My son, Lucas has been transferred and he says the attitude of his workers in this new store is remarkably different from those in his old one.  They actually understand the concept of earning a paycheck.  In the old store the workers seemed to think that merely showing up not more than a couple minutes late was sufficient to earn their living.  They could stand in the halls and talk all they wanted as long as they were there doing it between the start and end of their shifts.  Actually “working” was above and beyond and should earn them a hefty raise every six months.
            I am afraid some people who call themselves Christians have the same misunderstanding.  They think their “shift” is Sunday morning from 9 to noon, and all they have to do is sit in a comfortable seat in an air conditioned building and that should be enough to get them to Heaven, in fact, that should “earn” them Heaven.  I mean, what more could God possibly expect than for them to give up a good-sized chunk of their weekends?
            They are so mistaken.  God expects hard work.  Jesus set the example of hard work.  He rose early in the morning (Mark 1:35); he often worked through meals (John 4:31-34); he was always looking to the next village, the next person to save (Mark 1:38,39).  Finally he was able to say, I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given me to do, John 17:4. Do we really think God will expect any less of us?
            Paul tells us we should work heartily [for our masters on earth] as unto the Lord, Col 3:23, which presupposes that we are actually working hard for the Lord, and need to be told to work that hard for our “masters” as well.  Our shift for the Lord begins the day we commit ourselves to Him.  It doesn’t end until we end. 
            Paul reminds us to Give diligence to present yourself approved unto God, 2 Tim 2:15.  Diligence means you keep working even if the work is long, difficult, tedious or unpleasant.  You cannot take a break; you cannot call in sick; you cannot stop for any reason short of death, and still you have not earned your paycheck.  And be glad of that, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, Rom 6:23.  You really don’t want the paycheck you have earned.
           
And exercise thyself unto godliness:  for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation. For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe. 1 Tim 4:7-10.
 
Dene Ward

One of my writing teacher’s favorite metaphors was something she called “the abstraction ladder.”  She told us we wrote in forgettable generalities.  “You have to bring it down the ladder,” she said.  Then she began to show us what she meant.
 
           On the board she wrote, “Meat cooking in a pan.”  What kind of meat?  What kind of cooking?  What kind of pan?  “Bring it down the ladder,” she said.  “Make it appeal to as many senses as possible.” 

            Under the offending phrase she drew a large ladder. Then, as we answered each question, she rewrote the original phrase, placing each clarification down another rung on the ladder.  Gradually that blah little phrase became more and more concrete.  At the bottom of the ladder we wound up with, “Bacon sizzling in a cast iron skillet.”  Suddenly you could see it, you could hear it, you could even smell it. 

            Learning all the Bible stories is essential to a Christian.  All those narratives make the abstract commands more concrete.  “Flee fornication,” Paul says in 1 Cor 6:18.  The concrete illustration is Joseph in Genesis 39.  Look at all the things Joseph did to help himself—first he said no to the woman, then he did his best to avoid being alone with her, and when finally she caught him, literally, he simply ran. 

            But even recognizing that does not bring it down the ladder far enough.  I must apply it to my own life.  What temptations do I struggle with?  Do I even get past the point of saying no?  Do I avoid the temptation or try to see how close I can get?  Do I think I need to prove something and so stand there and try to overcome the temptation when the wiser thing would be to run away?

            That is just a small example of how the Scriptures should affect my life.  Men stand and pray at the end of practically every sermon that we will “make application” to our lives.  Too often we don’t even try.  Too often even the sermons themselves are void of specific concrete examples to help us find a way to apply them.  In actually making pointed applications, even made-up situations, the preacher is likely to hit a nail right on the head accidentally.  Maybe that is why we don’t hear too many specific applications.  That means we need to try even harder to do it for ourselves.

            God meant for the scriptures to lead us to Heaven.  We have the mistaken notion that we need to stay at the top of the ladder to get there.  But in this case, the closer we get to the bottom, the more likely we will make it.
 
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate thereon day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shalt make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success, Josh 1:8.
 
Dene Ward

Lucas lives five minutes from the beach.  On our first visit we drove across Santa Rosa Sound and strolled the white sand beach, watching the sandpipers’ maniacal little legs dodging the last remnant of a wave as it crept across the shiny wet sand, and looked across the emerald green water for the first sign of a dolphin breaking the surface while the seagulls screamed overhead hoping for an errant crust or dropped crumb.  We plodded along, our feet sinking into the mud, leaning into westerly winds that would blow the curls right out of your hair, our words caught just as they slipped out of our mouths and blown away like dust bunnies in a fan.

