Today’s Verse is Matthew 9:29

“According to your faith let it be done to you.” 

Sometimes the Bible teaches us things in the overlooked words on a page. Look at today’s verse. Two blind men were following Jesus. Since it was Jesus and they were blind, you know what they wanted from him. Of course, he healed them. Jesus didn’t just restore their sight, he gave them these words of wisdom, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” 

The Bible is filled with examples of “according to your faith let it be done to you.”

Two great examples of this:

When Israel crossed the flooding river to enter the promised land, Joshua tells us, “The Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.” – Joshua 3:15-16. Only after their feet touched the water’s edge, did the river dry up.

Ten lepers came to Jesus for healing. When Jesus saw them and decided to heal them, “he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.” – Luke 17:14 When were they healed? It was only after they started their journey to the hope.

Do you get the theme? Life’s blessing come when you march toward the water. They come after you start your journey to hope. It takes faith to do these things, but remember: Blessings only come “according to your faith.”

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Matthew 5:38-39

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

The short way to say this is: “Don’t do ‘eye for an eye’, but rather, ‘turn the other cheek.’”

Based on how little this teaching is followed, it is obvious that this is against our nature. When someone is ugly to us, we want to get even. Some proudly say, “I don’t get mad, I get even.”

I once heard an older lady put this in a way that I will never forget. Maybe you won’t either. When she was a little girl, her mother greatly favored her sisters and abused her. The decades rolled on and her mother got older and needed help. She needed to live with and be taken care of by one of her daughters. I’m sure you know who took her mother in and provided for her. Of course, it was the daughter who was treated badly as a little girl. 

In her old age, the mother had continued to be self-centered and thoughtless. One friend who knew her story asked her why she took her mother in. After all, the mother didn’t deserve the kindness and sacrifice of the daughter. 

So how do you answer that? It would be a great answer to say that is what Jesus would do, but her real answer surprised me. She simply said, “It is not about her. It is about me.”

When someone is rude to you, when someone is short with you, when someone is unkind to you, the way you respond to them is not about them. It is about you.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Acts 2:37-38

37: When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38: Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

I usually see a Bible verse and ask, “What is God saying?” Peter’s answer to “What shall we do?” is “Repent and be baptized.” 

But what if it was something else? What if it were, “Jump from Virginia to Pennsylvania all the way across Maryland and make sure you don’t touch Maryland at all? I know that is silly, but humor me. Where would you go to make the jump?

Well, there is a little strip of Maryland near the northeast part of Virginia where it is only a few miles to Pennsylvania. Those who knew geography would give that answer. “Go there. It is only a few miles rather than hundreds of miles like the other places.”

I had them. “Why?” I would ask. “You can’t jump a few miles. But the beautiful thing is that it is not your jump. It is God’s jump. If He asked you to make that jump, he would have to do it for us.” It recently hit me that it would be the right answer to go to the skinny place to jump. Even though it is God’s jump, He still wants you to do the best you can.

I’m still going to tell the story, but I will no longer end by pointing out that you can’t do it anyway, so just jump wherever you happen to be. Instead, I will accept that under your own power, you might fail, but still make the effort to do the best you can. 

It is what we do with what God tells us.

Lonnie Davis

Do you know the story of Carrie C. White? Carrie was a Florida resident who died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 116. Just think of all you could do with a life span of 116 years.  

She was a resident of a Florida nursing home. At 116, it is not surprising that she lived in a nursing home. The sad thing is that she entered the nursing home 82 years before she died! I don’t think I will mind living in a nursing home from ages 110 to 116, but I do not want to live in a nursing home for the last 82 years of my life. 

  Once a group of young people were discussing old age when the age of 95 came up. One of them asked, “Who in the world would want to live to 95?” Someone else answered, “Well, I guess anyone who is 94.” After thinking about Carrie White, we can’t help but add, “Yes, but only if it really is living.” Just breathing is not living. Living means doing something with life. 

  A first-grade teacher was going through the grief of losing her mother. Children pick up on things and one of the students noticed that the teacher was not doing well. She came up to the teacher and asked what was wrong. When the teacher shared the loss with the child, the little girl answered, “Well, I hope you live until you die.” Maybe the little girl did not fully understand it, but she said something profound. Too many people do not live until they die. 

