DAY 143 - Of Little Children and Big Dreams

Proverbs 22:6 (NASB)  ⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

I have always thought this verse meant teach your children the right things and they will turn out all right. Or, even better I thought, raise your children in church where you are sure your children will be taught the right thing and be sure they will turn out all right. You may not have noticed it, but children come to us wrapped in a big dream. When the gift of a child is received, the dream is also received that they will make it through the minefields of life and turn out all right.

But, listen more closely to hear what Proverbs actually says. The first hint of hearing differently is found in the Hebrew word konakh, which we translate “train up.” Normally the word means dedicate and is used in dedicating a home or temple. Most instructively, Hannah uses the word in I Samuel 1:28 saying she is dedicating her son to the Lord. Hannah dedicates her son to the Lord as a way of acknowledging that her son Samuel is a gift from God. Whatever “train up” means it begins with the recognition that our children are a gift from God. That is the foundation on which we build.

The second help in hearing differently is in the quirky phrase translated “the way he or she should go.”  That has been understood to mean according to the law of God in Scripture and according to our traditions. The responsibility of the parent is to bring the child into conformity with the rules that govern society. But, literally the phrase says “according to his or her way,” fitting to the child’s own personality and peculiar traits. Which way is correct? The way of obedience and conformity, or the way of individuality and independence?

To train up a child in the way he or she should go means we have been given a gift from God and we have also been given the responsibility. We have been given the responsibility to instill into that child a sense of God-given responsibility, so that even when he or she is old they will not depart from it. There is the dream. If we instill in our children a God-given sense of responsibility they are going to do OK. They are going to turn out all right. Right?

Well, not necessarily. We are not given guarantees. We are told what we can reliably expect. After that we simply keep the faith. We keep believing that we have sought to do the best we can with what we knew, as servants of God. We keep the faith and then we let the faith keep us and our children.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 12, 1999
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 142 - Have Mercy

Matthew 18:32-35 (NIV)  ³²"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' ³⁴In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  ³⁵"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

James 2:8-13 (RSV) ⁸If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Do not kill." If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment.

We are all in the process of “turning into” someone. James saw some people in the early church changing from a very caring people to a very callous people, to people very much like the people in Roman society at the time.  What kind of person are you becoming? What kind of spirit has hold of you? What kind of spirit is growing inside you? A spirit of anger and retribution, or of mercy?

James says “judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy” more as a statement of fact than as a threat from God. Those who do not show mercy will not be able to receive mercy. Jesus said we are like a debtor who owed a great debt to God. Yet, though God forgave us that debt, we go out and refuse to offer the same spirit of forgiveness and mercy to others.

Mercy is having a heart for the fallen and the needy, having a heart for the need of the fallen. Mercy is a giving spirit toward the undeserving and even the self-destructive people of this world. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy breaks the cycle of violence that grows a little larger each day, and breaks the callousness of people that grows a little harder each day. Mercy triumphs over the injustices done in our society and over the injustices done to us.

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. We speak and act as those who have received God’s mercy. Acts of mercy free our own soul and are the best preventive medicine we have against the buildup of callousness and hardness over our own spirit. We have the power to choose and to leave behind us the merciless prison of anger and hurt and resentments. When we do acts of mercy, those acts of mercy triumph over the judgmental spirit in our soul. When we have mercy on others because we know God has had mercy on us, we receive mercy.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope August 22, 1999

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 141 - Have You Received a Wake Up Call?

From John 11 (NIV)  ²¹"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." ²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" ^27a "Yes, Lord..." ³⁴"Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁸Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹"Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." ⁴⁰Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" ⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." ⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

The problem with life is that it can so easily be lost to death, to dying, or in the struggle to live. And, there are those among us who miss living in the grim determination to be responsible, living a life where there is little time for living in the pressure of meeting life’s demands and running the risk of suddenly realizing that the only years we are ever going to have been wasted.

“I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus’ raising of Lazarus is a sign that says life is found in Jesus. Resurrection and life go together. What we believe about death and what we experience in life are part of one picture. In the foreground is our experience of life, and that is where most of us are focused. But in the background is the reality of death, and what we believe about that reality. Sometimes we successfully push the reality of death out of our minds. Sometimes the full truth hits us. When faced with the reality of dying our whole perspective changes. It changes the way we experience life.

Raising Lazarus from the dead is a sign saying that life is found in Jesus, abundant life and eternal life. It is all one package and it is found in Jesus. Do we believe that life is found in Jesus or do we believe life is found somewhere else? How do we describe this life? It is a life of a personal relationship to God, of trust and faith. It is a life of acceptance and following and allowing God.

