CamDevo

“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

I’ve read many stories where the main character needs to go over hurdles, solve mysteries, find lost treasures and hidden passageways and overcome all manner of obstacles to reach their ultimate goal. These kinds of struggles make for captivating storytelling. But if my ultimate goal is to be saved, to have eternal life with God in His new and perfect kingdom, I don’t have to jump across chasms filled with flaming scorpions, or scale a crumbling mountain infested with ice spiders, or fight an acid-belching dragon in a deep underground cavern. Today’s verse tells me the simple things I need to do: confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. It’s just a matter of faith. While this makes for a terrible adventure story, it is wonderful news. That’s why Jesus’s story is called Good News. In Jesus’s story, He did all the hard work. He wore my sin like a heavy, burning coat. He endured the torture of whipping, hatred, abandonment, betrayal, and crucifixion. He went down to Hades and conquered death. Because of His story, my story can be one simple, boring verse. All I need to do is believe!

Dear God,

I can never thank you enough for taking on all the hard tasks required to pay for my sin. Thank you that I don’t have to! Your salvation is free and there is nothing I can do to earn it or pay it back. I am so relieved that my job is so simple. But remind me that even though it is simple I still need to do it. Show me how and when to confess that you are Lord and give me the faith to believe!

“I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit,”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭CSB‬‬

In this world, resources are limited. This can be a very frightening thing. This fear has been the cause of countless battles and wars and feuds and rifts and murders and crazy stampeding hoards. This fear starts from the moment we are born and doesn’t fully die until we do. What if there isn’t enough to go around? What if there isn’t enough for me?

The resources I’m talking about can be anything. Food. Water. Land. Breathable air. Personal space. Love. Medicine. Time. Money. Cheap TVs.

Today’s verse reminds me that there is one resource that I don’t have to worry about running low or growing thin. It’s never advertised with “hurry, while supplies last.” It’s the only thing that is infinite and available to anyone and everyone who wants it at any time, as much as they need. That is God’s powerful love. Paul says, “…according to the riches of His glory…” God’s riches are infinite. God is full of love. He IS love. He is made out of love. He can never run out. It was this love that created the world and everything in it. It was this love that sent Jesus to die in my place. It is this love that is available to me now and can give me strength in my inner being through His Spirit.

What am I supposed to do with all this love given to me so freely? Share it, of course. Sharing is such a hard word in a resource-scarce world. What if there isn’t enough to go around? What if I run out? But there is more than enough! The more I give away, the more I have somehow. That’s the miracle of God’s love. His supplies last forever.

Dear God,

Thank you for forgiving me and filling me with your love. Remind me, again and again — as often as I need to hear it — that your love is not scarce. Remind me that it is plentiful and freely given. I am sorry when I don’t share it the way you want me to. Strengthen me with your power to trust you and to love generously today.

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; proclaim his deeds among the peoples.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭105‬:‭1‬ ‭CSB‬‬

There’s are 3 parts to this verse: give thanks to the Lord, call on His name, and proclaim His deeds among the peoples. It’s easy to understand the first and the last parts, but really easy to gloss over the middle part. When I started to focus on that one, I realized I don’t really know what it means exactly. It’s not something I ever hear in my culture. I thank people and get thanked for various things frequently. And people’s deeds are “proclaimed among the peoples” all the time. Often it’s the one performing the deed who is also doing the proclaiming. We call that posting on social media. But I don’t hear about people calling on someone’s name. So what does that mean? I can call a person when I want to talk to them. But I don’t call on their name. I can use someone’s name to get special access perhaps. For example, I might get a discount on blueberries at a farm my cousin owns if I mention their name and how we’re related. I think this is a little closer to the intended meaning of today’s verse. In the blueberry farm example, my cousin’s name had power. (Pretty measly power, but still power.) By calling on her name, I got cheaper blueberries. God’s name is the most powerful name there is. So powerful that some ancient scribes didn’t even think His name should be spoken aloud so they abbreviated it in the old texts to remind people just to say Lord instead. But Jesus gave His disciples permission to use His powerful name. Kind of like using my cousin’s name to get fresh blueberries on the cheap, I can use Jesus’s name to accomplish His will on earth. And in today’s verse, the psalmist is saying I should use God’s name – not in vain though! I should call on it only when I mean it. I need to be very aware of its power and use it wisely while thanking Him and praising Him. Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, I don’t have to be shy about coming to God, calling on Him and using His name purposefully.

