CamDevo

Usually when a contract is breached, neither party needs to fulfill their part in the terms of that contract. For example, a babysitter who doesn’t show up doesn’t need to be paid. And the invoices from a contractor who never builds the house can be ignored. Renters who don’t pay the rent can be evicted.

But God is very different from us humans. Even when His children totally ignored their obligations in His fantastic covenant, He still held up His end of the bargain. Not only that, He attached an addendum that said His son Jesus would meet our obligations for us. That is crazy generous.

Imagine that God commissioned me to paint a picture. He agreed to pay me more than I could ever dream of earning. We both signed a contract. He bought the canvas and the paint, even the easel. All I had to do was sit down and paint. But instead I watched TV, went to parties with my friends, slept… I did whatever I wanted and ignored the easel. Several deadlines came and went, and God was angry.

Then one day His Son showed up saying God had sent Him. He painted the most beautiful picture on my canvas. He gave it to me to sign as if it were my painting. He said I could give that to God thus fulfilling my commitment and repairing our relationship.

That’s not the way things work here on earth. But that’s how God operates with His children because He loves us so much. He is righteous and faithful beyond anything we experience in the human realm.

“For in [the Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”(Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭17,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

I can trust God to keep His end of our bargain. And He has done everything to make sure I can hold up my end too, by sending Jesus to do it for me. I just need to turn in my painting, with faith, when He returns.

Dear God,

It is amazing that you didn’t just throw us all out and start over when we turned out to be so lousy at keeping our promises. I’m so grateful you didn’t. Thank you for making it possible to be saved despite my failing, to be saved by faith in Jesus instead of my character or behavior.

My body is amazing. Not to brag, but I marvel at all it can do. With just a thought, I can wave my hand, raise my eyebrow, tap my toes, or jump. Without even a thought, I breathe, blink, and circulate blood from my scalp to the soles of my feet and back. All this and more is accomplished with tiny electrical impulses that zip around my nervous system and my brain.

This communication within my body is wondrous, but it can also lead me astray. When my stomach is empty, it sends a message to my brain that is interpreted as hunger. This hunger message compels me to eat. My tastebuds send a message that sugar tastes great so I should eat more of that. This is where things go off the rails. Sugar doesn’t fill me up so I keep getting those hunger messages.

I shouldn’t always listen to my body. Although it is a miraculous piece of machinery, it is not immune to manipulation and is easily duped into self-destructive behavior.

For example, when I’m tired I should sleep, but not while I’m driving. My body insists on sleeping anyway. Or when someone hurts me, my body tells me to retaliate, but this is just as idiotic as falling asleep while driving. It will only lead to destruction and pain for myself and others.

I need to override my body’s urges sometimes. I must not act on every whim and craving I feel.

So how do I know which feelings to follow, what thirsts to quench, and which hungers to satisfy?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭6,‬ ‭CSB)‬‬

God asks me to use His measuring stick. If I prioritize my relationship with Him, I will always be on the right path, and He will meet my true needs. Before acting on any urge, craving, or emotion I should put it through His filter of righteousness. If I do, true and lasting fulfillment will come.

Dear God,

Thank you for this promise of satisfaction when I align my urges to your will. Give me the strength and wisdom to redirect my cravings and emotions toward good and righteous actions. Please forgive me for the times when I give in to self indulgence.

Commercials abound that urge me to invest my money with this or that company. They assure me that my money is not only safe but is sure to grow and provide a secure future for me and my family.

There are even more rumors and links and opportunities proclaimed by influencers and paid sponsors claiming huge rewards for buying into various schemes like cryptocurrency or real estate or gold or whatever. Everyone wants something for nothing.

Believe it or not, the Bible has an outlandish investment strategy of its own.

“Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.” (Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭10,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

God promises that if I give a tenth (a tithe) of the income He blesses me with back to Him (to help the needy – orphans, widows, foreigners – either via a church or other organization or even personally), He will heap even more blessings on me. He doesn’t specify an exact return on investment, but He uses the words “floodgates” and “without measure.”

