Christian Commentary Encouraging Devotions

It's called, "Everyday Woman".

You don't put on a lot of makeup

You like to wear your hair pulled back

When the kids'll call, you come a runnin'

Most people would say...

You're an everyday woman

But you're everything to me

You are so beautiful

You're an angel I can see

And I'm going to love you

I'm going to love you

Everyday, woman

How do you juggle this busy life

And still have something left for me

I've asked God why I'm the lucky man

Who gets to live in your love's strength

Maybe to this world...

You're an everyday woman

But you're everything to me

You are so beautiful

You're an angel I can see

And I'm going to love you

I'm going to love you

Everyday, woman

-Emerson Drive

Of course! What better example of selfless living other than Jesus than...

Woman!

Wives and mothers.

Men, we need to take a page from their songbook.

I saw it with my wife, the mother of our children.

Now I see it in our daughters-in-law, the mothers of our grandchildren.

In the larger church community people can sometimes get along because they do not have to live with one another and they meet so seldom.

We're also on our best behaviour at church, right?

But at home it has to be worked out on a daily basis with those who are closest to us.

I remember once we had a church visitor announce himself at our door one hot summer day, saying, "Jim, it's me!"

He told me later that sometimes he'd gone to open doors when there were conversations going on inside that were an embarrassment to the occupants when they found out who was standing at the door!

Whether at home, at work, or here in the church, the cure is the same for all: in humility before God...

Putting the interests of others ahead of our own, rather than constantly looking at the other to supply our need.

A number of years ago I had the most unlikely student bring me a drawing he had made along with a Bible verse.

This was in a secular, public school. I sadly don't remember his name. I do remember he was a dirty, unkempt, uncared for little boy.

I wish I had kept that drawing with the verse on it, but I sure do remember the verse...

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

God told Samuel, "Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with looks and stature.

God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart."

How often do we do the opposite of what God does.

Fulfill ye my joy....be likeminded...be likeminded with each other, be likeminded with God, and...

How often do we put our own self-interests ahead of the interests of the Lord?

It's one of the great temptations. It may be a greater temptation than money or all the material things.

The great temptation of self-interest.

We are so often looking to our own needs.

How tempting it is to desire the honored place at a banquet or to be sought after and known in public.

In all these things we put our own interest before the interest of others.

The aim in Christianity is never promoting self-interests.

It's putting down our own self interests and lifting up the interests of Jesus.

Humility...asking how we can help others.

Too often we ask, "What's in it for me?"

Instead we need to ask, "How can I help others?"

What does God want me to do?

All over this room today I dare to believe that my God is in fact telling you what He wants you to do.

Are you listening? Will you respond?

To live out a concern for others.

Singer Sara Evans knows tough times, having gone through a very public divorce this past year. But she says that considering the rough times and challenges faced by the troops overseas and their families helps put her troubles in perspective.

"I can't even imagine what that would feel like," Sara says of the troops' dangerous assignment and being separated from their families.

"When you think about those kinds of situations, it really puts your life into perspective. You can be going through a lot, but so are other people."

Sara admits that she is healing herself. "I think that the best thing you can do for yourself when you're going through a hard time is pray for somebody else," says Sara. "So, I would just say to them that they're in my prayers."

I know my life would be a wreck without God.

 I honestly don't know how people can do it without God.

We've established the principle.

Next we have to unveil the pattern.

Next time, Lord willing.