And there is a waking up to God’s involvement with our life and of His will being worked out for our life. Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The wake up call from Jesus comes to us no matter how dead we might be. No matter how dull and asleep we might be the voice continues to come to us and to call to us. Come out and live.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 21, 1999

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 140 - The Reliable Right

Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV) ¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" ¹⁵Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. ¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Listen with me. Can you hear the hush? Can you see the calm walking into the midst of jostling people as Jesus came to Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John? John has been baptizing people as a way for people to say to God, “I have done wrong and my behavior has built a barrier between us. I want to return home to you.”

At first John objects, saying it is he who needs to be baptized by Jesus. But Jesus tells him very clearly why he has come to be baptized. He is asking to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, and righteousness is defined as what God wants, what God requires, and even what God demands. In being baptized, Jesus is saying by His action that this is the right thing to do. This is what God wants.

If Jesus is being baptized because this is the right thing to do, then baptism is our first glimpse of Jesus doing what is right. Jesus is reliable righteousness in a time of great confusion in knowing what is the right thing to do. This cover of confusion can make it seem much more comfortable to do what we want.

Jesus can tell us what we are doing that is wrong. He can show us how we are sinking our life. When all other bits of advice and wisdom prove unreliable in the tempest of these times Jesus can point us to the true north and help us reorient our lives around the truth of God. Jesus is the reliable right, and as we follow Him the threads of conviction are sown into our life.

The conviction that Jesus is the reliable right grows by following Him. The conviction grows by doing. The conviction that Jesus is the reliable right does not come from talking about or studying about Him. The conviction comes by doing, by listening to a different center of our life, rather than to the noise and chatter and idle gossip. We turn a deaf ear to the slogans and remarks that people make because it is the popular thing to say. We choose a way of living that listens and weighs and wonders. We choose a way of living that asks of Jesus in prayer. We choose a life of listening and following.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 10, 1999

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 139 - Try A Little Kindness

I Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) ⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Ephesians 4:26-29, 31-32 (RSV) ²⁶ Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and give no opportunity to the devil. ²⁸ Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. ²⁹ Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, ³² and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Kindness is being tenderhearted, considerate, respectful, sensitive to each other, and forgiving one another. Kindness is a kind of undeserved goodness we give to other people. Kindness is a kind of graciousness we show to one another.

In this “push and pull, get out of my way” kind of world, do you see the person who needs your kindness? How can we be and become the person who has the sensitivity to see the need in the noise? How can we be the person who has the heart to help? And, what keeps us from being kind?

Put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander along with all malice. Put away the hardness of our society that slowly creeps into our soul. Put off the hardness of spirit that comes from being unfairly treated. Put off the bitterness and complaining and blaming that the push and pull world tries to lay on us. In particular, put off those thoughts that make us hard instead of kind. For example, do you ever do battle with people in your head? Do you know the battle? Do you know the thoughts? Put that away. Don’t let those thoughts go on in your mind because they harden your soul. They keep you from being kind.

Put away all malice and bitterness. Put away, by putting them in the hand of God, all those thoughts that harden our souls. We put them in the hand of God by sharing with God what is going on inside us, acknowledging to God our thoughts and our feelings. Put away means we share. We acknowledge. Then we trust God to do whatever God chooses to do. We carry out our responsibility, and as we put away God puts the kindness into us. God does it. Kindness is the result of God’s work in our life. Kindness is God’s gift to us. But, God does not give kindness to hearts that are filled with bitterness and malice. Kindness means doing something, acting kindly toward one another as God has acted kindly toward us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 27, 1999

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 138 - To Live Increasingly by the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-17, 19-25 (NASB) ¹⁶But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. ¹⁹Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, ²¹envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

To know God better we need basic information found in Scripture. But, at some point knowing God better means moving from information to revelation. Our mission is to know God better, to live increasingly by the Spirit. The Spirit is the gift of God’s presence given to us through Jesus Christ. And to walk by the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to influence the way we think and feel and behave.

Living by the flesh is a life of determination without God, a life of trying hard to be happy and successful without God. To live increasingly by the Spirit is to have a basic trust and confidence in God. It is to leave the illusion of self and to live according to the reality of God.

Every morning that I wake up it is as if the whole world centers around me. The most important thing in life is what I want whether it is having a little peace and quiet before a busy day or the coffee is made. The crucial thing for my happiness is that I get done the things that I believe need to get done, believing that me and my concerns are the most important thing in the whole world. I have learned enough to keep the world rotating around me from bumping into the world rotating around you, usually. But at some point the way I view the world will cause me trouble and will cause the people around me trouble.

