Christian daily devotionals

Loving Like Family

Posted on by Betsy

This morning I was reminded that Hurricane Irene hit the Outer Banks with a vengeance eleven years ago this week. I was immediately transported back in time. My mother lived in a waterfront condo 30 minutes away in Manteo and her building’s elevator system was wiped out, so she came to live with us until it was repaired. I stepped into the role of “disaster relief coordinator” for my church and organized teams to go and help people muck out from the flood waters. Two teams from my home conference and church came from Georgia and we deployed them to a small church in Stumpy Point and to local homes to help with clean up and repair. It was a time of great exhaustion but also great joy, seeing my new church in Kitty Hawk come together in such a beautiful way.

In my own home, we suffered $25,000. worth of damage. A chimney blew apart, bringing rainwater into two rooms for days, and a large dock was dismantled in the raging storm. We also lost two cars. A few days after the hurricane subsided, a neighbor from down our canal rang our doorbell to say that part of our dock had landed intact on his boat lift, and would we please come and get it off. I immediately called my chain saw crew from church and gave them the address.

Hebrews 13 was part of last week’s lectionary assignment, and it fits perfectly with this memory today. I was privileged to see my church love each other like family. I was privileged to watch people open their homes to others. I was privileged to see church members donate supplies and food to the needy, never counting the cost. I was privileged to learn once again that the Lord is our helper, and we need not be afraid.

Hebrews 13 (Common English Bible)

13 Keep loving each other like family. 2 Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. 3 Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place. 4 Marriage must be honored in every respect, with no cheating on the relationship, because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery. 5 Your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. 6 This is why we can confidently say,

The Lord is my helper,
and I won’t be afraid.
What can people do to me?

Have you ever been in a time of great distress and saw the Lord rush to your aid? Can you tell that story to someone who needs a reminder today? We need not be afraid with the Lord at our side.

7 Remember your leaders who spoke God’s word to you. Imitate their faith as you consider the way their lives turned out. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Your life circumstances will change with the prevailing winds. Storms will come and go. People will come and go. But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Thanks be to God!

Seating for Two

Amplified Ethics

Posted on by Betsy

When I was a young college student studying journalism, we were required to take an upper-level course on Journalistic Ethics. That may give you an indication as to my age, for surely it appears that recent graduates of communications degree programs are no longer required to study it. The cynic in me wonders if more emphasis is being placed on strategies of click-baiting, how to write a misleading lede, and how to pass off fake news entertainment as factual investigative reporting. Is it just me?

Today we are going to look at Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount” in the fifth chapter of Matthew to explore Jesus’ ethics. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what my professors, news people, politicians, or even world leaders think about ethics. It only matters what Jesus thought. Watch for phrases like “but I say to you” and “therefore.” These are indications that Jesus is about to amplify the current understanding and application of what is ethical.

He begins with the standard Ten Commandment statement on the subject of murder:

Matthew 5 (Common English Bible)

21 “You have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago, Don’t commit murder, and all who commit murder will be in danger of judgment.

This understanding is completely in line with the sixth commandment, “thou shalt not kill.” But watch where Jesus takes it next:

22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with their brother or sister will be in danger of judgment. If they say to their brother or sister, ‘You idiot,’ they will be in danger of being condemned by the governing council. And if they say, ‘You fool,’ they will be in danger of fiery hell. 

Jesus is warning about the deadly effects of anger, name-calling, and put-downs. By associating these things with murder, he is raising the bar on our understanding of killing. Can you kill someone’s self-esteem with a derogatory remark? You bet. Can you choke the life out of someone’s joy by spewing out your anger at them? You know you can, and you probably have.

Next, Jesus pivots to forgiveness and reconciliation. Here he raises the bar even higher by stating that you should not come to the altar until you make things right with everyone who has something against you. The fact that the pews are filled every Sunday may be an indication that we don’t take this literally, for surely our churches would be empty if this was a requirement of admission:

23 Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift at the altar and go. First make things right with your brother or sister and then come back and offer your gift. 

Then Jesus gives guidance about how to settle disputes quickly in fair and civil terms, rather than drag grievances through the court.

25 Be sure to make friends quickly with your opponents while you are with them on the way to court. Otherwise, they will haul you before the judge, the judge will turn you over to the officer of the court, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 I say to you in all seriousness that you won’t get out of there until you’ve paid the very last penny.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4:26 to not let the sun go down on our wrath. Jesus urges us to quickly settle our disputes so that they don’t fester and grow, and so that we can move past them and get on with things. In a beautiful figure of speech, he likens a drawn-out dispute to being in prison, where you realize that you’ve become jailed because you didn’t resolve an issue before it was too late. This is also an illusion to the kind of eternity that we subject ourselves to when we refuse to deal swiftly with an adversary.

