Pandemic devotionals

The Shadow of God’s Wings

Posted on by Betsy

The noise inside the car seemed unusually loud as we traveled to a football game last week. I am very sensitive to the whining, whistling, windy car noise when we drive, but this was noticeably not right. About 30 minutes into the trip it suddenly went from annoying to Tsunami level. Something was terribly wrong. As the noise reached deafening decibels, another sound began. Thump. THUMP. THUMP!!! I looked up and discovered that something had gone very wrong with the sunroof housing. We quickly found a safe place to pull over as the banging continued. A large plexiglass air scoop in the front of the sunroof had broken away and had cracked in half. The plexiglass piece went flying in the wind, still attached to the piece of rubber seal that had pulled out of its groove, and then it broke into four pieces as it slammed into the roof. Somehow the pieces miraculously stayed attached to the rubber strip which was still half attached to the window housing. Those four pieces would have probably done some damage had they flown off and hit the cars behind us. Instead, they flew above the car, attached to the torn seal like flags on a sailboat jib. Thankfully we were safe, our fellow travelers were safe, the car was still drivable, and after my blood pressure returned to normal, we continued on our way.

On the way home from the game, we sat in two hours of stand-still traffic. A multi-car accident had stopped traffic, and there were injuries. Twelve emergency vehicles passed us as we sat. My heart goes out to those people and their families.

We never know what the day has in store for us. We don’t get up in the morning and think that this might be the day that we say goodbye to the things and people we love. Days like that remind me to always be aware of my many blessings, and to not take a single moment of this life for granted.

But it’s easy to take our lives for granted, isn’t it? We just go through the routines and demands of life without pausing to count our blessings. We let work, family life, responsibilities, planning, living, and mundane moments lead us through our day until thump, thump, thump, something is suddenly wrong.

Our Psalm today is a timely reminder of God’s constant presence in life, in death, and in life beyond death:

Psalm 36

But your loyal love, Lord, extends to the skies;
    your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the strongest mountains;
    your justice is like the deepest sea.
        Lord, you save both humans and animals.
7 Your faithful love is priceless, God!
    Humanity finds refuge in the shadow of your wings.

We experienced refuge in the shadow of God’s wings that day. Others on the road were not as fortunate. This road is notorious for speeders and tailgaters, and there are consequences to reckless behavior. I don’t know why some are spared and others are not. But I do know that when the unexpected, the startling, and even the unthinkable things happen, God is with us.

We miss out when we don’t take those routine, everyday, ordinary moments and feast on them. We often overlook the daily opportunity to drink from God’s river of pure joy. We let chores, duties, commuting, housework, catching up on emails … the contents of daily life … fill in the picture of our existence, and we forget to appreciate the simple joy of living until we have a scary moment when life suddenly reveals its precarious nature.
8 They feast on the bounty of your house;
    you let them drink from your river of pure joy.
9 Within you is the spring of life.
    In your light, we see light.

10 Extend your faithful love to those who know you;
    extend your righteousness to those whose heart is right.

In God’s light, we see light. Take some time today to stop and look up from your routine. Life indeed is precarious … and precious, too.

In Your Light by Bonnie Bennett

Teamwork

Posted on by Betsy

Football season is well underway, and after a year of COVID closures, college games are back in full swing. The coach from my Alma Mater made an interesting comment after the first game of the season. We beat a team that was ranked higher than ours and was expected to win. All of the pundits had called the game for the other team, yet our team pulled off an upset. The coach gave credit to all the fans. He stated that the level of audible and visible support for the team that came from the stands made all the difference. The cliche for this is ”teamwork makes the dream work.” Like most cliches, it is true.

In our passage from the book of Numbers today, we see Moses hitting a wall of oncoming linebackers and feeling overwhelmed, defenseless, and alone. But God reminded him that he, too, was surrounded by a team, even in the bleak desert of nothingness:

Numbers 2 (The Message)

10 Moses heard the whining, all those families whining in front of their tents. God’s anger blazed up. Moses saw that things were in a bad way.

11-15 Moses said to God, “Why are you treating me this way? What did I ever do to you to deserve this? Did I conceive them? Was I their mother? So why dump the responsibility of this people on me? Why tell me to carry them around like a nursing mother, carry them all the way to the land you promised to their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people who are whining to me, ‘Give us meat; we want meat.’ I can’t do this by myself—it’s too much, all these people. If this is how you intend to treat me, do me a favor and kill me. I’ve seen enough; I’ve had enough. Let me out of here.”