To walk by the Spirit we must die to this perspective of seeing ourselves at the center of life. The main thing is that we do something to remember and to re-focus our life around God each day. The outward behavior of a daily devotional may not bring an instant change of perspective, but it is a way that we set the stage of our soul so we are ready when God acts and enables us to know that God is in charge.

It might be more accurate to say our mission is to live consistently by the Spirit, for I am convinced that the Christian life is not “every day and in every way I am getting a little better.” Rather, the Christian life is a constant correction of our deviations. It is a continual coming back to a life centered around God rather than around self. Our mission is to live increasingly, consistently by the Spirit.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 25, 1998

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 137 - The Launching of a Life

Mark 1:9-15 (NRSV) In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved;^* with you I am well pleased.’12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news^* of God,^{* 15}and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;^* repent, and believe in the good news.’^*

Jesus was a man with a mission. He was a person with a purpose. His mission and His purpose were to serve God by offering people the opportunity to live in God’s Kingdom. Jesus was a man with a mission. He was a person with a purpose. Are you? Do you have a sense of God’s purpose directing your life? Do you live each day responding to God’s call and purpose for your life?

We are not sure when Jesus became aware of His God-given purpose, maybe at His birth, perhaps by the time He was twelve. We do know that on this day at the River Jordan He was given clarity about that purpose. He was given confirmation of that purpose. That purpose was clarified and confirmed in His baptism. But, notice what happens next. A sense of God’s purpose directing our life does not put us on easy street. Instead, the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. And, in the wilderness Jesus was tempted. Jesus struggled with His sense of call. How would He offer people the opportunity to live in God’s Kingdom? He struggled, He was tempted by Satan and was with wild beasts.

More than likely we also spend some time in a wilderness where we hear threats of failure and of a miserable life. But there are angels who minister to us saying, “You are beloved of God. You are doing the right thing. You are beloved of God. You are doing the right thing.” Angels come in many ways, but they come with the voice of God’s care and the confirmation of God’s call. And that is the point. Our struggle in the wilderness is not a blind struggle. We can recognize the sound of wild beasts threatening us and we can recognize the voice of the angels God sends to help us.

Do you have a sense of God’s purpose leading your life? Do you want a sense of God’s purpose leading your life? We do not think it up for ourselves. ¹

We are given a sense of purpose. We are offered a sense of purpose that comes from someone else. It is a gift from God.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 12, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 136 - A Good Guilt Trip Back Home

Acts 2:22-24, 37-38 (NIV) 22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Most of the people of Israel to whom Peter was speaking were probably not there when Jesus was crucified. They were not the ones who demanded the release of Barrabas and the death of Jesus. They were not the ones who mocked and ridiculed Jesus on the Cross. How could Peter accuse them of crucifying Jesus? They were not the ones who crucified Jesus, but they were both ignorant of the definite plan of God in Jesus and they were living in opposition to that plan. In that sense they shared in the crucifixion of Jesus.

Guilt is to the soul what pain is to the body. It is a sign that something is wrong. It is a warning that something needs to change. People who do not see the consequences of their actions are spiritual lepers. They are also mirrors of you and I when we lose our sensitivity to guilt. When we deny our guilt, when we do not feel our guilt, it is like trying to live without pain. Peter’s words had the power to awaken the people of Israel from their guiltless slumber and make them aware.

Are we living in accordance with God’s plan for life and for our lives? Do we live in opposition to that plan? Do we even know the plan? Part of the good news is being awakened from our blindness to see our guilt, that we have been living in ignorance of God’s will and God’s plan, and that we have been living in stubborn opposition to that plan.

Repentance in the name of Christ means a change in attitude toward Jesus that leads to a change in our life. Our repentance may have a note of remorse and regret as we become aware of failures that once dominated our life, but the dominant note of repentance is hope and confidence. This Jesus, you crucified. But God raised Him up. You are responsible. You have done wrong. You have abandoned God’s plan. But, God has not abandoned you. God is still holding out the invitation for you to come home. Having recognized our guilt and recovered our confidence in what God can do, we do need to do something outward to signal our soul that we now live under the authority of Jesus. We may have experienced some guilt. We may have become acutely and painfully aware of the way we have failed God. But, we have also recovered confidence in God.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 18, 1999

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 135 - Lest We Forget

Psalm 103:1-5 (NIV) 1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Where are you today in your awareness of the goodness of God and in your feelings of gratitude to God? Wherever you are today in your own feelings and experiences of gratitude, take a few moments to be with the Psalmist. The Psalmist had experienced the goodness of God in different ways, but it added up to one thing: the steadfast love of God.

