2009 E-Devotionals

The following E-Devotionals were sent to our members by email on a bi-weekly basis between July and December 2009. Written by CLS member Charley Cole (with an occasional alternate author) these E-Devotionals are for your encouragement and edification. If you would like to receive these by email, please email us so sign up and ensure that your computer's browser allows emails via Constant Contact from memmin@clsnet.org. The most recent devotionals for 2010 can be found here. For earlier devotionals, just scroll down.

2009 E-DEVOTIONALS

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No. 12
December 2009

Reflections of Christmas
From the Pen of C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis held Christmas in high esteem; however, he had a clear disdain for the commercialism that choked the holiday season. Although written over 50 years ago, his insights are remarkably prescient:

Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here. The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn't go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a "view" on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their own money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs. But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone's business.

I mean of course the commercial racket. The interchange of presents was a very small ingredient in the older English festivity. Mr. Pickwick took a cod with him to Dingley Dell; the reformed Scrooge ordered a turkey for his clerk; lovers sent love gifts; toys and fruit were given to children. But the idea that not only all friends but even all acquaintances should give one another presents, or at least send one another cards, is quite modern and has been forced upon us by the shopkeepers. Neither of these circumstances is in itself a reason for condemning it. I condemn it on the following grounds.

It gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure. You have only to stay over Christmas with a family who seriously try to "keep" it (in its third, or commercial aspect) in order to see that the thing is a nightmare. Long before December 25th everyone is worn out-physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients and to think out suitable gifts for them. They are in no trim for merry-making; much less (if they should want to) to take part in a religious act. They look far more as if there had been a long illness in the house.
Most of it is involuntary. The modern rule is that anyone can force you to give him a present by sending you a quite unprovoked present of his own. It is almost a blackmail. Who has not heard the wail of despair, and indeed of resentment, when, at the last moment, just continued on other side as everyone hoped that the nuisance was over for one more year, the unwanted gift from Mrs. Busy (whom we hardly remember) flops unwelcomed through the letter-box, and back to the dreadful shops one of us has to go?
Things are given as presents which no mortal ever bought for himself-gaudy and useless gadgets, "novelties" because no one was ever fool enough to make their like before. Have we really no better use for materials and for human skill and time than to spend them on all this rubbish?
The nuisance. For after all, during the racket we still have all our ordinary and necessary shopping to do, and the racket trebles the labour of it.

We are told that the whole dreary business must go on because it is good for trade. It is in fact merely one annual symptom of that lunatic condition of our country, and indeed of the world, in which everyone lives by persuading everyone else to buy things. I don't know the way out. But can it really be my duty to buy and receive masses of junk every winter just to help the shopkeepers? If the worst comes to the worst I'd sooner give them money for nothing and write it off as a charity. For nothing? Why better for nothing than for a nuisance.

[C.S. Lewis, "What Christmas Means to Me," God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970), pp. 304-305.]

The mad rush of Christmas season is upon us once again. And since Lewis wrote, things have gotten much worse. Between the frenzy of Black Friday and the collapse of Christmas Day lies an amazing gauntlet of obstacles and stress-filled busyness perfectly suited to obliterate the true meaning of Christmas from our consciousness. On strained budgets, we must now race to find the perfect gifts for everyone amid vexing traffic, crowded stores, long lines, and rude clerks, all the while breathlessly rushing from one party to the next each night of the week and somehow preparing for the perfect Christmas dinner along the way.

For the sake of our souls, perhaps we should consider a minimalist approach to the Christmas season. Maybe we could give fewer gifts, spend less money, and attend fewer parties. With less stress and more time, we could relax, read, and meditate on the Incarnation of the Son of God, worship him, actually enjoy time with our family, and look for ways to help the poor. In other words, we could actually celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

...you are worried and bothered about so many things;

but only one thing is necessary...

Luke 10:41b-42a (NASB)

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No. 11
December 2009

Whose Fool are You?

