Category: devotional

One of my favorite boyhood possessions was a snow globe my dad bought for me at Niagara Falls.  I would sit by my bedroom window and turn it over and over making it snow inside that little glass world.  It didn’t matter what the weather was outside my window.  I could make it snow any time I wanted as long as I had my snow globe.  It was a little world inside my big world; which is like our personal world inside the world at large.  The world at large is filled with hustle and rushing and wars and endless strife.  We have the power to create our own personal world.  We can fill it with Jesus and create a pre-heaven.

Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”   Once we let Him in things change.  Our personal world is filled with peace and we are sheltered from the strife of the outside world.  We can watch the news and see what is happening in the outside world but we don’t have to let it change our personal world with Jesus.

When we accept Jesus we are adopted into God’s family.  We become citizens of God’s Kingdom and can begin to reap the benefits of citizenship.  Our personal world can be such that when we move to heaven it will be but a change of address more than a change of atmosphere.  It is amazing what power God shares with us. We don’t have to let the world tell us how to live.  Real living can be grand inside our personal world.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 23, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There is a location on our evening walk where the wind blows the leaves into a pile.   Each night while my dog walks around the pile I shuffle my feet through it  making as much of a mess as possible.  Some nights I even turn around and do it again.  My wife nailed it when she said, “Are you being a little boy again?” I think somewhere in heaven there is a secret location with a workbench, saws, hammers, planes, sawdust, finished and unfinished products.  Guess who frequents it.  I doubt if we will be invited in.  This is special.

Going back to special places can be risky.  We have memories of how something was and we risk it not being that way when we return.   Real estate developers, highway construction, growth or decay of trees and painters can transform a place so that it is little like we recall.  Then it is spoiled for us.   As I race down an interstate highway I often wonder what farms, barns, houses, special places are no more because of Eminent Domain and our rush to go somewhere.  When people lose their homes because of fire or flood I feel so sorry if they lost their pictures.  Couches and chairs can be replaced but not pictures filled with memories of bringing home those babies and watching them take their first steps.

John 14 is intriguing.  Could it be that those homes uniquely prepared for us are filled with photo albums, special pets, an old train set, a pair of worn-out sneakers?  Don’t quickly count it out.  I Corinthians 2:9 does say, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived — the things God has prepared for those who love him.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 22, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The brownish, reddish, yellowish leaf danced outside my window.  Up and down in the autumn air it pirouetted with all the flourishes of a ballerina.  Having let go of its branch it was not about to settle to the earth without one last performance – one last encore.  Could I, by applause, have kept it dancing I would have clapped until my hands grew weary.  Masterfully it pretended to be a butterfly reeling above the asters as if it wanted just one more sip – one last draft of nectar sweet.  Just as I thought the recital was concluded when it neared the lawn, up it soared for yet another performance – another presentation of beauty.  Did it know it was being admired?  Did it know I wanted it never to end?  No – this was beauty for beauty’s sake.  This was the springtime violet that would never be seen by human eye.  This was the summer’s daylily behind a rock wall.  This was beauty created when God said, “That is very good.”

Our God is a God of beauty.  He breathes into us the lushishness of life that we might see what He sees and rejoice with that which causes Him to rejoice.  Beauty comes in many forms.  It is exterior.  It is interior.   To create inner beauty is to become more like our God.  Character building is more important than all the cosmetics in Macys.

Everybody is beautiful to somebody.  The secret is love.   The more we love someone the more beautiful they grow.  Considering that Jesus loves us enough to go to the cross for us means only one thing.  We are looking good.   When God looks at us He sings Joe Cocker’s “You are so beautiful.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 21, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Our squirrels have disappeared.  There is neither a gray nor a red anywhere to be seen. I’m not sure that I mind.  They ate an enormous amount of expensive bird seed and for that their absence makes me happy.  But, I really would like to know what happened. Does my neighbor have better tasting birdseed than what I provide?  A few years ago I saw a red fox grab a red squirrel off our patio.  Do we have another fox or has the neighborhood coyote gotten them?  The neighborhood is full of rabbits this summer so the coyote should be doing quite well.  I saw him recently and he is looking well fed.  We also have a cooper’s hawk who, on occasion, watches the bird feeder.  Aha, about three weeks ago there was a bobcat just outside the window.

