Category: devotional

Today was a sleepy day in New England.  It rained most of the day and the temp never went above the mid fifties.  As hard as I tried I couldn’t keep my students awake.  They settled into their chairs and within a few minutes their eyelids were settled.  I tried almost everything.  To begin class I read a fabulous passage from Romans. Only half of them seemed aware of my presence.  I walked over and called some by name.  They roused for a few minutes but soon were back in dreamland. There was a temptation to be miffed except for the fact that just yesterday I was in a faculty meeting and was in the same stupored condition.

Jesus had a similar problem with His disciples that horrible night in the garden.  But He did acknowledge their human nature.  Sometimes we just can’t stay awake. He understands His sleeping church.  We can take comfort that He never condemned the ten young women for sleeping while waiting for the groom to come to the wedding.  It is not natural to stay in a state of excitement constantly waiting for anything, let alone something we have been told for decades is at the door.

Perhaps the best thing is not to hype ourselves up every time there is an earthquake or some other horror.  The best thing is not to be event watching or studying someone’s fabricated time chart but instead establish a living, breathing, eating, walking, talking, and sleeping relationship with Jesus that is so real it doesn’t matter when He returns.  Our goal should be to be so involved with Jesus that going to heaven will merely be a change of address.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2010

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In preparation for an accrediting visit for our college we have to locate and report on the whereabouts and successes of our graduates.  No one in our department knew the whereabouts of one of last year’s psychology graduates.  We started pulling out all the stops to find him.  We asked in classes from other students.  We did computer searches.  We finally found him.  He is working in our college library.  Our psychology department is in the library basement.  His desk is immediately above mine on the first floor.  During the day he sits about five feet above me.  He was lost!  We didn’t know where he was!

His proximity to me reminds me of students who tell me they have no or little contact with God.  They go about their daily routines sealed in their own little cocoons not aware that God is so very near.  And unlike our student who was not trying to get our attention, God, who is self-revealing, has been trying to get those students attention.  This week He has painted the sugar maples on campus with luscious reds and yellows.  He has wafted 70 degree zephyrs through their hair.  He has whispered to them via lectures from Christian professors and yet they don’t perceive His wooing.

In Romans 1 Paul mentions that we are without excuse because the invisible characteristics of God are evident in the visible things He has provided us.  In the Psalms there is a wonderful verse that says, “Though I ascend to the heavens thou are there. Though I make my bed in Hell thou art there.”  Psalm 139.   How is it that someone can be so close and yet so far away?  It’s amazing!

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 25, 2010

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In one of my psych classes today we confronted the issue of our human tendency not to accept blame even in the face of our failures.  Noble Adam was quick to blame both God and Eve for his failure.  “The woman, you gave me, she made me do it.”  Last evening our phone rang at 11:30 pm.  It was someone from our college who had dialed our number instead of the number he wanted.  The number he wanted was one line below our number on his card.  Upon realizing he had the wrong person he immediately blamed the person who printed the card by saying they had the numbers inverted.  They did not.  The error was his but being human he immediately blamed someone else.  He never did apologize for calling at that hour.  Aren’t people wonderful?  Aren’t you happy to be one?

Actually I am happy to be a human.  Not only are we the top of the food chain but we are amazing creatures, who for no cause of our own, are loved by our Creator.  When He finished making us He said, “That’s very good.”   What is astonishing about Him is not only doesn’t He blame others for His mistakes (He doesn’t make any.) He accepts responsibilities for ours.  Notice I didn’t say He accepted the blame for our sins.  What I did say is He accepted the responsibility for our sins.  There is a huge difference.  He can’t be blamed other than that He gave us free choice.  It is how we use that free choice that was and is the problem.

But He did accept responsibility. He did it on the cross.  He paid for our sins and by grace we get a brand new start every day until we no longer need one.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 19, 2010

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I’m sitting here watching a mosquito buzz about my computer screen.  It is only a matter of seconds now until he discovers me sitting so very close. I’m a nice 98.6 degree warm juicy meal. I have been known to let them eat while I watch but I’m not in the mood tonight. Should she dare to rest on me I am going to squash her flat.  Fortunately I’m not in Uganda this evening where a bite from her might send me to bed with fever and chills. Tonight I’m in Massachusetts and I just do not want an itchy red spot for a day or so.  The consequences for being her supper are quite relative ranging from annoyance to possible death.