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness." (1 Cor. 3:18-19)

It has been rightly said that a fool is a person who does not know the right value of things. Everything in life of any consequence has a price tag, and we must choose between competing interests and opportunities. At every turn we must decide - peace in the long run belongs to those who know the value of things and choose accordingly. Centuries ago, William Law wrote a classic volume with the title: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. In it he drew a vivid picture of the emptiness of lives that are tied to the temporal:

To abound in wealth, to have fine houses and rich clothes, to be attended with splendour and equipage, to be beautiful in our persons, to have titles of dignity, to be above our fellow-creatures, to command the bows and obeisance of other people, to be looked on with admiration, to overcome our enemies with power, to subdue all that oppose us, to set out ourselves in as much splendour as we can, to live highly and magnificently, to eat, and drink, and delight ourselves in the most costly manner, these are the great, the honourable, the desirable things, to which the spirit of the world turns the eyes of all people. And many a man is afraid of standing still, and not engaging in the pursuit of these things, lest the same world should take him for a fool.

     To desire such things is part of the nature with which we entered the world. And the desire does not go away simply because we have been born again. Always such matters contend for our heart. But let us be wise in this matter. While not wrong in themselves, corner offices, plaques and gavels, and the indicia of professional success will not carry us into eternity.   And they can be a heavy load if they make their way into our hearts.

    A street evangelist used to walk among the bustling crowds in the downtown of a major city with a sandwich board. As he walked toward you, the board said "A Fool For Christ!" - as he passed by, you might look around and see the reverse board which inquired, "Whose Fool Are You?"

     We will never succeed in putting the things of this world under our feet, no matter how we try. But we serve One who said to each of us "I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Rest from the quest for adequacy and self-esteem. Rest from the need to acquire and achieve. Rest in the midst of the busiest of lives. It is by taking His yoke - coming under His authority - that we are set free from the other demands on our lives.

Heavenly Father, I thank You that I may take my place as Your child. It is a blessed thing that You, and not the fruit of my professional labors, are my life and my eternal reward. Show me today to the good works in which You have ordained that I walk, the "gold, silver, and precious stones" that will endure to all eternity.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No. 10
November 2009

Who Are You?

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We adjure you by the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches." Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus, I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?" Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped upon them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
(Acts 19:13-16)

     We adjure you by the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches. The seven sons of Sceva sought to make merchandise by invoking the name of Jesus, "whom Paul preaches". Scripture does not inform us of how these men were viewed the people who stood round about to witness their attempted exorcisms -the bystanders were probably impressed at first. They couldn't see what the evil spirit saw - that these men were pretenders.

     Who are you? A certain well known conference speaker began his ministry among violent street gangs. Occasionally he would take young people from his church with him to the inner city. Some of the church youth were understandably nervous. Others were a bit cocky. To all of them, this man would say, "You don't need to worry. Only remember one thing - these guys hate a phony, and they can spot one a mile away."

     What about us? As lawyers, we live in a world of impressions and we know how to say things for effect. Well and good. But let us not forget that we stand always in the presence of One before whom nothing is hid. As we go through our daily routine, both in our practice and among our brothers and sisters, let us ask ourselves a few questions - questions that others cannot ask. Questions like: "Why did I say what I just said?" or "Is the impression I'm leaving with this person a truthful one?" Chuck Swindoll used to keep a little plaque on his desk, turned toward himself so that only he could read it - it inquired of him, "What is your motivation?"

     The struggle to be real is an ongoing one. Thankfully, the Lord Jesus, not self-recrimination, is the answer. He came to show us what reality is like and He ever lives to make us real, too. "He is made unto us ... sanctification." (I Cor. 1:30).

Lord, I ask that You work today in my inner life. You know what is real and what is false in me. My desire is that in my practice, and in my walk through the world, there will be no gap between appearance and reality. Teach me, moment by moment, to walk in the light.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No. 9
November 2009

Living from Within

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
(Ezek 36:26-27)

     The behaviorists are partly right when they maintain that all of us operate from an internal or an external "locus of control," and that it is virtually impossible to have a satisfying existence when our locus of control is external. Only when a person operates from the knowledge that his life is congruent with his own values can he be said to be truly happy. So far, so good. But where is God in the equation? The behaviorists (and some Christians, truth be told) tend to include God among the external forces that buffet the believer, along with more abstract notions such as fate or karma. Where indeed is the Father in the equation of life?

     I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. The Apostle Paul may have had the Ezekiel verse in mind when he proclaimed to the Colossians that he was the steward of a mystery that had been hidden "from ages and from generations" and was being revealed to the saints.   What was this mystery? It was nothing less than "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col. 1:27). Not Christ as One separate from us, but One who is no more separable from us than a vine is from a branch.

