“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Eph. 5:25-27
‘Oooo… I’d better get that,’ I thought! Company was coming and Katie was at work. But they were all due back home about the same time, so I was ‘redding up’ the house (a Pennsylvania term). As I was picking things up and putting them away, the light hit just right and I saw a couple of spots on the floor that needed to be removed. I went to grab a rag.
When I returned to the living room and looked really hard to find the spots that had been there only a moment ago, I couldn’t see them. Stepping back and allowing the light to hit the shiny floor, I was able to see the 2 small dull spots that stood out and wipe them clean. Then the thought hit… ‘Why were you so concerned about a couple, almost invisible spots?
Men are pigs, and being a man, floor cleaning isn’t really on my radar of importance. But the ‘company’ that was coming was my daughter and her family. The person that would really care about having a clean floor… is my wife! And I know my wife! She likes things to look nice and clean. Even if it really isn’t something my daughter would care about. My Bride does!
Jesus used today’s verse as an example of what He expects from ME, and ALL married men. Jesus is a husband too. Jesus took GREAT PAINS to clean and purify His Bride… ‘The Church,’ because… HE cares too! Jesus, being God, is perfect. Therefore He MUST have a perfect Bride. So He cleaned He on the cross! He wants her to know the importance of ‘’CLEAN!
DO you find yourself concerned about the things of God, simply because you love Him? Does what He wants, and expects, motivate YOU to get down on your knees to clean those offending spots of yours for Him? If you’re not sure you can see those offending spots, just ask Him to point them out. The rewards for caring about what He cares about are out of this world!
When I read a good devotional, I sometimes pass it on to you. This is awesome! When I shared it with Katie.. she agreed and said.. “That’s why I work with little kids!” I hope this helps you become like one! Enjoy… K.C.
Seeing Through Six-Year-Old Eyes
Article by Marshall Segal Desiring God
One afternoon this summer, my 6-year-old came running through the house to find me. His eyes were wild with excitement. “Dad, you’ve got to come look — right now. Come look, come look, come look! Hurry, you’re going to miss it!”
We raced back to the living room, to the big window looking out over our backyard. From the day we moved in, that window has been our favorite room in the house. My son’s eyes searched one of the trees, searching and searching, and then he saw it again. “Dad, there! There! Do you see it? Do you see it?” And I did. Probably 25 feet up in one of our tallest trees was the backside of a big raccoon, comfortably perched out on one of the branches.
I mean, at first, we assumed it was a raccoon (too big to be a squirrel, too small to be a bear, too fat and furry to be a bird). We sat transfixed, watching that rear end — waiting for the animal to eat, or climb, or fall, or even just scratch an itch. Then it moved. Its tail swung down where we could see it, with its trademark black and gray stripes. “Dad, its tail! It is a raccoon!”
As I looked in my son’s eyes — and there was so much in those eyes — I saw a wisdom I once had and now sometimes struggle to remember. For that moment, he was my teacher, and I was his son.
Monotony or Creativity?
For the “mature” like me, raccoons are almost immediately a nuisance. They make homes under porches and climb down into chimneys. They tear away shingles and break holes in walls. When we see them, we reach for the phone to pay someone to come and remove them. Within a business day, if possible.
When my children see a raccoon, they see an entirely different creature. They’re not worried at all about the structural integrity of porches or the possibility of a four-legged home invasion. To them, animal control may as well be the KGB (just watch any animated movie with animal control workers). No, when they see a raccoon, it may as well be a triceratops. They don’t see problems; they see curiosities. They ask questions (lots of them): Where did he get his stripes? Why is he sleeping during the day? Does he have any friends? Can I pet him? We see trouble; they see beauty. We see monotony; they see creativity. We see a nuisance; they see a story.
Oh, how much we might learn from them, how much more we might see through their eyes. G.K. Chesterton writes,
“Children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult (leap for joy) in monotony.” (Orthodoxy, 81)
What 6-Year-Olds See
I recently felt my flabby imagination when our family went to pick KinderKrisp apples at a local orchard. Having tasted apples every week of their lives, it was our children’s first chance to actually grab one from a tree.
You could see their minds spinning, trying to connect the dots — they knew both apples and trees, but could not imagine them holding hands like this. They stared up in amazement as branches like the ones they’ve found in our front yard now reached out, wrapped in bright green cardigans, and nearly handed them the juicy red fruit. And, of course, they tasted better than any we ever bought from one of those bins at the store.
