Romans 13:11-14
You know what sort of times we live
in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know
that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put
our faith in the Lord. Night is almost over, and day will soon appear.
We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in
the light. So behave properly, as people do in the day. Don’t go to wild
parties or get drunk or be vulgar or indecent. Don’t quarrel or be
jealous. Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you
wear. Then you won’t try to satisfy your selfish desires.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Do
you remember when you were a child and you visited your grandparents or
a friend…and you never wanted the visit to end? When Timothy, Zola and
Nathan visit our house, of course it’s the same thing. They are never
ready to go home! Often, they waste precious minutes of play time
standing around protesting how they wish they had more time and/or don’t
want to leave!
This is what we are being told in this scripture
passage. We are wasting time on things that are not important, when we
should be focused on God and living for Him. The adage, “Tomorrow is
another day” may have worked for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind, but it has no place in the life of a faith-filled Christian. We cannot “play today” and serve God tomorrow.
Just
as much as some people want to do as they please today and “turn over a
new leaf” to live for Jesus another day…there are people who are so
busy serving God and living for Him that it seems like they never rest!
Have you ever heard someone say that they will sleep when they get to
Heaven? These folks have heard the words of Paul to the Romans…they are
serving God now…on this earth and in this lifetime. And this is what
we should all be doing.
Timothy stayed with us last night, and he
asked several times, “When is it going to be day?” Finally, I asked
him, “What are you going to do tomorrow when it’s day again?” He
replied, “I don’t know.” I’m afraid that this is the answer for a lot
of us. We really don’t know what we will do with the day we are
given…and often we waste a large part of it on things that do not serve
God, build our faith, or share the Good News of Jesus with others.
We
don’t know when our “earthly visit” will end…how much time we will be
given. But we must not waste a minute of it. We often tell the children,
“Get busy playing!” It’s time for us to wake up and “get busy” living
in the light of Christ! This is the day that the LORD has made…how will
you spend yours?
©2015 Debbie Robus
Showing posts with label putting off listening to God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label putting off listening to God. Show all posts
Daily Devotional for November 6, 2013
Joel 3:1-2
In those days, yes, at that very time when I put life back together again for Judah and Jerusalem, I’ll assemble all the godless nations.
I’ll lead them down into Judgment Valley and put them all on trial, and judge them one and all because of their treatment of my own people Israel.
They scattered my people all over the pagan world and grabbed my land for themselves.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
We are entering that time of the year where everyone seems to go a little nuts with food and drink. It starts with Halloween and continues straight through Christmas and into winter. “I’ll only have a couple of pieces of candy… after all, it is Halloween!” we tell ourselves. But two pieces becomes twenty during the weeks of November (or maybe even sooner for some!). On Thanksgiving Day, we justify piling our plate high with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (with marshmallows, of course!), hot rolls and more. No tossed salad for us… but bring on the congealed ones laden with all sorts of rich deliciousness! Hey, it’s only Jello® and Cool Whip®… right? And we simply must try a slice of each kind of pie on the buffet... to resist the whipped cream on top would be downright unpatriotic!
This gets us to the first of December, where each day brings one cookie and/or piece of candy after the next… parties galore… rich finger foods, eggnog and all sorts of tantalizing drinks, and of course - hot cocoa! By the time New Year’s arrives, many of us will have added extra poundage… not to mention how sluggish and cranky we will feel! So we’ll make our resolutions to take off the weight and “get ready for swimsuit season!” We’ll ride a roller coaster of workouts and diets and winter nights with hot cocoa and a good movie… and in the end, we may or may not regain our health and drop the weight.
Over time, I can tell you that this will have a cumulative effect. And while you may be young and able to somewhat handle this yo-yo approach to life…there may come a day when you sit across the desk from a doctor who tells you that you have diabetes, high cholesterol or heart disease… or you may find yourself in the back of an ambulance headed for the ER after suffering a stroke due to high blood pressure. You may develop arthritis and hip/knee problems because you have taxed your body’s capacity for bearing weight. Or if you manage to avoid these “judgments”, you may spend a good chunk of your adulthood battling the scales, struggling with your willpower, and trying to squeeze into the too-small clothes in your closet!
