Guidelines For Living Devotional

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote, “Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime, and departing leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.” I think, should Longfellow yet be among us, he would agree that few men ever left more distinct and meaningful footprints on the sands of time than the son of Jesse, a Bethlehemite who lived some 3,000 years ago. What has been David’s mark of distinction? First it is readily agreed that David was unique. He had a great heart for God and a determination to do the will of the Almighty. He was a loyal friend, generous to a fault, and--yes, flawed as a human being.

The world remembers its own by their greatest achievement; they remember God's own by their greatest failure. That's the way it has been century after century. David, a man after God's own heart" was beloved and blessed under the most devastating of circumstances. Repeatedly Saul sought to kill him so his own son, Jonathan, David's best friend, could be king; nonetheless, God had a different plan but David's greatest failure left a blight on his career that demonstrated his humanity.

If you have the opportunity to visit Israel, I could wish nothing more exciting and fulfilling for you than to visit a little corner of the world where so much biblical history has taken place--the Jordan Valley.  Jerusalem is 2700 feet above sea level, and the Dead Sea is 1200 feet below sea level. This means that in a matter of only a few hours you would descend going down a seismic fault.       

Long ago, the poetic bard, William Shakespeare wrote, "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will!" The overview of history confirms what he wrote. The problem, however, is that we often forget our lessons from history, or the mistakes of others and make the same mistakes that our forebears made.

He is venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Mentioned 16 times in the Koran, the biography of this man is longer than the narrative of any other person in the Bible, including Jesus Christ whose biography was written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Four years after Anne Frank was born in the city of Frankfurt, Germany, Adolph Hitler came to power.  Shortly thereafter, Otto Frank began to have concern for his family.  You see, the Franks were Jewish, and it soon became apparent that Jews did not fit into Hitler's grand scheme for a master race.  Thinking that they were escaping the increasing hatred against the Jews, the family fled to beautiful Amsterdam.

Some of God's choicest servants are those whose names are little known on earth but will be prominently lauded in heaven. Such is a German-born missionary working among Bulgarians of Turkish descent known as Pomaks.  I met Thomas when I was ministering in Bulgaria. Having heard something of this man's fierce determination to take the Word of God to people who don't fit into the grandiose evangelistic plans of many mission organizations, I told my host that I wanted to meet this man.

Have you ever had a conversation that went something like this: "Honey, I think you are on the wrong road. I just saw the sign back there and we missed our turn about five miles back."  The husband answers, "Now, nothing to worry about. I know a shortcut that will save us a lot of time."

One lesson that smart travelers learn is that you can't take it all with you! You usually can spot the first-time-traveler—the person who has the large bulging suitcase held together with a piece of rope or gray tape. The overweight traveler is also apt to get a shock when he or she finds out the cost of overweight luggage. Whereas airlines used to be "traveler friendly," more likely than not they are struggling with survival and personnel is under stress, just as you are. It isn't that the person behind the counter doesn't like you. He's just trying to keep his job and please his boss, too.

Have you browsed popular books lately? You might be surprised what you will find, including titles like The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, Getting Things Done, Think and Grow Rich, and other time management, stress-relievers.  Even Christian books are getting into the "compress your spirituality into short, manageable segments" mode—small spiritual capsules that produce painless growth and ultimate victory.