice the size of a basketball.  It is a wonderful source of needed speaker wires, computer cables, electric cords, wi-fi connectors, etc.  This morning I was thinking of putting all of those perfectly good wires in a large plastic bag for the trash man.  But, I kept saying to myself, as surely as I do it tomorrow I will need one and there isn’t any Radio Shack anymore to replace one.  Then I realized all the gadgets I have that need wires are wired and any new thing I might get will not need a wire because of the cloud.  If I put a shopping list on my PC, behold, it appears on my phone.  Wires are becoming obsolete.

I was walking my dog in the forest when suddenly I received a cell phone call.  I was immediately reminded of Psalm 138.  “Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”  For thousands of years God has been wirelessly communicating with us.  That still small voice doesn’t even need our ears. And we think we are so clever.  We are still millennia behind.

So I think I shall throw away my ball of wires.  My “man room” will be so much neater.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 5, 2016

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

rogerbothwell.org

The human mind is amazing.  We store all manner of events and conversations only to have them come flooding back with the right stimulus.   This evening I noticed a full page Citicard advertisement in a magazine with the message, “You didn’t come this far to go somewhere else.”  My mental floodgate opened to a conversation with a student a few years ago.  Something very discouraging had happened to him and he told me he was giving up on God and Jesus and the church.  He had been raised a Christian and I said to him, “You didn’t come this far to go somewhere else.”

Really bad things do happen along our ways and the last thing we want to happen is to allow ourselves to give up.  Truthfully, life can be a slimy mess.  It is not a bed of roses just because one is a Christian.  But that does not mean Jesus doesn’t love you and that God doesn’t care.  Giving up on the promises, no longer believing that Jesus is going to make it alright, deliberately choosing and changing one’s lifestyle to an inferior way of living, just doesn’t make sense.  “You didn’t come this far to go somewhere else.”

Why would someone deliberately choose to begin harmful habits and abandon grace and the assurance that there is more to life than these few decades?  Following Jesus and what He counsels and offers is a superior way of living.  Dare I say, “One might give up on a religious organization, but that is totally different than giving up on Jesus. They are not one in the same.”

I vividly remember saying to my student, “Don’t go somewhere else.  Being with Jesus is life at its best!”

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 4, 2017

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is an ode to the glory of God’s law.  Verse 1, “Blessed are those who walk according to God’s law.”  Verse 99 – 103, “Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.  I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.  I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

So I was not surprised, when in church, to hear the worship leader welcome us and describe his church as a place where we believe in the Ten Commandments.  If only he had added, “This is a place where Jesus is our Savior, Lord and King” or something like that.  But, he did not. Jesus wasn’t mentioned.

There is no question that the law is a transcript of God’s character and sin is the transgression of that law.  But the central focus of our worship is not, and should never be, a law.  The central focus is a God full of grace, who sent us His only Son to perish at our hands, that we might be redeemed.  The law is magnificent in knowledge and its protective wisdom guides us to a good life.  But apart from the giver of that law, Jesus Christ, it cannot supply us with forgiveness when we transgress, neither can it give us eternal life.

I apologize if I am nitpicking.  But I don’t think so.  Jesus is what gives church and worship value.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 2, 2017

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

Rogerbothwell.org

A Time for Mulligans

Every golfer knows what a mulligan is.  It is something very much needed when one does not keep one’s head down and left arm straight.  A mulligan is a do-over without counting the first swing as a stroke. The rules regarding mulligans depend on the agreement of those playing.   The rules range from none to one for each hole.  The usual rule is one and is often used on the very first hole when you whiff the ball because instead of keeping your head down you looked up to see where it was going.

Christianity is a mulligan religion.  The basic rule is there is always another mulligan available whenever needed.  God is a God of do-overs.  We can create an impressive list of God’s patience with His people.  We could start with the woman taken in adultery.  In the Old Testament there is David.  He is most likely the king of mulligans.  Usually we think of him murdering Uriah the Hittite because David wanted Uriah’s wife, but the list is long.   He robbed people and then killed them so they couldn’t identify him.  Even on his death bed he ordered a murder.  If we go back to the New Testament one of the most poignant do-overs was Peter after he had denied knowing Jesus, not once but three times.

