Category: devotional

I’m sitting here looking at the current issue of Popular Mechanics.  The cover “grab your attention headline” is 20 Bold Ideas that will change the world; quake-proof buildings, cheap solar power, finding water on the moon, curing cancer with laser, cars that drive themselves.  Technology is changing our world so rapidly I’m afraid to buy anything lest it be antiqued before I get it home.  There is no doubt this is the most interesting ever time to be alive.  I don’t want to get any older not because I’m afraid of dying.  Jesus has taken that fear away.  I don’t want to die because I don’t want to miss what’s coming next.

If the afternoon judge programs on TV are a valid sample of our general population, I hope not but fear they are, then something becomes extremely clear.  All the wonders of technology aren’t doing a thing to change human nature.  We are still as bright and stupid, noble and selfish, nice and vicious as we have ever been.  We can read Bible stories and understand them because the people then were the same as people now.  It doesn’t matter if a man rides one horse or drives in a car powered by 400 horses it is still the same man.  It’s exciting to be human but there are times it is very discouraging.  While the trapped Chilean miners are nobly arguing about who gets to be the last man up the tube their relatives on the surface are fighting about who gets the financial benefits that are being offered to the families.

Isn’t it absolutely amazing that God became one of us?  Sometimes I think God is a bit crazy.  Crazy with love for us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 13, 2010

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I’m fascinated with our obsession with winners.  During the Winter Olympics we have watched people who have trained for years, honed their skills to the finest and yet because they finished one thousandth of a second behind the bronze medalist we don’t even hear their names.  They are the “also rans.”  One thousandth of a second is less than a heartbeat.  It is time so brief we humans can only measure it with electronics.  Yet it is the difference between being honored for excellence and obscurity.  We just don’t pay much attention to losers.  How many of us can remember the names of those who lost the last five presidential elections?  Yet these were men millions deemed capable of leading our nation.

It’s not that way in heaven.  Us losers, that’s you and me, (Sorry about that.  But it’s true.  All have sinned and come short.  See Romans 3:23.) are treated like winners.  Paul writes about our being more than conquerors. See Romans 8:37.   We are not obscure in the halls of heaven.  Our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  See Revelation 13.

God’s system is upside down compared to ours.  His values are not our values.  The first is last and the last first.  Sit at the bottom of the table and He will move us to the head of the table.  He will invite each of us to sit with Him in His throne.  The whole story is so unlike our nature. If we ever wondered if all this is true, it has to be, because it isn’t the way humans would design it.  Humans would only let the perfect ones have the prize.  Well, I guess that is the way it is.  Fortunately, for us it is the perfection of Jesus that counts for us.  We win.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 22, 2010

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Annie and I took our first late night walk together last Thursday evening. We didn’t get very far because the neighbor left his yard light on.  Annie soon discovered something was following her.  It was dark and no matter how fast or slow she went it stayed with her.  She pulled the leash to go home so I released her. She ran as fast as she could go, but that thing chased her right into the alcove to the door.

Shadows can be frightening and also comforting.  Consider Psalm 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.”  That’s one very comforting shadow.  Too bad they are all not that way because we must also consider Psalm 23:4, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .”    Just as shadows grow longer toward the evening of day so that shadow grows longer in the evening of life.

I cannot imagine what that must be like without having Jesus in one’s life. Though the shadow looms for me, it isn’t terrifying.  Yes, we will miss our families.  Perhaps we will miss seeing our grandchildren graduate from college or see our great grand children graduate from eighth grade, but we know it is not the end.  Paul so eloquently put it in II Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

There are no shadows dark enough or deep enough to swallow up the light of Jesus.  He is the light of the world.  He is the resurrection.  The only shadows He creates are good ones.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 12, 2010

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I have a problem.  We stopped at a Friendly’s this evening and I got a Fribble, a large chocolate milkshake.  Even before I got halfway to the bottom I filled up; can’t eat as much as I used to.  The server gave me a cup to use so I could bring it home.  Now I have the problem.  If I put it in the freezer it will get solid.  If I put it in the fridge it will turn to milk.  So where, other than my stomach, should I put it?  Please do not be concerned for my health and say down the kitchen drain.

