Daily Devotional

It’s raining.  My list of things to do this Saturday is long.  Yesterday I was bummed, just thinking of having to buy a new laptop (mine 8 years old, operating system outdated).  I have other tasks which seem more pressing, and lots more fun.

This morning as I prayed over my list, and as I surrendered my attitude, I realized that I had lost valuable perspective in the last couple of days.  I made a “policy decision” a couple of months back to live in joy in a continuous way (Eccl. 5:18-20).  This morning it dawned on me that I was not taking joy in searching for a new laptop.  If it had been a car I needed, buying that would be a delight to me.  Not a laptop, however!  Not only buying it, but getting things setup, adding what’s needed, transferring info from the old computer, and on and on.  Seems like torture to me, with little hope after the torture that all will end well.

As I looked at the day, there were a lot of other things that also needed to be done.  Several involved applying myself to others first, me later.  It has also been my way in recent years to follow Christ’s Scriptural admonition, “Give, and it will be given to you" (Luke 6:38, NASB).  That could refer to money.  But it is broader.  Most of the time I apply it regarding the priority investment of my time.  So today I first put my mind to the task and my hand to the plow regarding others – meeting with my neighbor, doing some jobs for Lynn, and making a delivery of an item to some friends.

My experience has been that when I take this approach, the Lord commonly prospers my work which has been given second place.  I get more done, and faster that I would have.  And with better quality.  And of course, more joyfully and deliberately.  Today I started with 16 items on my handwritten note.  I have done six so far as I write this.  Three of them were for Lynn and my two neighbors.

So, I can give this good report, even before the day is done.  I bought a new computer!  I did so with joy.  Using God’s wisdom, waiting on Him to provide rather than for me to procure.  I did my looking in peace.  The store was empty.  Employees were there to help me.  I made my selection (on sale!), and went on to other tasks.

It was a temptation to just dive into the new computer, and put the other 10 things on my list on hold.  But I did not.  There were still four things on my list that directly applied to others.  There is another maxim I live by that has been gleaned over time from Proverbs and other passages.  Let me explain it, using making our bed as the example.

It has been our “division of labor” to give the bed making task to the one who gets up last.  That seems reasonable to me.  You can’t make it if they’re still in it!  Of course it would seem nice to me, since 99 out of 100 days I get up before Lynn does!  But when I go back into the bedroom later, after Lynn has gotten up for the day, and the bed is still unmade, I first say to myself, “That’s Lynn’s job!”  Then there is another voice that says, “It would be nice to bless her by making the bed anyway, though it is not your job!”  So, I have learned to say this maxim to myself, “That is a small price to pay for good will!”

What tremendous favor I have received by applying that maxim in many ways to many people.  There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Prov. 14:12, ESV).  That’s the world’s way.  God’s way always brings life, into others’ hearts and situations, and then flowing back then into my own life.

As you move forward in your life this year, consider these three thoughts. Ponder whether they might not serve you well in your life:

• There is nothing better... than to be joyful and do good! (Eccl. 3:12, ESV)
• Give, and it will be given to you (Luke 6:38, NASB)
• That’s a small price to pay for good will! (Consider Proverbs 21:9)

Since I am writing this devotional in real time, all this same day, I can now report (4 pm) that I got all 16 tasks done!  Plus a couple more, including typing the draft of this devotional.  And…I did not touch the new computer once, since I got it home, in deference to my list!

Faith is so much better than effort.  I asked not for the best computer, nor the best deal.  Rather, that I would be able to point to it week by week, for the next 10 years (I hope), and say, “That was a gift of God.  I asked Him to provide, and He did.  Praise the name of Jesus, the Lord!”

I hope these three spiritual thoughts make your life more of a blessing.  To others.  And that you will be blessed in return, perhaps 10-fold!