Have you ever been so frustrated, exhausted, and overwhelmed that you wanted to just run away? I know I have. Sometimes work, home, illness, family, the pandemic, and even the larger political system that we all living under can suddenly overwhelm us to the point of paralysis. We can find ourselves so tired of it all we just want to drop the ball and walk off the field. Luckily for Moses, God had another play to call from his playbook:

16-17 God said to Moses, “Gather together seventy men from among the leaders of Israel, men whom you know to be respected and responsible. Take them to the Tent of Meeting. I’ll meet you there. I’ll come down and speak with you. I’ll take some of the Spirit that is on you and place it on them; they’ll then be able to take some of the load of this people—you won’t have to carry the whole thing alone.

You won’t have to carry the whole thing alone.

This burden of responsibility, this grief, this tragedy, this unexpected death of a loved one, this failed marriage, this out-of-control teenager, this job loss….YOU WON’T HAVE TO CARRY THE WHOLE THING ALONE. Can you find comfort in those words today?

24-25 So Moses went out and told the people what God had said. He called together seventy of the leaders and had them stand around the Tent. God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn’t continue; it was a onetime event.

26 Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn’t leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.

God came to Moses’ aid and provided other people to carry the load with him. This is a good lesson for those of us who think that we are indispensable. Guess what? We’re not.

27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ right-hand man since his youth, said, “Moses, master! Stop them!”

29 But Moses said, “Are you jealous for me? Would that all God’s people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them.”

This is a great reminder today that God provides others to step alongside of you and help. When the burden of life becomes too great, LOOK AROUND. There are helpers everywhere. Ask God to rest his spirit on someone who can truly take a load from your shoulders and carry it with you. And when he does, let go. That might be the hardest part…letting go of control and allowing someone else to share a problem…but when you do, God is there.

What do you need to let go of today? Trust God, for he is able.

God is Able by Janet Owen

Year-End Report

Posted on by Betsy

It is that time in United Methodism when we produce something called the ”State of the Church” for the District Superintendent and the Bishop. A committee thoughtfully evaluates the condition of the church in terms of ministry, growth, discipleship, etc. for the last twelve months.

Think about what we have been through the last twelve months. I think the committee should submit a two-word report: ”We survived.” It is ONLY through the grace of God that we have gotten through the last year. We’ve worshipped in ball fields, front lawns, graveyards, beaches, and everywhere in-between. We’ve mastered technology….okay, that is a fib. None of us have mastered technology. But with God’s help we have continued to be a worshipping body of Christ.

As strange as these twelve months have been for us, we have nothing on God’s people in King David’s time. They wandered the wilderness for years, obediently following the Ark of the Covenant as it traveled throughout the Promised Land in a movable tent. That tent was their church.

David built a palace, and after he had made himself comfy and cozy there, he remembered that God had no home. He began to think about that.

(Hmmm. Were David’s priorities in the right order?)

2 Samuel (Contemporary English Version)

7 King David moved into his new palace, and the Lord let his kingdom be at peace. 2 Then one day, as David was talking with Nathan the prophet, David said, “Look around! I live in a palace made of cedar, but the sacred chest has to stay in a tent.”

3 Nathan replied, “The Lord is with you, so do what you want!”

Sometimes even well-meaning friends give you the wrong advice. God set Nathan straight.

4 That night, the Lord told Nathan 5 to go to David and give him this message:

David, you are my servant, so listen to what I say. Why should you build a temple for me? 6 I didn’t live in a temple when I brought my people out of Egypt, and I don’t live in one now. A tent has always been my home wherever I have gone with them. 7 I chose leaders and told them to be like shepherds for my people Israel. But did I ever say anything to even one of them about building a cedar temple for me?

8 David, this is what I, the Lord All-Powerful, say to you. I brought you in from the fields where you took care of sheep, and I made you the leader of my people. 9 Wherever you went, I helped you and destroyed your enemies right in front of your eyes. I have made you one of the most famous people in the world.

10 I have given my people Israel a land of their own where they can live in peace, and they won’t have to tremble with fear any more. Evil nations won’t bother them, as they did 11 when I let judges rule my people. And I have kept your enemies from attacking you.

