Life’s Too Short

Posted on by Betsy

Life’s too short.

How many times have you heard that or said that in a lifetime?

Life’s too short, so eat dessert first.

Life’s too short to stay angry at your spouse.

Life’s too short, so spend the money now for that trip you’ve always wanted to take.

Life’s too short to be miserable all the time, so change your situation.

In a Psalm written by Moses, we see this theme in a different context. In his view, life’s too short and then you die. In the meantime, all we get to do is experience God’s wrath and anger. Now that’s a sobering and discouraging thought! According to this, we toil and trouble all of our lives and in the end, we just fly away. Yikes!

But focus on the first and the last verses of this Psalm:

Psalm 90 (New Revised Standard Version)

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

This is beautiful language. The image of God being our dwelling place in all generations is a word of comfort. From everlasting to everlasting, God is God and we are his! In the midst of toil and trouble, remembering that God is GOD (and we are not) helps tremendously.

3 You turn us back to dust,
    and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are like yesterday when it is past,
    or like a watch in the night.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    our years come to an end like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years,
    or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Moses appropriately calls attention to the “life’s too short” conundrum and brings a certain focus to the situation. It begs the question of what you intend to do with this too-short life. Can you answer that today? Life IS too short. How are you going to number your days wisely? What changes should you make?

Moses reminds us that God is angry when we sin and are disobedient.

11 Who considers the power of your anger?
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

So in this too-short life, we need to count our days and use them well. In this too-short life, we should seek wisdom and righteousness. Having acknowledged the anger that follows sin, we should strive every day of this too-short life to walk in holiness. Life’s too short for regrets.

What are you doing with your too-short life? Spend it well.

12 So teach us to count our days
    that we may gain a wise heart.

Life’s Too Short to Miss a Single Sunset by Joe McGraw

More than Enough

Posted on by Betsy

We are moving back into our sanctuary for the first time since March. The pandemic forced us to take our worship services online, out to a ball field parking lot, over to our front yard, onto the beach, and even to a graveyard. We are beginning to feel like the early Hebrew nation that followed the pillar of fire and cloud all over the desert, setting up a temporary tabernacle each time they stopped.

Standing in one corner of the chancel area is our Lenten Cross, which is usually up from the beginning of Lent until Easter Sunday. On Easter it is covered with a white scarf and a white dove and then is removed when the service is over. Seeing the Lenten cross still up as we are preparing for this upcoming Sunday is bittersweet. This certainly has been the Lentiest Lent of all Lents….the never-ending Lent, the Lent that won’t relent, the Groundhog Day movie-remake in 3D-Lent Vision. We’ve had more than enough Lent for one year!

Whether you are in the camp of people who feel that we didn’t do enough to flatten the curve when we had the chance, or the camp that thinks it just needs to run its course, COVID-19 has been a daily struggle for individuals and institutions. The national anger that is bubbling just beneath the surface of society is bursting out in riots, property destruction, marches, and an abundance of hate speech. We are left with a feeling of gloom as we try to muddle through it.

Until yesterday.

The hope and promise of a vaccine became part of our conversation yesterday with the announcement of an experimental vaccine that has shown up to 90% efficacy. Over the last several months, real strides have been made in labs, on white boards, in research facilities, and with the brave volunteers who have been participating in early trials. Science is talking back to the virus in a meaningful and hopeful way.

Through all of this, we have always known where to look. We know to look to the one who rules heaven, and fix our eyes there until God has mercy on us.

Psalm 123 (Common English Bible)

I raise my eyes to you—
    you who rule heaven.
2 Just as the eyes of servants attend to their masters’ hand,
    just as the eyes of a female servant attend to her mistress’ hand—
    that’s how our eyes attend to the Lord our God
    until he has mercy on us.

It will be important to remember to continue to look to the Lord. It will be important to continue to be vigilant in our self-care practices. As a community and as a country, we will need to double down on our hand washing/sanitizer using/mask wearing/social distancing behavior.

Because we’ve had more than enough of this pandemic. We’ve had more than enough of misinformation. We’ve had more than enough death. We’ve had more than enough shame.

3 Have mercy on us, Lord! Have mercy
    because we’ve had more than enough shame.
4 We’ve had more than enough mockery from the self-confident,
    more than enough shame from the proud.

So keep looking UP. Don’t look to any one person, group, party, or institution to save us. We’ve been doing that since Lent and it hasn’t worked. It’s time to take the Lent cross DOWN.