We will deal with the rest of this portion of the Sermon on the Mount in our next devotional, but for now, consider this: are you guilty of “murder” in Jesus’ definition? Are you killing someone’s joy or hope? Are you harboring a grudge as you worship and pray? Have you let a falling out go on for too long?

According Jesus’ ethics, these things have changed.

So must you.

Don’t Let the Sun Go Down by Carol Riggin

Comfort Zone

Posted on by Betsy

A summer sermon series on classic stories of the Bible has landed me in Esther. Truth be told, Esther’s story may be one of the lesser known of the well-known bible stores (most of which are about men), but I was determined to tell the story of a woman. Deborah, Rahab, Delilah, Elizabeth, Eve, and all the Marys popped up in my mind, but I have always loved Esther’s story because she reminds us that we can find ourselves in a place we never expected, doing a thing we never thought we would do, and suddenly, it all comes out okay. This was my exact experience when I did five years of jail ministry. God indeed has a tremendous capacity for pushing us out of our comfort zone.

You may remember that Esther was the winner of a beauty contest that she had no intention of joining. She was selected by the Persian King Xerxes to replace his fallen queen, and she was installed as the new queen. Unbeknownst to the court, Esther is an exiled Jew from Jerusalem, and had no business being there. Her nationality and family were a secret, but her faithful cousin Mordecai, who brought her to the court, is able to keep an eye on her.

While waiting at the King’s gate to check in on her, Mordecai overhears a plot to assassinate the king, and immediately tells Esther. She tells the king, giving credit to Mordecai, and the would-be assassins are killed.

But trouble begins to brew for Mordecai when he refuses to bow to Haman, the highest-ranking nobleman. Much like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Mordecai takes a stand against bowing to anyone but God. Haman responded by putting out a decree that all the Jews should be killed, and he tricked and bribed the king into sending it out under the king’s seal.

In desperation, Mordecai sends word to Esther. He asks her to intercede, but for Esther to approach the King when she hasn’t been sent for would mean certain death, according to the law.

Esther 4 (New King James Version)

11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.” 12 So they told Mordecai Esther’s words.

Mordecai sends word back to Esther and urged that she reconsider her leverage in this matter:

13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Such a beautiful sentence, one which makes us pause to consider OUR purpose and place in the kingdom.

For such a time as this, you have been called to speak out.

For such a time as this, you have been instructed to intercede.

For such a time as this, God invites you to take a stand.

Where and how does this speak to you? Is God calling you to act? Are you in a place you never meant to be? Are you meant to step way out of your comfort zone to do something big, new, and scary?

If this relates to your situation, read this next part carefully. Every big change of direction requires a period of silence, prayer, discernment, and perhaps even fasting. Watch what Esther does:

15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”

We have to admire this woman’s boldness, but also recognize that it was a matter of submission to the mission God had given her.

Do you have a mission? Submit, and you will be blessed.

Royal Garden by Suzanne Wrenn

‘Tis A Gift To Be Simple

Posted on by Betsy

Stuff happens. Then more stuff happens. And before you know it, stuff has taken over, and you find yourself spending much more time than is reasonable just managing your stuff.

I have been trying to clean out my home office for two weeks. I have found a few treasures under the piles, but for the most part, I uncover something and wonder why the heck I still have it. I have come to the conclusion that stuff has a secret nocturnal reproductive life that we don’t know about. Surely every morning there is more stuff than there was the night before!

Stuff is the biggest challenge for folks who make the crazy decision to move into a tiny house. Made popular by HGTV, tiny houses are a fascinating (if wholly unrealistic!) trend for folks desiring a more simple and uncomplicated life.

Tiny houses range from 300-500 square feet. Think of that: you need to cram a kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, living room, storage space, and an eating table in less than 500 square feet. And then …. where do you put your STUFF?

But what do you really need? If you could pare your life down to the essentials, what would remain? Imagine you had to move into a 300 square foot tiny house: what would you keep, and what would you throw away?

The early church found out. They actually sold all their things so that they could support one another and live together in community, where everyone had what they needed, and nobody had too much:

Acts 2:45-47 Common English Bible (CEB)

45 They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. 46 Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity.

47 They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved.

They shared, with gladness and simplicity.

Do you ever wish for a simpler life? Is life too complicated? Have you lost sight of the simple delights God has provided? What does the Lord desire for you … more stuff, or more simplicity?

