Each morning when I get out of bed, before I start my busy day, I read my, “The Upper Room” Daily Devotional Guide. It helps me start each day off on the right foot.
Sometimes the daily meditation helps me with something that’s going on in my life, and sometimes it makes no sense at all at the time I read it. Many times, before the end of the day, that devotional comes at me with full force and meaning.
My father read The Upper Room daily. If he forgot it, he would return home and read it. It was his protection. My dad was a Police Officer/Deputy Sheriff for 24 years before retiring and becoming a high school teacher (He needed The Upper Room more while teaching than while on the police force!).
When I read my daily devotional, sometimes I say to myself, “That would fit old *****, just fine. He needs to read this”! But I have come to the realization that, I am the one that needs it, I’m reading this for me. God is talking to Skip, not old So & So.
If the day’s devotional is real good, sometimes I take the page out and put it in my Bible next to that day’s Bible passage. The next time I am in that section of the Bible, I read that one over again and I seems to give me as much inspiration as it did the first time.
A day or two ago, I came upon one of my pages, dated, May 23, 2008. The title is: “Leadership”. The Bible reading for that day came from Romans 12. That’s the one where Paul talks about spiritual gifts. I have always been fascinated by gifted people, and I have often wondered what my gift is.
The devotional says, …God doesn’t call the qualified; God qualifies those called! Isn’t that a profound statement? It goes on to say: The heroes of the Bible were ordinary people with typical human flaws and weaknesses. They show us that when it comes to serving in God’s kingdom, we don’s have to be spectacular-just available. Spiritual leaders are ordinary people, called and enabled by God.
My sermon for the quarter!