Dear God,

Thank you for allowing me to use your name, to call on you whenever I want, to use you as a reference. I am your child, and I am so grateful for that. Thank you for the mighty and awesome power available to me through your name. Teach me to use it wisely and purposefully and never to take it for granted.

“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I was just visiting a friend who is very crafty, meaning she enjoys all sorts of crafts. She has some small looms that can be used for weaving. She also has a big bag of all kinds of yarns: thin or thick, wool, cotton, and all the colors of the rainbow. She spent some time this morning teaching me how to weave. I selected some colors and started making something that might end up as a lop-sided placemat, at best. My friend was very gracious. When I made a mistake she had the attitude that it’s all part of the process and further weaving can solve any problem. If a color I selected didn’t end up looking the way I wanted, she helped me find a different complementary yarn to weave in that somehow made it look beautiful. When I pulled it wrong and had a loop sticking out that I didn’t want, she showed me how to weave in other loops that made the first loop look intentional and altogether more interesting. And in general she was much less concerned than I was about “perfection” during the weaving and said it would be beautiful in the end. I may not have ended up with the most perfectly woven product, but today’s verse made me think about my weaving experience. God is weaving my life with me. He has a plan for my life. Often I make choices that feel like I’ve ruined something important. I added the wrong color or ended up with too much yarn or not enough. I get frustrated or scared or discouraged. But God is a master weaver. I can’t ruin this project. If I trust Him, He can weave any rotten string I’ve added into something beautiful, something that makes my life better in the end. In God’s hands, my life will end up exactly how He intended it — beautiful and perfectly suited to its purpose.

Dear God,

Thank you for caring about me. I hand the weaving loom of my life over to you. I know your plan is perfect, you are more than capable, and you will weave all the events and choices and situations of my life into something beautiful and useful. Forgive me for trying to wrestle the yarn away from you and do it myself when things aren’t looking so great. I trust you.

“Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I’ve read through the whole Bible a few times. I’m not saying that to brag but to point out what I have learned from the experience. From reading the whole of the Bible (and not just the New Testament) over and over again, I clearly get the sense that love is God’s primary goal for me. It’s His goal to love me, His goal for me to love Him, and His goal for me to love other people. Over and over and over, this point is made. It’s easy to pick out a snippet here and a blurb there that doesn’t sound anything like love, of course. If you try hard enough, you can make the Bible, or any book for that matter, say anything you want it to. However, you will have to very selectively pick and choose and take things out of context and gloss over key elements to make the Bible say anything other than God is love and He wants us to love each other. Today’s verse is one of so many verses that hammers home God’s main goal again. God loves me soooo much, and He in turn wants me to share this love with others. The verse says God loves me “in this way”, referring to earlier verses’ descriptions of His sacrifice to save me from death brought on by my own selfish choices. And the verse says in the same way I should love others. Sacrificially. I should give up things I have and like so that I can love others. I should give up my time, my money, my pride, my reputation, my health… whatever it takes, in order to love someone who may never even notice or care. That’s what God did, and it’s what the Bible says He expects from me. But that’s not the end. Why? Because God’s love for me didn’t end. And God’s love is enormous! Bigger than I can ever imagine! I can’t give faster than He can. Philanthropist R. G. Letourneau was fond of saying “I shovel out the money, and God shovels it back — but God has a bigger shovel.” If I give my time toward loving people, I will have more than enough time for myself. If I give my money toward loving people, I will have more than enough to meet my needs. If I think I’ve destroyed my reputation by loving people, I’ll discover how wrong I am about that. God asks me to test Him on these things. His love is bigger. It’s big enough for me to give it all away and still have more than I need. That’s what the Bible says. And that’s what I believe. Now, if I can only have the courage to live that out!