  

For many years Dean Martin was part of the Hollywood scene. After he died, one of his close friends noted that Dean Martin had lost his will to live when his son died several years before him. “He never was the same,” the friend said. Sometimes some things take your life before they take your heartbeat. 

  It must not be that way for us. 10,000 years from now, we will all be living somewhere. A million years from now, we will all be alive. Nothing should happen here to make us lose the will to live the plan that God has for us. 

It is not the number of years you live here that matters. It is the kind of life you live. A million years from now the life you live then will be a reflection of the life you live now. Life here is just a preparation for the life that is to come. 

Lonnie Davis 

Our text for today is 2 Corinthians 5:10

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive the things done in the body,

according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

I don’t like to think of negative things. In fact, Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about the good things. So let me ask you, why does the text for today seem like a negative one? That great day for us will be when we finally get to meet Jesus. Wow! What a happy day that will be. 

The prospect of meeting Jesus ought to bring us joy. The prospect of meeting Jesus ought to help us live righteously now.

I read the story of a little boy who was going to bed for the night. As he kneeled beside his bed he prayed, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake…” At this point he stopped his prayer and ran out of the room. In a little while he came back. As his father was watching him, the father asked, “Where did you go?”

The little boy said, “I got to thinking about ‘if I should die before I wake’ and remembered that I turned all of my sister’s toys upside down. I thought if I should die before I wake, I wouldn’t want her to see them that way, so I went and fixed them.”

This little story ought to remind us that we might not be here tomorrow. If I should die before I wake, what would I want to do before that time? If you should die before you wake, what might you want to do before that time?

Whatever it is, do it!

Lonnie Davis

Our text today is from Habakkuk 3:17-18

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

Habakkuk is saying, I am happy God is my God no matter what happens. 

When I was a child, my mother warned me against “fair-weather friends.” You know the kind, those that are your friend only when it is advantageous to them. While we all encountered those types of “friends,” most of us have a real friend who is your friend, come what may. For that friend we would do anything.

When I consider our text for today, I see Habakkuk as one who had that kind of friend in God. I too want to be a friend of God, but not just a fair-weather friend. 

Our relationship with God must not depend upon the circumstances of life. No matter what happens in life, whether rich or poor, sick or well, a friend of God will keep allegiance to God.

It is said of Abraham that he was the “friend of God.” “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.” – James 2:23

You might play basketball like Michael Jordan or swim like Michael Phelps, but more important than anything else is to be a friend of God like Abraham, to enjoy God like Habakkuk, no matter the circumstances.

By the way, when you are a true friend of God, you get to talk to him and he listens. That is one of the benefits to having a true friend in God.

Lonnie Davis

He was blind, but Jesus gave him sight. He went from a beggar on the side of the road to a man who could see. Surely this was the happiest day of his life. Jesus healed him and then told him to “Go.” (Mark 10:52). If you were that blind man what would you do?

Go home and see you family.

Go walk around town and see what before you had only heard.

Go see the people who had given to you and thank them.

Jesus said “Go,” but left the choice of where to go to the beggar. His choice would define him. 

I loved the blind beggars “next.” He didn’t go hunt family. He didn’t go to town. His “next” was to immediately follow Jesus. 

Our next choice defines us too. The blind beggar made the right choice, but sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don’t. 

When Moses killed an Egyptian, he ran. (Exodus 2)

When Abraham lied to the Pharaoh, he fled the country. (Gen 12-13)

They were there when Jesus was arrested, but the Apostles ran. (Matt 26)

These were all great men, but if they had it to do all over again, all of these men would have made different choices. What makes the story of Moses, Abraham, and the Apostles great is not because of what they did “next,” but because of their second next. After running, Moses came back to confront the Pharaoh. After Abraham fled the country, he went back to a Bethel and worshipped God. After the Apostles ran, they later went to the temple and preached the word of God (Acts 2).

Everyday, you get to make a choice. Everyday you are confronted with your “next.” What will you do next? Today’s challenge is to realize that even though you made some bad choices in the past, you still have another next, another choice to make.

Like the blind beggar, choose wisely.