To our shame, my wife and I weren’t connecting dots anymore. We were just trying to keep our kids from throwing apples at each other or bothering the innocent bystanders filling bags around us. So which of us saw the actual reality of the orchard? Who saw the apples as they really are — the 6-year-old or the 36-year-old? Chesterton weighs in,
“When we are asked why eggs turn to birds or fruits fall in autumn, we must answer exactly as the fairy godmother would answer if Cinderella asked her why mice turned to horses or her clothes fell from her at twelve o’clock. We must answer that it is magic. . . . The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in the fairy books, “charm,” “spell,” “enchantment.” They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery. A tree grows fruit because it is a magic tree. Water runs downhill because it is bewitched. The sun shines because it is bewitched.”(71–72)
Our decades-long familiarity with this magic doesn’t make creation any less magical.
That we’ve watched God do his magic over and over and over again, doesn’t make it less miraculous. That we can begin to predict what will happen — birds from eggs, apples from trees, rainbows from storms — doesn’t suddenly render any of it “natural.” As much as modern science might have us think otherwise, nothing in all of creation is on autopilot. No, the Son of God “upholds (supports or maintains) the universe,” every apple of every kind in every orchard, “by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3) — even the ones in those store-bought bins.
God Has Not Grown Old
In this way, our cute, “naïve” children are our theology professors. Watch as Chesterton traces a typical boy’s imagination into heaven:
“Grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. (think about that)! It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.” (81–82)
Don’t believe him? Then let God tell you in his own words:
“God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. . . . God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. . . . And God saw that it was good. . . . And God saw that it was good. . . . And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:3–31)
God made a world even God could admire. And we only assume he eventually got bored with it all because we’re not him, because we don’t see this world like he does — because we assume he’s like us.
If you understand what Chesterton’s saying, you can’t see a sunset the same. It’s even more stunning when you realize (as a pastor once showed me) that God not only paints a new sunset for us every 24 hours, but that as the world spins, he’s always painting sunsets. He never puts the brush down. Somewhere in the world, right now, he’s ushering the sun below the horizon again, conducting her slowly with his brush, mixing in oranges, purples, and blues.
And as he does, his heart soars over what he sees. Because when it comes to sunsets, God is more my son than he is me.
Remember That You Forget
This dulling dynamic in adults is rooted in a subtle but dangerous forgetfulness. Chesterton warns us that, in the end, all of this is really not about raccoons, apples, and sunsets:
“We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality and positivism only means that for certain dead levels of our life we forget that we have forgotten. All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful instant we remember that we forgot.” (74)
Have you been lulled into forgetfulness? Have you even forgotten that you’ve forgotten? Have the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things slowly choked out your ability for awe and wonder? Then find an orchard or a local park. Go outside at dusk. Take that walk you’ve wanted to take. Be on the lookout for the bunnies, squirrels, birds, and bugs you’ve trained yourself to ignore. Give yourself some space to be curious again, to ask the questions you haven’t asked in decades.
And if you happen to have one, take a 6-year-old with you.
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers…” 2 Thessalonians 2:1
‘They’re here!’ I thought… as I ran to the door. After weeks of planning, then rescheduling because of illness, my youngest daughter arrived with her whole family. Because they live almost 4 hours away, and because of differing schedules, we don’t get to see them very much. But as ‘looking forward’ became ‘here and now,’ Joy filled my heart and lasted all weekend.
My granddaughter ‘Cypress’ is the cutest little thing. I know most every grandparent thinks that and I am no exception! When she got here, the age old game of playing shy came too. I know it well. As she turned her head away, I caught her peeking with 1 eye as my daughter said, “go see Papa.. you’ve been waiting!” But I know the game. It doesn’t happen that fast!
There’s a little game of ‘playing hard to get’ that goes on between Cypress and me. But that game has been played with every one of my granddaughters, when they were her age. As they got older, the game waned, until it was gone altogether. But that’s just how things Grow! As life takes on a responsibility of its own, heart holes can become a sign of maturity. Sniff!
Today’s Bible verse is God’s addressing of those ‘heart holes.’ Having seen most of our kids and grandkids this weekend, we awoke today to a kind of loneliness that is only produced by love for one another. The kind that, when absent, makes itself known only in the sorrow of silence. Of all the things I love about Jesus, HIS addressing of THAT silence is His GREATEST!