Her bite isn’t like sin. The ultimate consequence of all sin is always the same – death.  Contrary to popular opinion there is no such thing as big sins and little sins; at least in ultimate consequences.  Some sins often seem to be little because the immediate consequences seem to be minimal or unseen.   However, something like an attitude toward others may remain hidden and unexpressed and may seem inconsequential but we are diminished by it. Our harboring it and thinking it reduces our capacity for having an ultimate day.  An ultimate day is a day with unhampered growth.   An ultimate day is like one of the days of creation in Genesis 1 where God came to the close of the day and said, “That’s good.”

I am hungry for one of those days. Wouldn’t it be so grand if at the end of a Wednesday God could look at us and say, “That’s good”?  If we can get a Wednesday then we can start praying for a Thursday.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 21, 2010

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Most of us have restore dates on our computers.  It is a marvelous feature.  Should we be invaded by some horrible virus that corrupts your system we can restore our system to a previous date when all was well.  More than once this has saved me headache and heartache.  Now all I need is a restore date for my human behavior.  Wouldn’t it be grand if we could back up and start over on a previous date?   When I say something stupid or hurt someone or violate my sense of right and wrong it would be terrific to back up and start over.

In one sense we do have that.  God is quick to forgive and forget.  Restoration is but a prayer away.   However God isn’t the only one with whom we have to cope. He’s not the problem.  It is humans that are the problem.  Hurtful words, calloused attitudes, slights, and deliberate meanness leave indelible impressions on the minds of others.  Even though they might be smart enough to forgive us (It’s always smart to forgive.  It lessens the pain.) they will have trouble forgetting what we did.

It is a rare person indeed who can forgive without the transgression forever affecting the relationship.  Once a trust has been broken it can never have the luster and shine when it was perfect.  Let’s face it.  There are no restore buttons available.  Forgiveness – yes.  Having it exactly like it was prior to the event – sorry.  Life on earth just doesn’t work that way.  It does work that way in heaven.  Isn’t God grand?  When forgiven He treats us as if we had never sinned at all.  That’s the best restore button ever.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 3, 2010

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I’m sure we all remember Mark 9:36 where Jesus takes a small child up into His arms.  What a story that child had to tell the rest of his or her life. Well, this morning I watched something just as good.  I was in a Kindergarten supervising a student teacher.  It was circle time and the children were all gathered on a rug while the student teacher read to them and taught them their lesson.  Repeatedly the children had to be moved back. And just as soon as they were the student teacher’s magnetic charm automatically drew the children closer and closer.  It was impossible for the children to resist the loving attitude and appeal.  They all wanted to sit on her lap.  If I had a small child, I would want him in that room.

There is no argument to be made against the principle that love attracts. We cannot help ourselves.  We are drawn to it like children to a candy counter.  There is no question that most of the people that flocked to see Jesus were miracle gawkers. These were the same ones who quickly turned on Him.  However, the ones drawn by His love were the ones who stayed faithful. Just as soon as John got over the initial fright and confusion of the arrest in the garden, he got himself into the trial chamber and stayed as close to Jesus as possible all the way to the cross.

The very first song I ever learned was “Jesus Loves Me.”  Many decades later I am still moved by the power of its simplicity.  I know of very few debates over Jesus’ human/divine nature or the power of sin that have ever been as magnetic as that little song.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 9, 2010

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One of the problems with teaching my Human Development classes is I start seeing things in people around me.  For example, one of my lectures is on Freud’s stages of development.  He maintained if one does not satisfy each stage as we grow, we develop a fixation that remains with us for life.  Now, I have this student who is always chewing gum.  I mean always.  I think she must sleep with it.  Therefore, I conclude she has an oral fixation because she never successfully completed her first stage of development, her oral stage.

I now conclude that I have a Jesus fixation. I can never get enough. I read about Him.  I read what He said.  I read what others write about Him.  I think about His interactions with people.  I think about His sacrifice.  I think about what the Book of Hebrews has to say about where He is now and what He is doing.  Just as my student is not satisfied neither am I satisfied.  I want more.