God is so much more than a building. He is greater than four walls and a roof. The trouble with buildings is that they need constant repair, and sometimes donors end up worshipping the structure more than the Lord. Think I’m exaggerating? Look around. How many little brass “people-plaques” do you have in your sanctuary?

God’s “building” was going to be so much greater. He looked at David and decided to build a lineage that would run straight to Jesus. And Jesus would come to build a church of love, compassion, justice, hope, and peace.

Now I promise that you and your descendants will be kings.

If we’ve learned one thing from this pandemic, it is that God is wherever his people are. That is the whole point of being the church for the world. We are charged with carrying the message of how God came to us to inhabit our world, our lives, our hearts, our hopes, and our dreams for the future.

So no matter where you gather, you must proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection everywhere to anyone who will listen. We not only survive, we thrive. Thanks be to God.

Sunrise Church by Wende Pritchard

I Hope You Dance

Posted on by Betsy

“Now is the time; now is the best time. Now is the best time of your life!”

Fans of Walt Disney will recognize the theme music to the wonderful attraction called “The Carousel of Progress.” This iconic moving-theater experience was originally built for the 1964 World’s Fair, and then disassembled and reconstructed in Tomorrowland in 1975. The cheerful message of progress through the century is a reminder that the best time we are living in is right now.

Do you believe that you are in the best time of your life? I imagine for many of us the answer is no. If you are dealing with addiction, undergoing chemotherapy, incarcerated, going through a rough divorce, dealing with rebellious children, caring for elderly parents, etc., you may not consider this the “best time of your life.” And that’s not even adding a global pandemic to the mix. This could hardly be considered our best time…and that’s OK.

The writer of Ecclesiastes has an important reminder for us about the nature of time:

Ecclesiastes 3 New International Version (NIV)

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

There is something comforting in realizing that there is a season for EVERYTHING under the sun. Everything has a place, everything follows an order, and everything has an appropriate and proper point on the space-time continuum. Even the things we dread have their own place. Death, war, mourning, plagues, and hate all have an allotted measure in the grand scope of our lives.

The best part is that it’s an allotted measure, i.e. something that happens for a specified period of time. This scripture teaches us that time is God-ordained and controlled and we should just relax and let life flow accordingly.

Does that work for you? Yeah, me neither.

When this doesn’t work for me is when MY timing doesn’t jive with God’s timing. Either I am being too slow to respond to his bidding, or (more likely the case) rushing into things with great enthusiasm without waiting for his direction.

Godly direction is the key to this whole thing. When we pray, discern, and yield ourselves COMPLETELY to God’s timing, he ushers us into the best time of our lives. Setting aside our preconceived notion of when something should begin or end allows God to act as Timekeeper, and sets life into motion according to his plan.

Is it time to do something? Is it time to change? Time to move? Has the time come to speak up, or be quiet and let others sort things out? Is it time to end something? Maybe you are entering a season of growing, re-inventing yourself, and leaving all kinds of heavy things behind.

This beautiful passage assures us that there is indeed a time for everything, and God is in each moment.

“A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

I hope you dance.

Dancing Sunlight by Kathy Schumacher

Wash Up

Posted on by Betsy

Today’s passage is an interesting read in the midst of a pandemic. I don’t know about you, but hand-washing has become almost an obsession with me since this whole thing began. In a ‘Romans 8:28 way’, where God can use ALL things for our good, our nation’s practice of being more fastidious about washing our hands has been a small positive coming out of a plethora of negatives.

It is also interesting to think about some of the modifications we have made along the way in this world-wide health crisis. Remember back in the beginning when we shopped for groceries in sweaty gloves and came home and bleached our purchases before putting them away? I was grateful when science discovered that this horrific virus is airborne and we could relax just a tiny bit about contacting the germs by touching objects.

So as you read the following, try to dismiss your pandemic-cautions and go back to a time when hand-washing wasn’t as life or death as it feels right now. It is also very important to notice how
The Message emphasizes “ritual hand-washing.” We are meant to understand that the practice of the Pharisees had nothing to do with hygiene, and everything to do with keeping up appearances:

Mark 7 (The Message)

7 1-4 The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around him. They noticed that some of his disciples weren’t being careful with ritual washings before meals. The Pharisees—Jews in general, in fact—would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual hand-washing, with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from the market (to say nothing of the scourings they’d give jugs and pots and pans).

