Daily Devotional for October 1, 2014

Isaiah 58:4-11
Look, what good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. Is this what I want—this doing of penance and bowing like reeds in the wind, putting on sackcloth and covering yourselves with ashes? Is this what you call fasting?

No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor, and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don’t hide from relatives who need your help.

If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you. He will heal you; your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then, when you call, the Lord will answer. “Yes, I am here,” he will quickly reply. All you need to do is to stop oppressing the weak and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors!

Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble! Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy you with all good things, and keep you healthy too; and you will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Police officers and the Prosecuting Attorney from Pulaski County, Arkansas, held a press conference on September 30, 2014, to discuss the death of 49-year-old realtor Beverly Carter, who was abducted and murdered while showing property in the county on September 25th. A reporter asked Sheriff Doc Holladay how the family received the news – and how they were holding up.  Holladay remarked that the Carter family was “obviously distressed, distraught and concerned...but I think they have a religious strength that a lot of people may not have, and in that, they are surrounded by the closest of their friends, their church family, and those kinds of things that help strengthen them to get through this process...” 

In the last 36+ hours of my grandmother’s life, many people came to stand with me...say a prayer over her...and even sing her a song. Greg barely left my side. The aides and staff at my grandmother’s assisted living facility went above and beyond any requirements of their job...some of them coming in on their day off to sit with her and kiss her “Good-bye.”  More than two dozen members of her church prepared a pre-funeral meal...then served it and handled all of the clean-up.  The only thing we had to lift was a fork to our faces!  A lot of these dear souls called and sent cards and continued to remember us with prayer and support for days and weeks afterward.

Many of these same people had stood with my family in “dark hours” before. Several of them spent the better part of several days at my mother’s home ministering to us on more than one occasion when loved ones passed. When I fell a few years ago and broke my ankle, some of these same folks were among the first to visit me and bring me get-well gifts, food and encouragement. 

Here’s the thing...I am not poor, sick, helpless, homeless, or destitute. I like to think that my faith is strong...that I trust God to see me through anything. But we all have needs at one time or another.  This passage speaks to those who have profound hardships...but it also speaks to those in our midst that appear to have it all together – or who don’t seem to have any necessities.  When we assume this to be the case, we often miss an opportunity to serve God and bless them...and receive a blessing in the bargain.

Do not misunderstand...we need to help the homeless...to work in the soup kitchens and visit those in prison...to reach out to the sick, infirm, elderly and housebound.  We need to be on the lookout for ways to lift up those who are destitute and desperate.  Bible studies, spiritual retreats and outreach ministries are important.  But we must be very careful not to be so swallowed up in the pride of “serving those less fortunate”...and pumping our chests at what good deeds we are performing for God...that we neglect our “next-door neighbor”. Just because you share a pew with someone every Sunday doesn’t mean that he/she doesn’t have tremendous challenges and heartaches. We need to remember that lifting each other within the body of Christ is equally important!

My challenge for all of us is to read this passage from Isaiah carefully...and then put it into action.  Look around...see who is sick, injured, hurting in some way – or just struggling to “keep all of the balls in the air.”  Do they need a helping hand...an understanding ear...a visit or phone call to say, “I’m in your corner?”  Are we so busy doing the “visible” ministries – or those that are “fun” or make us feel good that we are neglecting our brothers and sisters who are in our line of sight virtually every day?  Is there someone who used to attend your church that has “dropped off the radar”?  Have you reached out to them to find out what happened?

Never underestimate the needs within your own family of believers.  Never downplay your own challenges and hardships...or deny another believer the opportunity to minister to you.  When this passage tells us not to hide from relatives who need our help, this includes fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! God is calling us to help others...including those in our immediate “circle”.  Don’t “fail to see the forest for the trees”.  Ask God to show you how, who, and where to minister to others in His name...to offer His healing and help to them...and to heal yourself in the process.  Be part of the support group that rallies around others, regardless of who – or where – they are. 

Sheriff Holladay concluded his remarks about the family of Beverly Carter by saying that “they need support to continue”.  Who in your line of sight needs the same? Will you help those in trouble and allow your light to shine out from the darkness in service and glory to God?  Don’t you think it’s time you did?

©2014 Debbie Robus

Daily Devotional for June 17, 2013

1 Timothy 5:8
People who don’t take care of their relatives, and especially their own families, have given up their faith. They are worse than someone who doesn’t have faith in the Lord.
 