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
    from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time on and forevermore. (Psalm 121 New Revised Standard Version)

Keep Looking Up by Michelle Robertson

Judge Debbie

Posted on by Betsy

The stories in the Bible that portray strong female leadership are few and far between. There are a lot of arguments about how the Bible ended up this way. Some folks reason that it was written in patriarchal times by patriarchal people. Others look to the leadership that was present when the Bible was canonized. Whatever the reason, it is an unexpected joy when we find a story of a strong female leader.

Let me digress for a moment and insert a little personal history here. In the beginning of my ministry I experienced resistance based on the fact that I am female. There are many stories, but one in particular sticks out that always makes me chuckle when I remember it. It actually involves my mother.

Mom was at a business meeting with colleagues from all over the state. At dinner, people were chatting about their families. A man sitting next to her asked her what her daughters did for a living. When she told him that I was a pastor, he gasped in horror. “How do you feel knowing that she is disobeying everything the Bible stands for?” he asked. Mom looked at him, annoyed and confused. “What are you talking about?” she replied. “Well, clearly in the Bible women are forbidden to preach. Just look at Jesus and his disciples!!! He only picked men!! Only men are allowed to be preachers! I’m a Baptist, and my church only ordains men.” Mom leaned across the table and replied, “Yes. And Jesus only picked Jews. Are Jews the only ones allowed to become preachers in your denomination? How exactly does THAT work?”

He changed the subject.

Oy vey!

So to continue, take a look at this marvelous nugget involving a brave judge named Deborah.

Judges 4 (The Message)

4 1-3 The People of Israel kept right on doing evil in God’s sight. With Ehud dead, God sold them off to Jabin king of Canaan who ruled from Hazor. Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim, was the commander of his army. The People of Israel cried out to God because he had cruelly oppressed them with his nine hundred iron chariots for twenty years.

4-5 Deborah was a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth. She was judge over Israel at that time. She held court under Deborah’s Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the hills of Ephraim. The People of Israel went to her in matters of justice.

There are two things to note here. First, the Israelites kept doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Is anyone surprised? Second, there was no king leading the people of Israel at that time. Pretty soon they would demand one, but at this point in time they were supposed to be following God’s rule, with earthly judges serving as the leaders of the people. And here we see a GIRL in charge.

6-7 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “It has become clear that God, the God of Israel, commands you: Go to Mount Tabor and prepare for battle. Take ten companies of soldiers from Naphtali and Zebulun. I’ll take care of getting Sisera, the leader of Jabin’s army, to the Kishon River with all his chariots and troops. And I’ll make sure you win the battle.

Deborah was a wise leader. She was a political and military strategist. She was a spokesperson for God, and the people trusted her. She knew how to bring her people together and inspire them. That’s what good leaders do.

Tell your daughters. Tell your wives and sisters and mothers and grandmothers. There are stories in the scriptures of strong female leadership…you just have to look a little harder. The lesson here is a good one for today: never underestimate the power of a woman.

Long live Judge Debbie!

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow By Michelle Robertson

Never Put Off ‘Til Tomorrow

Posted on by Betsy

Here is a macabre question for you today. If you were to die in the next hour, what business would you leave undone? What words would you wish you had said? What regrets would you have as you draw that last breath? What is left to finish in the next sixty minutes?

The human spirit is a powerful thing. I have watched dying people hang on for days and weeks in order to finish something. I’ll never forget sitting at a bedside with a church member for weeks as she waited for her estranged daughter to come. Every day she asked for her, and every day the daughter didn’t show up. Finally the other daughter drove to another state to get her sister, and when she walked in, she and her mother finally reconciled. They held each other and cried, forgave all past grievances, and expressed their love. The mother died peacefully in minutes.

Sorry for the “Debby Downer” tone of this devotional! But the question is legit. What unfinished business is lying around in your soul?

Today’s passage is a reminder that we never know the day or the hour of our last breath. We never know the moment when this world and all of its horror will suddenly be replaced by the Kingdom of God. (Come, Lord Jesus, COME!) The point is to be ready.

Matthew 25  (Common English Bible)

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten young bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and the other five were foolish. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but didn’t bring oil for them. 4 But the wise ones took their lamps and also brought containers of oil.

5 “When the groom was late in coming, they all became drowsy and went to sleep. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Look, the groom! Come out to meet him.’

7 “Then all those bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 But the foolish bridesmaids said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps have gone out.’