     Of all men, the Christian ought to have an internal locus of control. Let us ponder the practical implications of this fact from Scripture. Ezekiel prophesied nothing less than a new heart. The great apostle said that Christ would live in us (Col. 1:27); would be our Life
(Col. 3:4); would be our Wisdom (I Cor. 1:30); would be our Peace  (Eph. 2:14). Indeed, the notable Chinese Christian Watchman Nee did not overstep when he said that our Lord is "the sum of all spiritual things". But each of us must drink from this well for ourselves.

      Law is a performance business. To perform is to be judged, and the judgment of one's performance in the courtroom is external.   Outcomes, awards, appeals and opinions - will we deduce who we are from these?   Or will we experience the freedom of the sons and daughters of God?

Lord, may it not be that the locus of control in my life would be a composite of external forces. God forbid that I should build my life upon the sands of professional reputation or, worse, upon the deceitfulness of riches. You are my Life, and You dwell within me. My ambition is to walk worthy of You, period. Work now in me to will and to do of Your good pleasure.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No.8

October 2009

Trading Your Life

Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yoursefl treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupot, and where thieves do no break through or steal.

(Matthew 6:19-20)

For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and shall lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

(Matthew 6:26)

     The Walt Disney classic children's reader Goofy-on the Hillside begins "There once was a simple fellow named Goofy who lived on the side of a hill. He was called Goofy-on-the Hillside." We are told that his only neighbor was a "kind farmer named Mrs. Hay." They had a fine relationship. "'A good friend is worth more than a bag of gold', Mrs. Hay always said." One day Mrs. Hay, needing some money, asked Goofy to take her cow to town and sell it for her.

     Having never read up on the law of bailments, Goofy began to trade along the way. His trades were unfortunate and by the time he reached town he had only two eggs. Being famished, he decided to get some bread at the bakery. After telling the baker the story, the baker was incredulous: "You traded a cow for two eggs?" cried the baker." "Of course not", said Goofy. "I traded the cow for a horse, the horse for a pig, the pig for a goat, the goat for a hen, and the hen for some eggs, but most of them broke."

     Goofy assures the baker that because he and Mrs. Hay are friends, she will not be angry.   The baker decides to accompany Goofy back to the farm: "I would like to see a friend as good as that!" said the baker.

     On their arrival at the farm, Goofy relates the story to his neighbor. Mrs. Hay is at first dismayed "'A loaf of bread?' she cried." "'Yes', said Goofy 'I was hungry.'" To which the kind Mrs. Hay replied "Well, if you were hungry, I'm glad you could eat." This leaves, however, a practical problem, "But now I cannot fix up my farm," said Mrs. Hay. "I have no money."   Goofy says he will fix up the farm for her and the baker agrees to help. The story ends with the three of them on the front porch of the newly renovated farmhouse eating a cake that the baker prepared. Mrs. Hay thanks them for their help, to which the baker replies, "That is what friends are for." The narrator gives Goofy the last word, "And you know," said Goofy, "a good friend is worth more than a bag of gold."

     If you have read this far, you may have noticed that this is not just a story for children. We are all trading away our lives, whether we want to or not. As the hands of the clock make their twice a day journey, there is no pause button. We literally are spending our time, trading our lives for something. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? asks the Savior.

     Before we leave our story, let us take note of Goofy's response to the baker's question, "You traded a cow for two eggs?" Goofy's reply seems measured, even patient, "Of course not", says Goofy, as though to assure the baker that he wasn't a fool - no sensible person would trade a cow for two eggs, would they? As Goofy saw it, the net result of his efforts (two eggs) was the result of a series of trades, each of which seemed reasonable at the time.

     For what will you and I trade our lives today? What is the next hour really worth? How will we spend the opportunities that come across our path? There will come a day when we will stand before a One Who is even kinder than Mrs. Hay, but Who will nevertheless require of us an accounting. Now if any man build upon this foundation [Christ] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet as by fire. I Cor. 3:12-15

     Lord, this is almost too convicting. If I am to make a right application of this lesson, you must turn up the intensity of Your life in me. Grant me to see with Your eyes the trades that I am making as I go through my day. Let me not miss the chance to multiply the talents that you have entrusted to me.   Help me to see that doing a small thing for Your sake and with Your great love, can be gold, silver or precious stones.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No.7

October 2009

Paul's Idea of a TestimonyAll Things?