I wonder if God ever wonders what to do with us; too good for earth but not good enough for heaven.  Obviously, there was no problem with Enoch.  “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”  Hebrews 11:5.  And there was Elijah, “There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”  II Kings 2:11.   Apparently both of these men really really pleased God.

So what about you and me?  I’m never going to be that good.  And I have my doubts about you.  The Good News is it isn’t goodness that gets us there.  It’s grace.  Eternal life is a gift of God.  So neither Enoch nor Elijah really was good enough.  Even for them it was a gift.  For us, as it was for them, it is not a matter of being good enough but a matter of pleasing God by thanking Him for the gift and wanting to grow more and more like Him every day.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 28, 2010

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I never thought I would ever meet an apple pie I did not like.  However, this weekend I did just that.  First of all, let me say my wife did not make it.  If she had I would have eaten it with relish and never ever speak of this.  I have learned a few things in 48 years of marriage.  So I am safe to say this was a BAD apple pie.  The apples were those sugary things that come out of a can.  The crust was (How can I put this?) cardboard that had been used as a shipping container for cheap goods from China.  One of the things I was thankful for this past Thursday was I did not have to eat it.  That’s one of the advantages of being a big person and not having to clean off your plate because children are starving in Africa. (I never did figure out why I had to overeat because children somewhere on earth were undereating.)

Will Rogers once said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”  I’d like to introduce him to someone I know.  I cannot imagine that Jesus liked everyone He met.  I do believe He loved everyone but liking and loving are two very different things.  It is safe to say He did not like the religious establishment in Jerusalem.  If He did He had a strange way of showing it. Please read Matthew 23.  I don’t think we have to like everyone along life’s way.  However, we should indeed care about their well being and help them when they are in need.

Some people are crusty on the outside.  But I am sure Jesus sees something wonderful on their inside.  That’s the way He is.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 29, 2010

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I found myself having a very pleasant conversation with a good friend. Suddenly I saw someone enter the room who I deemed to be more important. Quickly I terminated the conversation so I could associate with the more important person.  It was not until later in the day that I pondered what I had done and I was filled with remorse.  It sounds so very crass when I tell you about it.  But the truth is consciously I did not think, “That person is more important than this one.”  It was a subconscious social reaction whose meaning did not surface until later.  I just did it without thinking.

There is more than one thing wrong here.  First, I did it without thinking.          Big mistake.  We should think before we do.  Second, there is no such thing as one person being more important than another.  Rank is a mythical social construction that implies one person has more value than another.  It reminded me of taking a cruise and being told there would be no place in the lifeboats for the men until women and children were safely cared for.  I was rudely reminded that an undereducated eighty-year-old woman would have more value than a fifty-year-old male Nobel Prize winning brain surgeon.

Perhaps it is the cross of Jesus that puts this into some perspective.  The creator of the universe died so we can live.  He took our place so we can take His place.  No, I’m sorry.  This isn’t working for me.  I don’t get it.  There is no possible way this logically works.  That sacrifice is totally out of proportion.  When I see Him face to face I will be even more confounded.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 16, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

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One of life’s greatest ironies is that really good people don’t think they are so good.   It is the semi-good people who think they are good.  They really aren’t nearly as good as they think they are.  People who think they are good are blind to the reality of their own foibles and deficient character.   Really good people know their weaknesses.  They understand that most of the good things they do are tainted by selfishness and a desire to atone for not being what they want to be.  Often I find myself being most comfortable with people who make little or no pretense of being good as opposed to being with people who just don’t get it.

Less I sound too harsh let me back off a bit and say that most semi-good people are on their way to being good.  They just need to recognize their real limitations.  They are on their way to the discovery that only Jesus was good.   The rest of us are bench warmers. Paul got it.  In Romans he pours out his despair at his inability to be the man he longed to be.  See Chapter 7.