Jesus is not being coy in this parable. He is clearly delineating the wise people from the foolish ones. The foolish people think they have time to make amends, pursue righteousness, reconcile bitter divisions, and walk in obedience. They are wrong.

The wise ones live each day as if it were the last one on earth. They are ready to meet their maker.

9 “But the wise bridesmaids replied, ‘No, because if we share with you, there won’t be enough for our lamps and yours. We have a better idea. You go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 But while they were gone to buy oil, the groom came. Those who were ready went with him into the wedding. Then the door was shut.

11 “Later the other bridesmaids came and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us.’

12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

It was too late for the foolish bridesmaids, but it’s not too late for you. Today is a good day to reflect on your readiness. Do you need to repent? Should you ask God for forgiveness? Have you hurt someone and need to apologize? Are there unreconciled relationships that require your attention?

Don’t wait. Tomorrow may be too late.

13 “Therefore, keep alert, because you don’t know the day or the hour.

The Hour is Upon Us by Michelle Robertson

Regarding Life Together

Posted on by Betsy

My sister’s birthday was last week, and every year on her birthday I think about growing up with her. She is my only sibling. She is four years older and very much smarter. She is funny, gifted, and quite unique in her perspective on the world. In many ways we are polar opposites, but I am always grateful for the family I was raised in and the way my parents taught us how to negotiate the world in our formative years.

One memory that always stands out for me is a time when she and I were yelling and bickering to the point where our very patient mother lost her stuff. She charged into the living room, pulled us up from the floor where we had been arguing, and told us to face each other with our fists up. Then she told us to go ahead and start punching, with me going first. Of course I couldn’t bring myself to punch my sister in the face. Then it was my sister’s turn and she couldn’t punch me, either. The thought of physically hurting the other made both of us cry. My extremely wise mother knew that forcing us to confront how much we loved each other would leave a lasting mark…and it did.

In our passage today, Paul is making the same assumption. The people knew how to love each other….they were God-taught in getting along. But recent events in Thessalonica had stressed all of their relationships and they forgot themselves for a bit.

Kind of like being stressed out by a pandemic.

Kind of like making mask-wearing a political issue rather than a health issue.

Kind of like post-election America as we continue to wait to see who won.

1 Thessalonians 4 (The Message)

9-10 Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You’re God-taught in these matters. Just love one another! You’re already good at it; your friends all over the province of Macedonia are the evidence. Keep it up; get better and better at it.

Can you remember a time when current events and politics were NOT a part of your relationships with family and friends? Think hard. There once was a time when football, kids’ progress in school, travel, home improvement, new restaurants to try, and other benign subjects dominated our conversations. Can’t we please go back to those days?

11-12 Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You’ve heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders.

It’s time to get back to normal. It’s time for minding our own business. It’s time to live our lives in a way that makes people want to know Christ the way we know Christ.

Just love one another! Quit acting like you want to throw that punch. We’re better than this.

Love One Another by Kevin Robertson

Choose This Day

Posted on by Betsy

Every day is filled with choices. Coffee or tea? Eggs or cereal? Jeans or leggings? Work or goof off? According to UNC-TV Science, people make approximately 35,000 choices every day. I can say from experience that not all of them are good ones.

Young parents tell their children to “make good choices.” Our hope for our children is that if we raise them with a firm foundation of what constitutes a good choice, they will continue to operate from that perspective all their lives. God has the same hope for us as well.

When Joshua and the nation of Israel finally arrived at their new home in the Promised Land, Joshua instructed the people to make a good choice. This was one that would determine the viability of the nation. Whether or not they would prosper or fail miserably was completely dependent on what they would choose on this day.

Joshua 24 (Common English Bible)

1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God.

14 “So now, revere the Lord. Serve him honestly and faithfully. Put aside the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve the Lord. 15 But if it seems wrong in your opinion to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But my family and I will serve the Lord.”

The time had arrived to decide. All of the little idols and gods that they had adopted along the way had to be discarded now. Would they comply?

16 Then the people answered, “God forbid that we ever leave the Lord to serve other gods!17 The Lord is our God. He is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. He has done these mighty signs in our sight. He has protected us the whole way we’ve gone and in all the nations through which we’ve passed.18 The Lord has driven out all the nations before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land.