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

(Phil 4:5 NKJV)

What do you want to be known for? Paul wanted the Philippian believers to be known for their gentleness. The word used here for gentleness, epieikes, is rendered elsewhere "forbearance" or "moderation." There is a feel of tenderness about the word. We were gentle [epioi] among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children. (I Thess. 2:7)

The man who wrote these words was a man of action.   Before Christ became his Lord, Paul was known as one who "breathed threatenings" and "wasted the Church". And after Christ, he did not go out of his way to avoid confrontation. One cannot read the account of his journeys and his ministry as recorded in the Book of Acts, without being struck by his toughness - not only in his willingness to suffer all for his Master, but even more, his capacity to speak truth to power without fear or equivocation.

Yet for all of Paul's pugnacity, he had a quality of gentleness about him.   In the present epistle, he begins with the tender introduction "I have you in my heart" (1:7), and assures them "For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with all the affection of Jesus Christ." (1:8). We may say that in the life of the great apostle, fearless proclamation dwelt compatibly with gentleness.

All of us have some knowledge of ourselves. The call to be gentle in the midst of a fast-paced law practice may seem to ask too much: "I can't really see myself being both aggressive and gentle at the same time - tell me to be one or the other, but not both." Indeed, most of us have a natural bent in one direction or the other. And psychology cannot help us here.   A change of mindset or the adoption of a new paradigm will not bring about the change of disposition that Paul experienced. But we are not taking a page from Jung or Maslow or Rogers - we are partakers of the divine nature (II Pet. 1:4). In this, as in every issue of the Christian life, Christ is the sum of all spiritual things. It is in Him, not in our psyche, that we find the gentleness and boldness that we need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Phil. 4:13)

Lord, only you can make me like Yourself. This day, live in me with the zeal that overturned the moneychangers in the temple, and with the gentleness that said "Come unto me." Grant that my clients will see not only one who will be their advisor and advocate, but one who loves them with Your love. Let me not fear to show kindness to all, even to my adversaries.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No.6

September 2009

All Things?

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:8)

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thess. 5:18)

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 5:20)

Christianity stripped of the miraculous would be a pitiful thing. Yet it is easy to strip life of the miraculous by the unconscious assumption that God's hand works "out there" or only occasionally - we tend to dust off the doctrine of God's providence and use it when we are faced with a crisis of some type. But in the everyday, well, that's different.

Paul did not give us room to turn God's sovereignty on and off. What is it about "all things" that we don't understand? Beware of verse-drop - the phenomenon of verses dropping off the pages of one's Bible. Thomas Jefferson famously published his own version of the New Testament, with the miracles of Jesus removed. He felt that Jesus was a great teacher, but the miracles the Lord performed didn't fit with Jefferson's understanding of reality. So he simply dropped those verses from his edition of the Bible.

            There is perhaps no more neglected doctrine in today's church than the doctrine of God's providence. Nor is there any subject with more potential to radically change the life of the individual believer. "Believer" - one who believes. Believes what? What would it mean to any of us if we could see God's hand in "all things?" Really see God's hand, that is?

            For those whose vision is cleared, eternity has already begun. Maltbie Babcock was one of those. A baseball player of some renown, he became a minister of the gospel and penned the beloved hymn "This is My Father's World." The words of that hymn were part of his life message. It is said that he would sometimes depart from company with the words "Now I'm going out into my Father's world." Lawyers may especially appreciate the final stanza:

    This is my Father's world / O let me ne'er forget
    That though the wrong seems oft so strong /God is the Ruler yet.
    This is my Father's world / Why should my heart be sad?
    The Lord is King; let the heavens ring / God reigns, let earth be glad.

Lord, give me eyes that I may see. I need the heavenly perspective. Lift me up this day from the mundane and the humdrum, or, better, let me see You in the midst of even the most inconsequential events. Teach me what Kingdom living is all about.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No.5

September 2009

How The Just Live

The just shall live by faith. . . (Romans 1:1; Habakkuk 2:4)

We are here concerned with one of the ultimate issues of our life. How do we live? According to Scripture, there is a certain way that "the just" live. They live "by faith." What is meant by "the just"? Does every Christian live by faith? The Williams translation uses "upright" for "just". The upright man must live by faith.

The implied comparison in the Habakkuk passage, borrowed by Paul in writing to Roman Christians, is between two ways of life. The natural or carnal man lives with his spiritual eyes turned inward toward himself (latin: curvatus in se). In this particular posture, the spiritual walk is exceedingly difficult, with constant stumbles because the eyes are turned in the wrong direction. Pride follows on the heels of victory and defeat leads many a one to despair.