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
 
Today is my cousin JD’s birthday.  I have known JD since he was a very little boy… when his parents moved to Arkansas from Wisconsin.  His mother was recovering from breast cancer, and she wanted JD to grow up near her husband’s family.  So they moved to the hometown of JD’s dad.  I’ve shared this story before…but as JD grew up, he got into trouble - particularly with drug abuse.  He spent time in juvenile detention programs and rehabs. His mother’s cancer returned, and she died around the time JD graduated from high school.  When JD tried to physically harm a police officer, he was sent to prison.
 
It seemed that there was no hope for this guy… and we were all heartsick.  But JD’s dad never gave up on him… and I knew that his mother and grandmother wouldn’t either – were they still alive.  I felt God telling me, “This is your cousin…the son of people you love dearly.  Reach out to him.”  I’ll be honest… JD scared me. He was loud and wild… and VERY tall and strong.  He intimidated a lot of people.  But I got his prison address and began to write to him. I told him that I loved him… but God loved him even more.  And JD returned letters filled with anger, hatred…and absolutely no peace.
 
I’ll spare the further details, except to say that JD was sent to “the hole” for some infraction in the prison’s general population, and he had nothing to keep him company except a Bible [and the Holy Spirit].  This is where JD rediscovered Jesus.  From then, everything changed… and a “new creature” emerged.  I wish I could say that everything has been peaceful and happy since that time.  But the truth is that there were rocky patches in our relationship… and even rockier times for JD.  He married Angie, the love of his life, in 2011…only to lose her to breast cancer two days before their 2nd wedding anniversary this past January. JD and Angie had spent much of their two-year marriage traveling from city to city, preaching the gospel in churches and a underneath large tent they hauled with them.
 
This morning, I was watching a segment on ABC’s The View about Lt. Col. Mark Weber, who appeared on the June 5th episode with his wife and three sons.  Weber was diagnosed with Stage IV gastrointestinal cancer in 2010, shortly before being appointed as a military advisor to the Afghan Parliament.  He penned Tell My Sons… A Father’s Love Letters as a collection of life lessons for his own sons – and for others.  Something Weber said in the end of the interview was incredibly profound… as I am certain are many of the insights in his book.  He said in part…”What do you do when life doesn’t go the way that you want it to?  Because I’ve got news for you – and I hope it’s not a news flash – but life’s not going to go the way that you want it to.  So what are you gonna do?  [You] realize that sadness is part of the equation…you can’t get rid of that.  And you don’t call what’s sad ‘happy’… you look for the happiness that’s right next to it.”  Eight days later, Weber peacefully slipped away from this earth at his home, surrounded by family members.
 
My cousin JD and Angie dreamed of spending years on the road, enlarging God’s Kingdom and helping others find peace and healing.  So when Angie died so suddenly, JD sold virtually everything he owned, packed his tent, loaded his truck, and headed out to continue the work that God had called him to do.  He is looking for happiness right next to the sadness.  And while I know he misses Angie every minute and grieves the loss of her service alongside him, JD is finding purpose – and peace – in his own discipleship.  He is presently ministering every night under a tent in Fairview, Alabama, where lives are being changed and souls are being won to Jesus. In one Facebook post, JD wrote… “I'm speechless about the move of God in Fairview. We had planned to end the meeting on the 14th of June… but as of right now, it's open-ended. We will be here until whenever!”
 
And I am reminded once again of the words in 1 Timothy 5:8, where Paul admonishes us to take care of our relatives… especially our own families.  Each of us will become disheartened, disappointed, and/or discouraged at one time or another.  Some of us may wish to throw up our hands and say, “That’s it!  I’m done!”  But God is reminding us in this passage that we must never stop loving others and caring about them.  We may stop giving physical and monetary aid… we may step aside and allow others to learn hard lessons or tempers to cool… but we must always share love in Christ Jesus, just as He does for us when we are unlovely.  God will handle the rest.  He will work in our lives and the lives of others - and fill in the gaps. He will bring peace and contentment, and the assurance that we did what He asked of us.
 
I know that some of you are tempted to “find a new family.”  But what if God did this to you?  This would not bring you peace, any more than a failure to share God’s love with your own family members will allow you to operate in joy and contentment.  Ask God to show you how and where to minister to your own relatives… and to your family of believers in Jesus Christ.  Begin in your own back yard…then branch out and broaden your circle.  Ask God to bless your obedience… to help you discover happiness right next to sadness… and to fill you with peace in the process.
 
©2013 Debbie Robus