I’ve watched enough seasons of NBC’s The Biggest Loser and heard the stories of a sufficient number of the contestants to see that many people in this country reach a point where God steps in and gives them a wake-up call. In essence, He says, “It’s time to stop the madness!”… and He offers them an opportunity to reclaim their life – and their health. He gives them a chance to do the necessary work to come back into alignment (physically, mentally, and emotionally)… and to build a truly healthy life – in every sense of the word.
Not everyone will respond successfully… some will choose to continue down a destructive path. But many will make permanent life changes. They will develop a vital respect for God’s desire for them to be completely healthy and well. They will trust Him to help them learn balance… and how to confidently say “No!” where necessary. God will guide them back into a right relationship with food and good health… and they will enter subsequent holiday seasons with His protection and support as they exercise willpower and resolve!
If you are one of those for whom the temptations of the holiday offerings are not a problem…congratulations! But here’s the thing… we all encounter temptations and missteps in our lives. Your “issue” may not be food... but I bet there is some area of your life in which you struggle to maintain balance. And that’s where God comes into the equation. The scriptures tell us that God will bring all of His people together again someday and judge each of us. He will hold us accountable for how we respected Him and all that He gave us… and that includes our bodies, our thoughts, and our actions.
In the meantime, God won’t let us continue down the wrong path forever with a vow to “play now and pay later”. I firmly believe that God sends “wake-up calls” to His children… and in some instances, He calls them home sooner than later in order to put a halt to their irresponsibility and disrespect. While I am ready for heaven - and I hope you are, also - I don’t want to live in a way that frustrates God and disrespects all that He has done for me. I want to give everything I have every single day… to serve and honor Him in each word and action.
Just as each of us will slip up from time to time and eat more cookies than we know we should… or slack off on our workouts once in a while… I know that I will make plenty of mistakes, even as I try my hardest to give God my very best. When God gathers us together for judgment, I want Him to smile at me and see far more that pleases Him than He does mistakes and disappointments. Don’t you? What are you doing about this? Have you asked God to help you… to equip you with the fortitude and determination you need to make healthy decisions – in every area of your life? Are you showing God the respect He deserves? Isn’t it time you did? Will this be the “season” that you get off the roller coaster and start truly living well? Are you ready to get started?
©2013 Debbie Robus
In those days, yes, at that very time when I put life back together again for Judah and Jerusalem, I’ll assemble all the godless nations.
I’ll lead them down into Judgment Valley and put them all on trial, and judge them one and all because of their treatment of my own people Israel.
They scattered my people all over the pagan world and grabbed my land for themselves.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
We are entering that time of the year where everyone seems to go a little nuts with food and drink. It starts with Halloween and continues straight through Christmas and into winter. “I’ll only have a couple of pieces of candy… after all, it is Halloween!” we tell ourselves. But two pieces becomes twenty during the weeks of November (or maybe even sooner for some!). On Thanksgiving Day, we justify piling our plate high with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (with marshmallows, of course!), hot rolls and more. No tossed salad for us… but bring on the congealed ones laden with all sorts of rich deliciousness! Hey, it’s only Jello® and Cool Whip®… right? And we simply must try a slice of each kind of pie on the buffet... to resist the whipped cream on top would be downright unpatriotic!
This gets us to the first of December, where each day brings one cookie and/or piece of candy after the next… parties galore… rich finger foods, eggnog and all sorts of tantalizing drinks, and of course - hot cocoa! By the time New Year’s arrives, many of us will have added extra poundage… not to mention how sluggish and cranky we will feel! So we’ll make our resolutions to take off the weight and “get ready for swimsuit season!” We’ll ride a roller coaster of workouts and diets and winter nights with hot cocoa and a good movie… and in the end, we may or may not regain our health and drop the weight.
Over time, I can tell you that this will have a cumulative effect. And while you may be young and able to somewhat handle this yo-yo approach to life…there may come a day when you sit across the desk from a doctor who tells you that you have diabetes, high cholesterol or heart disease… or you may find yourself in the back of an ambulance headed for the ER after suffering a stroke due to high blood pressure. You may develop arthritis and hip/knee problems because you have taxed your body’s capacity for bearing weight. Or if you manage to avoid these “judgments”, you may spend a good chunk of your adulthood battling the scales, struggling with your willpower, and trying to squeeze into the too-small clothes in your closet!