There is NOTHING on earth that addresses the Godly Sorrow of yearning and loss like Jesus Christ. I missed my kids before we even left! But we planned to get together again THIS MONTH! Looking forward to ‘soon’ makes ‘the heart hole’ pill easier to swallow. But for family and loved ones that have passed on, a much stronger medicine is necessary.
IT IS A FACT!!!! WEWILL BE GATHERED TOGETHER WITH JESUS. There is a DATE coming! A TIME! A REUNION! And it will NEVER END! The BEST part is.. we will ALL be with Jesus Christ … FOREVER! In light of eternity… it is coming SOONER… than later! As I Consider the Joy that is ‘to come,’ it helps me face hard days with something to LIVE FOR! How about you?
Are YOU looking forward and planning YOUR reunion of joy? Because it is possible to be so stuck on ‘back then,’ that you can miss the REAL joy and reason for where you are right now. Do you look forward to the anticipation and joy of ‘The Gathering?’ Do you let that promise fill and encourage you to keep working and moving forward? Because THAT is precisely what God wants His Hope in you to do!
“He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 Amplified Bible
Saturday night (or very early Sunday morning) it’ll be time to readjust my clocks 1 hour backward. And I’m looking forward to it! It is this time of year I get to gain that hour of sleep, stolen from me last spring, when I was forced to move the clock 1 hour ahead! Time changes are tough! They interrupt my body’s natural rhythm. And I need all the rhythm I can get!
Yesterday, as I was reading my Bible and contemplating, I ‘memory drifted’ while looking back on my life. Hearing that wherever you go… there you are, I was feeling VERY blessed. Looking back from where I came, I know I had never imagined that where I am, is where I’d be! For me, that makes loving God SO easy! Turning back to look helps me to better see ahead!
I’ve always loved this Bible verse because it seems to capture my whole life, put it into a time capsule and then bury that sense of wonder inside my heart. Unlike real time capsules that have a ‘wait time,’ I can open mine at any time. Each time I take the time to do that, I am even more blessed by God and His beauty, in and around me, AND His loving purpose for me!
When I looked yesterday, I had the sense of ‘OOOOOO!’ Like looking at a beautiful sunset, there is no better sound than that. Then realizing that His purpose for me has always been right on track, yet still just a small part of forever, I felt ‘Ahhhhhhhh!’ Seeing the world’s confusion and not knowing what’s going on, all I can grasp is the wonder of ‘Wowwww!’
My heart, as does EVERY heart, KNOWS! It knows how small and insignificant I really am. But that God Himself is in the process of making me, to present me, as His greatest gift to His Son… Jesus Christ! I have a past that He has used (sins erased), a present that seems to be very Biblically active, looking forward to a time and place where everything will come together for His ultimate eternal purpose!
In my High School Yearbook one of the questions we had to answer as seniors was, “what is your favorite season and why.” I had written, “Fall – because it’s a cool time to think!” Then as now, I can honestly say… yes it is! How are YOU doing with then, now and later? Are you looking at your life through God’s lens? Enjoy your extra hour and think about it!
“You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “Never again…” Isaiah 62:6b-8a
Having the opportunity to speak to High School Freshman classes, and having spent hours preparing, I was nervous! I told them so. The presentation I had prepared was, “How NOT to HAVE to live with your mom after graduation.” Preparing and RE-PRE- preparing, Katie guessed why I was so nervous saying, “You care about this too much!” She was right!
When I was in high school, I didn’t get much help in the “whaduhyawanna do with your life,” department. Consequently, as a junior, I found myself in the ‘Guidance Office’ talking to an uncaring counselor. When I asked, “what am I going to do with my life? I have no ideas?” His response was “There’s a catalog over there… go look through it. You’ll find somethin’!”
50 years later, as I sweated the details of what to say to kids who are now where I was, I was again… VERY NERVOUS! I look around the world and I do not like what I see. Evil is not just lurking… it’s attacking… and right around the corner! Truth be told, I actually wonder how much freedom today’s kids will have. Will their voice, if they choose to have one… matter?
This verse I read this morning… jarred me! Written by a prophet of God about 3,000 years ago, it is GOD telling people what it is that HE wants! It may be the craziest piece of Scripture of all! God wants ME, to PESTER Him, until He DOES, what it IS… HE REALLY WANTS to DO! Go ahead… read it again! Apparently after 3,000 years, He hasn’t been pestered enough!
