Mr. C's Blog

"But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, 'Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.'

But the Lord said to her, 'My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.'" Luke 10:40-42

Mary understood the priorities. Martha missed what was most important right in front of her in the person of Jesus. Before we get too harsh on Martha, don’t we do the same thing so often?

We know that in Matthew 6:25,33 Jesus says: “I tell you not to worry about everyday life…Seek the Kingdom of God above all else.” God does want us to see the bigger picture, but it is easy to get caught up in things that are not important.

I have been at Metrolina for 21 years and this can still be my greatest struggle some days. The urgency of the day attempts to steal away what God may want me to be involved in daily. I read Ecclesiastes 12:6 the other day and the simplicity of the verse really made stop and think. 

It says: “Remember your Creator.” Not the creation and not the work but the One who gave you the work.  Solomon is reminding us that gaining real meaning in life is found in our relationship with God, not the stuff that He has given us to do. 

I pray that today would be a day in which we “remember the Creator” and get involved in things that He would have us to be involved in!

Good morning,

Today's devotion is from Dana Bostic.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  I love the incredible power of this promise of God… that He knows our future, and His wise plans for our lives are good and full of hope.  But here’s the thing – God’s not the only one with a plan for my life, for your life.  The enemy has one too.  

According to these words of Jesus in John 10:10a, the thief/the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy everything good in your life. He wants to destroy your job, your joy, your happiness, your health, your finances, your marriage, and your kids. The thief just wants to ruin anything he can get his hands on!  And if he can’t get you to rebel outright, then sidetracking you and getting you outside of your strengths is a pretty good alternative.  

God calls us to be alert and sober of mind because our enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

In a recent article, NewSpring Church shared six (6) ways that the enemy looks to devour us:

• Get us to doubt God – John 20:27
• To live in fear – Psalm 34:4
• To feel insecure – Ephesians 2:10
• To avoid church/body of Christ – when we are uninvolved with the body of Christ, it’s much more difficult to keep and grow in our faith (1 Corinthians 12)
• To be led away from His truth – Matthew 7:15
• To fail – 2 Cor. 4:8-10 

And then in Ephesians 6: 10-17, we are given instructions and the weapons necessary to withstand the attacks of our enemy.

Now here’s the really good news, Jesus has a better plan for our lives!  In our key verse, He tells us that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10).  

How amazing is that!  The enemy wants to take, but Jesus wants to give…to give life that is abundantly richer and fuller for those who follow Him.  He wants to give us eternal life.

My friend let’s choose to operate in God’s all-powerful truth and not allow Satan to trap us in his lies and schemes.  May the Lord help us to walk in His truth and light.  

Good morning,

This devotion is by Lisa Shields

Psalms 36:5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

Do you remember summers as a child, laying in the grass, watching the white, fluffy clouds float through the sky? Did you look for animals, people and other shapes in those clouds? Did you wonder how far away they really were, or what it would be like to float on one of them? Maybe you still do that today! As with all of God’s creation, clouds are amazing. In the verse above, the Psalmist helps us better appreciate God’s truly incredible faithfulness by telling us that it extends all the way up to the sky and clouds above. It’s another way to say that God’s love is immense!

God’s love and faithfulness are two of the main themes in the Bible. Have you ever spent time contemplating the amazing significance of the truth that God is totally faithful? This means, when it looks like the world is a mess and evil is winning, God is faithful. When you are suffering physically with sickness or fatigue, God is faithful. When your children or your parents are hurting, God is faithful. When you’re poor and down and out, God is faithful. When I think about the faithfulness of God, I think about the reality that He is a God who is always there for us; a God who always fulfills His promises to us. This does not mean that He is like a genie in a bottle, at our beck and call, waiting to grant us our wishes. Rather, because God is faithful, we can be sure that He is working out His purposes in the world, through the ups and downs of life, even when we cannot see it in the moment. We know that He always has us in His mind and will see to it that we will be victorious in Him.

 No matter what season you are going through today, God is in control and His ways are higher than ours. We can trust in God because His faithfulness extends to the skies and clouds above! Take some time to thank God for His faithfulness and rejoice knowing that He is in control. Be blessed!

Good morning,

Who do you really trust in this life? How many people can you really share your dreams, desires, and secrets that you know will not betray your confidence? Unfortunately, probably not that many people. What a gift in this life to have a few people who you can have faith in. Those are true friends. But even true friends, occasionally let us down. 

Every so often they hurt us. Every once in a while, they break their promises to us. Even the best of friends will do this. We too break promises to our true friends. I am grateful though that we serve a God that can trusted all the time. 

 We can have absolute faith in Him. I love how Martin Luther once describes faith.

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”

Faith is a living thing. It is not a thing of the past or something we would call on if we are in trouble. Real faith is alive in our hearts every day. It is a daring confidence in the grace of God. Do you have the confidence today in the grace of God? Maybe the hurts and disappointments of your life have clouded that daring confidence in God. 

No matter what has hurt you in the past, there is a God today who can be trusted.  He is so sure and so certain that we can stake our lives on Him. He can be trusted to fulfill what He has promised. Hebrews 10:23 affirms this truth: 

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.”

This verse reminds us to hold on tightly to the hope we have in Jesus no matter what this world throws at us. He can be trusted to keep His promises to us.  Psalm 146:6 tells of us His promise keeping ability.

“He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever.”

Forever is a strong word and a strong hope. Some of you today need to be reminded of a God who loves us so much that He has promised us forever and place our trust, our hope, and our future in the hands of a God who has promised that He will keep every promise.

Are you ready to claim a living, daring confidence in God? He is waiting for us to stake our lives on Him!

Have a great day!

Good Morning,

Today’s devotion is by Mika Edwards

I am an avid reader! Some may consider it quite unusual that a former high school math teacher also loves to read. I guess that shows one can love many things – the thrill of perfectly dividing two polynomials using synthetic division (smiles from all the math teachers) while at the same time being so engrossed in the plot of a great narrative that you feel you should add the characters in the story to your Christmas card list (English teachers can relate)! 😊

Of the books I like to read there are times a good mystery, fits the bill. The ones that leave you baffled and overwhelmed as you try to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Well there is a mystery that continues to elude me – it is the mystery of the love of Jesus for humanity! I can’t understand how He loves me! I don’t believe I will ever be able to comprehend this mystery on this side of eternity. 

I believe the Apostle Paul felt the same when thinking of the mystery of the love of God. He wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus that shared his thoughts and if you have been around me for more than 5 minutes you know that I LOVE this passage. The Lord branded it on my heart years ago and continues to render me speechless as He has displayed this truth in my life many, many times! 

Will you read these words from Ephesians 3:14-21 with care – 

^“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

I don’t want to waste time searching for an explanation to the mystery of the God’s love, but rather I want to fall on my face in praise and appreciation for the love of Jesus that transpires all understanding! I don’t want the unknown of life and current circumstances to overshadow the truth that God’s love is BIG and POWERFUL! 

If His incomprehensible love isn’t amazing enough, he also displays that love is an abundance we can’t contain. He puts his love in action and does so much for us, more than we can ask or think - beyond our biggest dreams! 

Priscilla Shirer said, “God is Able. Time and again, He has proven very plainly to me that He is not held down by what holds us.”

Dear friends – may the mystery of the love of Jesus fall fresh on you today like the sweet breath of His presence and may you be fueled by a display of His abundance!