            We weren’t alone.  Pale-skinned tourists in floppy sunhats scoured the beach for shells.  Children played tag with the waves.  Older tweens and teens, their hands and legs breaded with sand, carried pails of mud for sandcastles and sculptures, and gathered shells and driftwood for ornamentation.  Lovers of all ages strolled hand in hand, eyes only for one another.

            The beach itself is lined with condos, ten or more stories of glittering glass, reflecting the sun, balconies furnished with umbrella-ed tables and cushioned chairs and potted plants of the sort than can tolerate the sun, the heat, and the salt spray that constantly drifts over the narrow spit of land between the surf and the sound.

            “Wonder what one of those costs?” we often ask, telling ourselves we would never tire of the view and the calming rhythm of waves pounding the shore again and again and again.

            But guess what?  Before long we’d had enough and we piled back into the car for the five minute drive back to the apartment.  The first time we visited, we walked on the beach three times in three days, but soon it was down to one almost obligatory visit, and this past visit?  We didn’t go a single time.

            It’s easy to get used to things.  When we moved to Illinois for two years, I saw snow for the time in my 21 years of life.  Guess who was out playing in it, digging tunnels through eave-high drifts, throwing snowballs with mittened hands, and building snowmen?  All of our neighbors stayed inside where it was warm, peering through their blinds at the crazy people from Florida.

            A few weeks ago a YouTube video went viral.  It pictured something not often seen these days—a young man helping a poor, elderly woman check out in a grocery line one item at a time because she was not sure she had enough money, and doing it with patience, respect, and kindness.  Isn’t it sad that something like that has become so rare that, just like a landlubber at the beach or a Floridian in the snow, everyone stops in their tracks to look?

            And isn’t it sad that some Christians need the example that young man set?  Giving courtesy and respect where it is deserved and even where it isn’t, yielding our rights, speaking with kindness, accounting others the right to make the same mistakes we do without incurring our wrath, and realizing that not everyone operates on OUR timetables—THAT should be so common among us that no one gives it a second thought and certainly wouldn’t take a video of our actions as something rare—even behind a steering wheel.  Instead, we pat ourselves on the back for doing these things once every now and then.

            We should be like the waves incessantly breaking on this world with mercy, grace, and kindness, whether the shore is rough and rocky or flat and smooth.  No one ever questions whether the next wave will come.  It rolls in again and again, over and over and over without a break in the rhythm, so regularly that no one stops to say, “Look!  Here comes another wave.”  If it didn’t come, it wouldn’t be a wave.

            Are you a wave, or just an occasional splash?
 
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1Pet 2:12
 
Dene Ward

I was searching through my Bible the other night, preparing for a class on how to overcome temptation.  I spent a considerable amount of time looking to the example of our Lord and how he managed it.  Maybe we will talk about those things another time.  However, I found in 1 Peter a passage in which I saw at least three methods to help myself overcome.
           
Take a moment now and read 1 Peter 1:13-21, just to save me space in this little essay.  In verse 13 Peter says to set your hope.  We have this nifty little definition we often use—hope is confident expectation.  I think we miss the emphasis on confidence.  It isn’t that we hope, maybe, if possible, perhaps, we will be saved—it is that we have every confidence that we will.  At least in the King James Version that Greek word is translated “trust” more times than it is “hope.” 
           
And notice on what we are to set our hope, our trust—not ourselves, not our own righteousness, not the great and wonderful things we have done for the Lord.  If that were the case, our hope would be hope-less.  We set it on the grace of God.  Now do you see where the confidence comes in?  Because I have trust in the grace of God I can more easily overcome sin.  I know it is not a “hopeless” cause.

Now look at verses 15-17—and this one I want to write down for you.   We often miss the point because of the parenthetical statement Peter includes.  I am going to skip that phrase so you will see what he is getting at.  But as he who called you is holy, be also yourselves holy in all manner of living, because it is written, “You shall be holy because I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father…pass the time of your sojourning in fear.”

Do you start your prayers, “Our Father?”  Remember who that Father is, a Holy Father.  I loved my parents as much as any child ever could, but sometimes it was remembering those parents that made me behave myself.  I had a very real fear—not simply respect—of their reactions if I didn’t.  When you go out in the world and temptation suddenly strikes, remember who your Father is, a holy one, who expects the same from you.  When you dare to call on him as Father, let that remind you to behave yourself.
           