The opportunity to stand before classes of kids, starting out where life starts mattering. On a road of Apathy! From there on, their lives will be tracked and scored. Winners go on to win. Losers will go on to ‘the college of hard knocks’ to learn ‘the hard way…’ or just plain lose! But the one thing that kept me nervous was their apathetic ‘freedom of choice.’ Now God… I get it!
The apathy in the room scared me. I tried to scare that from them with numbing facts of what awaited if they didn’t start the course clearly pointed out before them. Checking the news when I got home, I saw Jews being viciously persecuted around the globe. The UN, our own Senate and Congress have become a zoo! Many people have yet to learn a thing! I give up!
I don’t mean I give up – up! I can see that doing Earthly things Earthling’s way isn’t working. This verse today feels heavier to me. So instead of poking at the world, I’m going to try poking at God to remind Him (at HIS request) that it is HIS wish to make Jerusalem (the City of Peace) the center of a loving peaceful world… where we who love Him will live FOREVER! But I have to ask myself if I really CARE enough to work up my voice! What about you? “HEY GOD!”
Here’s a challenge… I was a kid in the 60’s. Try reading the 60’s chapters in Isaiah! See what God has to say about what just MIGHT be going on… TODAY! And POKE HIM! After all, HIS heart is broken too!
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, made a splash on Monday by wearing a Star of David on his lapel. But far from achieving the result he expected, the diplomat’s gesture provoked angry reactions at the organization and especially in Israel. Erdan and the members of Israel’s permanent delegation to the United Nations wore a yellow Star of David, a symbol of Nazi persecution of Jews, at a Security Council meeting on Monday afternoon (which, like all previous meetings, ended without results). On Tuesday, the head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel sharply criticized the country’s diplomatic delegation for wearing the symbols.
Erdan vowed not to remove the yellow stars until the UN condemns Hamas’s “atrocities.” He added that “some of you have not learned anything in the last 80 years. Some of you have forgotten why this body was created.” Erdan decried the Security Council for “remaining silent” in the face of the heinous attacks perpetrated by Hamas militants against Israel on October 7, which killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Except for a morally and politically weighty but non-binding resolution adopted by the General Assembly last Friday — which the Israeli ambassador described as an “infamy” — the Security Council has rejected four proposed resolutions and remains deadlocked on the matter.
“So, I will remind you. From today, every time you look at me, you will remember what it means to remain silent in the face of evil,” Erdan continued. “Just like my grandparents, and the grandparents of millions of Jews, my team and I will wear yellow stars from now on,” he said, standing up to pin a star on the lapel of his suit. View on Watch
The Nazis forced Jews in Germany and the other European countries they occupied during World War II to wear yellow stars on their clothing to identify themselves as Jewish. Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have compared the Hamas attack that triggered the war to the Nazi persecution of Jews, the use of the symbol is tantamount to violating a national and existential taboo, while highlighting how sensitive comparisons with — and flippant references to — the Holocaust remain for many Jews. October 7 marked the highest number of Jewish deaths in a single day since the Nazi genocide.
Dani Dayan, the director of Yad Vashem, has condemned the Israeli ambassador for his decision. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Dayan wrote: “We regret to see members of the Israeli delegation wearing a yellow star. Such an act is degrading to both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel. The yellow star is a symbol of the helplessness of the Jewish people and of being at the mercy of others. Today we have an independent state and a strong army, and we are masters of our destiny. Today we wear a blue and white flag on our lapel, not a yellow star,” Dayan wrote.
Do you wear or carry a yellow star on your heart or body today? The Church needs to and should stand up and out! Why not send a note to your elected leaders?
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; Legacy Standard Bible All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“Oh you have to see this!” Katie said. These days, seeing something usually means it’s on her phone. To see ‘it,’ she sends it to me by email or text. That’s just the way things are done now. Opening it up, I knew that I too had to ‘share.’ The description on the picture goes along with today’s Bible verse. Being one of the first Bible Verses I learned, it’s a favorite of mine.
I remember fond memories of my father in his ‘study’ as he worked feverishly on the sermon, almost all day Saturday, for Sunday. It was a ritual. He hadn’t known the Bible very well when he was miraculously led into the ministry. In fact, he hadn’t even graduated High School! So Saturday was a long, slow, studying, thinking, writing, pondering, practicing kind of day.
Today’s verse was one of HIS first he studied and learned. Over the years, the longer he served, the more he studied… AND the more settled he became in hard times. Knowing The Word in my heart means I carry it with me wherever I go. Having read it so much, it is always with me. And like a cell phone, it’s my direct line to Home and my resource in dark, hard days.