Dear God,

Thank you so much for your never-ending supply of love! And thank you for heaping it on my head. And thank you for showing me how much faster you can give than I can. Please remind me of this and show me where I am being stingy with my resources. Show me where I need to love more today. Forgive me for being afraid and for hoarding your love. Give me a generous heart, ready to love courageously.

“For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Calling someone a tool is an insult. (Apparently it has been since the 1660s.) But I think being a tool, more literally, can be a good thing, depending entirely on who is wielding the tool. A hammer on a shelf is just a lump of metal accomplishing nothing. A hammer in a toddler’s hand can really only cause destruction and injury. A hammer in the hand of a master carpenter however can end up creating some beautiful masterpieces that improve the lives of those for whom they were created. According to today’s verse, God has a good purpose for my life. He wants to turn it into a beautiful masterpiece that improves the lives of everyone I encounter. In this case I want to be a tool. Without God, I’m just a hammer sitting on a shelf gathering dust, at best. At worst, if I allow culture to wield me like an ignorant toddler, I end up causing more harm and destruction than good. I want to be a tool wielded by God.

Dear God,

Thank you for working in me toward a good purpose. Thank you for giving me the passion to do your will and the energy and skill I need to do it. Forgive me for allowing anyone else to manipulate me. And forgive me for doing nothing at all. Reveal your will for me today and let me be a tool in your loving, capable hand.

“Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭6‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When I first read today’s verse, apart from its surrounding verses, I thought it meant that “the flesh” thinks about death a lot. The mindset of the flesh is death… The flesh means the part of me that is fallen and human and without God, the rebellious, physical, and carnal part of me. Perhaps it’s true that this part of me does preoccupy with death because without God, death will be the absolute end of me, and that’s an unsettling thought. However, I don’t think that’s Paul’s intended meaning here. I think he meant that the mindset of the flesh leads to death. Without God, my flesh is a bunch of cravings and needs. My mindset is all about seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Now, I might not seem as bad as that sounds. I can still do some pretty good things, some selfless-seeming things, from the “flesh mindset”, but ultimately my purpose in doing them is to make myself feel better in some way or to make the world better so that I can benefit from that. This sounds pretty cynical. But I think this is what Paul is saying. Only with God’s Spirit can I have a different mindset, one that is not self-serving. A mindset that leads to life and peace instead of judgment and death. This is the mindset of love. How could I have a mindset of love without God? God IS love after all. Can someone who doesn’t know God actually love? The Bible says no. The Bible is clear about this. Someone who does things from the flesh mindset, someone who doesn’t accept Jesus, cannot please God. Of course it’s also true that followers of Jesus can do fleshy, selfish things, things that do not please God—and frequently do! My flesh is still here after I’ve accepted Jesus. But His Spirit is here as well. Today’s verse is pointing out that both are present in me. I have a choice of who to listen to. Every time I do something, say something, don’t do something, don’t say something, I should contemplate where my motivation is coming from. Is it my physical self, my flesh mindset? Or is it God’s Spirit in me?

Dear God,

Thank you for sending your Spirit to live in me. Please forgive me for the (many) times I have ignored His guidance and have listened to my cravings, my insecurities and selfishness instead. Speak loudly and clearly, and open my ears to hear your voice. Give me the strength to ignore the cries of my flesh and to obey your wise way of life and peace.