Friends, this may be the first and only time in my life that I could relate to the practices of the Pharisees! Scour away, my brothers!

5 The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, “Why do your disciples brush off the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?”

6-8 Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:

These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
    but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they are worshiping me,
    but they don’t mean it.
They just use me as a cover
    for teaching whatever suits their fancy,
Ditching God’s command
    and taking up the latest fads.”

Jesus, as was his way, immediately gets to the heart of the matter. He calls out the Pharisees for making a big show of maintaining the appearance of cleanliness when their hearts were rotten to the core. Their rituals were empty and meaningless, and worse yet, they were hiding behind their pious facades whilst undermining the very word of God. They taught whatever they wanted, ignored the commandments, and catered to the whims of what caught people’s attention in the moment.

This teaching stings. We need to critically evaluate our own rituals against this scripture and see if we as individuals, and we as the church, aren’t guilty of doing exactly the same thing. It is easy for me to see where the Creflo Dollars and the Joel Olsteens don’t measure up to Jesus’ teachings, with their multi-million dollar estates and private jets. But how about our local churches? How about you? How about me?

If we are “doing Christianity” just to get a check in the box and impress the members of the PTO with our piety, we are no better than the Pharisees. If church becomes just another country club to join for the status and the chance to rub elbows with the community big wigs, we, too, are guilty of making a big show of saying the right thing when our hearts aren’t in it.

Following Jesus is an active choice we make every day. It is a choice we make with our hearts, not our appearance. What’s in your heart?

Tranquil Waters by Steve Hanf

Re-Lent

Posted on by Betsy

It happens every year. We just get past the overindulgence of Thanksgiving gravy, Christmas pie, New Years’ toasts, Super Bowl snacks, Valentine’s chocolates, and BAM. Lent happens. This 40-day period of self examination is not designed to punish us for our self-indulgences, but rather it provides an opportunity to grow closer to God by focusing on the things that realign our priorities and our time. It is a chance to re-center our thinking. It is a chance to re-do our to-do lists and put God at the top. We worship a God of second chances, and Lent is our chance once again to shift our lives back toward God.

But more than that, Lent is about our mortality. The ashes we place on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday remind us that from the earth we have come and to the earth we return….ashes to ashes, dust to dust. This sobering season begins when the alarm has sounded, the assembly has gathered, and the day of darkness is upon us:

Joel 2 (New Revised Standard Version)

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
    a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
    nor will be again after them
    in ages to come.

We are invited to return…..and repent:

Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     rend your hearts and not your clothing.

The promise is offered: if we return to the Lord, he will relent from punishing. As we re-Lent, he will relent.

Return to the Lord, your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
    and relents from punishing.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord, your God?

The call is urgent to come to the altar quickly. The time is upon us to begin this process. Even the bride and bridegroom are summoned from their bedchamber to be about the Lord’s business.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16     gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
    assemble the aged;
gather the children,
    even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her canopy.

17 Between the vestibule and the altar
    let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
    and do not make your heritage a mockery,
    a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

Many of us will not be able to gather in an assembly tonight due to the pandemic. Some of you may have obtained ashes from your church and will participate in an Ash Wednesday service online. In any case, you are invited to contemplate taking on the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, scripture reading, self-examination, repentance, meditation, and penitence. You may choose to give something up for the next six weeks so that you can focus on God in its absence. You may choose to add a new practice that would take you deeper in your discipleship. I hope reading this daily devotional will be part of your commitment! If you don’t have access to ashes, you can use water and make the sign of the cross on your forehead as a mark of your sincerity.

I pray that you will join me as we observe a Holy Lent.

Gracious and Loving God, be with us today as we contemplate those things that have pulled us away from you. Help us to return. We hear your call and we desire nothing but a right relationship with your Son. Grant us a meaningful Lent season, so that when Easter morning dawns, you will find us to be new people, made more like him and less like ourselves. AMEN

Dust to Dust by Becca Ziegler

Growing Weary

Posted on by Betsy

Let’s go back to a time in your life when you were truly, utterly, exhausted. For many of us, the first thing that comes to mind is living with a newborn. There is no tired like post-pushing tired. I remember once waking up in the middle of the night to discover that I was standing up and leaning over my daughter’s crib. I had gotten up to soothe her, knowing that she was fed and dry. As I rubbed her back, I fell asleep in that position. I don’t know if I slept for 5 seconds or 5 minutes, but I don’t ever remember being that tired.