This is a good question for us as well today. Will we let go of the false idols of celebrity, power, influencers, bad habits, self-indulgence, our own stubbornness, etc., or will we serve the Lord? It is literally a choice we need to make every day. God expects that if we choose to serve him, it will be obvious by everything ELSE we choose…especially what we choose to say, do, think, post, and how we allocate our resources.

Do your choices reflect God? Or do they reflect the world?

The people answered Joshua with sincerity. They were willing to discard every little god they had picked up along the way. They saw God’s power, heard his invitation, and decided for him.

We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

How about you? Whom will you serve today? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

New Day, New Choices by Michelle Robertson

Election Day Wisdom

Posted on by Betsy

Somewhere early in this daily devotional-writing journey I realized that if I used the Common Lectionary, I could access five prescribed scriptures each week for my daily texts. Prior to this, I had been tackling topics and then finding a scripture that explained the topic. Starting with the Lectionary scripture first allows for the Bible to truly speak for itself, and it has been a revelation to me to realize how often the pre-set lectionary assignments speak directly into our situation day after day.

Today’s lectionary assignment does not disappoint. It is Election Day in the United States (for those of you who live in other countries, or may be reading this in months to come) and the scripture assignment is spot on.

We are led to the Book of Wisdom to contemplate a passage directed to the leaders of the nations:

Wisdom 6  (Common English Bible)

So then listen, you rulers, and understand. Learn, you who judge the far reaches of the earth. 2 Pay attention, you who have power over multitudes, you who take pride in having power over throngs of nations.

3 The Lord gave you authority to rule. The Most High gave you your power. He will watch carefully what you do and examine everything that you are planning. 4 You are merely stewards of his kingdom. If you don’t judge rightly, if you don’t keep the Law, or if you don’t act according to God’s plan, 5 then he’ll fall upon you very suddenly and very terribly.

Judgment falls hard on those in high places. 6 Those who aren’t important may be pardoned out of compassion, but the powerful will be powerfully examined. 

If you haven’t voted yet, stop right now and go do it. If you voted early, stay home and pray.

As for today’s devotional, I’m going to just leave this here:

7 The ruler of All won’t back down from anyone. He won’t show any special consideration to someone whom others consider great.

The ruler of All made both the small and the great, and he regards them all in the same way. 8 But a stern judgment will fall upon the ruthless.

May God direct our choices today, and may God bless America.

Long May She Wave by Michelle Robertson

Tell the Next Generation

Posted on by Betsy

One of the things that saddens me most about this pandemic is the church’s reduced opportunities to teach children about God. Sunday School, children’s church, children’s ministry events, and church-based preschool have all been curtailed or altered in some way. My church has just cautiously re-opened preschool with safety and sanitation protocols that were unheard of 12 months ago. We have yet to reopen all of our typical children’s educational opportunities. We gather the kids together safely for some fellowship and outdoor learning activities, but the more traditional classroom settings haven’t been reestablished yet.

Psalm 78 (Common English Version)

Listen, my people, to my teaching;
    tilt your ears toward the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth with a proverb.
    I’ll declare riddles from days long gone—
3         ones that we’ve heard and learned about,
        ones that our ancestors told us.
4 We won’t hide them from their descendants;
    we’ll tell the next generation
    all about the praise due the Lord and his strength—
    the wondrous works God has done.

But when you think about it, not being able to gather children in a church building for Christian education should not matter if parents are doing what this Psalm suggests. The best way for kids to learn about their Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer is right at home. Two things need to happen for this to be successful.

First, parents must make an intentional plan for teaching. Bedtime prayers, saying grace before meals, reading every day from a child’s bible or a bible-based story book, and most importantly talking about God as he moves throughout a parent’s life are the beginning steps in a child’s spiritual formation.

But even prior to that, parents need to know the Lord themselves…up close and personal. We can only teach what we know. More accurately, we can only teach WHOM we know. Do you know God?

5 He established a law for Jacob
    and set up Instruction for Israel,
        ordering our ancestors
        to teach them to their children.

What are you teaching your children and grandchildren about God? Are you living a godly life as an example to them? Do the things they overhear you saying line up with God’s instructions? Because trust me, the children are listening.

6 This is so that the next generation
    and children not yet born will know these things,
        and so they can rise up and tell their children
7     to put their hope in God—
        never forgetting God’s deeds,
        but keeping God’s commandments.

Today is a good day to begin your own home version of Sunday School. Teach them God’s commandments. Teach them Jesus’ salvation. Teach them to love their neighbor. Teach them who made the stars and the bugs. From sunrise to sunset, teach them that God is LOVE.

