Category: Devotionals

Here’s one more devotional for the woodworking series before we move into December and the newest series of 24 Advent devotionals that round out each calendar year.  Be sure to return to this site daily during December as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas!

(You can find the rest of this series by clicking on Author, Other Materials, above.)

My cousin David is a woodworker and as he completes a project, he often chooses to stain the wood to enhance the beauty of the product. My father, in contrast, sometimes waters a potted plant that sits on a wooden table and then walks away, not noticing that the water has spilt over on to the wooden surface.  He returns later and finds an ugly waterspot marring the surface of the table. While David’s stain increased the appeal of the item, an unattractive circle caused by standing water detracts from the value of the table.

Do you have stains that have marred your life?

Have you ever been embarrassed to have a spot of mustard on your shirt? Does it feel as if everyone looking at you sees that spot? If only we were as embarrassed or upset by the blemishes of sin in our lives as we are by that spot of mustard on our shirt. Do we fool ourselves and think others cannot see the stains that sins leave on our lives?

Long ago, Christ gave up his life on a cross so that you and I might be free from the stains of sin that have scarred our lives. In Isaiah 1:18, the Lord says, “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.”

Why not ask God to purify you now and make you fit for his work?

Wash me, Father. Cleanse me from all that detracts from the beauty you planned for my life.

In cartoons and sitcoms, the amateur do-it-yourself man usually hits a thumb with his hammer, so one day I asked my cousin, “Have you ever injured yourself while working in your shop?” He laughed and held up his hands. David’s hands betray his history as a woodworker. He learned his lesson the hard way! Using an antique saw 25 years ago, he cut a deep gash in his left hand as he was holding the wood. He also warns anyone using a chisel in one hand to keep the fingers of the other hand well out of harm’s way. His hands still have the scars to show for his carelessness.

Our Savior has scars on his hands too, reminders of his work for us on the cross. His scars, however, were not the result of his own carelessness. Isaiah 53:3,4 tells us we were the careless ones: “He was despised and rejected . . . We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrow that weighed him down.” Our carelessness put Jesus on a cross. We disregarded God’s laws, we walked away from his love, we chose to ignore the safety regulations he set in place to protect us from harm. Jesus carries the scars, the penalty for our carelessness.

Experience has taught David to respect the sharp edges of his tools and to take safety precautions as he works. How long will it be before you and I learn to obey God’s rules?

Jesus, thank you for the scars on your hands. Teach me to live within the safety of your rules.

(You’ll find the rest of this devotional series on my author’s page.)

Wood has a special warmth to it. Unlike other artistic mediums like stone or clay, wood has life. While the wood was yet part of a tree, roots absorbed water and nutrients from the soil, sap flowed through the trunk, and leaves made food for the rest of the tree. Working with a living substance is perhaps one of the lures that draws people to invest hours shaping, sanding, and polishing wood. Whereas clay has a uniform consistency, wood offers the challenge of a rippled grain or the occasional knothole where a branch once stretched up to reach the sky.

Nevertheless, a tree must die in order to release its wood to the carpenter. So too Jesus, who was the creator of life, gave up his life so that we might know the beauty of salvation. As it says in John 15:13, “The greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.”

How sad a woodworker is when he sees good wood that lies rotting in a forest. What a waste! To think of the fine furniture or strong shelves that could have been made! And yet, how often people ignore God’s sacrificial gift of love. Have we left Christ lying dead in a tomb and have we forgotten that he rose to give us new life?

Jesus, thank you for laying down your life so that I might live today, tomorrow and forever with you.

Morgan was a good friend of our family. He died recently but he often came for Sunday dinner after church and joined our family for holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter. Sometimes he brought a gift of candy or a book, but the gift I enjoyed the most was an intricate set of nested wooden hearts that he made and set in a frame. Morgan cut each heart at the slightest angle so that when they nest in the frame and face the right direction, they support each other and lean out of the frame without falling into separate pieces. Occasionally someone will pick up the frame to examine the workmanship, but if the person puts the hearts back in facing the wrong direction, the slightest bump sends the pieces scattering.

One night long ago, Jesus terrified his disciples by walking on the water during a wild storm on the Sea of Galilee. When the disciples recognized Jesus and calmed down, Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat and walk on the water too, Peter obeyed. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, Peter was fine, but when he looked at the waves crashing around him, Peter lost courage and began to sink.

Have you ever taken your eyes off God and discovered that the smallest bump sends your life flying into bits and pieces? As long as we face the right direction and seek his face, he will hold us together even when everything around us falls apart.

Lord, look this way so that I may see your face and place my hand in yours as we walk through this day.