“The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭13‬:‭20‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I go for a walk almost every morning because I have a dog. He insists that we do this as soon as I get out of bed. I’ve discovered that you learn a lot about a dog by walking with them. Dogs like to smell things I can’t smell. They hear things I don’t hear. They leave their mark on various shrubs and tree trunks for a reason I don’t fully understand. They are alert to dangers I don’t notice and ignore other things that I think are important. And they aren’t embarrassed by pooping in public. Dogs are interesting creatures and are very different from me. Today’s verse talks about walking but not with dogs. It encourages me to walk with wise people. By doing that I somehow also become wise. Listening to wise people talk isn’t enough. I need to walk with them, see them in action regularly. By encountering a dog one time, I would not have learned all those interesting things about them. Only by regular and sustained observation have I come to understand my dog, including his particular skill in hunting lizards. He approaches a bush quietly. Then he pounds a foot onto the bush to see what scurries out. He watches and listens carefully. He pounces on the larger bushes with both front feet. It’s such a clever way to hunt lizards. If I spend time observing people who know more than me about anything, asking questions, experiencing different situations of life with them, I will certainly learn their methods and processes. I will become wiser. If I spend time instead with people who are foolish and make bad choices, I will probably be swept up with them in the consequences of those bad choices whether or not I deserve to be. It matters who I “walk” with. It is a choice I can make with a big impact on my life. For better or worse.

Dear God,

Thank you for the abundance of people wiser than me whom I can seek to walk with in my life. Thank you for the wise people whom I have learned from in the past, people who taught me about you. Point out to me the people you’d like me to learn from now. And if I have anything to offer anyone else, guide my words and actions to be those of wisdom instead of foolishness.

“He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭3‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Yesterday I mentioned a few of God’s names. One of them was the Good Shepherd. All of Psalm 23 is about God being our Good Shepherd. I memorized this chapter as a child and can still recite it (in the King James Version.) It is popular because it is so comforting, poetic, powerful, and beautiful. Today’s verse is one part of this great poem of David’s. The King James Version says, “He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” I don’t know much about the job of being a shepherd. But I know sheep aren’t very smart animals. They are very dependent on their shepherd. They are often oblivious to danger as they focus solely on meeting their own needs, grazing blithely along a cliff edge or near a wolf den. Even though it feels a bit insulting to be compared to sheep, it’s unfortunately quite fitting. God can see the big picture that I can’t see. His wisdom is so far above mine. I spend a lot of my time and energy trying to meet my needs and fulfill my desires and cravings. I’m often oblivious to the dangers toward which my actions and choices are leading me. Sheep will die if their shepherd doesn’t care or ignores them or gets distracted. That is a bad shepherd. But God is a Good Shepherd. He loves me, even in my silly, selfish oblivion. He pulls me from the cliff’s edge, returning me to the right path. The righteous path.

Dear Good Shepherd,

Thank you so much for loving me despite my self-centered idiocy and greed. I trust you and humbly submit to your rod and staff of discipline that turns me back to the safety, joy, and abundance to be found in your pasture. Remind me to keep my eyes focused on my Good Shepherd as I go through my days.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

God has a lot of names. Yahweh, I AM, God Almighty, the Good Shepherd, LORD, the Creator, the Father, King of Kings… In today’s verse Paul adds “Father of mercies” and “God of all comfort” to the list. I’m noticing that it’s not God of some comfort or God of a little comfort, but God of ALL comfort. There is no comfort that God is not part of. (Just like there is no love that God is not part of because God IS love.) There is no way for me to comfort (or love) anyone apart from me knowing God and receiving comfort (or love) from Him. That’s a bold statement! But if I believe that God is the God of ALL comfort, then it must be true. So, to comfort anyone in my life, to have any comfort to give, I have to receive comfort from God first. The part about this that makes me cringe is that for God to give me comfort, I need to suffer. Eek. Why would God give me comfort if I were already perfectly comfortable and fulfilled and content with everything in my life? The sad truth is that in this fallen world, suffering is plentiful and certain. God doesn’t have to do anything to foist suffering on His children; we bring it on ourselves and each other constantly. But He doesn’t always stop pain from happening either. Today’s verse answers the “why” of that. Why does a loving God allow me to suffer?! (Such a common and familiar question.) The answer: so that He can give me comfort. And so that in turn, I have comfort to share with others who maybe don’t know Him yet.

Dear God of All Comfort,

I am so grateful for your love and comfort. I sorely need it. Remind me of the purpose of my suffering and your comfort however. Teach me how to give the comfort away to those in my life who need it. And show me how to reveal you as the source of the comfort I have. Forgive me for being selfish and stingy with my comfort. It is meant for sharing. Thank you for your generosity with me!