Daily Living for Seniors

[Judy Harder]

July 15, 2011     

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. --Philippians 3:14

On July 4, 1952, a young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. On the fog-covered morning, she intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast.

Florence wasn't a rookie when it came to long-distance swimming. She had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. But the water was numbing cold that morning and the fog was so thick she could hardly see two feet in front of her. Several times, sharks had to be driven away with rifle fire from the boats in her party.

She swam for more than fifteen hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer coaxed her to swim on since they were so close to land, but all Florence saw ahead was the thick fog. She quit only half a mile from her goal.

Later she said, "I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land, I might have made it."

Florence didn't fail because of fear, exhaustion, or the cold water. It was the fog.

We often fail too--not because we're afraid or tired--but because we lose sight of the goal. This is surely why Paul wanted to remind believers to "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [you] heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).

Two months after her failed attempt at swimming the length of the channel, Florence waded into the water off the same beach on Catalina Island, swam the full distance, and set a new speed record--all because she could clearly see her goal.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask God to clearly present you with the goals He wants you to strive toward. Pray that He would make your path clear in fulfilling His call in your life.

 

[Judy Harder]

July 18, 2011


Jesus said..."I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. --John 11:25-26

In his book, A Portrait of My Father, Peter Law writes:

"Imagine you are on a holiday, and you have an apartment overlooking the sand and surf. Sitting on the table in your room is a fishbowl, and inside the bowl is a small goldfish.

"Each day you swim and sun-bake and enjoy soaking up the delights of vacationing. Before long, however, you begin to feel sorry for little Goldie who is all alone in his bowl while you go out having fun in the sun.

"To make up for this injustice, you promise Goldie a little of the action. 'Tomorrow,' you tell the goldfish, 'you will begin to enjoy life, too.'

"The next day you take a washcloth, lift the fish from the bowl, place it in the cloth, wrap it up, and put the living bundle into your pocket before leaving for the beach.

"As you reach the spot where you are accustomed to spending your day, you can feel the sun's heat beating down upon your back. Excitedly you take your gilled companion from your pocket, lay out the washcloth on the sand, place the fish on the cloth, stand back, and say, 'Now this is the life, Goldie; live it up!'

"Can anything be more ridiculous or more foolish? Being in the sun on the hot beach is no environment for a goldfish—or any fish! It will die there, not live. It was never intended to be in that environment. For people, a relationship with God as Father is the only correct environment for life."

As a believer in this life, a relationship with Jesus is the air we need to spiritually survive. There is enjoyment and fulfillment in a daily relationship with Him through prayer and Bible study. Without these things, we will spiritually suffocate and die.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Thank God for the joy He gives through your relationship with Him.

[Judy Harder]

Daily Living for Seniors
     
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. --1 Chronicles 16:34

Most people recognize the names of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective, and his famous sidekick, Dr. Watson. Holmes, created by author Sir Arthur Conan Coyle, was the most famous literary character of the 19th and 20th centuries and made his first published appearance in 1887.

Holmes was known for his keen prowess and intense observation skills. At one point in The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, Holmes is studying a rose. Watson narrates as follows:

"He walked past the couch to an open window and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show an interest in natural objects.

"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion. ...Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance.

"But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."

What other "extras" should you be observing and thanking God for this year? How has God been good to you in the last few days or weeks? And what have you done to thank Him for His goodness and faithfulness demonstrated in your life?

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Today, take some time to thank Him for the "extra" blessings in your life—whether it be health, family, friendships, or something else.

[Judy Harder]

 July 20, 2011     


Daily Living for Seniors
     
This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.  --1 John 3:19-20

In their book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey wrote:

"Amputees often experience some sensation of a phantom limb. Somewhere, locked in their brains, a memory lingers of the nonexistent hand or leg. Invisible toes curl, imaginary hands grasp things, a 'leg' feels so sturdy a patient may try to stand on it.

"For a few, the experience includes pain. Doctors watch helplessly, for the part of the body screaming for attention does not exist.