It is a mystery I will most likely never solve. Most people like mysteries. The mystery section at Barnes and Noble is huge.  Somewhere in my elementary years I thoroughly enjoyed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works.  Agatha Christie has been dead since 1976 and is still one of the world’s most read authors.  Her estate claims she is the third most read author after the Bible and Shakespeare having sold over 4 billion books.  Paul enjoyed speaking of the mystery of salvation and redemption.  His mysteries are not whodunits.  God did it!  But why did He do it?   Over and again He speaks of the mystery of Christ and that now in this generation God has revealed to us the knowledge of His love.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 16, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It is often said the sweetest revenge is to live well and be happy.  It is a variation on a verse most familiar.  From the 23rd Psalm we read, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”  Even as a child I knew there was a tinge of “in your face” to this verse. There is a touch here of God saying, “Back off.  Go live your life with my blessing. I’ll take care of the revenge.”  In Romans 12 Paul wrote, “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. ‘To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’”

If there is someone who really doesn’t like you, if there is someone who wishes your life would totally collapse, don’t worry about them.  Send them a magazine subscription.  Then they will think of you at least once a month.  Pray for their good health.  If something needs to happen to them God will do the right thing.  If we tried we would do the wrong thing.  We aren’t smart enough to do the right thing when we are emotionally involved.

How grand it is that we have this amazingly brilliant God who knows exactly what Joe Blow needs. If he needs to see us prospering God will lay incredible blessings on us.  While we are living the high life just remember that God also loves Joe Blow.  Yes, God loves our enemies.  Remember once upon a time we were God’s enemies and Jesus died for us anyway. Romans 5:10

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 17, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

They were cherry tomatoes and they looked especially good in the afternoon sunlight.  I was walking my dog and one of my neighbors has a garden that abuts the street.  The tomatoes were on the curb which is city property and I pay my taxes; therefore, it seemed that the tomatoes were in public domain.  Accompanying my salivation came the thought that in Mark 2 Jesus’ disciples plucked some grain to eat from fields that did not belong to them.  It was lawful for a hungry traveler to pick a handful of grain.  Is this ancient law germane in the 21th Century?  Was it morally right for me to harvest a handful of cherry tomatoes to satisfy my hunger?

If I ate them I probably would feel guilty.  I would awaken in the night thinking I needed to knock on my neighbor’s door and confess my larceny.  That was the heart of the matter. It was not a matter of law.  It was a matter of what I thought might be wrong.  James wrote, “Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.”  I think the reverse logic is logical.  To him that thinks it is wrong and does it, it is wrong.  It might not be wrong.  But if we think it is and still do it, it has all the damaging effects as if it really was wrong.

To add a bit more context to this.  The garden belongs to one of the pastors in town.  I have in the past talked with her about her garden and she has given me eating rights. But I know many of my neighbors walk their male dogs along that curb.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 18, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The bees on the aster were side by side like morning coffee drinkers at a local diner.   Slowly they were tanking up for the trip back to the hive.  Just as the diner benefits from the morning customers so the asters benefit from the visit of the bees.  It was a win-win.  Being able to engineer a win for both sides takes skill and is wonderful when everyone leaves a winner.

