Of Mice and Men...

Todays devotion comes from a dear saint of Spirit of Grace Church. Thank you Verna for reminding us of a wonderful Savior!!

MICE AND MEN
By Verna Anderson

It was already a crazy day and it was only 8 am. I was running around, making a shopping list for last minute items prior to the preschool Christmas party.

Then, I remembered that I needed to wrap the little truck that Noah picked out to give to another boy in the class. All the wrapping paper was still in the garage in a huge box that remained unopened after our summer move. The box sat just outside the mudroom door, needing to have the packing tape cut so that I could get to the contents. As I stood next to the box, realizing that I had no way to cut the tape, I could hear some rustling over by the deep freezer.

The sound was easily recognizable to me because I knew Keith had been catching mice out there, probably hungry little ones who had found our buckets of corn that we had planned to use to feed squirrels. Yes, I knew that was a mouse, caught in the trap, struggling to get free. I said to myself, that’s fine but just stay over there. I’m not a fan of mice. They are cute but I always think of the times people have had them crawling in their clothing—sends shivers up my back.

I went back into the house to get the paring knife to cut the packing tape. As usual, I got distracted. It happens often. Children need dressing. Lists need one more item added. Those things got me sidetracked and a bit of time passed before I noticed the still unwrapped truck. Must get that knife and dig out the paper and get that done. Once again I went into the garage, this time ready to open the box holding the wrapping paper.

Much to my surprise, the little mouse had made the long trek from the freezer to the mudroom step. The poor little guy stuck by only his front paw. He was working frantically to pull free. Yuck, was my first thought. Keith would kill him and toss him in the garbage but I hate killing things. As I looked down at him, my gaze met his beady brown eyes, his fur was silky smooth and he was actually quite cute, as mice go. In and instant, I decided that I could not kill him. I would set him free but how? I definitely did not want to pick up the trap for fear that he would flip around and crawl on me.

I went back into the house, this time to get a tongs. Then, back out into the garage to pick up the trap with the tongs, walk to the end of the driveway and free our little intruder. He struggled the whole time. How would you feel if you were trapped in a vice and a giant picked up the vice, dangling you in the air? Must have been terrifying. When I set the trap down, he tried again to run away, pulling the trap with him. I caught the trap with the tongs and released him, jumping back to keep away, still thinking of a mouse running up my pant leg. He ran onto the snow and for a moment seemed to head toward the garage. The thought came to mind that he would return to the garage, which would mean his rescue was a total waste of time. Thankfully, he turned and headed toward the flowerbed. The last I saw him, he was hiding in a deep footprint in the snow, catching his breath and contemplating his next move.

My day went on from there, kids to school and party time and even a bit of shopping. I forgot about that mouse until my husband asked why the trap was on the mudroom step. I didn’t tell him I had let the mouse go. He would have thought I was crazy.

I thought of that mouse again this morning and realized that his story was similar to so many of us. We spend our days just living life; not realizing we need a Savior. Then, we get into a spot we should not be and sin traps us. If we are lucky, it does not kill us. We struggle to get free. The fight is hard. The trap is tight on us. We drag the weight of our sin all around our world. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a giant comes and picks us up. Who is this giant? We fight some more because we are afraid of this giant. We don’t know him. Will he kill us? What are his intentions? Thankfully, that giant is a loving God who reaches down and sets us free from our sin. He watches us carefully to see what we will do with our freedom. Will we return to sin or will we set out on a new course? If we are wise, we will take the new path and always remember what he has done for us. We will desire to stay free and out of sin.

Where are you today? Are you wandering around in search of something? Have you strayed into sin, getting caught in its trap? If so, a giant God is waiting patiently for you to look up from your trap, into his loving eyes and accept his gift of freedom.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Loving Obedience

Read Deuteronomy 5:23-33

Thankfully, I have had only one speeding ticket in years. This one was about twelve years ago and it was because I was going twenty-nine in a twenty-five school zone. Can you believe that? Speed was such a concern for one mother in Colorado that she would go and sit in her car in front of an elementary school every weekday afternoon and point a hair dryer out her window at passing vehicles. Many drivers mistook the hand-held dryer for a radar gun and slowed down. Mission accomplished! The speed limit is posted in the school zone but it often takes the threat of punishment to make drivers obey the law.
Now, think about how you discipline or disciplined your child. Often, it is the threat of punishment that keeps us straight. I have been labeled a “goody-goody” when I was growing up. I was. I was that way, not because my sense of right and wrong was perfect. I wasn’t that way because I loved God so much that I never wanted to disappoint Him. I was that way because my dad has big hands and an even bigger belt. I was not one that needed several reminders of the pain inflicted to my hind parts in discipline. My cousin Dan – not so much – he was a little stubborn. Me, I was a wimp. I avoided punishment at all cost!!
Now, think about you and God. That's a sobering picture of us all, even in our relationship with God. Instead of an inner willingness to follow God, it may take the force of difficult circumstances to turn us toward Him. But that's not how our heavenly Father wants it to be. The Lord has always longed for His people to obey Him from their hearts. When the Israelites were poised to enter the Promised Land, Moses reviewed the Ten Commandments and then told them God's response to their intention to keep His law: "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29).
God doesn't want us to obey Him just because we're afraid of punishment. He will honor obedience at whatever level, but He really longs for loving obedience that comes from our hearts. How about it? Are you trying to serve God just because you are afraid of His punishment because, like my dad’s love, He will chasten us from time to time, or do you obey because you love? Take a moment right now and measure your love for Him. As the old song says, “I keep falling in love with Him, over and over again.”