Life gives us experiences of the steadfast love of God. But those experiences come and go. When we look to Jesus we see the steadiness of that steadfast love. Jesus came to destroy the dullness of our minds and hearts to the crazy extravagancies of God’s love. And Jesus is persistent. He was, and still is, persistent in offering God’s love to us, despite the blindness and bumbling of His disciples, despite the indifference of the crowd, despite the hostility of the leaders and despite the power of death itself. Jesus brings us good news that God is good, and God’s heart is set on us, in all our pain and possibilities, in all our vulnerability and vitality, in our dullness and in our devotion.

When we are dulled to God’s extravagance, it is a forgetfulness of spirit. Do we know that forgetfulness which captures our soul and dulls our spirit? Forget not. Maybe it is hard for us to hear reminders. Maybe there is something else we need to do to ready our souls to receive the bliss of gratitude.

And that something is forgiveness. Forgiveness for our forgetfulness, for letting the dullness slowly grow around our soul, forgiveness for letting the responsibilities of life and the demands of life push us away from God. And then we remember to say thank you, God, for your presence in my life, for meeting my needs despite my trying to be in control all the time. Jesus offers us God’s forgiveness that has the power to enter our soul.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 21, 1999


© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 134 - Prejudice and Proof Positive

John 1:43-51 (NIV) ⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." ⁴⁴Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." ⁴⁶"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. ⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." ⁴⁸"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." ⁴⁹Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." ⁵⁰Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." ⁵¹He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Prejudice is the false label we put on people. Prejudice is a closed mind and a cold heart toward certain groups of people. Prejudice is the blanket of misunderstanding we throw over a group of people. Prejudice hides the truth. Prejudice settles over our heart and mind like a comfortable fog and becomes one of the best breeding grounds for fear and violence and hate.

We cannot force prejudice out of anyone’s heart, even our own. But we can have some new experiences that can reach our hearts and that can expose prejudice and can expel prejudice with the power of truth and the power of love. There are new insights, new wonders, and new pieces of wisdom that Jesus would have us to know that will allow us to see into the hearts of others.

Jesus says that as we follow Him God will touch our hearts and open our souls to the truth. It will be as though we are putting on a badly needed pair of glasses and are seeing all kinds of things that had been obscured. We will see all sorts of people who look very different on the outside with different colors and ways of talking and of doing things. But, we will begin to see into their heart. And we will see either a love for Jesus, or we will see someone who needs the love of Christ.

The heavens shall open and the angels will sing the prejudice out of our heart and out of the hearts of people all around us. The angels will be calling you to call others to come and see, to leave that comfortable place of prejudice and then to follow Christ.

Have you heard the angels sing? Do you believe Jesus can drive the prejudice out of people? You will if you have experienced Jesus driving out the prejudice.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 17, 1999

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 133 - Working for Profit of Soul

Mark 8:34-37 (NIV) ³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

When we hold on tightly and try to stay in control we may do well in our work, but something is lost to our spirit. Vitality is lost. An exuberance and deep sense of gratitude for life seems to seep out of our soul. We pay a price for ignoring God’s call in our work.

And, we pay a price for answering God’s call. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. To deny ourselves is to say “no” to self and “yes” to Jesus. To deny ourselves is learning to say no to the false promises at work that tell us if we just work hard we will be successful and happy. To deny ourselves is also to say no to the voice of futility that says it does not matter what we do, it will not make a difference.

But to just say no will not last by itself. We not only must say no to self, but also yes to Jesus. The lifestyle of saying no to self and yes to Jesus often feels like risk. It feels like walking on a tightrope without a net. And it is always tempting to rush back to whatever pole of security we have.

But whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. This is the paradox. As we say no to self and yes to God, we begin to live in self-surrendered trust in God, and we find life. When we live in self-surrendered trust in God, we discover that there is harmony between our life and God’s call. We enjoy work without being dominated by it. We visibly show the grace of God by the way we do our work. We can be calm in the midst of the storms around us.

Whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. That’s the promise. But is it worth it? Is a life of self-surrender worth the agony of saying no to self? Is it worth the risk of saying yes to Jesus and not having the slightest idea what we are to do? Is it worth the perseverance in such a life when nothing seems to be happening?

