Guidelines For Living Devotional

How does a person restore a connection with God?  That was the question posed by a friend of Guidelines.  She struggled in even writing the letter, saying that four years ago she had written asking the same question but never mailed the letter.  Now a little girl, three years of age, is asking questions about God, and all of this triggers feelings of remorse and regret.

Do you live in a part of the world where the trees lose their leaves in the fall? Strangely, they become their most brilliant, with leaves of red, orange, gold, and brown right before the cold freeze of winter arrives, stripping the leaves and leaving barren branches.  Yet when spring follows winter, there is hope for renewal, and as the warmth of a spring sun gradually drives back the frost of winter, there is the expectation that new life is here, that there is hope.

A former Khmer Rouge prison chief who was convicted of crimes against humanity is now serving only half of his 35-year sentence. His name is Kang Kek lew, but he was known during the decimating and ruthless slaughter perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge as "Comrade Duch."

In his book Making Life Rich Without Any Money, Phil Callaway tells of an elderly couple celebrating their 50th anniversary.  When the cake was cut, it seemed only fitting that the husband comment on those wonderful years together.  He looked tenderly at his wife and tried to express himself.

The greatest rivers in the world usually begin on the cold, frozen slopes of high mountains as the sun begins to melt snow and ice, and from the trickle of crystal-clear water a steam begins to flow and eventually a cascade of water plummets down the mountain.  In the valley far below, the stream becomes a river, then a great river which we call the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges, the Rhine, or whatever.  By the time these massive bodies of water reach the ocean, they may be kilometers wide, but they are filthy, muddy, and grossly polluted.

"Why don't you grow up?  You aren't a child anymore!"  Scores of adults never cut the apron strings, never emotionally grow up.  They lean on mother, on their wife or husband, or buy expensive toys which become security blankets.  The difference between some men and their boys is merely the price of their toys, so observed one critic.

"Your love was fake," the social media post read.  "But the pain it caused was very real."  It's a sad truth—to love, to be in relationship with another human inevitably involves experiencing pain in one way or another.   To simply live in this world involves rubbing shoulders with people that we don't even like, let alone love.  But, love—the kind that the Apostle Paul wrote about in the Bible book of 1 Corinthians, is the kind of love which fulfills promises, honors others and keeps peace in relationships.  It is more than just a nice idea in the Bible.  It is a way of life which allows God to touch other people through our lives.  The Greek word for love there, is agape, which occurs when we make the decision to love.  This love isn't something that you "fall into" through emotions or attraction.  We may need God's help, and lots of it, to live out agape love.  God always promises to help us love in this way!

When Sir Ernest Shackleton was exploring in the Antarctic, he faced a very difficult hour as their rations became depleted.  Finally, the last few biscuits were given out to the men.  There was not a crumb of anything left.  That night Shackleton lay awake in his sleeping bag with their peril heavy on his mind.  He knew that death by starvation was near unless something happened.

Marriage, said an unknown pundit, is the art of two incompatible people learning to love compatibly together.  Anyone who has been married for more that 24 hours would agree that sustaining a marriage takes more than romantic feelings.  It takes a deep commitment of love which reaches beyond your emotions and feelings to meeting the needs of another.  It’s costly, too!  But its currency isn’t monetary.  We pay by repressing the desire to always be right, by giving up the desire to win every round.  Yes, love learns to compromise, to yield, but triumphs in the end.

When you learn that your bitterest enemy has really “gotten it in the neck,” how do you feel?  Do you quietly—or perhaps not so quietly—rejoice?  “Good!” you think, “Got just what he deserved!  I never liked that person anyway.”