I believe we are all called to simplicity. Removing anything that distracts us from our calling as disciples enables us to experience a certain level of godliness that comes with simple contentment. Paring down to the essentials of what is necessary is a pathway to holiness.

And you might even fit it all in a tiny house, with room left over.

1 Timothy 6 (NIV)

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

It’s that simple!

Beach Cottage Simplicity by Michelle Robertson

Breaking Free

Posted on by Betsy

This summer we took our family to the charming town of Manteo to a place called “Island Farm.” It is a recreation of an 1840’s era family farm, utilizing the land and some of the original buildings from that time. We saw a blacksmith make iron nails, explored the family home with its primitive furnishings, and enjoyed a wonderful storyteller who made the entire experience come to life. We even got to feed a very loud rooster, who snuck up behind me and tried to sample my shoe, much to the delight of the children.

I had been to the farm two years earlier, when the gracious owner allowed my colleague and I to film our Christmas Eve service on the property. We were not able to meet in person due to the pandemic, and so we staged various scenes to bring our service to life. I was filmed reading the children’s message while sitting in the middle of a sheep field, and my partner read the nativity passage standing in front of an open sheep stall as three sheep listened intently.

The stalls by the field were larger, and as we began to film my portion, the keeper opened the stall door. Suddenly I was besieged by an entire flock of sheep, lured to come into the camera range by the placement of sheep food that had been strategically strewn around my feet. I was almost knocked over by their enthusiasm! Lesson learned … don’t get in the way of hungry sheep! Or roosters!

In today’s passage, Eugene Peterson cleverly compares a miraculous healing to being led from a stall in which Satan had bound a woman in for eighteen years:

Luke 13 (The Message)

10-13 He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. “Woman, you’re free!” He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.

14 The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “Six days have been defined as workdays. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.”

15-16 But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”

As usual, the Pharisees were locked in a stall of their narrow understanding of the Law and their extreme piety, unable to see or accept the freedom that God authorized Christ to bring to his people. They would rather see the woman suffer than to have her healed on the Sabbath. But Christ is greater than the Law of small-mindedness, and he set the woman free.

Are you tied up in a stall, locked in by Satan himself? Have abuse, addiction, anger, revenge, jealousy, envy, adultery, or some other sin got you so entangled you can’t open the door to get free?

Take heart. Jesus has the key to the stall door. If you pursue him, he will let you out. All you have to do is ask.

17 When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.

Freedom by Becca Ziegler

Bee Still

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever been stung by a bee? Have you ever been stung by a bee eight times all at once? This was my unfortunate experience last week on a long run. I was on a wide path bordered by the most beautiful flowering bushes when all of a sudden, I felt as though I had been pierced in the hip by a poison blow dart. It was excruciating. Then the sensation repeated itself seven more times as the vicious agent of hell continued to attack, landing on my neck, arms, back, and even my face. I kept running and took my hat off to swat at it, to no avail. I may or may not have spewed a string of words that no clergy member should even know, much less say.

Worst of all, it happened at mile 5 in a 10-mile run with no way to get home except to run. I should have just stopped and called an Uber.

The aftereffects stayed with me for days. I was nauseated, dizzy, itchy, and generally felt puny. I developed roving hives for 24 hours that would appear and disappear in different places on my body at will. I still have a small crater on my cheek and red patches that haven’t faded.

That nasty bee sure did leave its sting!

But praise be to God, death won’t.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote these beautiful and cherished words about the impotence of death in the face of the strength of Christ:

1 Corinthians 15 (Contemporary English Version)

50 My friends, I want you to know that our bodies of flesh and blood will decay. This means they cannot share in God’s kingdom, which lasts forever. 51  I will explain a mystery to you. Not every one of us will die, but we will all be changed. 52 It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so we will never die again. 53 Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won’t die or decay. 54  The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. Then the Scriptures will come true,

“Death has lost the battle!
55 Where is its victory?
    Where is its sting?”

This is a passage that is read often at funerals, and it brings much comfort to the bereaved. The mystery of God’s prevenient gift of eternal life is something we can cling to when our loved ones die. It is a lifeboat of hope when we contemplate our own passing. God gave Jesus the victory over death itself, and we can stake our very lives on that fact.

56 Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. 57 But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory!

58 My dear friends, stand firm and don’t be shaken. Always keep busy working for the Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile.

So, keep working toward that day. Don’t be shaken! Keep singing, praising, worshipping, studying, and being busy for God. All of this will soon pass away, but the love of the Lord lasts forever.

Just keep running.