Then in verses 18 and 19 Peter reminds us of the price that was paid for us.  When someone gives me an expensive gift, I take far better care of it than some little token picked up at the Dollar Store, don’t you?  The price paid for our souls was the blood of Christ.  Do you think so little of it that you would throw it away like so much rubbish?  Are you that ungrateful?  I doubt it.  But sometimes we need to be reminded of things we already know.  In moments of trial, it is far too easy to forget.
           
Set your hope, your trust, on the grace of God, not yourself.  Remember who your Father is.  Remember the price that was paid for your soul.  I hope these help you get through the day, and perhaps a few more to come.
 
 For the love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again, 2 Cor 5:14,15.
 
Dene Ward

I have just spent an inordinate amount of time on the telephone with a person I have never met in my life.  I let her tell me what to do and I obeyed instantly.  I believed everything she said.  I trusted every decision she made for me.  And this is not the first time I have done this.  I have made it a habit in the past ten years.

            I have decided that you need to have a bent for technology in order to get along in the world now.  Gone are the days when you can go out, buy something, take it home, plug it in, and it works.  Everything has to be set up, programmed, deprogrammed, downloaded, uploaded, or in-loaded.  I obviously do not have the mind for it.  When my computer asks me a question, I cannot even comprehend the words much less know the right answer.

            But those techs on the phone are amazing.  They can understand my poorly phrased, obviously ignorant questions.  They can tell me exactly what my computer screen looks like, what to click on, and what will pop up next.  They can find their way through twenty different steps I never even knew were there, and magically make my computer do what it’s supposed to do.  It has happened over and over for ten years now.  That’s why I go to them as soon as I have a problem, and do exactly what they tell me to do, no questions asked. 

            We have never carried on personal conversations.  I have no idea what their qualifications are.  I have never taken a regular computer class from them. All I can see are results--when I need help, they always have an answer and it always works.  And so I even listened to them the time one said, “Ma’am, you need a new computer.”  We went out and bought a new computer.

            I wonder if we can’t learn something about evangelism from all this.  Maybe it isn’t about your qualifications as a Bible scholar.  Maybe it isn’t about people wanting to sit down and study with you on a regular basis, at least not at first.  Maybe it isn’t about you being able to come up with Bible verses for every occasion.  Maybe it isn’t even about the fact that every Sunday they see you load up the family and head off to church.  Maybe the thing that matters is your life.  Maybe because they see that you can handle whatever situation you find yourself in with grace and endurance, they know you have something they don’t have.  Maybe because they see your marriage last for years and years in spite of the trials of life, they know that the two of you have more than just a commitment to each other, but to something larger.  Maybe because they see that your children have turned out to be good solid citizens, they realize that what you believe as a family has lasting value.

            Because they see all that, they will come to you for advice.  They will ask how you do it.  And when they do, then you can talk about those scriptures in the Bible.  Then you can discuss the eternal purpose of God from the foundation of the earth.  They don’t want what you have to sell until they see the results in you. 

            Do you want to save souls?  Show them how it’s done.  If you cannot save yourself, why should they listen to you?
 
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…Phil 1:27
 
Dene Ward

Now that we have this wood floor, it seems I am sweeping all the time.  I simply can’t stand the sound or feel of sand under my feet when I walk in the house, and living in the country where there is no outside concrete for it to fall on beforehand, we track it in several times a day, despite door mats and runners.  Those treads on sneakers must surely have glue in them that wears off the moment you step indoors. 
 
           At least once a week I do “the clean sweep.”  I pull everything out, pick everything up, and sweep every square inch I can possibly get to, followed by the dry sweeping cloths that pick up things the broom missed, as well as all the dust bunnies under the beds and sofa.  The rest of the week I make do by “sweeping the middles”—every place I can reach without moving anything.  It isn’t perfect, as evidenced by what I sweep up on the day of “the clean sweep,” but it will do.  I really have more important things to do than clean the floors.

            I looked up “sweep” and “broom” in the concordance and found that God does not believe in “sweeping the middles.”  Three evil kings were told that God would “utterly sweep away their houses,” I Kgs 14:10; 16:3; 21:21.  Notice that word “utterly.”  In addition God said of Babylon, “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," Isa 14:23.  Do you want a good picture of how God sweeps?  Read the first chapter of Zephaniah.  God moves the furniture and gets under the beds when He decides to destroy sinners.