I am encouraged by all of this.  Our God is a God of infinite mercy.  The adjective infinite is a marvelous word.  There is no end to His love.  No end to His forgiveness.   No end to His giving us another chance.  So just in case you are feeling pretty miserable about your past just remember God says, “Second chance.  Why?  I don’t recall a need for my child to have another chance.”  Awesome.   Happy New Year!

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 1, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I found an inexpensive winch on sale at a tool store.  I have quite a bit of firewood in my woods but getting it up to the house can be a problem for this aged man. The winch will be perfect.  I can put the cut wood on a hand truck that has four wheels and have the winch pull it up the hill.  All I have to do is secure the winch to something strong.  If I don’t do so the project will fail.   It doesn’t matter how strong the winch is, without a tight hold on something solid, it will not work.

By now you know where I am going with this.  Without a strong foundation or a really firm hold on something well-grounded our lives just don’t work.  Everyone needs an ethical base and a spiritual hold that will not fail them.  Jesus is the answer.  As a child I learned this by singing about the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the rock is Jesus.  He was the Rock that supplied the children of Israel with water during their forty year trek through the Sinai.

Jesus promises to be with us.  “I am with you always even until the end of the world.”  He is the victor over sin.  Satan poured out all hell on Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross.  He could not break Him.  On Sunday morning the tomb could not hold Him.   He lives.  We serve a risen Savior and He’s in the world today.   This Rock is our firm foundation.  He will never fail us.

Now if I can just secure that winch, I am in the firewood business – at least for myself.  Don’t call to order any!

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 31, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I grew up singing a hymn with the words, “O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end.”  However, one of my favorite authors wrote, “Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand.”  That is very discouraging when we come to this time of year and think about how much better we want to do next year.

Does the importance of the promise make a difference?  We think a promise to lose weight is important until we smell and see that wonderful piece of pumpkin pie smothered in freshly whipped cream.  Then the rationalization begins with “Just this once.”  A bit later that evening it is easier to say, “Well, after the pie is finished I will start anew.” However, if it is a promise never to steal, then we stand much more resolute.  I hope so.  But would I steal food for someone I love?  Yes, I would!  Sorry if that disappoints you.  But it is the truth.

So let’s go back to the “promises and resolutions like ropes of sand.”  Why bother?  I propose that making those sandy promises can do one of two things.  It can make us just give up when we fail.  Or making those promises reinforces the foundations of our character and gives us the courage and strength to try again.  There is real value in the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed.  Try.  Try again.”

I am scheduled to preach this weekend.  I was going to tell people not to bother with sandy promises.  But I have changed my mind.  I am headed for the pile of sand in my backyard.  I have been there before.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 30, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Today I was a jerk.  As I look back on my day’s behavior I genuinely rue something I did.  It was totally thoughtless.  A little girl and her mother were sitting at a table selling Girl Scout cookies.  Girl Scouts are always a good excuse for buying cookies.  It gives me an altruistic cover for indulgence.  What I regret is not the purchase of the cookies.  It was who I bought them from.  I totally ignored the little girl and focused on the mother for the purchase.  Any thoughtful person would have realized this transaction was about the little girl.  I never addressed her. I should have talked to the child.  The cookies were hers. Alas.

I am wondering how many times I have classified someone as a jerk because of their behavior when what they did was innocently thoughtless.  I was a jerk and could rightfully be so classified.  But I don’t want to be a jerk and I am sure the people I so label also do not want to be one.  Jesus is the best psychologist in the world.  His counsel is so on target.  He tells us not to judge others.  Usually we do it on the smallest of details.  The events are usually out of context or out of character for the one we so quickly brand.

One time I did just the opposite.  Upon meeting a lady and her children I focused mainly on the children.  Later she asked me why I was angry with her.  I wasn’t.  I just didn’t do it right.   Sometimes one feels like they can’t win.  I need to be more gracious to others because I want them to be gracious to me for my acts of thoughtlessness, which I am sure, occur more often than I know.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 27, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org