I read II Peter 1 where we are promised with exceedingly great and precious promises that we, right now, can participate in the divine nature of God.   What does that mean?   I know what it doesn’t mean, at least for now.   It doesn’t mean I can go about healing the blind, restoring health to broken limbs and enabling heart broken families to once again have a child restored to life.  Perhaps that is in the offing for some.  For me it would be the ruination of my character as my inflated idea of my importance took me to hell.

There is so much to learn!

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 2, 2010

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There are some verses of Scripture that are so outstanding they jump off the page yelling, “Look at me.  Memorize me.”  Colossians 2:9 & 10 are two of them.  Paul wrote, “For in him (Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  And you are complete in him . . .”   Jesus is fully God.  Hebrews 1 tells us Jesus is the exact representation of God and all the worlds (plural) were created by Jesus.  Then Paul adds we are complete in Him.

There is no character defect that He cannot repair.  There is no deficiency of character that He cannot supply.  There is no sin He cannot forgive.  There is no lack of personality that He cannot add to us.  There is no skill needed that He cannot provide for us when we need it.  Every excellence can be developed in us by the indwelling of His Spirit.  We are COMPLETE in Him.  It really doesn’t get any better than this.

What is so exciting about this is we need never to be ashamed of what we are. We can come boldly before His throne and request what we need and then not worry about it.  When we need it, it will be there.  We don’t have to beg.  We don’t have to nag Him.  We don’t have to remind Him of our need.  He knows everything.  He knows we asked.  We don’t have to exhibit all the gifts all the time because we don’t need them all the time.  But they are there and He knows the precise moment when we need them.  This is trusting in Him.  This is knowing that with Him in us life is and will continue to be a growing experience.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 30, 2010

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I rarely give my students passages to memorize.  Instead we read and talk about the significant ideas contained in important passages.  Sometimes I wonder if I am doing them a disservice not to require that they put them to heart.  I remember hating to have to memorize.  Yet decades later I find it to be rewarding when I can recall a passage and once again ponder the beauty and import of certain works.  Memorized verses of Scripture, poetry and other works seem to be mental anchors around which I can tie new and challenging ideas.  Today’s students have laptops and other electronic devices that instantly find and reproduce almost any literary content.  Has memorization become a non-essential?   With a small handheld device my wife can within a few seconds find factual answers to most anything that strikes our curiosity.

Yet I am uneasy about the mere reproduction of facts as opposed to thinking about things.  A set of encyclopedias whether on paper or on an electronic screen is only information.  Information is the stuff of thought.  It is fodder for ideas.  It is the inspiration for the creation of new concepts and new understandings.  I must teach my students to love.  Love is the foundation of all true education.  It is that which builds character and prepares people for unselfish service, the only avenue to lasting happiness. Will it not enhance their journey to put 1 Corinthians 13 into their mental library?    The Psalmist wrote, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.”  When temptation comes they will not check their laptops.  But they will certainly check the content of their characters.   Something needs to be there.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 31, 2010

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One of the very first sets of books I ever read was Bedtime Stories by Uncle Arthur Maxwell; five books filled with character building stories for little people.  When I was learning to read my father sold those books door to door.  Well, that was what he was supposed to do but he was the principal of an elementary school and instead of going door to door he got his colleagues to put them in their school libraries.  Never did I dream in a thousand years that as an adult one of our best friends would be Arthur Maxwell’s son.  Today the stories are very outdated but the moral lessons are eternal.  Good morals never go out of date; only the cultural details change with time.

This afternoon my sister went to a u-pick apple orchard and was laughing at people trying to get just one or two more apples to balance on top of the baskets they purchased to fill.  Inevitably the balanced apples tumbled to the ground before they got to their cars.  When she told me about it I immediately remembered one of Uncle Arthur Maxwell’s stories about their family sitting around the table and one of the boys always made sure he got the biggest pie or apple or whatever, just so it was the biggest.   Then one day the biggest pie was hollow and the biggest apple had a bad center.

It is part of our nature to want to get the biggest and the most but so often in life the biggest isn’t the best.  True happiness in life comes from service to others.  Real happiness comes from helping others get the best.  Life’s greatest rewards are the fruit of unselfishness and from putting apples in another’s basket.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 11, 2010

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