Guidelines For Living Devotional

William Gladstone, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, spoke of the Old Testament book of Psalms, saying, “All the wonders of Greek civilization heaped together are less wonderful than is this simple book of the Psalms.”  No book in all the literature of the world is as remarkable as these 150 selections grouped in five books.  But many people have never learned what a choice anthology of poetry, history, prose, and prophecy is found in this book.  They have yet to discover the rainbow of emotions and feelings found in the Psalms.

Did you ever hear the old joke church people used to like to tell about each other?  It goes like this: To live above with saints we love; oh that will be glory. But to live below with saints we know; well that’s a different story!  There is truth to the corny humor.  It can be hard to live well with one another on this journey called life.  When a crisis hits, it can seem almost impossible.

When stress erupts and disruption turns life upside down, each of us handles the storm differently. Mental health advocate, Kay Warren, points out that, in a crisis, we all might be battling the same storm, but not everyone has the same emotional resources with which to weather it.  If a storm of tumultuous times hits when you are in a relatively healthy place emotionally and financially, you might be able to make it through like someone aboard a stable yacht.  Others may find themselves rowing mightily in a leaky rowboat or worse, down in the waves, desperately clinging to only a log.

When Simon and Chana Taub decided to disagree and couldn’t resolve their conflicts, a judge ordered a wall built right down the center of their three-story house, separating the angry couple from each other.  I’m not sure whether or not the judge had heard the story about Solomon’s decision to divide a child down the middle, thereby finding out which one of the women was actually the mother of the child.  But I do know that when hearts are divided, those same walls divide the hearts of children as well.

“Far apart under one roof,” was the title of the story telling of the bitter dispute between Chana Taub and her husband Simon.  In this unbelievable saga, repeated countless times around the world, after 27 years of marriage and four children, Chana and Simon’s love turned to hatred.

Out of the mouths of babes comes the unvarnished, plain truth.  Of that you can be sure.  I thought of that when I took my little grandson to the park. Andrew was then a two-year old full of smiles framed by a few baby teeth, a little bit of fuzz on his head, and glasses to correct a vision problem.

You’ve heard people say it: “I’m spiritual, but not religious.”  Whether it was a celebrity, your next-door neighbor or even your adult child, this is how one quarter of Americans view themselves, according to the Pew Research Center. [1] But not just Americans--Prince Charles and one-fifth of people in the UK fit into this category, according to Professor Michael King from University College London. The definition of the term is broad; it can include a moment of transcendence while watching a sunset, living in the moment or using meditation in an attempt to stop chattering thoughts.

 

[1] Castella, Tom de. “Spiritual, but Not Religious.” BBC News. BBC, January 3, 2013. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20888141.

Not all doubt is bad.  Some of the world’s leading skeptics of Christianity have eventually become its leading advocates.  Such a person was C. S. Lewis, the late professor of Medieval English at Cambridge University.  A combination of issues--the horror of war, seeing some of his best friends die, wondering about the hereafter--made Lewis first doubt his faith, then search for answers.  He found them, too, in the pages of Scripture. What’s good about doubt?  Consider the following five observations, and then make your own decision.

Contrary to what some may tell you, there can be a silver lining to the dark clouds of doubt.  “Just take it by faith,” we are often told, but there are situations where doubting what you are uncertain of results in a far more positive faith in the long run than to blindly accept something. Doubt causes you to dig deep, to search for truth, to compare what you have been told with what the Bible really says.  There is a positive side to doubt. While some never confront their doubts, others face them and end up being better because of it, much better.

How do you keep track of your tomorrows?  Do you plan them out, meticulously calendaring work and social events on your phone and reviewing tomorrow’s agenda before bed?  Or do you stand by your paper calendar and a scribbled to-do list?  Even if you don’t plan for the tomorrows of life, you probably operate under the assumption that you should.  Human wisdom has generally run along the lines of the African proverb that says, “Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”  If we’ve got a plan ready to execute, we may feel that when tomorrow arrives, we will have whatever it takes to meet it head on.  We are in control of our destinies!