I hear the promise, but the promise is out there somewhere. If this life of self-surrender is really like walking a tight rope, it is that first step that worries me. What is there that will help me take that first step on the tight rope of self-surrender? Take up a cross. Life demands sacrifices of us. Jesus took up a cross for us because He felt we were worth it. He went to His death as an act of love for you and me. We who are stubborn and afraid, we who are pre-occupied with other things and alone, we who are busy and important and afraid were bought for a price. Is it worth it to us to live in self-surrender to the One who died for us?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 20, 1998

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 132 - Naturally Gifted

I Timothy 4:12-14 (NIV) ¹²Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. ¹³Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

II Timothy 1:6-7 (NRSV) For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Being in a job suitable for our gifts is essential in fulfilling God’s will. We are called to serve God by the work we do, and all have some special ability that will help us serve God for the common good.

Timothy appears to be one of those people who had the gift of leadership but not the personality. He seems to have been a rather shy person, an introvert. Paul is saying “Timothy, you have the gift for leadership. Do not neglect it by giving in to the pressures around you. Do not let anyone put you down because of your age.” Do we give in to the pressure around us to neglect our gift? That pressure can come from what our family, our teachers, or our friends might expect from us.

We live in a society that tends to see us as something to be molded. We are the raw material to be shaped, rather than being someone who is gifted and who needs for those gifts to be recognized, nurtured and brought to the surface of our lives. Do not neglect that gift that is in you. Do not give in to the pressure around you or the fears and feelings within you. To go through life without recognizing our gifts and using them for the common good causes feelings of frustration, resentfulness, and boredom.

If the pressure of the world causes us to neglect the gift that is in us, the Christian community is called to help us rekindle that gift. The Christian community helps us recognize the gifts that are in us and to bring them to the surface of our life and to use them for the common good.

To rekindle the gift means to stir up the life fire again. It is an interesting phrase in a time when we talk about being burned out. We rekindle the gift by staying near the flame of Jesus. For in Jesus we find One who cares about us. Here is One who desires nothing more than that we conform to the person God created us to be. We stay near the flame of Jesus with our prayers and especially by asking “What is it You would have me to do?” When we use our gifts, it feeds our own soul. We become aware that our work fits our life. Our gifts grow by using them.

You have been given a gift for the common good. Do not neglect that gift, but rekindle it.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 13, 1998
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 131 - Public Servant

Matthew 12:15-21 (English Standard Version) ¹⁵Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all ¹⁶and ordered them not to make him known. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ¹⁸ "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. ¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; ²⁰a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; ²¹ and in his name the Gentiles will hope."

Justice is the way life is ordered when God’s will prevails, where the strong use their power wisely, and the weak are protected. In a word, justice means fair. Though we often disagree on what is fair, everyone seems to be born with a sense of fairness and of the importance of fairness. Jesus came to bring fair treatment to all people. We are called to bring justice, and that work is qualified by one very important word: servant. If we are going to bring justice to governments, corporations, schools and homes, we are called to do it as servants of God.

Wilber Wilberforce was a Christian and a member of Parliament in the 18^th century. He argued for laws that would outlaw slavery. He did so because of his Christian convictions, but when he argued before Parliament he did not say “because it is Christian,” but “because it is right for England.” When we work for justice in society we often do so as secret servants of Christ. Behold my servant. He does not cry out and call attention to himself. He does not roll over people and break a bruised reed. These are boundaries that tell us what a servant does not do. A servant will not quarrel and cry aloud. A servant will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick. A servant doesn’t roll over others with power, either by violence or by vote. In fact, the way of the servant often appears powerless and ineffective.

What then does a servant do to bring justice? A servant of Christ believes that God’s will is meant to be sovereign over all of life including government, courts, corporations, schools, and homes. A servant serves God and not simply the will of the majority. A servant will often have to choose ways of serving that seem ineffective and trust the sovereignty of God for results. I was a teenager in Montgomery during the bus boycott. I was sympathetic with the African-Americans and often when I rode the bus I rode in the back with them. I also thought that the boycott was futile, that the powers in Montgomery could not care less that a few people did not ride the bus. I was wrong. And I was stunned when the powerless boycott succeeded.

A servant will have confidence that God does lead justice to victory. A servant may not have the satisfaction of feeling they have struck the decisive blow against evil, but the Servant will have the deep, deep pleasure of God’s delight and a sense of having done what is right in God’s eyes.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 12, 1998

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles