Thursday’s Devotion – What We Can Learn from Idol.

Isaiah 43:12 (NIV) I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—  I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.

The contestants on American Idol last night sang songs of Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston.  Each performer put his or her own unique voice to their song.  Skylar Laine’s version sounded like Reba meets Whitney. I talk a lot in my sermons and devotions of our call to share with others about our divine Creator and Jesus Christ.  To do so we must each find our own voice.  We can’t follow someone else’s formula or sound like our favorite televangelist. The Idol coaches told the contestants to relax and be themselves.  I think that’s a good idea for us, too! It enables us to be as good as we can be instead of trying to be as good as someone else can be and that will be the best of all.

Lord, help us please to find our own voices as we share about your love and grace to others.  Give us the boldness to speak truly and the heart to speak kindly.  We ask in the name of the One whose story we want to tell. Amen.

Monday’s Devotion – Use Words if You Have To

2 Corinthians 10:11 These people need to think about this—that when we are with you, our actions will show that we are the same as the words we wrote when we were away from you.
1 John 3:18  Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth.

Friday night Joe and I went to see “The Artist.”  This contemporary silent movie has already won important awards and is nominated for many more.  I hear that when it was first released people who attended that hadn’t realized it was a silent film got up and walked out of the movie.  They wanted a “talkie.”  And the movie itself is about the advent of motion pictures with sound and its effect on movie stars of that day.  I will tell you the movie was excellent and I didn’t miss the words at all.  Of course there was script flashed occasionally but not as much as in the original silent films.  The actors told the stories with of course, actions and their expressions.  We used to have a pastor whose benediction always told us to “go share Christ with others; use words if you have to.”  Let’s remember that our actions must meet our words and when we are at a loss to use words to share Christ, we can do so with our actions.

Dear Lord, this day help us to be both professing and practicing Christians.  Bless us this week with your strength, your guidance and your joy.  In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.