February 2012 Devotional

February 27, 2012

 

Writing His Own Obituary

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford

 

            Recently our son-in-law, a hospice patient, asked us to help him write his obituary.  Sobering thought: what would I want my obituary to say?

            It was not the ordinary facts of his life he wanted to record, not his birth date or birth place, not a listing of his relatives, not how he'd earned a living.  What was on his heart was his need to tell his friends how he felt as he faced the prospect of death and eternity.

            Abandoned by his father and mother when he was only a child himself, he shouldered the impossible burden of finding ways to care for his little brothers and sister.  He'd never experienced the love and care and spiritual nurturing every child deserves, and knew nothing about a God who loved him so much that He came to earth to die for him and make him ready for Heaven.

            It was years later, after a life of sadness and disappointment because of his own poor choices and mistreatment by others, that he came to know Jesus as His Savior.  We gave him a copy of "Bible Facts About Heaven," a book my father, John R. Rice, wrote 70 years ago. It was through reading it that he understood that the way to Heaven was simple and clear: he needed to put his trust in Jesus alone.  He was so thrilled he read the book again and again, and asked for copies for his friends.

            Now this dear man faces death, and he is passionate about wanting his friends to know how they too can face death without fear.  He makes no claim about being good enough to get to Heaven on his own.  He knows better than that.  But he accepted God's wonderful gift of salvation, and now faces eternity without fear.

 

            Here's the way the Bible states it:

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.                                                                                   Hebrews 2:14,15

 

            What a wonderful way to write your own obituary, to offer the gift of eternal life to those you leave behind!

February 20, 2012

 

Did Jesus Really Mean "No"?

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford

 

            As we read about Jesus in the Gospels, we're told that people begged Him to let them touch just the hem of His garment, and when they did, "Every one who touched Him was made perfectly whole" (Matt. 14:36).  But in the very next chapter, such an odd story is told about Jesus that you find yourself asking, "What's going on here?  Jesus healed everybody else, but said ‘no' to a poor woman whose little girl desperately needed healing?  Why, oh, why?"

            When a Canaanite woman begged Jesus to help her, the Bible says, Jesus didn't even answer her.  Jesus' disciples (who had not learned yet to like anybody but Jews, and certainly didn't like women or children) thought Jesus didn't intend to help her because she was from a heathen country. They callously urged Jesus to send her away.

            But Jesus said to her, in essence, "You are not a Jew.  Why should I help you?"

            Instead of being discouraged, she simply cried, "Lord, help me!"

            "Why should I give the children's food to the dogs?" Jesus said to her.  (This is the Savior who would die for all of us on the cross talking like this?  What is going on?)

            But this dear heathen woman understood more about the loving heart of Jesus than even his disciples did.  "That's true," she argued, "but the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children's table."  There is so much grace at the Master's table, she seemed to understand, that there is grace enough for all of us, regardless of our heritage, our resources, our inadequacies!

            And, of course, that was the answer Jesus wanted His disciples to hear.  ""O woman, great is your faith! Of course I'll heal your precious daughter.  Go home.  She's healed."

            So, the Scriptures tell us, she went home, and found her daughter perfectly well.  And that's the loving Jesus who wants to meet our needs, whatever they are.

 

                     

Accountable for Our Silences?

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford

            When I was a child, I worried about the Scripture that says we are accountable for our "idle words."  I thought maybe it meant I wasn't ever supposed to tell a joke!  Now I realize it means I will be held to the same standard I impose on others.

            But Benjamin Franklin says something just as sobering:

       As we are accountable for our words,

                                                So we are also accountable for our silences.

            Proverbs 31:8,9 says, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."

            When I think of people who have spoken up for "those who cannot speak for themselves," I think of Harriet Beecher Stowe.  She was married to an impoverished, dreaming college professor.  She suffered ill health much of her life.  She had seven children, and had not only to feed them, but to weave the cloth to make their clothes, wash their clothes in a tub over a fire in the back yard, even build their furniture, while trying to write simple stories to help pay their bills.

            They lived in Cincinnati in the 1850's, just across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slave state.  Harriet experienced first-hand the sorrow and burdens of slavery, and grieved because she didn't know how to help.  Her sister-in-law wrote her, "Hattie, if I could use a pen as you can, I would write something to make this nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is."

            When Harriet read this, she rose from her chair, crushed the letter in her hand, and said, "I will write something!  I will, if I live."

            What she wrote was "Uncle Tom's Cabin."   It was her poignant plea for "those who cannot speak for themselves."  It stirred the hearts of people who had been silent too long.

            When I was in sixth grade, our teacher had us copy a poem about loving mothers.  She harshly criticized my friend's handwriting before the whole class, so that she ran from the room.  I couldn't help but burst out, "Mrs. Lambert, her mother died last year.  No wonder she couldn't write well!"  A small advocacy, true, but how often have I stood by, silent? 

            You and I both come in contact from time to time with someone who needs an advocate, and when it is in our power to help, we must. 

            May God help us not to be silent when we ought to speak 

February 6, 2012

 

What Do You Say When Given a Gift?

 

The simple Gospel: A conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford

 

            As I've told you before, Walt and I work with patients of Interim Home HealthCare.  Last week we got a referral for a patient which said, "She has no spiritual support and would welcome a visit."  When I went to the home, I found our patient tired and discouraged.  She was very sick, and nothing seemed to be helping.

            She was alert and welcoming, but found it hard to talk, so I said, "Why don't you let me tell you the whole Gospel story about how much God loves you, just as if you'd never heard it before?"

            She nodded eagerly.

            So I said, "Before God made you, before He even made the world, He thought about you. He wanted to show you how much He loves you, and share all the treasures of Heaven with you.

            "But He didn't want to force you to love Him.  He wanted you to choose to love Him.  And that's where the problem is, for you and me both, because we wanted to do our own thing; we wanted our own way."

            This dear woman listened intently, and nodded her head in agreement.  "Yes, I've wanted my own way."

            "Of course, we didn't surprise God.  He knew we would make the wrong choice.  But now He had a real problem.  How could He be friends with us when we're so sinful and He's so holy?  He couldn't just ignore our sin.  You see, we earned death because of our sin. We couldn't make up for it by being good, or paying money to someone, or just being sorry about it.  We would still be under the sentence of death.

            "So God and His Beloved Son Jesus made a wonderful, wonderful plan.  Jesus would come to earth as a little baby.   He'd grow up, and face every temptation all the rest of us have faced, but He'd do it without sinning.  Then He would die on the cross and pay the debt of our sin.  He would trade places with us.  He would pay for our sin, and He would give us His holiness!   It's a gift He wants to give us.

            "When somebody offers you a gift, you don't say, ‘How much do I owe you?'  What do you do?"

            With tears running down her face, she lifted both arms toward me eagerly and said, "You say ‘Thank you!'"

            And that's what we say, too.  "Thank you, thank you, dear Jesus, for giving us the precious gift of salvation!"*

 

 

*If you're interested, there are many Scriptures in the Bible that explain this. You might start with several verses in the book of Romans, beginning with Romans chapter 3, verse 23; then 6:23; 5:8; and 10:9,10.