Salvation is a win-win scenario.  We win.  How could I begin to list the benefits of making Jesus one’s savior?  God wins.  Just as any loving parent rejoices when their children are safely home so there is great joy in heaven when we accept our prepared place. The question is who wins the most?  Do we or does God?  While I am tempted to say we, I am instead going to say God wins the most.  I realize that sounds very egocentric and we are so wonderful but He is love.  He is love unbounded.  His love has a capacity beyond our comprehension.  We think we win life eternal, a great place to live, unlimited goodies, unending growth, etc.  What He wins is the satisfaction of love.  Paul wrote, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” Ephesians 3

This love is so deep we just don’t get it.  But we try.  Think of our love for our children and multiply it by a thousand times.  Then we are getting close.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 17, 2013

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

rogerbothwell.org

As we near the end of the year catalogs have started appearing in the mail.  One that arrived today is filled with ridiculously expensive items.  One of which is a manual typewriter for 200 dollars.  While I have not recently been to our Salvation Army store in town I am going to guess one could most likely find a manual typewriter for ten dollars or maybe less.  The description in the catalog makes it sound as if one just laid their fingers on the keys Pulitzer Prize winning prose would flow all over the paper.  This is akin to giving someone a brush and a set of oil paints and coming back the next day to collect a comparable Monet.  Or how about giving one a gift certificate for the tool section of Sears and expecting a new home?

Giving someone a Bible is not going to make them a saint.  Actually even reading the Bible will not make someone a saint.  Satan has it memorized.  I don’t think it has done much for His character.

Having the tools and/or talent doesn’t produce quality.  Quality comes from serious application of mind and talent.  Paul told Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  I once heard a commencement speaker use this text to mean study itself would result in God’s approval.  I don’t think that is what Paul meant.  I don’t think he meant study biology, study philosophy, study German.  The topic of study was “How can I be a good discerner of God’s message.”   It will not be the result of random verse hunting. It comes with careful, prayerful application to context (never forget context) and asking for the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 16, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Because our bedroom windows face the rising sun, the room can get extremely bright at five in the morning during the summer.  Thus we have light blocking shades.  No light pierces that barrier but it does slice through the cracks between the edges of the shades and the window frames.  There is something about light that will not be denied.   Jesus called Himself the Light of the World.  He said, “You have seen me you have seen the Father.”  For thousands of years Satan managed to distort the true character of God.  God was depicted as being harsh, vindictive and capricious. Nothing could be further from the truth.  When Jesus came that all changed.  Jesus taught us to pray by beginning with “Our Father.”  That was revolutionary.

Light is color.  Jesus is color.  The Father is color.  The black and white world of crushing those who did not measure up was past.   Jesus ushered in a world of forgiveness and redemption for God’s children.  Satan hates Jesus for exposing the heresy he had foisted upon mankind.  The challenge was to pervert the truth.  Tell people they are saved by grace and add the word “But.”  Everything that follows “But” negates what preceded it.  “Yes,” Satan said, “you are saved by grace, “But” you have to do this or do that.  With the Galatians it was circumcision.  However, you can substitute anything for circumcision.  It all cancels the Good News.  Paul wrote, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?”  We know who it was.  It was God’s enemy, our enemy.  If he can’t live forever then he wants to make sure we don’t.  But light will not be denied.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 15, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It all started days ago when I thoughtlessly put the mayonnaise jar back in the fridge with the lid unscrewed.  It finished today when I lifted the jar out of the fridge holding only the lid.  Fortunately the jar was plastic and not glass, but that contributed to what followed. The impact on the floor enabled the plastic to collapse and pop back propelling a huge amount of mayonnaise onto the front of a cupboard.  It stuck like wind-driven snow against the side of a building.  I love my dog. It wasn’t long until the cupboard was spotless and I never had to lift a finger. Ah, life has its moments and this was one of them.  She is such a good dog.

This isn’t the first mess I have made in life.  Some have been much messier and more difficult to clean up.  Ah, that is what Jesus is all about.  He has come after me so many times cleaning up.  What is amazing about this is many of the people involved can remember the stories with great detail, often enhanced for effect, but Jesus doesn’t remember them at all.  Someday when I ask Him about some of them He will say, “What, I don’t recall.”  How I wish people were like Jesus.  Perhaps the biggest cross we have to bear is unforgetting “friends.”

Jesus is so much better than that.  Jesus is so much better than anyone.  He is the ultimate cleaner. “If we confess He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  How grand.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 14, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org