Guidelines For Living Devotional

An eighteen-year-old fathers a child and then walks away saying, "How do I know that I'm the only one who could have done this?"  A widow with a considerable bank account is overwhelmed with the personal interest shown to her by a man young enough to be her own son.  Following a romantic fling, she marries him.   Her family is quite certain that the man is more interested in her money than in her.  A father of three children, a great musician whose worship choruses are sung all over the world, walks out on his family, saying, "I don't want to be married anymore!"

When a reporter interviewed a prostitute on a late night TV show, he noticed that she was wearing a small cross on a gold chain around her neck.  "Are you a religious person?" he asked commenting on her cross.  Somewhat embarrassed, she quickly said, "Oh, not at all.  I got away from all of that."  She then told how she had gone to Sunday school as a girl, but then as a teenager she strayed far from the teaching of the little church she once attended.

"Like a shepherd he takes care of his flock," wrote Isaiah the prophet of Israel.  "He gathers the lambs in his arms.  He carries them in his arms.  He gently helps the sheep and their lambs" (Isaiah 40:11, GWV).  No wonder the soul of George Frederick Handel, the man who wrote Messiah, was stirred as he pondered those words.

 "Joy," wrote G.K. Chesterton, "is the gigantic secret of the Christian."  Yet to many it appears to be such a well‑kept secret that they never fully discover what it all is.

"The problem with you Christians," commented an atheist, "is that you have monopolized all the holidays.  You have Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, All Saints Day, and what have you.  What we atheists need is a holiday all of our own."  With a wry smile on his face, the friend countered, "How about April 1?"  Centuries ago, the Psalmist wrote, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1).  But it could well be translated, "There is no God for me!"  A lot of people who describe themselves as atheists have second thoughts when the going gets tough.

Mark Twain, the American humorist, once wrote, "I am an old man and have known many troubles, but most of them never happened."  What Twain was saying is that most of the things we worry about never occur.  Paul Myers, founder of the old Haven of Rest Broadcast, used to say, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."

The National Institute of Mental Health did a study that required more than six years to complete.  It was the most extensive piece of psychological research that has ever been conducted by this prestigious organization, or, for that matter, by any such organization anywhere.  Their research confirmed what I have suspected for a long time: that the number one mental health disorder today is anxiety.

"The real issue in the moral, ethical, and philosophical world today is the question of final reality," so wrote Francis Schaeffer, shortly before his death in 1984.  He continued, "The Christian believes final reality is the infinite, personal God of moral absolutes who truly is there.  The humanist believes it is impersonal material or energy which has existed in some form forever, and is shaped into its present form by pure chance.  On this basis, man makes himself the measure of all things."

In the Upper Room Jesus charged the disciples: "Don't be troubled; don't be afraid!"  He knew what was ahead; they didn't.  But instead of struggling with panic, Jesus was calm, fully in control.  When you are stronger than the circumstances which confront you, you, too, can have that peace.  Jesus finished his challenge to the disciples, saying, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

"My peace I leave with you," said Jesus as He met with the disciples in the Upper Room.  This was immediately followed by two commands:  Don't be troubled; don't be afraid."  What Jesus had in mind was a good deal more than worry, being concerned about something. The word means to be confused, to be in turmoil, to be distraught.  And that's the condition of many people today who have trouble sleeping, are anxious, fearful, and have hearts filled with worry.