            So how do we avoid that?  By not just sweeping the middles when it comes to our lives.  We need to clean up every nook and cranny, every hidden corner of our minds, every space beneath the larger items in our lives that we think can hide the sin from God.  And grace means that after we do our best to clean the place up, God will come in to clean up what we could not, in the places we cannot reach. 

            When it comes to life, don’t ever be satisfied with just “sweeping the middles.”  Do “the clean sweep” every day of your life so you don’t get caught up in “the broom of destruction.”
 
I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire, Matt 3:11,12.
 
Dene Ward

When I was a child I would often hang my head off the edge of the bed and look at the room upside down.  Suddenly the ceiling was the floor and the floor was the ceiling.  I imagined what it would be like to walk on that new “floor,” high-stepping through doorways and making my way around light fixtures.  The windows would come nearly to the new “floor” instead of being three feet above it.  And it certainly would be easier to clean the cobwebs out of the corners.  I would lie like that for nearly half an hour as my mind suddenly saw things from a new perspective.

            As I have grown older, dealt with people who had many different problems, and had far too many “exciting” experiences myself, my perspective on life has shifted as well.  In fact, if a person finds himself with no new insights on life, especially after the age of forty, he has probably not grown a spiritual inch.  And as you grow, your thoughts should begin to shift.  Things that look plain and simple when you have never experienced them have facets you never saw before.  Suddenly you notice the light fixtures, the exhaust fans, and the part of the doorway that hangs nearly a foot from the ceiling.  They were always there but because you never hung your head upside down you never saw them.

            As a Christian my perspective must be spiritual, not carnal.  It must be with a view toward Eternal Life, not life here on earth, something that could easily be described as looking at things upside down.  As Paul tells us in Romans 8, we must have the mind of the spirit, not the mind of the flesh. 

            The correct perspective is a powerful tool in defeating Satan.  In Hebrews 10:32-34, those Christians looked ahead toward a “better” and “abiding” possession.  With that thought firmly locked in their minds, and from that perspective, they could endure imprisonment, ridicule and scorn, loss of their earthly possessions, and physical persecution.  With the same perspective Christians could face hungry lions while singing hymns and praying.

            On the other hand, a person whose perspective is only on earthly things will not be tough enough to give up the praise of men.  He will not be strong enough to apologize.  He will be intimidated by the thought of losing acceptance in his community.  Living “the good life” will have a stranglehold on him and any trial of life will defeat him.  A wrong perspective can turn us into weaklings.

            Perspective affects every part of one’s life.  Think about Jesus’ perspective on wealth  (Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth...but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt…), insults (who when he was reviled, reviled not again), status (he counted not being on equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself), his own desires (And Christ pleased not himself but [others]), and death (the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many). 

            No one understood Him because from their perspective he looked strange.  He was walking on the ceiling upside down.  We must be striving to get up there with Him, and when we finally make it, things that look so difficult from down on the floor will suddenly be much easier.

            A correct perspective may be one of the most important things a Christian can have because it changes everything—every opinion, every moral, every purpose in life.  It will determine the state of one’s heart, and therefore, the state of one’s soul. 
           
…They dragged Jason and some of the brethren before the rulers of the city and cried, These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, Acts 17:6.
 
Dene Ward
 

Work heartily, as unto the Lord, Col 3:23.  Paul assumed that the Colossian brethren were giving their best efforts to the Lord and that he needed to remind them that, for the Lord’s sake, they should give the same effort to their employers here on earth. 
            After a minute or two of consideration I suddenly wondered what would happen if we all worked for our bosses the way we work for the Lord.  I think Paul might need to change his admonition a bit for our culture in our time.  Why?  Because I have seen elders and deacons need to flatter, cajole, and coerce Christians into doing things as simple and comfortable as getting into an air-conditioned car to ride to an air-conditioned building and sit on a padded pew for a couple of hours.  I have seen them beg people to help with the teaching program.  I have seen them squirm uncomfortably when they need to remind people over and over of the things they promised to do a week ago, a month ago, even a year ago. 
            If we all worked for our bosses the same way we do the Lord’s work, would we ever receive a promotion?  Would we ever get a raise?  Or would we be fired for cause?  It looks like we care far more about a monetary paycheck than we do about eternal life.  I see too many people giving as little effort as possible, refusing to go the extra mile in terms of study and service, and working only when they are forced into it instead of actively looking for things that need doing, whether they are asked to do them or not, to believe otherwise.
            If the sick and needy are left uncared for, if the classes seem boring, if the church is shrinking and the next generation is falling by the wayside, we are not working heartily for the Lord.  That passage was written to us all, not preachers and elders.  What makes us think we will receive any sort of reward if an earthly boss would fire us for the same quality of work?
 