"Phantom limb pain provides wonderful insight into the phenomenon of false guilt. Christians can be obsessed by the memory of some sin committed years ago. It never leaves them, crippling their ministry, their devotional life, their relationships with others.

"They live in fear that someone will discover their past. They work overtime trying to prove to God they're truly repentant. They erect barriers against the enveloping, loving grace of God."

Believers must learn to take hold of the truth found in 1 John 3:19-20. The Message puts it this way: "Let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves."

Even as a believer, the phantom pain of past sins, guilt, and self-criticism may still haunt you. And it may cause you to become overly righteous in your attempts to please God. But you are privileged as a child of God to receive unconditional forgiveness and experience His intense love for you.

Don't let guilt cripple your spiritual life. Give it over to God who forgives you.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Pray that God would remove the phantom guilt from your heart, and accept the reality of His forgiveness and love.

[Judy Harder]

Daily Living for Seniors
     
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.  --Psalm 119:105

Bob Mumford gives a great analogy on how you can discover God's will in his book, Take Another Look at Guidance. He says that one particular harbor in Italy can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between very dangerous rocks and shoals. Numerous ships have sunk over the years because the passage is so hazardous.

To alleviate this danger, three lights have been mounted on three tall poles in the harbor to guide the ships safely into port. When these lights are lined up perfectly and seen as one, a ship can proceed safely up the narrow channel to its destination. But if the ship's pilot sees two or three lights, he knows he's off course and in danger.

In his book, Mumford says that God has also provided three beacons to guide us in our spiritual journey down life's narrow and often perilous path. The same rules of navigation apply to us as believers. Three lights must be lined up for us to proceed safely.

The three harbor lights of spiritual guidance are:

1. The Word of God
2. The Holy Spirit
3. Circumstances

God uses the combination of these to lead us on our journey through the often difficult passages of life.

Are you on the right path? Or have you fallen off course? When we follow this three-point navigational path along our spiritual journey, we know that God will lead us safely in His way.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask God to direct you along the path He wants you to take. Pray that He would reveal the three harbor lights of spiritual guidance to you each and every day as you journey through life.

[Judy Harder]

July 22, 2011   

Daily Living for Seniors
     
[Jesus said]: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."  --Matthew 23:27-28

At her launch in 1936, the Queen Mary was the largest ship to sail the oceans. She served faithfully for four decades, even through a world war, until she was retired in a Long Beach, California harbor.

After her retirement, she was transformed into a hotel and museum. During the conversion, she was given a complete facelift. Her three gigantic smokestacks were taken down to be scraped and repainted. But once on the dock, they crumbled as soon as the makeover began.

Nothing was left of the ¾-inch steel plates that had once formed the stacks. All that remained were more than thirty coats of paint, which had been applied over the 40 years she was at sea. The steel had rusted away and left the stacks without substance.

Similarly, when Jesus called the Pharisees "whitewashed tombs," He meant they had no substance. They were merely concerned with externals...how they appeared before others. Jesus said, "On the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:28).

Oh that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, would never be compared to the Pharisees! As children of the King, we must "first clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean" (Matthew 23:26).

The Scripture says God does not look at outward appearances or the things that man looks at, but instead He looks at the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7). Seek daily a pure heart and your outward appearance will reflect your inner beauty and God's love.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask God to cleanse and purify your heart, removing anything unclean from your life. Pray that He would create in you the inner beauty of His love,shining through to a lost world

 

[Judy Harder]

July 25, 2011           


Daily Living for Seniors
     
[Jesus said:] "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time."  --Mark 13:22-23

In the November 1987 issue of Reader's Digest, Betty Wein retold an old tale she heard from Elie Wiesel, a world-renowned Jewish novelist, philosopher, political activist, and Holocaust survivor:

"A just man comes to Sodom hoping to save the city. He pickets. What else can he do? He goes from street to street, from marketplace to marketplace, shouting, 'Men and women, repent. What you are doing is wrong. It will kill you; it will destroy you!'

"They laugh, but he goes on shouting, until one day, a child stops him. 'Poor stranger, don't you see it's useless?'

"'Yes,' the just man replies.