Not so with the upright who have turned away from "me" to walk by faith, by dependence upon God. They see life through the lens of providence and consult the heavenly Father on each matter that life presents them. They walk through life unafraid and undistracted by the siren songs of pride and despair. In Kipling's immortal words, they can look on triumph and disaster and "treat those two impostors just the same."

Positionally, each of us who seeks to honor God in our practice is just, or upright. But daily we are presented with the choice: Will I live unto the Lord, trusting in Him, or will I live unto myself? Are my eyes prepared to see the hand of God today in the ups and downs of my professional life?

Lord, grant that I might see your providential hand today in my practice. Each time the telephone rings or a colleague stops by my office, may I discern an opportunity to live by faith, depending upon you. As I meet triumph and disaster, make my life a testimony to your grace.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No.4

August 2009

Spiritual Leakage?

And [Delilah] said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. (Judges 16:20 (KJV))

The poignant story of Sampson is the account of a man of great strength, who compromised, and because of that compromise failed in his calling. An Israelite of the tribe of Dan, Sampson was called by God to be a Nazarite and to deliver Israel from the Philistines. But his life never fulfilled its promise. At first, full of confidence and charisma, he cut a wide swath through the pagan culture which was to have been foreign to him. Time and again the Lord would "come upon him," enabling him to humiliate his adversaries and capture or destroy their properties. But then he lusted after a forbidden relationship with a Philistine woman named Delilah. In the end, she betrayed to his enemies the secret of his strength, "no razor shall come on his head" (Judges 13:5). As Sampson slept with his head on Delilah's lap, she called for a man to shave off his seven locks of hair. The rest of the tragic story is well known.

The temptations Sampson faced are familiar to lawyers. The lawyer who belongs to Christ is not exempt from the attractions of competition, pursuit of wealth, even sexual sin. A major moral lapse is often the outcome of gradual spiritual leakage, carelessness along the way. J. Vernon McGee writes concerning Sampson:

No man falls suddenly into sin - he does it gradually. There was a bank president in my congregation when I pastored a church in Texas. This man went with me to the local jail to hand out tracts and talk to prisoners. Outwardly he was an outstanding man. One day he disappeared. He had gone on vacation. Suddenly the bank began to miss money. They could not believe he had taken it. They tried to account for the loss in every other way, but they could not. They finally decided that he must be the one who took the money, and when he did not return from vacation they began to search for him. After a complete investigation they discovered that he had been taking money for years. No man falls suddenly into sin.

Lord, make me alert to the areas of my practice in which I am tempted to compromise. Search me and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and lead me in the way everlasting.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No.3

August 2009

What is He Looking For?

But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?

(Luke 18:8)

The Bible does not depict human beings as a particularly noble bunch. Fallenness appears on every page.   Abraham, the "man of faith" betrayed Sarah into the hands of Pharaoh. David, the "man after God's own heart," stayed at the palace when it was the season for his army to go to war, and the sorry outcome -- his dalliance with Bathsheba --tarnished his image forever. Shall we take the time to review the shortcomings of Moses, Sampson or Peter? Even the greats of Scripture were at best, well, a pretty mixed bag.

And what about you and me?   What can the Lord reasonably expect from us?   Our inverted pride makes us want to have something in our hand to give the Lord when we see him.   Our bent is incorrigibly toward self-help, and the idea that we can, in and of ourselves, please God dies hard.

Alan Redpath, a man greatly used by the Lord in later years, described a conference he attended: "Many years ago, at a meeting at which I was present, when I was a young man in a desperate backsliding state, Major Ian Thomas said 'What do you think God expects of you?' As I thought of the high level of Christian attainment that alone could please God, I curled up inside and felt totally discouraged." As Redpath cringed in humiliation, he almost missed the Major's answer to his own question: "God expects nothing from you but failure!"

In an instant, Redpath realized that the pressure was off. If God expected only failure from him, he could abandon "Plan A" - that of making the Lord proud of him. There had to be a Plan B. And there was. Ever since the Garden of Eden, there has only been one way to please God. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. (Hebrews 11:6).   And even this faith is "the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:9). It is only we who expect something of ourselves.

What about you and me? Are we still living Plan A lives, struggling to make a go of it as a Christian? Does the tension of not only being successful as a lawyer, but a Christian lawyer to boot, sometimes seem a hopeless cause? Consider this: In the midst of our practices, whether conducted in the courtroom, in the office or in the closing room, the Lord ever looks for the same thing. If we will stay inwardly turned to Him, we will hear Him say "Just trust Me." When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith upon the earth?