There is an irony in this because Jesus once said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”  I know what He is saying.  He is the most satisfying philosopher I have ever read.  He supplies me with assurance for eternity. And yet, I am still hungry for more.  Not hungry for something else.  I am hungry for more of Him.  I want a deeper experience.  I want to understand more about what motivated Him to come here.  I want to know why He loves you and me so much.

I have a Jesus fixation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 24, 2010

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In preparation for a coming weekend retreat for our administrators I am reading a very fine book on leadership.  The book is designed to instill in corporate leaders the importance of such vital concepts of gifts of love, power, significance and authorship.  The author’s goal is to impress leaders to lead with soul and heart.  It’s a very fine book.  Now comes my negativity.  Because the book was written for people of all faiths it is very generic.  It has to be so.  The authors had no choice if they wanted the book to have a broad appeal.  But it is missing the richness of Christ.  As fine as other faiths are there is nothing that compares with the love, mercy and grace of Jesus.   Take the best of every other faith and you will find excellent ideas but they pale when compared to the extravagant richness of Christ described in Ephesians.

Reading this excellent book is like eating an Oreo cookie without the middle layer.  The cookie all by itself is excellent but doesn’t come near being as spectacular as when we savor that middle layer.  The authors have a fine idea but they are looking for the best of humanity inside humanity.   We are only at our best when our humanity, our personhood is filled with the divinity offered to us by Christ.  Peter says it so well in his second letter, “. . . given unto us are exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, . . .”   We are at our best when we open ourselves to being God’s temple.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 3, 2010

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We have a new neighbor.  Recently he purchased a home close by that had been on the market for several years. I was working in the front yard this afternoon and he stopped and introduced himself.  When I went to tell him my name he said, “Oh, you’re Roger and I know lots about you.”  He went on to say he had as a boy been best of friends with the boy who grew up in our house before we moved here.  He said, “I have probably been in your house as much as you have.  I know everything about it.”  Then he went on to describe things in the house that were not here when he was a boy.  He described things on the walls and furniture.  That was super strange.  He explained.  His now best friend is a man who replaced our windows.  That man spent a lot of time inside.

As he drove down the hill I thought about God knowing all the trivia of our being.  He knows the secret parts of our hearts.  He knows stuff we don’t want Him to know.  He knows stuff that’s in there that we don’t know is in there.  It is amazing to think about God knowing everything.  Does that mean He is never surprised?  Is His foreknowledge based on knowing actual events or is it wisdom based on an eternity of experience?  After one has been around the barn a few times one knows what’s on the other side of the barn.   Could that be how He knows and our free choice could surprise Him by our doing the unexpected?  There is so much we don’t know and the only way to find the answers is to meet with Him face to face, which might not be as far away as we imagine!

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 20, 2010

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In the latter part of last year a mother of four was admitted to a hospital in Phoenix.   She was in the first trimester of a pregnancy and the right side of her heart had ceased to function.  After careful and prayerful consideration Sister Margaret McBride, the hospital administrator, granted permission for the baby to be aborted.  It was the only way to save the mother who had four children at home who needed her.  Sister McBride is a highly respected member of the Sisters of Mercy and had an unblemished record but she had broken church law.  The Bishop of the Phoenix diocese forthwith excommunicated her taking away her rights to communion and any other sacrament.

I mention this because it is a classic example of following the letter of the law and forgetting the spirit of the law.   In Mark 2 Jesus commends David for feeding his men the shewbread from the temple because his men were in need of food.  It was a clear violation of temple law.  Only the priests were to eat the shewbread. David’s men with all the notches on their spear shafts could hardly be considered priests.  Over and over Jesus sought to have us understand that people are more important than laws.  Laws are made to protect people and when they do the opposite principles come into operation. In Galatians Paul says the entire law is summed up in how we treat others.

Solomon once said there is a time to kill.  Sister McBride’s dilemma was which one was to die, the mother or the developing baby.   If we think this was an easy decision it is only because we have never had to do so.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 10, 2010

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