Bee Still by Kathy Schumacher

Outta Control

Posted on by Betsy

A few months ago I had the pleasure of touring the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, OR. It is located at old Naval Air Station inside a large K-Class airship hangar. There were many amazing exhibits of full-size airplanes, cockpit trainers, jets, helicopters, and more, but my attention was caught by an old F-4 Phantom cockpit that had been used in the movie “Sully.” Captain Sully Sullenberger flew F-4s in Vietnam, and the owner of the F-4 cockpit allowed it to be used in the movie and then donated it to the museum.

The events of Captain Sullenberger’s heroic saving of a US Airways A320 airplane that crashed landed into the Hudson River in 2009 are well known. Just after taking off from LaGuardia Airport, the plane was struck by a flock of Canadian Geese that flew directly into the engines, causing complete engine failure. In a miracle of bravery and expertise, Captain Sullenberger landed the plane on the water and assisted all 155 passengers to evacuate to safety.

When things get out of control, it is good to have a captain around. I know this from personal experience. I have had two emergency landings in an airplane in my lifetime. One was due to the windshield cracking, and the other involved evacuating down inflated chutes immediately upon touchdown due to an engine fire. Knowing that the captain was in charge kept me calm and assured under great pressure. Plus, I’m married to a captain, so I know the training, experience, and expertise that it takes to be one.

Today’s Scripture likens Jesus to a captain in control of everything. In this passage we see evidence that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. In the fullness of his humanity, he is a brother to us and thus lower than the angels. But in the fullness of his divinity, he wears the crown of glory and honor, and controls the ship like the Captain that he is:

Hebrews 2 (Common English Bible)

5 God didn’t put the world that is coming (the world we are talking about) under the angels’ control. 6 Instead, someone declared somewhere,

What is humanity that you think about them?
        Or what are the human beings that you care about them?
7 For a while you made them lower than angels.
        You crowned the human beings with glory and honor.
8         You put everything under their control.

When he puts everything under their control, he doesn’t leave anything out of control. But right now, we don’t see everything under their control yet.9 However, we do see the one who was made lower in order than the angels for a little while—it’s Jesus! He’s the one who is now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of his death. He suffered death so that he could taste death for everyone through God’s grace.

Hebrews 2 (New King James Version)

10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying:

“I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

Is your life in disarray? Do you feel out of control? Do you need a Captain-Savior to bring you to safety? Does chaos reign in your family?

In his glory, Jesus conquered death and restored humanity’s place of dominion over the earth that was lost when Adam fell. We become rightful heirs to the promise that all things will be sanctified in God’s time.

In the meantime, remember that God is in control, even when the plane is going down. Your Captain is at the helm. Thanks be to God.

Welcome Aboard

Acts of Faith

Posted on by Betsy

I love to run but I hate to do races. Races are the worst. You have to be diligent in your pre-race workouts for months, and then on race day, you get up at an ungodly hour and run a course you’ve never seen before, being passed by young people pushing strollers with their dogs trotting alongside of them. Or maybe that last part is just me. I have been beaten by many a kid/dog combination in our local Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. It is a little humiliating.

I mention this to let you know that I have officially lost my mind and have registered for a Half Marathon in Celebration, Florida. This charming little town is a favorite place of mine, and I have loved morning runs there. But to commit to a long-distance run when I will have to get up too early to run too long to be passed by too many dogs and strollers is either an act of insanity, or an act of faith. We’ll find out in January.

But even now, that commitment has landed in my soul, and I am motivated to be faithful to my daily runs. I have included a long run once a week into my training, just to remind myself that 13.1 miles won’t be doable unless I keep going now. This is the only sane part of doing a race … your commitment to it in the future informs your discipline in the present. It is an interesting dynamic: commitment informs discipline, but discipline also informs commitment. Plus, there is always the hope that there will be one dog running slower than you.

Paul uses a beautiful race analogy in this passage from Hebrews:

Hebrews 12 (The Message)

12 1-3 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.

I have always loved this passage. We don’t know if Paul was a runner, but he sure knew how to finish a race. This passage comes right after a listing of all the people who suffered for their faith and performed many acts of faith to get us where we are today. These people kept their eyes on Jesus through persecution and suffering, knowing that the reward was just ahead. That fueled their running and kept them on track.

Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Are you flagging in your faith? Have sin and doubt weighed you down? Remember the stories of those who came before us. Remember the path that Jesus created. Keep moving forward and don’t stop.

Never, ever quit. Keep that finish line in sight and keep on keeping on. Just fix your eyes on Jesus.

Celebration Lake

Walking in the Light

Posted on by Betsy

The summer heat has forced me to wait until sunset to walk my dog in the evening. We do our morning walk as early as we can and then wait out the 90 plus degree heat until it is safe again to go out. My yellow lab wears a 100 lb. fur coat, so this is necessary.

