CamDevo

“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭CSB‬‬

What is everything required for life? Air? Water? Food? I guess those are the basics, but having just those would only technically sustain life. To have any kind of real life, a human would also need light, room to move around, companionship, purpose…

I’m sure God wants me to have a real life. A rewarding life, a productive life, a joy-filled life. Because He loves me. He loves me so much, in fact, that He wants me to have a rewarding, productive, and joy-filled life for all eternity, with Him. Sounds great!

Today’s verse tells me that He provided everything I need for that to happen “through the knowledge of Him.” Just by knowing God, I can have a rewarding, productive and joy-filled life that lasts forever.

But it’s not so easy to know someone. Just saying it doesn’t make it true. If I show up at the entrance to an exclusive event and ask to be allowed in because I know the host, that won’t get me past the velvet rope. I have to prove it somehow. I need to be on the guest list or have an invitation. Or perhaps get the host herself to wave me through. But if I’ve never met the host or spent time with her or read anything about her or attended any of her prior events… I certainly don’t know her, and she won’t be waving me in. And I won’t find myself on her guest list.

How do I get on God’s guest list? It’s simple enough. He isn’t surrounded by an entourage of body guards. He doesn’t live in a secret gated compound in the hills. God really wants me to know Him. He put a whole book together about how He pursued His people over and over again. He sent prophet after prophet to teach us about Him. Then He even sent His son. I can read all about that including His gift of salvation in the Bible. And if I accept that gift, God even comes to live in my heart. I can talk to Him at any time. And you really get to know someone when you live with them!

By reading the Bible, accepting Jesus’s gift, talking to God, and welcoming Him into my heart and daily life, I come to know God really well. And according to today’s verse, that means I will have everything I need to live a full and godly life now.

And at the end, He’ll see me at the gate and greet me with a big smile and a warm embrace saying, “Welcome, my friend!”

Dear God,

I really want to know you and have what I need to live a full and godly life now. And I very much want to be greeted as your friend for all eternity. Forgive me when I get distracted and don’t prioritize my relationship with you. Thank you so much for your forgiveness, your grace, your divine power, your love, your goodness, and your promise to provide what I need.

“Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭16‬:‭15‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Isn’t it weird that Jesus tells us to preach to all creation? Not just all nations or all people, but all creation. Snakes and butterflies, mountains and waterfalls. Really?

Maybe the point is to spend zero time choosing my audience. I should just always be preaching the gospel. I don’t have to consider whether someone is ready to hear it or whether they deserve it or whether this is the person God wanted me to preach to today… or even whether there are any humans around! I can practice my delivery on my house plants. They don’t judge, at least not loudly.

In the next few verses after today’s verse Jesus discusses scenarios of the gospel being preached. He mentions demons, snakes, even microbes in water that would make someone sick. if I preach to all creation, it would include demons and snakes and microbes. Jesus said that even they will obey. God’s power easily overwhelms all these dangers so I don’t need to worry about these things.

Do I trust God enough to preach the gospel to all creation? Do I believe His word is mightier than any danger I might encounter doing so? I think I’m too selective in my audience because I’m afraid of offending someone. That’s a pathetic, self-serving excuse.

Notice Jesus didn’t say, “Convince people of my salvation.” He just said to preach about it. Whether my audience (the snakes, demons, microbes, house plants and some people too) believes or not is totally up to God. I have the easy part. Just keep talking about Jesus and trust God with the rest.

Dear God,

Thank you for giving me the easy part. It turns out to not be so easy for me though. I’m sorry when my own pride gets in the way of my talking about you. Fill me with your Spirit so I can be bold and preach about you to all creation.

“Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!”
‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭CSB‬‬

This is the one little bright spot in a book filled with sorrow and regret. The book is called Lamentations, after all. It’s kind of in the middle of the book which feels right, like the eye of the storm.

Why is a book filled with verse after verse of misery and woe included in the Bible? Well, everyone can related to it so why shouldn’t it be included? Unfortunately, life is painful and disappointing much of the time. It’s a fallen world. The Bible is our story so it includes the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But the Bible is also God’s story and today’s verse reminds the mourner of His unchanging character. He is always faithful. His love is always available. His mercy never runs dry.

Even in the midst of my darkest moment, my deepest grief, my most profound loss… God’s love is right here, the same as ever. Just as shiny and wonderful. His forgiveness is within reach. It’s not even a stretch. When I lift my eyes from my darkness, I can see the hope of God’s bright dawn and a new morning fresh with possibilities.

Dear God,

Thank you so much for your constant presence and dependable love and mercy. Thank you for this promise of hope in the midst of my pain. Remind me to look up from myself and my situation. To look at your smiling face and accept your comfort. Teach me to be a comfort to others in the darkness as well.