"'Then why do you go on?' the child asks.

"'I was convinced that I would change them. Now I go on shouting because I don't want them to change me.' "

To the church at Corinth, Paul said, "You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:2-3).

Even as Christians, we can easily be led astray to idols and gods of our culture by the influence of others if we're not careful.

Jesus even warned, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time" (Mark 13:22-23).

It's just as easy to compromise our faith, even a little, as it is to be influenced. Always guard your heart and mind with the truth of God's Word.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask God to guard your heart and mind against evil influences.

[Judy Harder]

Daily Living for Seniors
     



Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  --Matthew 7:1-3

Sir Percival Lowell was an author, mathematician, and the world's most distinguished astronomer during the late 1800s and early 1900s. But Lowell was best known for his speculation that canals existed on Mars.

In 1877, he heard that an esteemed Italian astronomer had seen straight lines crisscrossing the red planet's surface. As a result, Lowell spent the rest of his years squinting into the eyepiece of a giant telescope, mapping the channels and canals that he saw.

He was convinced that there was life on Mars, even an older and wiser race than humanity. As a result, his observations gained wide acceptance.

Today, we know space probes that have orbited and landed on Mars show there are no canals on the Martian surface. So how could Lowell have been mistaken?

There are two possible reasons: 1) he wanted so badly to see the canals that he convinced himself he did, and 2) we now know that he suffered from a rare eye disease that made him see the blood vessels in his own eyes. The canals he saw on Mars were nothing more than the veins in his eyeballs. Today, this disease is known as "Lowell's syndrome."

When Jesus warned that "in the same way...you will be judged" and cautioned about missing the "plank in your own eye", do you think He could have been referring to a so-called spiritual Lowell's syndrome?

Again and again, we see faults in others because we don't want to believe anything better about them. And many times we think we have a clear view of their shortcomings when in fact our vision has been distorted by the plank in our own eyes. May we never judge others, but always commit them to the Lord in prayer.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask God to help you recognize the "planks" in your own eyes before judging others and see the good He has created in them.

[Judy Harder]

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. --Hebrews 12:1-2

In the book, Is It Real When It Doesn't Work?, authors Doug Murren and Barb Shurin tell this story:

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel awoke one morning to read his own obituary in the local newspaper: 'Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before, and he died a very rich man.'

"Actually, it was Alfred's older brother who had died; a newspaper reporter had bungled the epitaph.

"But the account had a profound effect on Nobel. He decided he wanted to be known for something other than developing the means to kill people efficiently and for amassing a fortune in the process. So he initiated the Nobel Prize, the award for scientists and writers who foster peace.

"Nobel said, 'Every man ought to have the chance to correct his epitaph in midstream and write a new one.'"

Few things will change you as much as looking at your own life as though it were finished. What kind of legacy will you leave behind one day when you are gone from this earth?

Will your children, grandchildren, and family members remember you as one who followed obediently after the Lord each day of your life?

You and I are surrounded by people—family, friends, and acquaintances—who are watching the words we use and the things we do in this life. It's not too late to begin writing your epitaph. Strive to leave a legacy that will bring others to Jesus.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask the Lord to make your life a testimony of His love and grace to those around you and those you leave behind.

[Judy Harder]

 Daily Living for Seniors
     
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. --1 John 3:10

John Hess-Yoder, a missionary in Laos, once told this story:

"While serving as a missionary in Laos I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas.

"Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians.

"On the other hand, those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese.

"The exact location of a person's home was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the kingdom whose cultural values he or she exhibited."

It is the same with believers. We live in the world, but not of it. Instead, we are children of God's kingdom. Therefore, we are to live according to His holy standards and values in this life.

The Scripture says, "He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. ... No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:7-9).

If you are a believer, it should be easy for others to tell what makes you different from them. Just as the Laotians and Vietnamese could be easily defined according to their cultural values, we as Christians should also always be easily identified as followers of Jesus Christ and His values.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask God to integrate His values, morals, and biblical standards into every area of your life. Pray that you would be easily identifiable to the world as a follower of Jesus.