I’ve watched enough seasons of NBC’s The Biggest Loser and heard the stories of a sufficient number of the contestants to see that many people in this country reach a point where God steps in and gives them a wake-up call. In essence, He says, “It’s time to stop the madness!”… and He offers them an opportunity to reclaim their life – and their health. He gives them a chance to do the necessary work to come back into alignment (physically, mentally, and emotionally)… and to build a truly healthy life – in every sense of the word.
Not everyone will respond successfully… some will choose to continue down a destructive path. But many will make permanent life changes. They will develop a vital respect for God’s desire for them to be completely healthy and well. They will trust Him to help them learn balance… and how to confidently say “No!” where necessary. God will guide them back into a right relationship with food and good health… and they will enter subsequent holiday seasons with His protection and support as they exercise willpower and resolve!
If you are one of those for whom the temptations of the holiday offerings are not a problem…congratulations! But here’s the thing… we all encounter temptations and missteps in our lives. Your “issue” may not be food... but I bet there is some area of your life in which you struggle to maintain balance. And that’s where God comes into the equation. The scriptures tell us that God will bring all of His people together again someday and judge each of us. He will hold us accountable for how we respected Him and all that He gave us… and that includes our bodies, our thoughts, and our actions.
In the meantime, God won’t let us continue down the wrong path forever with a vow to “play now and pay later”. I firmly believe that God sends “wake-up calls” to His children… and in some instances, He calls them home sooner than later in order to put a halt to their irresponsibility and disrespect. While I am ready for heaven - and I hope you are, also - I don’t want to live in a way that frustrates God and disrespects all that He has done for me. I want to give everything I have every single day… to serve and honor Him in each word and action.
Just as each of us will slip up from time to time and eat more cookies than we know we should… or slack off on our workouts once in a while… I know that I will make plenty of mistakes, even as I try my hardest to give God my very best. When God gathers us together for judgment, I want Him to smile at me and see far more that pleases Him than He does mistakes and disappointments. Don’t you? What are you doing about this? Have you asked God to help you… to equip you with the fortitude and determination you need to make healthy decisions – in every area of your life? Are you showing God the respect He deserves? Isn’t it time you did? Will this be the “season” that you get off the roller coaster and start truly living well? Are you ready to get started?
©2013 Debbie Robus
Daily Devotional for May 29, 2013
Proverbs 29:1
For people who hate discipline
and only get more stubborn,
There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break,
but by then it’ll be too late to help them.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
If you are old enough, you remember the ads for Coppertone sunscreen with the little girl in pigtails and blue swimsuit bottoms… a dog tugging at her pants, revealing a pale white bottom! If you are too young to remember this ad, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppertone_girl. When I was growing up, we were told to “tan, don’t burn,” but our suntan lotion was designed to aid us in achieving a golden tan… not to protect us from the sun’s harmful rays.
By the time I was in my 30s, everyone knew about studies that revealed the dangers of sun exposure… how the harmful UVA and UVB rays could cause everything from premature wrinkling to fatal skin cancers. Like many, I continued to tan long after I knew the potential consequences. And just last week, I had cryosurgery on an ugly “sunspot” on my chest, while another raised area near my collarbone had to be biopsied for potential Basal Cell Carcinoma! Thankfully, it was a benign keratosis… but now I have these two raw places that must be babied and tended while they heal… and I have once again been warned to stay out of the sun and to wear sunscreen at all times. Not suntan lotion… sunscreen with an SPF (Sun Protection Factor) – the higher the number, the better!
I was stubborn. I liked the looks of a deep tan, and I worked hard to maintain one! And then the day came when some suspicious spots began to appear on my body, and the doctor began to tell me that some were “pre-cancerous.” Thankfully, I have dodged the fate of many… my mother had to have plastic surgery on her nose last year following the removal of a cancerous lesion (and she wasn’t even a sun worshiper like I was!)… and I recently read a magazine article about a woman in Texas who had to have multiple plastic surgeries on her lip following the removal of a very deep malignancy. For them, it was too late to think about sunscreen, wearing a hat, or staying out of the harmful rays… at least in that instance. And for me, it’s too late for the creamy smooth skin of my grandmother, who wore a hat, long sleeves and even gloves whenever she was out in the sun for most of her 100 years…regardless of the temperature. I am forever freckled and marked for my dogged obstinacy!