“We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

In today’s verse, Paul is contending with some people in the Corinthian church who are somehow offended by his claim of authority. It seems odd since Paul started the church and is the only one there with first-hand experience of Jesus. But there are always people who struggle with pride. They are threatened by anyone who displays even the slightest advantage over them. Stronger, more knowledgeable, wealthier, more popular… Anyone who appears higher than them in any way is somehow an affront and an enemy. Their reaction is to attack and try to cut their perceived opponent down — to weaken them, make them seem stupid, ruin their finances or their reputation. The target reveals their particular insecurities.

In today’s verse, the attackers’ insecurities were apparently in their knowledge of God. So they attacked Paul by claiming he didn’t know what he was talking about and had no authority. They got very personal.

How did Paul respond? He didn’t retaliate personally or build himself up. He pointed back to Jesus. Paul didn’t claim power himself, but he reminded the church where true power comes from — God. God has all the power. Accessing this vast power doesn’t happen with arguments and pride, it happens with humility and obedience.

Arguments and pride are demolished by the knowledge of God. If I know God, I am humble. There is no other way to be when faced with the Creator of the universe and everything in it; the One who exists outside of time and space and yet stands here with me offering love; the Author who knows everything about my story and still wants to spend time with me. There is no other way to be but humble. Pride can’t stand in the face of such a Being. If I am proud, I do not know God.

Dear God,

Thank you for showing me who you are through your word, through your creation, and during times when I pray and contemplate all that you are. Thank you for your beauty, your love, your wisdom, your power, your holiness, and your forgiveness. I worship you in humble obedience today.

“My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,”
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭19‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I often find myself finishing my husband’s sentences. TV sitcoms would have me believe this is a good thing, a sign of how close we are. But sadly, this isn’t true. Instead it’s a sign of my impatience, and it frustrates my husband. Instead of listening to what he’s saying, I let him get about halfway, finish his thought in my head, and move right into my response. Sometimes I predict correctly what his point will be. Sometimes I don’t. In those cases, he says, “Let me finish…” which always perplexes and frustrates me because in my mind, he had finished and made his point.

Many of our arguments could be avoided if I would obey today’s verse and spend more time listening fully before formulating my response or reacting to what I assumed he meant. Quick to listen. Slow to speak. Slow to anger.

It kind of surprises me that this is a challenge for me because I’m an introvert. I’m not a big talker. I am quiet and would rather not be the one talking in a group, in general. So why do I have a hard time listening? Part of it is just plain old impatience. But another part is that I’m the kind of person who wants to fix things. I think listening equals fixing. But it doesn’t. In fact, rarely is anyone asking me for advice. Just because someone is describing a problem to me doesn’t mean they want me to fix it or offer suggestions.

It’s taken me many years and many bumpy relationships to realize this. But all I had to do was read this verse.

Dear God,

Thank you for this wise verse and wonderful relationship-mending advice. Help me to remember it and put it into practice today and in every conversation. Teach me to listen well, to take time to understand what people are saying, whether I agree with them or not, before responding with my own thoughts. And please give me wisdom so when I do start speaking, it builds others up and is helpful or comforting or meets their needs in some way I may not even understand. Thank you for listening to me.

“Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

It’s a shame when Christians get worked up about all sorts of rules and prohibitions and “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots”. Jesus had a lot to say about people who wrapped God in extra laws and rules. He called them blind guides, fools, serpents, and hypocrites. These were the the theological scholars and church leaders of His time!

Jesus had a problem with these extra laws because they were clouding the real priorities of God and acting as a huge barrier for people who didn’t yet know God. One of the main things Jesus taught when He came to earth is in today’s verse. God has really simple priorities. And they are all and only about love. In the very next verse, Jesus says all the law and the prophets are summed up with these two commandments. In other words, I don’t need to worry about remembering 613 commandments. I don’t even have to worry about ten commandments. Just two: love God with all I’ve got and love other people as if they were me.

Jesus didn’t say I could pretend the law, those 613 commandments, never existed. He said He didn’t come to abolish the law, in fact. He came to fulfill it. What does that mean?

God gave the law to show us how high His standards are and to teach us how crappy we are at meeting those standards. We are so crappy at it that we can’t even understand His standards let alone obey them. Fortunately Jesus came to interpret God’s law for us and to meet those standards for us so we don’t have to. He clarified God’s priorities, showed us how to live them out, and then died in our place because He knew we’d still fail.