Unlike all the other sketchy investment schemes I see in ads or from celebrities or even friends, God is a sure investment. I have found this to be absolutely true in my life. I cannot out-give God. The more I give, the more He sends my way. Tithing is the one and only thing in the Bible where God invites His children to test Him. Try it. You’ll find it to be true too. If you want a stable future, trust God and invest with Him.

Dear God,

Thank you for your Biblical get blessed quick scheme. Thank you for allowing me to participate in your care for your more needy children. And thank you also for your promise of immeasurable blessings when I do. Thank you for proving yourself to be faithful in this in my life. Forgive me for the times when I am still stingy and reluctant to share my blessings with others.

Listening to someone give me directions is pointless. They can describe all the turns I need to make in great detail, but it won’t help me. That is, it won’t help me until I actually start traveling along their prescribed path.

Knowing that there is a bright red barn with a giant daisy on it before I am supposed to turn left is useless information unless I’m actually driving down the proper road in the right direction. When I see the barn and the daisy, it all makes sense, and I know exactly what to do to reach my destination.

“Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭9,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

In the same way, if I read the Bible and listen to sermons at church, that information is pointless unless I go out and start doing the things God has advised.

It’s so easy to get lost in this world. There is a maze of routes I can take. Most of them look easy and enticing. But if I want true peace, if I want to travel with God, I need to follow His directions every step of the way.

Dear God,

Thank you for providing your clear road map to peace. Forgive me for all the wrong turns I have made. Your road signs all say “Love This Way.” Guide me down your path toward loving people.

What do you reach for when you’re in pain? For physical pain, maybe a pill or ice or a doctor. For emotional pain…? Maybe you reach for friends. Or maybe you take the opposite approach and ball up in the dark of your bed. Maybe you try for distraction with busyness, or the temporary numbness of alcohol or drugs.

This world is full of pain. It is sure to visit us all. And there really is no cure here on earth. Cheery, right?

Fortunately, there is a cure that is not of this world.

“The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.” (Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭18,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

The One I should turn to when I’m suffering is God. When I turn to Him and cry out to Him in my pain, He promises to come. Not just into the room. He will be near me. He will sit right next to me and hold me close. And He will save me.

He whispers reminders of His love and His promise to remove all pain one day. He asks me to be patient and gives me real relief for today. And He sticks around. If I listen carefully to His still, small voice, I will hear His wisdom for the moment: Get out of bed. Take a shower. Eat something healthy. Call your friend. Let’s go for a walk. And remember how much I love you. I am right here.

Dear God,

Thank you for your beautiful promise to be near me when I turn to you in my suffering. Thank you for reminding me that it is YOU I need most. Nothing and no one else has the power to provide what I need. I look forward to the day when all pain is eradicated. Until then, help me to be patient and to always turn to you.

There’s something very meaningful that happens when I speak what I think out loud. If I believe something, but keep it to myself, do I really, truly believe it?

Once I’ve claimed something out loud, I’m committed to it. People have a record of my claim and can remind me of it and keep me accountable to it. I have a new facet to my identity. But if I keep it to myself, I can waffle and hedge my bets. No one else knows what my opinion is. Maybe I will even start doubting myself and questioning what I actually believe.

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭9,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

It is important to my faith to claim Jesus as my Savior out loud, to confess Him with my mouth. It may seem like a simple thing, but it changes everything. To be a true representative of Jesus in this world, I must reveal myself as such. If I hide my beliefs instead, I will be useless as His witness, and my faith will suffer.

It’s scary to open myself up to scrutiny by sharing my beliefs. But unless I do, I will not be saved. If I’m ashamed of Jesus today, He will be ashamed of me on judgment day.

Dear God,

Thank you for your promise to save me if I believe you in my heart and confess you with my mouth. Give me the courage necessary to make my love for you known, to identify as your disciple. Forgive me for wanting to remain hidden and neutral and lukewarm. I know this is not the kind of follower you want.

“For I know the plans I have for you”  — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
‭‭(Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬, ‭CSB‬‬)

This is a favorite verse for a lot of people, and it certainly sounds very hopeful and comforting. But I’ve heard other people say that it isn’t meant for them. They say it was only written to provide hope for the ancient Israelites when they were in exile and feeling bereft and abandoned.