But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak; for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which you showed toward his name, in that you ministered unto the saints, and still do minister.  And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, that you be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises, Heb 6: 9-12.
 
Dene Ward

Keith and I met at college.  It took most of the first year for us to actually become an “item” because of a lot of things—mainly our differences.  Country boy vs. city girl, 24 year old ex-Marine vs. naïve 17 year old girl.  We lost count of how many people told us it would never work.   Even today, people who have met us separately and then finally see us as a couple say, “I never would have put you two together.”
 
           The campus was small so you parked and walked everywhere.  Few knew the extent of my vision problems back then.  I had learned to watch people move, and usually recognized them across campus by their walks. 

            I did not realize exactly how distinctive a walk could be until I met Keith.  I still can’t quite figure it out.  He keeps the top portion of his body completely still and swings his legs from the hips, at least that is the best way I can describe it.  Whatever it is, I recognized him from a farther distance than I ever had anyone before.  He says it has something to do with growing up on the side of a mountain.  I have seen that mountain and the remains of that old house, and it brings to mind the old joke about cows in the mountains having legs of different lengths.

            I wonder how people in the world recognize us.  Could it be that our walk gives us away? 

            John tells us that as followers of Christ, we ought to walk even as He walked, 1 John 2:6, and that would certainly make people notice.  If they don’t, then are we really behaving as we ought? If we use the same language, engage in the same activities, dress the same way, and react in the same way as the rest of the world, who exactly are we walking like?  Sounds like the rest of the world to me.

            People in the neighborhood, in the office, in the school, in the grocery store or doctor’s office should all be able to see a difference in how we behave and how the rest of the world behaves.  Yet it is not just a matter of being “different.”  They should know what that difference means.  They should be able to recognize the walk!

            It is not enough to just follow His footsteps—a lot of people do that with little or no thought.  It keeps them out of trouble, it keeps them in good standing with the elders, it satisfies them that they have fulfilled the commandments.  But a child can stand in one of his father’s footprints and then jump to the next without making a new impression in the sand.  Is he really walking like his father walks?

            What really needs to happen is the full body awareness, swinging your arms the same way, holding your head the same way, lifting your feet and setting them down the same way—everything exactly the same because now Christ lives in you.  You have reached a point where you no longer need to struggle to leap from footprint to footprint in order to stay on track.  Your walk actually fits into His.

            How are you walking this morning?  Is it a recognizable walk?  And exactly how would a stranger describe it?  If you are walking as He did, there should be no question about it.
 
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin, 1 John 1:6,7.
 
Dene Ward

We are well over a thousand now—and counting.  I have been writing up these little things so long I can’t watch something happen without thinking the phrase above.  In fact, more than once Keith and I have looked at one another after some oddball event and said it in unison: “There oughtta be a devo in that.”

            “Go to the ant, thou sluggard.  Consider her ways and be wise,” Solomon wrote.  “Look at the birds,” Jesus said, and, “Consider the lilies.”  Both of them taught valuable lessons from the things around them.  The parables were nothing more than every day occurrences with analogous meanings.  Parables were not uncommon in the Old Testament either, and many of the prophets taught lessons with the visual aids of their own lives or actions.  Hosea and Ezekiel come instantly to mind.

            Even the writers of the New Testament used athletic contests, farming truisms, and anatomical allegories to teach us what we need to know about our relationship with God, with one another, and in our homes and communities.  Telling stories is a time-honored and perfectly scriptural way of teaching God’s word.

            In fact, maybe if we started looking at the world that way, at the things that happen in our daily lives as if they had some meaning beyond the mundane, some deeper spiritual use, it might just be that our lives would change for the better.  It might be easier to see where we need to grow, maybe a place we need to make a one-eighty before we get much further down the road.  There is something about watching a dumb animal and thinking, “I didn’t even have that much sense,” that will straighten out your attitude.

            If I have done nothing else for you in all these years, maybe I have accomplished this.  Maybe you have learned to look at the things around you and say, “There IS a devo in that—I need to make a change.”
 
But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? Job 12:7-9.
 
Dene Ward