Lord, how wonderful it is that You are not only the Lord of spiritual giants, and that I can come to You as I am, just as little children came to You so long ago. You are the Author and Finisher of my faith.   I join in the prayer the apostles prayed when they marveled at Your teaching, "Lord increase my faith!"

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No. 2

August 2009

The Client God Gave Me

And if you address as Father, Him who judges everyone impartially in accordance with what he does, you must live reverently all your fleeting stay on earh. (1 Peter 1:17 (Wms.))

            What does it mean to "live reverently?" Reverence is a particular type of fear - not fear of loss or of punishment, but a fear of desecrating something holy. To use a mundane example, think of the crude drawing that a mother keeps safely tucked away for the sole reason that her son gave it to her when he was in the first grade "Mommy, this is for you!" Such an item may not be holy in a cosmic sense, but try to tell that mother that the drawing is just a piece of paper. The regard that the mother gives the drawing is a type of reverence - the drawing is in a sense "sacred" because of how she came to acquire it, because of who gave it to her.

            "Live reverently all your fleeting stay on earth..." We were not made to be lords of all we survey. We were made to receive everything from God, and in that sense, it is shameful to live presumptuously. Our marriages, our children, our bank accounts, are not ours to do with as we please. A Christian husband could change the atmosphere of his marriage in a moment, if he ceased to think of his spouse as "my" wife and instead began to think of her as "the wife God gave me."

            Where do our clients come from?   Is Mrs. Jones "my" client? If I am living reverently, I see the providential hand of the heavenly Father in the fact that she came to entrust her legal affairs to my care. It makes no difference if she is a so-called "good" client who pays my bills and appreciates everything I do for her, or whether she is demanding and ungrateful. If she is "the client God gave me," I can serve her for Christ's sake, and so long as I see her through the lens of reverence, I can do so gladly.

Lord, teach me this day to see my clients, my partners, my professional life as having come from you. By your grace, I will no longer automatically put the word "my" in front of the persons and things that comprise my practice, but will begin to live reverently, doing all things for Your sake.

CLS Bi-weekly Devotional

Vol 1., No. 1

July 2009

Remember Me?

And above all these things, put on love. . . (Colossians 3:14)

     Shortly before his death in 1994, the Christian theologian and statesman, Elton Trueblood, wrote "At the age of 93 I am well aware that I do not have many years left... How do I want to be remembered? Not primarily as a Christian scholar, but rather as a loving person. This can be the goal of every individual. If I can be remembered as a truly loving person I shall be satisfied."

     Elton Trueblood's biographer, James Newby, recounts that this objective was the result of a profound change which occurred in Trueblood's life many years before, when in his fifties. Known as a stern and remote professor to his students at Earlham College, his diary recorded in 1957 the self-reflection that led to the change:

     "For many years I have been conscious of a tension in my life. On the one hand I felt the need, with strict loyalty to logical consistency, to explore erroneous and shoddy thinking, particularly among students. On the other hand I have felt the demands of compassion for these same persons. The difficulty is that loyalty to former conception sometimes gives the impression that the latter is lacking. In some cases it seems necessary to choose, because insistence on logical rigor will have at least the appearance of lack of love.

     "Now nearly 57 years of age, I have determined that in the remainder of my life I shall try to err, if I err, on the side of tenderness. Perhaps I have done the service requested of one in maintaining sharpness of mind and my future role is that of being obviously loving as well as really loving."

     That Trueblood wrote with such formality in his diary is a testament to the "rigor" under which he placed himself. It is revealing, also, that as a concession to his own humanity he ended his diary entry somewhat whimsically: "At least the experiment is worth a try." Intervening years attested to the success of his "experiment."

     How do you want to be remembered? As an advocate for justice in the courtroom, as a wise counselor, as an esteemed jurist? Let us all take a page from Trueblood's book. As he put it in his last year, the goal of being a loving person can be the goal of every individual.

Lord, like Elton Trueblood I do not know how many days I have left. Teach me to apply my heart to wisdom. Let me redeem the time by living as a loving person.   Only by the love of Christ living through me do I have any hope of attaining this goal.   I take heart in knowing that I can do all things through Him.

Publications

2009 E-Devotionals

2009 E-DEVOTIONALS