Just because I’m crappy at something important doesn’t mean I should stop trying. If I did, I never would have learned to walk. I would have toppled over a few times, then thrown up my hands and said, “Oh well, I guess I won’t be one of those people who walks.” I’m crappy at loving. Crappy at loving God and crappy at loving other people as much as I love myself. But God knows that, and He still loves me. He gave me a way into His kingdom anyway. Whew! But He still expects me to keep trying. Every time I fail to love well, He expects me to try again. Practice and practice and practice until I take one little shuffling step forward and all heaven rejoices.

Dear God,

Thank you so much for simplifying your commands for me, for clarifying your priorities. Two commands about love is enough to handle. I’m sorry for my many past failures and those I will have in the future. Show me where my steps are going wrong and where my balance is off. Give me the strength and encouragement to keep at it. To keep loving.

“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

Decision-making has always been a struggle for me. I think this is mainly due to my fear of living with the wrong choice, fear of regret. At times it has been so difficult that I preferred having no choice. I may still have to live with regret, but I would be consoled by the fact that at least it wasn’t my fault. Ridiculous, I know.

Let’s face it, bad choices can have dire consequences. Starting with the first bad choice by Adam and Eve in the garden. They chose to disobey God and eat the fruit He told them not to eat. Oops.

So decision-making can cause me a lot of anxiety. Especially big decisions like where to go to college, whether to accept this job or date that person or get married or have children or move to that city… Decision-making is a real peace-killer.

In today’s verse, Paul is helping the people in the church he started in Philippi find peace. There is anxiety and contention and confusion. He gives many wonderful remedies in Philippians 4, and you should read the whole thing if you are struggling with a lack of peace. In today’s verse he focuses on the problem of not knowing what to do and the anxiety that causes. His answer is basically, “Remember me?” The believers in Philippi knew Paul very well. He spent a lot of time with them, teaching them and living life with them. He is asking them to remember what he taught, what he said, what he did. Go back to basics.

So what did Paul teach, say and do? Paul pointed back to Jesus. Paul taught Jesus’s teachings, he repeated Jesus’s words, and he modeled Jesus’s self-sacrificing generous love.

It may not seem like looking to Jesus’s teachings and life would help me make big decisions. But it actually has helped me quite a bit. It has given me peace because I know that as long as I am doing my best to listen to God and love other people, any choice I make can’t mess up God’s plan for me. He’s much too powerful for anything I do to prevent His will. God will work everything out for the good of those who love Him. (see Romans 8:28) Even Adam and Eve’s devastating rebellion in the garden has been accounted for and redeemed. God planned for that and sent Jesus.

My job is just to love God and love people, and all my decisions should reflect that. God will take care of the rest. I have peace knowing God’s plan is good, and it cannot be thwarted no matter what I choose.

Dear God,

Thank you for your good, pleasing, perfect, and unassailable will. I’m so glad that I don’t have to be afraid about the future. Thank you for making my job simple – love you by loving people. Help my choices to always reflect that goal and to trust you with the rest. Thank you for your welcome peace.

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor, a lifetime. Weeping may stay overnight, but there is joy in the morning.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭30‬:‭5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I love the heading that this translation of the Bible includes for this chapter. It’s “Joy in the Morning.” I’m a morning person. For me, this doesn’t mean I love getting out of bed or getting up early. Instead it means that I have the most energy and gumption in the morning. By the afternoon, my motivation is waning. By the evening, I’m done with anything meaningful. My husband who is more of a night owl knows better than to ask me to help him with any kind of project after 9pm. It’s like my brain has already gone to bed.

And along with my lack of energy comes a kind of emotional fatigue as well. Things seem harder at night. Problems seem insurmountable. Troubles are overwhelming. When I feel like that, I know it’s best for me to just go to bed.

Because then morning comes and everything seems possible again. I can picture tackling projects one at a time. Life seems doable. There is joy in the morning. This verse is for me.

Of course, the verse isn’t just about morning people or energy boosts. David is talking about God’s love as well as His holiness. God loves me so much that He wants me to be my best, do my best, be holy like Him. Of course I fail, so He disciplines me, because He loves me. Loving parents discipline their children. It’s hard but makes the children learn and grow and be better people. God is the best parent. He loves me enough to discipline me. He makes sure I know when I have failed to live up to His standards. I feel it. I see it in the faces of people I’ve hurt. I read about it in His word.

But He doesn’t like disciplining me any more than a human parent likes punishing their child. So thankfully His displeasure only lasts the shortest amount of time necessary. His disappointed face may be turned away from me for a night, but there is joy in the morning when I have repented, and He shines his beautiful smile on me with forgiveness. And He says, “Ok, enough of yesterday. Let’s move on to today’s fun plan!”

Dear God,

Thank you for your perfect holiness and for your love. I’m so sorry that I am so bad at being holy. But thank you for providing your dependable grace and forgiveness through Jesus. Show me where I have failed, and help me to do better, but please keep your discipline short. Don’t hide your face from me for long. Thank you for the joy and refreshed promise you bring me every morning.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭10‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I used to envision missionaries in uncharted jungles being beheaded or boiled by cannibals when I read this verse. That’s the imagination of a child who watched too much TV.

