Month: September 2024

I have a friend who brought me a diet book.  He walked into my house and said, “Here you need this.”  I was quite amused.  I was very thankful he cared enough.  We all know the danger of extra pounds.  Since my friend had just himself lost 40 pounds and is feeling so good he wanted to share the experience with me.

I am thankful for friends who care.  And of course the most important friend of all who cares about me is Jesus Himself.  He too reminds me of areas in my life that need attention.  And just like my friend who did not just tell me to lose weight but brought me a book to help, so Jesus will supply me with all I need to fix up the other areas of my life.

That is what friends are for.

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In the fall as the days grow shorter and the midnight frost starts to nip the flowers, squirrels become most industrious.  They scurry around burying acorns everywhere carefully patting the dirt down on top of each acorn making it secure for future nourishment.

We are somewhat like those squirrels when reading our Bibles.  Not always is a passage exactly relevant to what is happening in our current lives.  But when reading we are burying seeds of truth and comfort for later times when we might need them.  Just as those squirrels do not need the acorns in the fall, later during a very cold winter the acorns will be there waiting for them.  If we hide God’s Word deeply in our minds, it will be there for us to use when difficult times come.

The Psalmist wrote in Ps. 119:19, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  If we store up God’s wisdom, the Holy Spirit can make good use of it when the need arises.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 3, 2000

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Have you ever looked at a tomato?  I mean really look at a fully ripe, lush, shiny red tomato.  Sitting in the sun it is a thing of beauty.  When I was a boy someone told me in ancient times people thought tomatoes were poisonous.  I wondered who was the first brave person who dared try one only to discover it wasn’t dangerous, or maybe someone tried to commit suicide by eating one and it didn’t work, or maybe they tried to use one as a means of capital punishment only to have the intended enjoy his last meal.  They could always throw them at bad public speakers.

It’s marvelous that tomatoes grow from those tiny white seeds. One would never know what a tomato looks like by only looking at a tomato seed.  Paul had this in mind when people asked him what we will look like after the resurrection.  So he wrote the following in I Corinthians 15.  “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.  But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.”

So the answer to the question is Paul didn’t know and neither do we.  What we do know is it will be splendid. “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.”  Verse 49   In verse 51 Paul calls it a mystery.  This is a mystery we all should love because it is about us, His redeemed.  No wonder sometimes we refer to someone as a “real tomato.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 29, 2016

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This morning I watched a smart salt/sand truck driver de-ice our hill.  Instead of trying to head down the hill and spread his salt and sand behind him, he backed down the hill so the pavement under his tires was pre-treated.  Otherwise he would have had a very scary ride down our hill with who knows what consequences when he got to the bottom.

Pre-treating or preparation is advantageous in a multitude of situations.  One would not want to go for a plane ride if the pilot had not prepared with his checklists.  One would not like to eat food prepared by someone who had not first washed their hands.  If you have an artificial knee or hip you don’t want to go to the dentist without first pre-treating yourself with a strong antibiotic. Things work best when proper steps are first taken.

I have seen some very frustrated Christians who complain that they cannot seem to get their spouse interested in accepting Jesus.  I wonder if they had pre-treated their quest by being the most loving, caring, supporting, sharing spouse ever.  In order to sell something we have to show the advantages.  Now some people will never be sold.  But if they are normal (normal people want to have a great life) and they see the quality of life that comes with Jesus, the odds are in favor of their making the desired decision.

If we are wise we prepare for a career by getting the education that matches our career goals.   If we are wise we prepare for our children’s college needs and also for our retirement that will come way too soon.

What do you think one needs to do to prepare for a final encounter with God that also is coming?

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 10, 2014

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I opened the door about five this morning to let my dog out and was smacked in the face by the most wonderful blast of cold air.  It was marvelous, refreshing and invigorating.   I know I should have been energy conscious and quickly closed the door to save household heat but I was prodigal.  I held the door open and basked in the luxury of fresh air.  Wow.  It was terrific.

So easily we grow accustomed to the norm we don’t notice the norm itself is degrading.  In this particular incident the air in the house had slowly grown stale.  But that isn’t nearly as important as the concern that we become accustomed to the values and norms of the world around us.  We all do it.          J. B. Phillips in his paraphrase of Romans 12 says, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”

It is so easy to grow lukewarm.  All we have to do is nothing.  It happens all by itself.  Fortunately things happen to us, like a blast of cold air, and we are jarred into the reality of our state of being.  Then it’s time to take action.

We often make resolutions about doing better at certain things, like losing weight.  That’s important for most of us.  But more importantly is something else – putting on and wearing “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Colossians 3.   That’s a blast for everyone with which we come into contact.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 28, 2016

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Years have passed since we were stunned by the horror at Columbine High in Colorado.  It will be decades before the name Dylan Klebold will not make people pause and wonder why.  His mother, Sue Klebold, has written a memoir entitled, A Mother’s Reckoning.  During a interview the last question put to her  was, “Do you still love your son?”  There was a pregnant pause and with a voice full of emotion Mrs. Klebold said, “I never stopped loving him.  I will love him until I breathe my last breath,” she said. “He’s like an invisible child that I carry in my arms everywhere I go, always.”

