Liver to me is disgusting, and just the thought of cow’s tongue makes me gag. I have no use for golf, and there is no one in the world I like well enough to go fishing with.

Before you get upset, let me just say, all of us have things we reject and things we embrace in life.

However, when it comes to the Word of God, rejection can have serious consequences.

1 Samuel 15:23 

Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has also rejected you from being king.

Saul would not get a second term in office.

Think about it.

Gary

Did you ever make a statement that you wish could be taken back? Sorry I brought such painful things to your memory.  We have all had such an experience at some time or other.

Even the Apostle Peter had those moments; Luke 9:33 states of Peter, “not knowing what he said.”

The best filter for this defect is not found at NAPA but is found in the Word of God.

Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Pass your words in His filter before they flow through your lips.

Think about it.

Gary

My Cousin who has been in this world a long time said to me, “I can’t believe how much you look like our grandmother.”  Sadly, she wasn’t kidding. Twenty years ago the mirror told me I looked like my father. Now the mirror tells me I look like my grandmother.  Time has a way of doing that.

Isaiah 40:8 

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

Don’t try and handle me, for I’m fading fast. Handle the Word of God because it is a benefit now and forever without ever getting old.

Think about it, and thanks, cousin, for this devotional.

Gary

Many times when entering a facility, the realization I’m mask-less hits me. Disappointed, I make my way back to the truck to get my goofy mask. Even at the Bank, one is necessary. A year ago I would have set off alarms going into the bank with a mask on. Times have changed.

I don’t know how much protection I’ll get from that stuffy cloth, but I do know the protection I have in God.

2 Samuel 22:31 

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Wear your mask but never forget God is your shield.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I was a junior in high school and our English teacher made us read The Catcher in the Rye and discuss it. Maybe my IQ wasn’t high enough but to find some helpful life lesson in that book was an impossible pursuit for me. Really, I think it was just to kill time.

Some years later, I was directed to another book which contained information necessary for understanding the world and myself.

Joshua 1:8 

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

This is the Book that keeps on giving.

Think about it.

Gary

This fourth grader was having breakfast and his math homework wasn’t done. His teacher would have shown no mercy which made it a serious situation. Luckily, my sister was there to bail me out. I would give her the numbers to be added and she would give me the answers.  One of my best homework grades happened on that day.

Romans 16:1

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,

Isn’t it great to have sisters who serve?

Think about it.

Gary

He was home on leave and Mom and I went to meet him at the bus. We were a little late, and he was standing there in his paratrooper uniform with the bloused boots and paratrooper wings on his chest. I was ten, and he was my big brother and to me he was larger than life.

We find the love of a brother in the Word of God. His name was Andrew and his brother’s name was Peter.  After Andrew came to know Christ, the first thing he did was go to find his brother and tell him the good news.

John 1:40-42

One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

Brothers are something.

Think about it.

Gary