Martyrs are included in today’s verse (that is, if they were killed due to their good works and loving attitudes, like Jesus Himself), but there are more ways to be persecuted besides being killed.

People are persecuted every day for a variety of things in a variety of ways. In school, the persecutors are called bullies. They bully anyone who is different in any kind of way: taller, shorter, fatter, thinner, older, younger, or just because they are there. In fact, this continues well beyond high school. The differences and the methods simply change a bit. And of course, cowardly bullies have really found their home in the anonymity and remoteness of the Internet.

But why would anyone want to persecute a person for doing good and being loving? It comes back to the “being different” aspect that riles up a bully. If everyone is cheating on a test but one person refuses, that person will be persecuted for being righteous. If everyone is speeding down the road but one person is driving the speed limit, that person will be persecuted with honks and fingers or worse even though they are obeying the law. (Maybe you roll yours eyes at this, but isn’t the law, the law? Or can we pick and choose which ones to obey and when? What is righteous?) If someone wearing a MAGA hat enters an event and people jeer and call them names but you make sure they are safe regardless of your political views, you will be persecuted and jeered as well even though you are being righteous in that moment. If someone wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt enters an event and people jeer and call them names but you make sure they are safe regardless of your political views, you will be persecuted and jeered at as well even though you are being righteous in that moment. If someone wearing a Pride pin enters… you get the idea.

People doing righteous things get persecuted all the time because righteousness is not valued in this world. Real righteousness is against the grain. Society is filled with mobs that want everyone to go with the flow, to fit in, to normalize their standards. Sadly, Christians are just as guilty of this.

To be righteous, and to inherit the kingdom of heaven, I have to constantly analyze my own behavior and motivations. I must hold them up to the standard God set, not the standards the world sets. And His standard is always love. If I do that, and make the right adjustments toward love and generosity and integrity, I can almost be assured of persecution coming at me. But then I can remember today’s verse and think about heaven. There won’t be any bullies there.

Dear God,

Thank you for your perfect standard. I’m so sorry I fail to meet it. But I am so grateful that Jesus met it for me and gave me the freedom to live as if I have met your standard. Give me the strength and courage to live righteously, according to your standard. Show me behavior and attitudes that I need to change today. I never want to be the bully. And help me never to succumb to bullies either but to stand strong, with love and grace, for your perfection.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬

This translation of the Bible uses “sons” of God where some others use “children” of God, including women. I’m certain Jesus intended for female peacemakers to be blessed and to find themselves in God’s family as much as male peacemakers. How can I be so sure? For one thing, because the Bible says, “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭28‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I mention this “minor” point even though the verse is clearly about peacemaking and not about gender roles because it’s actually not a minor point. I believe the Bible and all of God’s promises are for me. Even though I am a woman. Even though a minister in my past tried to tell me they weren’t, that I was excluded because I am female.

After reading the Bible several times, I concluded he was wrong. God’s love and all of His promises are for me. They are for everyone. That’s the whole point of the Bible, in fact. God’s love is for everyone! He created everyone and loves everyone and wants everyone to be part of His beautiful kingdom.

And this is how peace happens.

War happens when artificial divisions that God did not intend are formed. When one side claims they are somehow better than the other side. Pride and shame give birth to mistrust and suspicion which give birth to fear and anger which give birth to hatred and war.

Peacemakers break down the barriers between perceived categories. The Bible and God’s love is for me and you, no matter who you are. Man, woman, child, adult, white, black, Hispanic, Chinese, English-speaking, mute, deaf, blind, gay, straight, single, married, rich, poor, in prison, an ex-con, an addict, democrat, republican, fit, fat, citizen, undocumented immigrant, janitor, CEO, unemployed.

There is no category of person that is excluded from God’s love. But there are so many categories of people that other people hate. Yes, even some Christians hate! Which should NOT ever be the case.

In today’s verse, Jesus blesses me if I seek to abolish those categories, in my own mind and attitudes, but also in the minds and attitudes of all the people I interact with and have influence over. He doesn’t bless peace-wishers, He blesses peacemakers. I make peace possible if I seek out and actively welcome the people different from me, people I’m afraid of or don’t understand or disagree with. If I listen to them, build them up, seek their best, meet their needs, and encourage them with God’s word and His love, then I am a peacemaker, and I am a child of God.

Dear God,

Thank you for the huge variety of people you created. Forgive me for thinking I am ever somehow better or more important or worthy than any other person you created. Teach me how to make peace. Show me where I can start today.