And for heaven’s sake, tell them to put their hope in God. They’re gonna need it.

Sunset Hope by Kathy Weeks

What Now?

Posted on by Betsy

Think of a time when you had to travel to a new destination. You’ve never been there before, never had to figure out how to get there, and really don’t have any idea what to expect when you arrive.

Life transitions such as the death of a spouse, a job transfer out of state, a military assignment, adopting a child, getting married, the first year of college, a pandemic, etc. are all times when we experience the mystery of “you’ve never traveled this way before.” Even addiction recovery can feel this way, when a person finally overcomes his or her past and ventures into sober life for the first time. It is like standing at a crossroad in an unknown town and looking in all directions saying, “What now?”

The third chapter of Joshua tells the “what now” story of the Israelites’ journey through a very foreign but still-promised land. They were of one mind and heart as they ventured forward, trusting their leadership to get them to the place where God was calling them to settle:

Joshua 3 (Common English Bible)

3 Joshua took down the camp early in the morning. He and all the Israelites marched out of Shittim and came to the Jordan, where they stayed overnight before crossing. 2 At the end of three days the officers went through the middle of the camp. 3 They commanded the people, “As soon as you see the Lord your God’s chest containing the covenant and the levitical priests carrying it, you are to march out from your places and follow it. 4 But let there be some distance between you and it, about three thousand feet. Don’t come near it!

(If an image of one of the final scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark just flashed through your mind, you are my hero. “Don’t come near it” indeed!!)

You will know the way you should go, even though you’ve never traveled this way before.”

This sentence is EVERYTHING. God assures us that when he calls us into a new place outside of our comfort zone, he will go ahead of us. We will know the way to go, even though we’ve never gone that way before. Do you know how to get ready?

5 Joshua said to the people, “Make yourselves holy! Tomorrow the Lord will do wonderful things among you.” 

Make yourself holy. Stop, reflect, PRAY, meditate on scripture, and make yourself ready for your journey. God will do wonderful things among you.

6 Then Joshua said to the priests, “Lift up the covenant chest. Go along in front of the people.” So they lifted up the covenant chest and went in front of the people.

This is a final reminder for your journey: fix your eyes on God’s promise. Keep steady and walk forward. Don’t look to the right or the left…God’s future is ahead of you.

7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you great in the opinion of all Israel. Then they will know that I will be with you in the same way that I was with Moses.

May you also know with the same assurance that God will be with you in your “what now” as well.

Promised Land Sunrise by Michelle Robertson

Preach What You Practice

Posted on by Betsy

We’ve all heard the phrase “Practice what you preach.” That ranks up there with “Walk the walk and talk the talk.” These phrases have always struck me as backwards. What would it mean to preach what you practice and walk what you talk?

That puts the burden on you to authentically live out your Jesus-called life based on standards that will preach. That puts action before words. That puts do over hear. That’s a pretty good challenge, wouldn’t you agree? How are you doing with that? Are you more walk, or talk? More preach, or practice?

In yet another instance of Jesus vs. the Pharisees, we see Sassy Jesus enter the ring with his boxing gloves on. The crowd has gathered and is breathlessly waiting for the first verbal punch to be thrown.

Jesus does not disappoint.

Matthew 22 (Common English Bible)

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, 2 “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. 4 For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.5 Everything they do, they do to be noticed by others. They make extra-wide prayer bands for their arms and long tassels for their clothes. 6 They love to sit in places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. 7 They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’

“But don’t do what they do.” Upper-cut! “They are unwilling to lift a finger.” Jab! “They only do things to be noticed by others.” Right cross! “They love to sit in places of honor.” Left hook!

Time is called, and Jesus and The Pharisee return to their respective corners. From there, Jesus turns his head to address the crowd again:

8 “But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. 9 Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. 10 Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher.

At this point the medic has been called to check on The Pharisee.

 11 But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. 12 All who lift themselves up will be brought low.

Knock out!

But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.

Ding, ding, ding! The first round goes to Jesus. Of course we know that his boxing matches with the Pharisees will continue for many more rounds, just as our own struggles continue as we fight to turn our self-interest and pride into humble service and tangible action.

Our challenge today is to be genuine in love, humble in service, gracious in the face of hostility, and real in our approach to our neighbors…even when they are throwing punches at us.

So glove up! Let’s show the world that we are Team Jesus.

Day’s End by Michelle Robertson