Lonnie Davis

Our text today is an unusual one. It is from Genesis 27:4 

“Make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.” 

The background of this verse is that Isaac was old and thought he was about to die. He called his outdoors type of son, Esau, and told him to get him some of that meat that you know I love to eat. It seems that men have always loved to eat meat. It is normal. It is the first time in the KJV that a man ever said that he loved anything, and it is about men loving to eat meat. Wow! 

There is another first time in the Bible worth noting. In Genesis, after God made each thing, he saw that it was good. The first time in the Bible that God ever said something was not good is Genesis 2:18: 

“And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone.’ “ 

No matter how tough or strong men (or women) feel they are, God said “It is not good for man to be alone.” 

From the beginning, we are not made to be loners. A little later in the Bible, God explains why this is so. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.” 

We are not made to be loners, not because you don’t ever need some alone time, but because there will come a time when you need someone. Sometimes we all need a little help. 

Lonnie Davis

A Stinky Place 

My father-in-law was a pig farmer. I learned a lot about pigs from him. I learned that pigs are not just plant eaters. They will eat anything. That may be why we call them pigs. I learned that pigs can get angry with you. When they do, don’t go near them. Since my only experience with pigs these days is around ham and bacon, I don’t need those lessons anymore. 

Today, I want to tell you about a young man who needed to know more about pigs and pigpens Jesus tells the story in Luke 15. It is about a boy who got his inheritance, left home, lost his money, came to his senses, and went home to his dad. It is a story familiar to many of us, but do you know the essential place in the story? It is the pig pen. After he spent his money the only job he could find was feeding pigs. It was in that pig pen that his starvation led him to go home. Jesus said: 

“He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!’” (Luke 15:16-17). 

His story is a common one. When folks leave God and head out into the world, sooner or later, they too will come face-to-face with the pig pen. Here are three lessons from this story. 

1. There is always a pig pen. 

No one leaves God thinking “I am heading to the pain and humiliation of the pig pen. The backslider always thinks he is headed to something better, but not a pig pen. 

2. The pig pen stinks. 

Life in the pig pen is never good. It is a stinky place. At first, the Devil makes you think it’s good, but this is merely a deception.  

3. The pig pen changes you. 

Thank God for the pig pen. The pig pen brought the prodigal to his senses. It still brings wayward folks to their senses. 

The only way out of the pig pen is the way the prodigal son got out. He came to his senses and ran home to the Father. Any of us in the pig pen should do the same. 

Lonnie Davis 

Our text for today is Proverbs 6:6-8

“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise,

Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.”

There are four great lessons to learn from this brief text. 

1. Learn from Ants:

The statement, “Go to the ant,” means look at the ant and learn. 

There are approximately eight billion PEOPLE on earth. That seems like a lot until you realize how many ants there are. Ultimately no one knows how many there are, but some who study them have concluded that there be as many as 100,000 ants for each man, woman, and child on the earth. It is amazing to realize that God uses such a common creature to teach the one creature who is made in his image – mankind. What is the lesson we learn from trillions of ants? The lesson is this “Be prepared.”

Be Prepared, is the official motto of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. From our text, it is obviously the motto of trillions of ants.

Go to the ant.

2. Plan ahead. 

Actually, if you plan at all, you plan ahead. Those who do not prepare for the future, simply do not plan at all. “Go to the ant,” Solomon said, because ants are known for their ability to plan ahead. They gather food during times of abundance to prepare for times of scarcity. 

“Go to the ant.” 

3. Self-Motivation: 

One comedian commented that some employees nick-name ought to be ZEUS, Z.E.U.S. Which means, Zero Effort Unless Supervised.

There are no ZEUS ants. Ants don’t need supervision to work; they are self-driven. 

“Go to the ant.”

4. The Harvest only comes for those who prepare.

Solomon said the ant “Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.”

The ant knows the secret of reaping – you only reap in the harvest, if you have prepared in the summer.

Go to the ant.

So today, look in the mirror and said, “Go to the ant.” Maybe it will remind you to get prepared.

Look at your children and say, “Go to the ant.” This may cause them to ask, “What do you mean?” and you can teach them about the important life skill of being prepared.

I’m Lonnie Davis and these are thoughts worth thinking.