by Pastor Cecil | Oct 28, 2013 | James
James 4:13-17
Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Hardly a day goes by when word comes that someone has experienced some sort of catastrophic occurrence in their life. As a pastor I seem to be a conduit of these reports that have an impact on the lives of those closest to the victims.
It is not necessarily restricted to the death of a loved one, although that is certainly one of the examples. A healthy individual may be going about his or her regular business when suddenly a stroke occurs—that healthy person has become an invalid. A lab report may be returned that reveals the presence of cancer—the life of that individual and the entire family has now changed.
Rather than focusing our attention on these debilitating examples, we need to bring the reality of change into our life. If we have not prepared ourselves spiritually for these circumstances, we will be flattened out.
James gives us a strong dose of reality. Life is just a mist that will soon vanish. Rather than putting all of our effort into the things of this world, we need to make preparation for eternity. It begins with being born again and must also be followed by growing mature by constantly seeking God’s will for our life.
Blessings, Dear Hearts, draw near to God today, trust Him completely, and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Oct 25, 2013 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. “Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away!” That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short, compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video The Sands of Eternity, go to www.PastorCecil.com
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Oct 24, 2013 | 2 Timothy
2 Timothy 1:9-10
He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
During my lifetime I have had opportunity to spend some time in fruit orchards . . . and cannot recall ever hearing groans from the trees as they produced luscious fruit. I have also walked down the long rows of onions while slicing off the seed pods for a seed company . . . and never once heard the onion plants groaning as they matured. The trees and the onions did the thing they were designed for—they grew and produced after their own kind.
Sometimes it seems that we try our best to be something other than what God designed us to be. In writing this second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul clears the deck and lays it out for all of us to see. We are all called to a holy life.
Paul is quick to add that there is nothing that Timothy can do to merit this holy life, and that point carries down to us as well. The holy life is not achieved by what we accomplish, but by what Jesus has done for us from the very beginning of time.
God’s great and magnificent grace! Not what we deserve, but what we need. The Lord knows our inability to be holy and He has provided Himself as our strength. As we turn our life over to Him, our roots sink down into the rich soil of His love and He becomes our holiness. Allow Him to be your all in all.
Blessings, Dear Hearts, draw near to God today, trust Him completely, and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Oct 23, 2013 | 1 Timothy
1 Timothy 6:6-9
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
It’s sad to say, but have you noticed that there are a lot of miserable Christians out there? What I mean is that they act as if they were missing out on the “good life” by being a Christian. And that is simply a lie from the devil.
There is an important element of Christian discipleship that is often lacking . . . it is the spirit of contentment. We might call it the “AHHH” factor. That state of satisfaction should be a vital part of each believer.
As we consider Paul’s words to Timothy, we discover that he is teaching his son in the faith that he needs to have contentment in living the life of faith. It is almost like he is raising the eyes of Timothy to catch a glimpse of the glory that is waiting in heaven for him, as well as all of us who are born again. We came into the world with nothing of the world’s goods, and we will depart the same way. It is only our spiritual wealth that matters.
We need to evaluate our own walk of faith. Do we have a contentment that transcends the “stuff” of the world? Do we live for the present or for eternity?
Blessings, Dear Hearts, draw near to God today, trust Him completely, and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Oct 22, 2013 | Job
Job 10:8
Your hands shaped me and made me. Will You now turn and destroy me? Remember that You molded me like clay. Will You now turn me to dust again?
Several years ago I was called upon to officiate at the funeral service of a young man in his late teens. The funeral chapel was full and people were standing. Many of those in attendance were teenagers.
As I watched one after the other arrive it was like I was watching a school of guppies. They all seemed to look alike. They wore the same style of clothing, the same hair styles and had the same expression on their faces.
Before we become too critical, dig out an old photo album and look at some of your old pictures. Other than the fact you have aged, notice the old fashioned way you wore your hair and the style of your dress. Would you like to appear that way today?
Isn’t that strange—if not tragic—we are more concerned about what others think about us than what God thinks? Remember that God made us just the way we are—warts and all. We are not an accident! We have been shaped and molded by God to fulfill His plan and purpose.
You may possibly remember a wonderful old prayer chorus called Spirit of the Living God. It goes something like this: “Spirit of the Living God, fall a-fresh on me. Spirit if the Living God, fall a-fresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall a-fresh on me.” May that ever be our prayer!
Blessings, Dear Hearts, draw near to God today, trust Him completely, and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
