YOUR Call to Action

Luke 5:1-11

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%205%3A1-11&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

Coach Steward was a big man. He stood about 6 feet 8 inches and probably weighed close to 300 pounds. He was an assistant coach for my high school football team – the St. Louis Sharks of St. Louis, Michigan – the Middle of the Mitten.

 

It was half time of a game that we were obviously losing. First the head coach yelled at us. Then it was Coach Steward’s turn.

 

We sat silently with our eyes fully focused on him as he held a clip board in one hand and began. As he paced the floor, his volume increased. He began to beat on the clipboard with his other hand. When his tirade had reached its climax, he pounded on the clipboard one final time, breaking it in half.

 

Coach Steward had our attention and we were ready to go into battle; to walk through walls for him; to do the impossible. He had called us to action, and we responded.

 

In Luke 5, even though it made no sense, Jesus called Peter to go back out and throw his nets into the deep water. It was a ridiculous request. Peter was the experienced fisherman. He’d been out all night working hard. Jesus was a carpenter and an itinerant preacher. He didn’t know anything about fishing. But Jesus had called Peter

to action, and Peter responded.

 

This was not the first time Peter had interacted with Jesus, and it wouldn’t be the last. John 21 describes a strikingly similar story.

 

Without their Lord, following his death and resurrection, Peter and a few other disciples fished all night in the Sea of Galilee, once again, without catching anything. Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast their nets one more time. They did, and the net was filled with “153 large fish”.

 

Following breakfast on the beach, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me”. We know that Peter was hard headed. He lived by the premise of “ready, fire, aim”. He didn’t always think before acting. But the Lord saw something special in Peter. He saw a man who could lead others while following him. That morning, Jesus once again called Peter to action, and he responded.

 

I think that the Lord is still working in your life and mine in the same way as he did with Peter. He keeps showing up in our lives; he keeps speaking to us; he keeps pursuing us; he keeps calling us to action.

 

What has Jesus called you to do? What desire has he given you? What sermon have you heard, or book have you read, where he has spoken to you? Listen closely for his still small voice. Don’t miss it; don’t make excuses; don’t rule it out because it doesn’t make any sense. Just follow him wherever he leads you.

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this blog, please feel free to share it with others.)

http://lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

No Pain, No Gain

Hebrews 12:1-3

 

 

“No Pain, No Gain.” That’s what my high school football coaches used to say to us in order to motivate and push us beyond what we would have done otherwise. Human nature, especially teenage human nature, would have said, “This is too much work”! Then given up. But our coaches pushed us beyond our pain.

 

Nobody subjects themselves to pain willingly, but my wife Debbie did. During the past year, she had full knee replacement surgeries on both of her knees. Although she is currently making good progress from the most recent one, it has been much more difficult than the first, as she has suffered excruciating pain at times.

 

Jesus willingly submitted himself to excruciating pain. If you ever saw Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion, you got a very real sense of just how much pain Jesus would have gone through. Besides the physical pain, he experienced the pain of rejection, not only of his closest friends, but also his Heavenly Father.

 

The pain had to be unbearable, but still he did it. Why?

 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  NIV

 

What was “the joy set before him” that motivated him to endure such pain and suffering? Being with his Father again? Knowing that he had been faithful no matter what? Knowing that he had completed his mission so that you and I could be forgiven and live in eternity with our Heavenly Father?

 

“No pain, no gain”. That was certainly true for Jesus. Except, in addition, he suffered our pain so that we wouldn’t have to; he suffered our pain so that we might hear the same words he did from our Father God.

 

“You are my Son (my daughter), whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”         NIV

 

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

http://lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

Good Job Joe Boy

Matthew 3:13-17

 

The last football game that my Dad ever saw me play I wanted to make him proud. It was my senior year of high school, but my parents were moving to Kentucky while I stayed in Michigan. This was it; my final chance to win his approval; to make him proud. My last chance to hear him say, “Good job Joe Boy”.

 

With those four words he could have sent me on my way ready to tear down walls. After all, this was going to be a big change for me. I wouldn’t be living with my parents anymore. The people who had raised me, provided for me and made my life secure were moving, leaving me behind. Fear, insecurity and the anxiety of the unknown all waited for me like a dark closet in my bedroom.

 

Imagine how Jesus might have felt as he approached his cousin John about baptizing him. He was about to set out on his earthly ministry. We don’t know how much of the specifics Jesus knew of what awaited him, but for sure he had at least an inclination that a painful, sacrificial death would end his life. That by itself, would be more than enough for fear, insecurity and anxiety to stop him in his tracks.

 

^16-17 “The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and

he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”                       MSG

 

With these words, God affirmed His son. He gave Jesus the strength and courage to go forward. He gave him the love and affirmation to face an unknown future that promised to hold both miraculous events and painful ones. He lifted Jesus up to prepare him for three years of high intensity spiritual battles.

 

I never heard my Dad say those words to me: “Good job Joe Boy”. But every time that I read God’s word, He says them to me. Every year when I celebrate the birth of His son, He says them to me. Every Easter when I remember the risen Christ, He says them to me. Every worship song that I sing, He says them to me.

 

He says the same message to you. “You are my Son, my daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

 

 

 

By saying this, He gives you the courage and strength to face your fears, insecurities and anxiety of an unknown future.

 

 

Friday Night Football

Galatians 4:1-7

 

Previous to my Senior year of high school, my Dad took a job in Morehead, Kentucky. However, I stayed and lived with family friends so that I could finish high school with my friends. At one point in the fall, my Dad returned to complete some final details for the move. While there, he attended my high school football game on a Friday night. Normally, I didn’t play much, but I really wanted to get into the game and make him proud.

 

Finally, the coach called my name and I went in on offense. It was a running play to the opposite side of the field. The runner was probably thirty yards away from me, but I was desperate to do something, anything to impress my Dad. So I picked out an overweight lineman that was huffing and puffing, and put the hardest block on him that I could. He hit the ground with a great thud, and exhaled whatever air he had left in his lungs. To this day, I don’t know if my Dad saw me do that or not, but it was for him.

 

In Galatia, there were Judaizers, who were Jewish Christians. They believed that a number of the ceremonial practices of the Old Testament were still binding, and insisted that the Gentile believers abide by these, particularly circumcision. Paul responded in today’s passage with his attack on this belief.

 

“And that is the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to Jewish laws and rituals, for we thought they could save us.  But when the right time came, the time God decided on, he sent his Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew,  to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own sons.”   Galatians 4:3-5 TLB

 

Paul knew well what it meant to try to live by the Law. In Philippians he referred to himself as, “a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless”. If you read this verse carefully, you will see that Paul defined himself according to his perceived ability to obey the Law. But in today’s passage, Paul suggests a better way for believers to define themselves.

 

“Because you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. He is the Holy Spirit. By his power we call God Abba. Abba means Father. So you aren’t a slave any longer. You are God’s child. Because you are his child, God gives you the rights of those who are his children.”      Galatians 4:6-7 NIRV

 

The Law does not define who I am. My job, my family, my church, the things that I have done, even my personality, does not define who I am. But my Heavenly Father does. I am His child, and like my earthly Dad on that fall evening years ago, I want my Heavenly Dad to be proud of me, so that someday He will say to me, “You are my son. With you I am well pleased.”

 

 

(This was actually my second devotional on the same passage. The following was my first. You decide which you like better.)