There are several variations of “tired.” We can grow weary of relationships. We can feel fatigued at the incessant opposition to our beliefs. We can become quickly exhausted by lack of sleep, lack of courtesy, lack of respect, lack of empathy, and especially lack of hope.

When this pandemic started, I likened it to a marathon, with the good news that every race has a prescribed course that is carefully marked out, and ends with a fixed and discernible finish line. Today I learned that there is something called the “Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race” that takes place in Queens, New York every year. It takes 52 days of running 6 a.m. to midnight to complete it. The average mileage is a little under 60 miles a day. Runners have six hours per day for eating, washing, foot care, and sleep. Just thinking about that makes me tired.

So let me revise my earlier analogy of the pandemic being like a marathon, because now we realize that it is more like a “Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race” and we have all become ultramarathoners.

But don’t miss the point…there is still a finish line at the end of this race, and every morning when we wake up, we are one day closer to the end.

Isaiah has some beautiful things to say about feeling faint, growing weary, being powerless, and where we can go to have our strength renewed:

Isaiah 40 (New Revised Standard Version)

Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.

How reassuring is this? We are not running this ultramarathon alone, but indeed, God is running right there with us. He is the everlasting God. HE does not faint or grow weary. And look what happens next:

29 He gives power to the faint,
    and strengthens the powerless.

In the battle of virtual school, virtual church, virtual family birthday parties, virtual work, and virtually everything, God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. We need that NOW.

30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
    and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
    they shall walk and not faint.

Those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They shall continue to run this crazy race and not be weary. The finish line is getting closer! Keep your head up and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

We truly are one day closer to the end of this thing.

Finish Line by Erin Gregory

Dropping Nets

Posted on by Betsy

What is in your hand right now? An electronic device, for sure. Possibly a cup of coffee, praise God from whom all blessings flow!

What will you fill your hands with as your day moves along? A computer mouse, a remote control, a paring knife, a child’s hand, a book, a cell phone, a wine glass, a steering wheel…we fill our hands, our time, our minds, our hearts, and our lives with many things in an ordinary day.

Now comes the question. Will those things you will hold bring you closer to God’s holy presence, or did will they in fact keep you far from it?

Most electronic devices come with an ability to monitor your screen time. If you want a moment of clarity about “where does the time go,” check it out. You might be very surprised to see how much screen time you are consuming. This is another fallout of the pandemic. And yes, I realize that right now I am contributing to your screen time, so hopefully it’s not all bad! Indeed, screen time can be good and productive when it contributes to our work and our lives….and then there is Netflix-binging.

In the first chapter of Mark, some ordinary guys were having an ordinary day filling their hands with ordinary work. These guys were fishermen, so their hands were filled with nets.

Mark 1 (Common English Bible)

14 After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, 15 saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”

Jesus calls disciples

16 As Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” 18 Right away, they left their nets and followed him.

The immediacy of their response is noteworthy. RIGHT AWAY they left their nets.

Where is God calling you to put something down so that your attention can be directed toward his kingdom? Where is God calling you to change your heart and your life? In what way is he asking you to trust that this call is good news for you?

And it’s not just things we need to leave behind. Attitudes, entitlements, anger, misunderstanding, self-righteousness…God also calls us to drop these as well.

19 After going a little farther, he saw James and John, Zebedee’s sons, in their boat repairing the fishing nets. 20 At that very moment he called them. They followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers.

Some even left family and co-workers to follow Jesus. Maybe it’s time to leave behind all the people you have disagreed with over worldly issues and just follow Jesus. Maybe it’s time to leave Twitter behind. Maybe it’s time to leave main stream media, Facebook, Words With Friends, Tik Tok, and all those other distractions behind.

What is in your hand often dictates what is in your heart. Following Jesus requires leaving things behind. But you can trust that your hands will be filled with blessings if you empty them of all the worldly things.

Follow Me by Michelle Robertson

Being Slaves to our Whims

Posted on by Betsy

Raise your hand if you ate and/or drank too much over the holidays.

