The Devotional - A Look at the Book #788

by Jesse Abel

 

A Word from Papa “J”

 

America runs on bond funded highways and most people travel in chattel mortgaged automobiles. Americans live in mortgaged estates and on borrowed time. I also know that there was a day when two dollars and forty cents would by forty eight cups of coffee. Today you will get one cup of coffee for that amount and still owe the state sales tax. 1 Kings 17:8-16 is not far off!

 

Good Morning

 

Just the other day I was playing a golf match to advance to the next tier for the club championship. As we played the first two holes my opponent came to be two up on me, so I shot up a prayer to the LORD. “Lord, I don’t mind losing to this young man, but at least let me lose with dignity” I held my own for the next few holes and at the seventh hole he went three up. I took holes eight and nine so at the turn and starting on hole ten he was only one up.

 

Hole eleven we were even again and stayed that way until hole fourteen where I went one up, then on hole fifteen I went two up and again on hole sixteen I moved to three up and the game was over, with two holes remaining to play, he could not win. What happened? This is what I believe. During the course of play on holes eight and nine, I explained to him that I taught the Bible in the local prison and once in a while held church services in a church in Dighton, Massachusetts.

 

He then explained to me that he was one thesis away from having a Master’s degree in religious science. I said; “so what keeps you from completing that work”. “I am an atheist” he said, “I studied religion to try and figure out why people have to create a god when we don’t need one.” I said; “you make a big mistake, man does not create anything, but God the Creator, created you and me.” “Oh yea!” he said, “then where are all the magical people he created? I said; “you error again God is not a magician!”

After this conversation the man simply fell apart and his golf game too. Maybe he will go home and finish his thesis; then again maybe not! I felt like Elijah the Tishbite. 1 Kings 18: 20-40. I was also thinking that the mindset of most of us is so focused on the realm of human effort, that we lose focus of the spiritual world. This realm is as busy as our human realm. Ephesians 6:12, so in all matters of life and godliness in Christ we need to stand firm.

 

Also I notice that we Americans like to “upsize” everything, maybe this is why the realm of most of humanity in America is obese. The only thing we downsize lately is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ; of course you must first; have a relationship with Him! Acts 16:25-34.