Back again?  So glad you came!  Here’s the eighth devotional in my series on woodworking.

My cousin built a little desk made of solid cherry wood. Soft pine would have been easier to carve, but when a pen pressed down on the writing surface, a dent would remain. The cherry wood’s hard surface resists the pressure of a ballpoint.

Hardness can be a positive quality, like firmness in a moral principle. But sometimes we harden our hearts to God’s direction.

Long ago, a certain pharaoh in Egypt refused to listen to a man named Moses when he told the ruler to release the Israelite slaves who labored in his fields. Pharaoh resisted, so Moses called down a plague on the land of Egypt. Pharaoh appeared to change his mind, but as soon as the crisis was over, he would harden his heart again and refuse to release the slaves. As Exodus 7:13 says, “Pharaoh’s heart, however, remained hard and stubborn. He refused to listen, just as the Lord had predicted.” Over and over Pharaoh hardened his heart until it was harder than cherry wood. Eventually, that stubbornness exacted a high price. In the final plague, Pharaoh’s oldest son died.

The Israelites should have learned from Pharaoh’s example but later on God warned their descendants not to harden their hearts as their forefathers did at Meribah. And again in Jeremiah 7:26, God complained, “My people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful — even worse than their ancestors.”

Have you ever refused to listen to God’s voice? What keeps us from obeying God’s commands?

Word of Heaven, may I listen when you speak and be quick to obey.

Here’s the seventh in my series of devotionals on woodworking.  The rest of this series can be found on my author page!  Enjoy!

Every piece of wood has a will of its own, a unique grain. A skilled woodworker will examine a piece of wood carefully to ascertain the direction of the grain and then go with the grain. To ignore the natural tendency of the wood could spell disaster for a project.

God our Father knows that each of us has a will of our own… .

With his power, the Father could override that free will and impose his desires on our lives, but instead he chooses to go with the grain, allowing us to make choices, even when those choices might make things harder for him. In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve not to eat from a certain tree in the middle of the garden, but they chose to ignore his command and go their own way. That simple choice introduced a world of difficulty for the rest of us ever since. What a contrast to Jesus in another garden where he prayed to his Father, “I want your will, not mine.”

Why would God give us free will when he was aware we’d make bad choices? Because he loves us. He respects us. He woos us to his side. Only when we choose to seek him does he then begin his work in our lives, shaping something beautiful for all to see.

What choices have you made this week? Did they take you closer or farther from the God who loves you?

Father, help me to make wise choices today that conform my will to your own.

Welcome back!  Here is the sixth in my devotional series on  woodworking.  Enjoy!

My cousin discovered a treasure. He found wonderful pieces of air-dried walnut wood lying forgotten in a neighbor’s barn. To the neighbor, the wood represented old logs with little value, but my cousin took them home, scraped off the bark and transformed them into unique Shaker-style side tables that sell for hundreds of dollars apiece!

Like my cousin looking at the wood, God looks on each of us and sees the real value hidden behind our warts and bumps.

Others may not think we’ll ever amount to anything, but the Father is willing to work patiently and reveal the priceless treasure hiding below the surface. He is in the business of sanding off our rough edges and turning us into saints. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 the apostle Paul says, “As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.”

Do you ever feel like one of those forgotten logs in the barn? Like no one cares? Like you have no worth? God stands waiting for you to ask him to transform you into a masterpiece. Then, like the surface of a piece of highly polished furniture, you too will reflect the image of his perfect Son.

Father, take my life and do whatever is necessary so that all who know me will see you clearly.

The fifth in my series of devotionals on woodworking. Keep coming back because there are lots more to come!

My cousin presented one of his handmade salad bowls to me last Christmas. How I treasure it! Every time I take it down from the shelf and serve guests, I think of him. But David also sells his wares at craft shows. Though each piece has his name engraved on the bottom, the people who buy those pieces, more often than not, never give another thought to the person who made their bowl or desk or chair. Why do I remember him but they forget? I have a personal relationship with my cousin while these other people do not.

When God made man and woman, he stamped us with his image.

Those who love their Maker have a relationship with him and remember him daily. Those who don’t know him personally walk through their days without seeing his hand at work. They go to the office or shop in the mall and never remember to thank God for their health which allowed them to get out of bed. They forget to thank him for the love of family and friends.

That is why God warned his people in Deuteronomy 8:11,17-18, “Beware that in your time of plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands. . . . Never think that it was your own strength and energy that made you wealthy. Always remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you power.”

Have you remembered to seek God and thank him for his faithfulness this day? Look around you and search for evidences of his enduring love.

Father, as I look at others around me today, may I see your image on their faces and remember to praise You.