The other day I waited until 9pm before I got her out. It wasn’t intentional: I was writing a funeral sermon and didn’t want to stop until it was finished.

It amazed me how dark it is where I live. We don’t have streetlights in Colington, and by the time I got to the end of the driveway I regretted the fact that I had neglected to bring a flashlight or a cell phone. The other challenge before us was that our resident Canadian geese wander my cul-de-sac at will, leaving greenish black “offerings” all over the place. They are especially hard to dodge in the dark.

It doesn’t take long for darkness to overcome light, and it can sneak up on you if you aren’t prepared and haven’t been paying attention to it encroaching on your day. Or your soul.

So it is with spiritual darkness.

The Enemy can use the cover of darkness to stealthily approach any Christian life and render it blind. This is why it is always important to live our lives in the light of Christ. Christ’s light will never succumb to the darkness, but by our attitudes, behaviors, and fondness for wandering away, we certainly can find ourselves in the middle of a darkness we didn’t expect.

Our passage today speaks of the light that Christ brought to the world that was only made brighter by his death:

John 12 (Common English Bible)

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

29 The crowd standing there heard and said, “It’s thunder.” Others said, “An angel spoke to him.”

30 Jesus replied, “This voice wasn’t for my benefit but for yours. 31 Now is the time for judgment of this world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out.32 When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” (33 He said this to show how he was going to die.)

Jesus set the stage for his crucifixion. Nobody understood what was about to happen, but he spoke this truth so that they would remember what it was all about after it was accomplished.

34 The crowd responded, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Human One must be lifted up? Who is this Human One?”

35 Jesus replied, “The light is with you for only a little while. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness don’t know where they are going. 36 As long as you have the light, believe in the light so that you might become people whose lives are determined by the light.” After Jesus said these things, he went away and hid from them.

It is so easy for darkness to overtake us. One little flirtation, one small giving into temptation, one harsh word spoken in selfish anger, one slip backwards into a sinful behavior, and BAM, lights out.

This is why we must be watchmen on the wall, watching and waiting. The world’s ruler is constantly on the prowl looking for cracks in our armor. But we have the light of Christ within us, and it indeed is a light that no one can extinguish.

See the light? Be the light.

Morning Light by Michelle Robertson

Gaining and Losing

Posted on by Betsy

My grandson is fascinated with what my life was like when I was growing up. He thinks about this a lot, and he has a million questions about my childhood. He wants to know things like what my favorite Marvel movie was when I was a child, or did we have cars. (Geeze kid, I’m not THAT old!!) Recently he asked me, “Nana, what do you miss the most about being a kid?” I quickly responded, “My metabolism.” Gone are the days when I could eat anything I wanted and not carry it around with me for the rest of my life!

Who among us has not gained and lost weight over the years? Did you ever wonder what that the total poundage in each category would be? Speaking for myself, the numbers fluctuate daily. And as I’ve aged, I have had to accept that the ideal weight of my youth is not a realistic or attainable goal anymore. I have had to accept a new plateau. (Somehow that makes it sound better, right? “Plateau.” If you throw a little French accent on it, it almost sounds delicious.) In our younger years, it seems as though a few weeks of self-denial is all that it would take to get things back on track. Not so in the latter years. It’s the battle of the bulge, and the bulge is winning.

Jesus had an interesting conundrum to present to his disciples. It was also a matter of gain verses loss. But in this case, a few instances of self-denial would not be enough to turn things around. He was asking them for a life of a total abandonment of self:

Matthew 10 (Common English Bible)

39 Those who find their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives because of me will find them.

Matthew 16 (Common English Bible)

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 

When Jesus stated that coming with him not only meant saying “no” to themselves, but also taking up their own cross, he wasn’t playin’. The disciples would have instantly recognized what that meant. The cross was an instrument of torture. It was a place of humiliation. It was an invitation to join Jesus on death row.

25 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. 26 Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives?

But oh, the benefits of that choice! The reward for total self-emptying is the fullness of grace. The plateau that we reach when we take up our crosses and follow Jesus is a place of eternal life that is filled with joy, devoid of pain, and there is not a weight scale in sight. Heaven has no calories, hallelujah! Tacos, here I come.

We are invited to this same promise. Following Jesus means walking away from our sinful selves and walking toward a Savior who leads by example. This life is filled with service to others, obedience, compassion, kindness, worship, prayer, imitating the mind of Christ, and loving as he loves.

Want to come along? You have everything to gain.

Heaven to Gain by Wende Pritchard