“The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.”
- Bernard Baruch

True Joy

Read Philippians 4:4

If you know me, I am not the most emotional person. Sentimental, yes. Emotional, not very. People that are constantly bouncing off walls irritate me as well as people always in the doldrums of life. Would you find a happy medium and just stay there!! No, really, I do not get very excited about too many things, but I am a happy person. I do have an abundance of joy. I just show it with a smile, not a jump and a dance.
I read a story of an eighty year old lady that had kept a joyful spirit throughout her life. During World War II, in spite of dangers and separations, she and her husband were still able to laugh together at home. She recalls a summer when their laughter was overheard by a cynical neighbor. "What on earth do you two find to laugh about?" she grumbled.
Author Colleen Townsend Evans has an idea about why some can maintain joy, while others can't. "This kind of tough joy can irritate those who might want it very much but, not knowing how it comes, choose to scoff instead." Evans continues, "Joy is okay, the world seems to say, if we have some excuse for it. Like when your favorite team wins or you get a raise in pay. If we have no obvious reason for our joy, we're likely to be judged."
For all of us, joy is a decision that we must make to possess. Everyone has cares in life. I heard one preacher say it this way, “If you have a mailbox, you have cares.” Isn’t that true? The Bible doesn't say joy is a fruit of circumstance; it clearly states that joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). To live a joy-filled life, we must "walk in the Spirit" (v.25). Then we can rejoice in spite of our circumstances. Paul was in prison when he said, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"
Unfortunately we have made the Christmas season a time of stress, headaches, traffic jams and worry. What we spend today, we will have to pay for months. Guilt for not being able to supply a good Christmas to families drives many into depression and condemnation. In fact, a while ago in Kansas City, the two “all the time” Christmas music stations were trying to get people to help to give some things to those families that do not have.
I am thankful that the joy of the Lord is not predicated on my situation, but that His joy is evidenced in my life in the midst of my situation. Your choice to rejoice may irritate some, but it will encourage others and glorify God. In fact, see how many people ask you how it happens that you can smile and rejoice in the middle of chaos, and you can share with them, “Joy comes from the Lord who lives within us, not from what's happening around us.”

“Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.”
- Louisa May Alcott

Who Do You Look Like?

Read Galatians 5:1-6

It is interesting when a child is born. One of the first comments from anyone is that the baby looks just like so and so. One day, they might look like mom, dad, aunt or uncle. I remember (as of December 2, 15 years ago) just after my niece was born we were walking her in a stroller. Someone that should have known came up to us and asked my wife and I if we were walking our son. We told him that no, not only was it not our son, but it was my sisters GIRL. It just so happened that my niece looked a little like me when she was born. My oldest son favored me at first and now he is almost a picture of what my wife was at that age. My youngest son is an exact replica of his grandfather (Oh, NO!).
One of my favorite passages of scripture is Philippians 2:5-11. I find the underlying themes of all of biblical doctrines are the fact that we desire to be like Christ. The British novelist J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, "Sheep get to be like their Shepherd, it is said, but slowly." The renewal of the inner person, becoming Christ-like, is not accomplished in a moment but a lifetime.
Augustine (354-430) observed that this process is like healing from a near-fatal wound. "It's one thing," he said, "to remove the spear, but quite another to heal the wound by long and careful treatment." This healing occurs gradually as our old ways of thinking and living are erased, and we become more like our Savior as we are renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). This renewal takes place not by self-effort alone but by faith. It involves reading, meditating on, and obeying God's Word. We must also fix our minds on the character of Christ and ask God to make us like Him.
Then we must wait, confident that God is working in us to accomplish His purposes. Every day has its mishaps and memories of something we should have done or not done, but we must not be impatient. Though incomplete, we are in process. Sin may frustrate us for a day, but God is at work—and on ahead lies perfection, which is "the hope of righteousness" (Galatians 5:5).
I don’t know about you, but there are days when I really wonder if I am being very much like Christ. The only consolation is that He understands and will, every day, take some time to mold and form me again. I also can live with the hope that one day I shall be like Him for I shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

“To become Christ-like is the only thing in the whole world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain.”
- Henry Drummond