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”    Revelation 12

And so our history books are filled with gruesome revulsion and disgust at our inhumanity toward each other.  So often we try to paint it with nobility but it is useless because it is what it is – selfishness.  And so we ask God, who watched His very own Son perish here, “When did you stop loving Satan?”  And God says with a voice filled with emotion, “I never stopped loving him.  I will love him until I breathe my last breath. He’s like an invisible child that I carry in my arms everywhere I go, always.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 17, 2016

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After a message once about my father’s obsession with tools I received several interesting responses.  One person, a building contractor, told me he was so happy it was going to snow tomorrow morning because instead of going to his jobsite he can instead go tool shopping.  Another person, a mechanic, offered to identity the mystery tool I have inherited if I will send him a picture of whatever it is.  Perhaps the best one was from a lady, who upon her husband going to a nursing home, found 50 screwdrivers in her husband’s shed.  He kept buying new ones because he couldn’t find any.  I love it because I have in the past bought books (my tools) that I already own.  I just forgot I had them.

If we continue on with the idea that we are God’s tools I do have to say He will never forget that He has us.  When it is time to use us He knows where we are.   He doesn’t have to rummage about in His tool shed.  He will not make duplicates of us.  He loves our uniqueness. It is wonderful that we do not reproduce like cells by cloning which would result in all of us being identical.  Instead we reproduce in a way that makes each of us one of a kind.  He loves variety.  I am often puzzled when I see church groups trying to make everyone the same.  So often it is dress like us, eat like us, give like us and talk like us.  These are requirements for membership and so often they are treated like requirements for heaven.  How shocked they are going to be when in heaven they discover the vastness of God’s eclectic taste.  God loves His specialized tools.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 14, 2014

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When the sun drifted into the western sky this evening and the shadows grew long suddenly the golden leaves out my window became tiny suns.  They were beautiful on their own but when illuminated they became incredible spheres of fire.  Those leaves were just like people who are lovely on their own but become splendid illuminations when they meet Jesus.  It makes them more beautiful than anyone ever chosen as the most beautiful woman or handsome man in the world.

Letting Jesus light up one’s life adds luster to one’s natural gifts.  Saul was a bright young Jewish attorney admitted to the prestige of the Sanhedrin.   He would have been a footnote in history.  But after his Damascus Road experience he became Paul and changed the course of history.  The Gospel writers told us of Jesus’ life, death and miracles but in Romans, Galatians and Ephesians Paul told us what it all meant.

Peter and John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee and would not have been footnotes in history.  Because they met Jesus there are great cathedrals named after them.  Zacchaeus was a small town tax collector hated by his neighbors.  He met Jesus and now our children sing a song about him.

What about us?  What are we and what will we become after letting Jesus shine from our lives?  John says it so well in I John 3, “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

You better go look in the mirror so you can remember the old you because the new you will be splendid, marvelous, beautiful, intelligent and eternal!

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2014

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It is great fun to ask a little kid how old he or she is.  Usually the answers come with fractions.  “I am 3 and a half.”   Two months later you get, “I’m three and three fourths.” They like to hurry it along.  Birthdays are milestones working our way to thirteen when we are no longer a child, or sixteen when we can get a driver’s license, a passage to freedom.

Milestones are important to us and come in many forms.  This devotional is a milestone for me.  It represents hundreds of hours of starting at a blank computer screen.  Sometimes my wife will walk by and ask what I am writing about and my answer is “I don’t know.  I haven’t written it yet.  Once I read it I’ll tell you.”

Goals are also important to us.  Without a goal we just drift in life.  Therefore I have a new goal.  10,000.  I’ll be sure to let you know when I get there.  It should be about 2025.   In the meantime there will be birthdays, baptisms, anniversaries, graduations and most likely a wedding or two.   Also it will be a time to grow and seek new ways to tell you how much Jesus loves you and how He will be extraordinarily happy when you accept His gift.  And oh what a gift it is.  In John 5 He told us that when we accept we cross over to eternity.  Now that’s a milestone worth remembering.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 30, 2013

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On America’s Got Talent six very talented people got sent home.  Twelve people competed for a place in next week’s final and only half of them will get to perform. It is a highly flawed system of honing it down to one winner.  There are singers (opera and country), a magician, a stand-up comedian, dancers and acrobat dancers.  This is like putting a pile of fruit on a table and saying the apple is better than the pear or the plum is better than the banana.  First prize is a million dollars; however, that is paid out over forty years.  So it isn’t quite as exciting as they make it sound.

How thankful we must be to know heaven is not a prize.  It is a gift.  Number two – there is room for everyone.  I have on occasion spoken with people who believe only 144,000 will be in heaven.  How sad to think that our heavenly Father would so discriminate among His children.  The Book of Revelation does speak of 144,000 but it also speaks of a multitude of redeemed that is so big it is uncountable.  I like that so much. Number three – We are not compared to anyone. We are all in the same category.  We are all sinners saved by God’s grace.  If we are not all saints then there are no saints.  It is just that simple.

Heaven will be filled with apples, pears, plums and bananas and all of us will be just as wonderful as watermelons. The gift will not be paid out over forty years.  All of it will be given at once and then repeated annually (whatever that means) forever.  There is plenty of room in God’s fruit basket.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 12, 2013

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