This is not totally about staying out of the sun! There are countless ways in which we think we know better than the experts… including God! We are often more concerned with pleasing ourselves than with doing what we know we ought to do… or pleasing God. How many times have you said, “LORD… one of these days, I’ll do this or that for You.”? How often have you said, “I’ll give up XYZ and do what God wants… but not today!”? Just how often do you listen to God… and to others He sends into your life to guide your path?
Here’s the deal… God is incredibly patient with us… to a point. When He has had enough… or He sees that we are not going to change our ways and listen to Him, God starts to allow us to experience consequences. In my case, cryosurgery and biopsies have caused me to become quite diligent about wearing sunscreen and protecting myself from the sun’s harmful rays. For an elderly friend of mine, three near-misses with other drivers in the same day have caused her to reconsider driving. As she put it, “When God gives you THREE signs in one outing, I think you ought to listen!” Hopefully she will really follow through, put down her keys, and allow others to chauffeur her around from now on.
What about you? Where are you being stubborn and insisting on your own way? Do you see that you are trying God’s patience… and possibly that of many in your midst? Don’t you think it’s time to consider your actions… and potential consequences… to make the necessary changes before things go too far? Isn’t it time to start listening to God and those He sends to guide you? Aren’t you ready to operate fully in His wisdom… or are you willing to test the limits of God’s tolerance? What will it take to fully get your attention? Is it worth the risk?
©2013 Debbie Robus
For people who hate discipline
and only get more stubborn,
There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break,
but by then it’ll be too late to help them.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
By the time I was in my 30s, everyone knew about studies that revealed the dangers of sun exposure… how the harmful UVA and UVB rays could cause everything from premature wrinkling to fatal skin cancers. Like many, I continued to tan long after I knew the potential consequences. And just last week, I had cryosurgery on an ugly “sunspot” on my chest, while another raised area near my collarbone had to be biopsied for potential Basal Cell Carcinoma! Thankfully, it was a benign keratosis… but now I have these two raw places that must be babied and tended while they heal… and I have once again been warned to stay out of the sun and to wear sunscreen at all times. Not suntan lotion… sunscreen with an SPF (Sun Protection Factor) – the higher the number, the better!
I was stubborn. I liked the looks of a deep tan, and I worked hard to maintain one! And then the day came when some suspicious spots began to appear on my body, and the doctor began to tell me that some were “pre-cancerous.” Thankfully, I have dodged the fate of many… my mother had to have plastic surgery on her nose last year following the removal of a cancerous lesion (and she wasn’t even a sun worshiper like I was!)… and I recently read a magazine article about a woman in Texas who had to have multiple plastic surgeries on her lip following the removal of a very deep malignancy. For them, it was too late to think about sunscreen, wearing a hat, or staying out of the harmful rays… at least in that instance. And for me, it’s too late for the creamy smooth skin of my grandmother, who wore a hat, long sleeves and even gloves whenever she was out in the sun for most of her 100 years…regardless of the temperature. I am forever freckled and marked for my dogged obstinacy!
This is not totally about staying out of the sun! There are countless ways in which we think we know better than the experts… including God! We are often more concerned with pleasing ourselves than with doing what we know we ought to do… or pleasing God. How many times have you said, “LORD… one of these days, I’ll do this or that for You.”? How often have you said, “I’ll give up XYZ and do what God wants… but not today!”? Just how often do you listen to God… and to others He sends into your life to guide your path?
Here’s the deal… God is incredibly patient with us… to a point. When He has had enough… or He sees that we are not going to change our ways and listen to Him, God starts to allow us to experience consequences. In my case, cryosurgery and biopsies have caused me to become quite diligent about wearing sunscreen and protecting myself from the sun’s harmful rays. For an elderly friend of mine, three near-misses with other drivers in the same day have caused her to reconsider driving. As she put it, “When God gives you THREE signs in one outing, I think you ought to listen!” Hopefully she will really follow through, put down her keys, and allow others to chauffeur her around from now on.
What about you? Where are you being stubborn and insisting on your own way? Do you see that you are trying God’s patience… and possibly that of many in your midst? Don’t you think it’s time to consider your actions… and potential consequences… to make the necessary changes before things go too far? Isn’t it time to start listening to God and those He sends to guide you? Aren’t you ready to operate fully in His wisdom… or are you willing to test the limits of God’s tolerance? What will it take to fully get your attention? Is it worth the risk?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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