There is no way to explain ‘peace that passes understanding.’ Though I’ve got it! But I got it the long, hard way… through repetitive use and application. It doesn’t ALWAYS have the answers for my troubles. But the Faith it teaches has never failed, and now wobbles even less over time. Do YOU have that kind of faith or want it? Try using your Bible like a cell phone!
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” Psalm 32:8
“Where’d they go?” I had just gotten to the church and was unpacking my backpack… computer, checkbook, pen, Bible, sermon… SERMON!!! Uh-Oh! I didn’t even have to look hard. Inside my Bible, where I’d left my sermon notes, I had mindlessly placed my notes to a different talk. Too late to call Katie, I just bowed my head and talked to The Great Shepherd!
Having preached and spoken THOUSANDS of messages over my life, It wasn’t the first time. I’m sure it won’t be the last. Though a little concerned, I wasn’t worried. I had it all right there in the top of my head and in my heart… right where it needed to be. I felt like Noah on the ark. When it started to get dark, he suddenly remembered he had Flood Lights!
Having been a Christian a long time, and having ‘been there’ before, the reminder that the life I live is not mine easily can become a comfort. Apart from Him, I really don’t have anything to say anyway. The message that had come to me had actually been dropped in my lap, from above, in a miraculous kind of way. So I knew that The Author… HAD this!
Freaking out is a common occurrence in this life. It had taken a LOT of years to realize that, even when a sheep is lost… 2 facts ring through the seemingly dark forest. First, God is never surprised. And second, God still knows where that sheep is! There have been a LOT of times that I had gone off in my own direction, only to discover ‘I’ was the one who was lost!
The rules for walking with God do not change. First I must change focus. Then I must call to Him and ask for directions, being willing to DO what He says and GO where he sends! Then… the follow through. Reading The Word brings the Holy Spirit into my sphere of attention. His unseen eye, coupled with His wisdom, just seems to happen. All that is left is to go and DO what He says!
God has a job for me. A task. A divine appointment. Someone I ‘bump’ into might need a word from The One guiding ME. It is ALWAYS miraculous and ALWAYS fulfilling. Eye watching is NEVER boring. Are YOU paying attention to the Great Shepherd and following through? He just might be sending a lost sheep in your direction! DO ya follow?
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1
Winner Winner! That is the ultimate conclusion the mailing SCREAMED at me when I pulled the tab to reveal ‘MY’ number! But it did EXACTLY what I figured it WOULD do BEFORE I “pull(ed) the tab to activate…” It LIT UP! WINNER WINNER! Experience has taught me that when an ad like this comes, it’s best to just trash it. No sense in getting my hopes up!
The typical ploy is to fill the recipient with the question… ‘But what if?’ By looking at the prizes, I may agree that there is SOMETHING on that mailing that I WANT. Pulling the tab simply certifies that fact. If ‘want’ goes on to form an action, it might move me to go to the dealer, where a salesman will be all too happy to show me how easily I can GET my want!
Reading today’s Bible verse was fun because I didn’t go LOOKING for it. It just happened to show up in my reading about Jesus in Matthew. A CROSS reference sent me there. Having read it hundreds of times before, I felt that ‘Spirit Nudge’ moving me to go back and read it again. Then again… till I saw it! When I did… it was even better than that winning flier.
Do YOU see it? Probably not. Because when I felt the nudge to go LOOKING for it in other translations, it isn’t there!!!! Because THIS version leads me to believe that a QUESTION is coming. Except… the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence is ‘!’ and not ‘?’! ‘HOW GREAT IS’ is a QUESTION. And it’s a question that doesn’t get a specific measurable amount!
The punctuation and statements make it clear. I AM A LAVISHLY LOVED, CHILD OF GOD! It is NOT a question… nor is it simply a remark. It is an EXCLAMATION! My Bible was sitting beside that winning flier, and I had NO question as to which of those pieces of paper was most true and important! The next sentence says that the WORLD doesn’t even know! Hmmmm!
Now, I am a FIRED UP WINNER WINNER! God LOVES me and has taken me into His Kingdom. But before I go there, it is my mission to go tell the world so that they TOO can become winner winners! And THIS is NOT a SCAM! So are YOU a winner? Does He excite you from the inside out? Are you showing it off, like a shiny new car… to the WORLD? Go show off!