Mid-January always seems to be the time to confess our sins of overindulgence. One friend shared that she couldn’t stop eating the Christmas candy and her scale is confirming it. Another claims to have grown an evil eating-machine-twin that she is now trying to shed. Most of us can truthfully say that we experienced a departure from healthy eating over the holidays. Diets have been abandoned, our exercise bikes are being used as clothes racks, and all of our good intentions fled along with the Thanksgiving turkey.

You can put your hand down now.

In addition, the pandemic’s stay-at-home guidance was coupled with the attack on the nation’s Capitol last week, leaving us welded to our couches. Our days find us mindlessly engaging in anxiety-eating as we consume endless hours of news, sweets, and tweets. No wonder we feel out of sorts and bloated of mind, body, and soul.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians reminds us that we need to take care of our bodies because they are a gift from God. The Master honors us with our bodies, and Paul calls us to honor God with how we use our bodies. He warns us against becoming a slave to our whims.

1 Corinthians 6 (The Message)

12 Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.

Paul goes on to caution us about stuffing our body with food. I think if he were alive today, he might also warn against stuffing our minds with too much news and social media. None of this is good for us in large quantities.

13 You know the old saying, “First you eat to live, and then you live to eat”? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that’s no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body!

Your body is God’s temple. What you fill it with matters to God. You see, he has a plan to treat your body with the same resurrection power that Jesus received.

14-15 God honored the Master’s body by raising it from the grave. He’ll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master’s body.

You were created with dignity. God gave you a body to honor, as he honors you. What are you indulging in right now that needs to change? What are you putting in your mind, your heart, or your mouth that does not honor God? Is it time to put down the beer and turn off the TV?

Where is God calling you to make changes?

As Paul says, we can’t become slaves to our whims. Yes, things are incredibly difficult right now. But Paul reminds us that’s no excuse. Taking a 30 minute walk will clear things up significantly, or at least get you away from the candy bowl and the television for half an hour. Get up and get moving, and you will feel so much better.

Your body is created with dignity. Treat it as such.

Get Moving by Kathy Schumacher

And So It Ends

Posted on by Betsy

(This is a re-post of a devotional I wrote on Jan. 1, 2020. It is interesting to read this with the eyes of experience. It was impossible to know what 2020 would bring…did I hit the mark? Did I miss it entirely?

Notice that in offering examples of “things that distract us from God” I mentioned Netflix and too much screen time. I now find that HILARIOUS. Netflix may have just saved our sanity in this pandemic, and “too much screen time” was the only way to go to work/go to school/attend staff meetings/go to church/keep in touch with your friends and family. There are truths in this writing and the scripture is just as relevant and fresh today, but I am obviously not a prophet!! Enjoy….)

According to the American Optometric Association, 20/20 vision is defined as:

20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If you have 20/100 vision, it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet.

Today we begin a new year. A decade has closed, a year has been added, and a new beginning is offered. Looking back at the year just ended, what do you see? Joy, regret, growth, retreat, inertia, advancement…what did the last 12 months bring into your life?

Now looking at the next 12 months, what do you HOPE to see? And no matter what those hopes are, do you see God being active in your year? Does your vision for your life match HIS vision for your life?

One of my favorite scriptures on vision comes from Isaiah, Chapter 6:

Isaiah 6

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 

Here is the quick take-away: King Uzziah was a great and powerful king. Isaiah served as his temple priest. If you look closely at the first sentence, you’ll notice that Isaiah says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I SAW the Lord.” Kinda’ makes you wonder if the charismatic and powerful earthly king was a distraction. It took his death for Isaiah to see the Lord, who obviously was there all the time. Could it be?

In a smaller sense, we are all guilty of putting things on the throne that distract us from seeing the Lord. Indulgences of every kind, gossip-spinning, hours of Netflix, too much screen time, grudge-holding, over-indulging our children, vanity, laziness…fill in your own blank.

2020 is an opportunity to capture God’s 20/20 vision for your life. We get a do-over.

What earthly “king” is keeping you from God’s vision for your life?

What have you put on the throne in place of God?

What are you worshipping that has become a replacement for God?

Why are you so distracted?

When we clear out all the junk, vision becomes clarified. When we sweep away the debris of our past, we can capture God’s vision for our future. Putting God back on the throne of our hearts will enable us to enter the new year with hope, peace, joy, and love.

May 2020 bring us 20/20.

(Editor’s note: And may 2021 bring us healing, in the name of Jesus!)

A New Year Dawns by Michelle Robertson