So, does this verse apply to me or not?

It’s an important question. If this verse doesn’t apply to me, does any of the Bible apply to me? It is an ancient text written for an ancient audience after all.

But the Bible is also “God-breathed” which means He sent its message to all His children — past and future — through the authors He selected. God doesn’t change. His character and His hopes for His children don’t change. He is disappointed when I sin. But He is as forgiving today as He was when this verse was written.

No matter what dire straits I find myself in, the same God written about in the Bible is ready to provide hope for my salvation when I turn to Him today.

Dear God,

Thank you for your consistent hope and everlasting promises. I am so relieved that you love me and are ready and willing to forgive me and heal me today so I can look forward to a bright future tomorrow.

Why does anyone ever volunteer for anything? Serving food at soup kitchens, pounding nails to build someone else’s house, teaching strangers’ children to read… This behavior goes completely against our animal survival instinct which urges us to play it safe and save all our resources for ourselves.

God is the reason we have an urge to give and to serve. He built His children with compassion, empathy, and love.

If I listen to God’s voice, I can hear Him calling me to help, to look up from my needs and notice the needs of others. He could meet their needs without me, but He loves me and knows the joy that comes from giving. He created me to find fulfillment in that way.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.” (Isaiah‬ ‭6‬:‭8,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

God didn’t need Isaiah to give the people His message, but He invited Isaiah anyway because He loved him and wanted him to find purpose and meaning in his chaotic world.

It’s easy to be distracted and derailed from compassion and generosity by the clamoring selfishness around me, so I take time every day to listen. What is God calling me to do today?

Dear God,

Thank you for letting me participate in your loving work. I’m sorry for the times when I close my ears to your call and focus on myself. It is a great joy to serve you by serving others in need. Remind me of that today. Here I am. Send me.

In old cartoons, the bully was always kicking over the carefully constructed sand castles of other kids on the beach. Usually kicking the sand in their faces to do the most harm.

That’s what bullies do. They destroy. A bully doesn’t like there to be anything nice around for someone else to enjoy. Laughter and love are grating.

The devil is a big bully. His goal is to destroy the good that God has created as often and as thoroughly as possible, using any tool at his disposal, including people vulnerable to his tempting whispers.

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”
‭‭(John‬ ‭10‬:‭10,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

Fortunately, God is more powerful than any bully. His creation and His love are resilient and unstoppable. God even devised a way to circumvent the death that the devil tricked us into earning.

Although this world is full of bullies, by choosing Jesus, we can have a bully-free life to look forward to.

Dear God,

Thank you for your beautiful, perfect creation. Thank you for creating me too. Thank you most of all for forgiving me and providing a way for me to enjoy your beautiful, perfect creation for all eternity.

My dog Rocky loves hunting for lizards. He pounces on shrubs to see what scurries out and then tries to chase after it. My leash frustrates his efforts.

One day, I thought he had his head buried in a shrub sniffing down a lizard hole, but he came up with the desiccated carcass of a rat. It was a flat mat of fur and dried skin. To me it was disgusting. To Rocky it was the height of delicious treasure. It took me a long time to get him to drop it and leave it alone.

Because of sin, my body and its related desires are as dead and desiccated as that rat. And they are just as disgusting to God as the rat was to me. He wonders how I can be so obsessed with my body — the way it looks, the way it feels, the things it craves — when the really important stuff has nothing to do with my body.

I feed my dog delicious and nutritious food, and yet he really wanted that rat. God provides the best for me, and yet I turn away from Him in search of momentary good feelings and the approval of people who don’t love me.

God has the power to return that dead husk of a rat back into a healthy, thriving rodent. In the same way, He has the power to save my dead and mortal body and give me a meaningful, eternal life.

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.” (Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭11,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

All I have to do is obey. Drop the rat and trust Him to provide.

Dear God,

Thank you for providing me a way out of my dead end search for goodness and meaning. I know these things, and true life, can only be found in you. Remind me to put away my concerns of my body and look instead to your purposes for me today.