Category: Today’s Devotional

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die… a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…”– Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, NIV

Have you ever found yourself looking at a beautiful scenery that you felt you could fix your eyes upon its beauty and never ever tire of looking at it? Have you ever listened to such an enchanting song that you felt you never wanted it to end? Have you ever experienced such a blissful moment that you wanted to remain in it for as long as you ever could?

There are moments when we are blessed like that, moments when we are not filled with anxiety for the future or regrets for the past. All that we know is that we are happy in the present, and if we could choose to, we’d rather freeze that moment and never let it go.

It is true that many times, we can’t always predict those moments. We could never copy exactly a beautiful moment so we could repeat it over and over again.

But we could allow for more of those moments to come into our lives by spending more quiet time instead of always hurrying about. We could allow more of those moments if we could let go more of our anxieties and try to fix our eyes on what is good and positive instead of what is lacking in our lives.

There are moments that are more powerful than minutes, minutes that are more important than hours, and hours that are even more precious than days wasted and unlived. How are you spending the moments that you have today?

“He has also set eternity in the human heart…”– Ecclesiastes 3:10

When I was still studying, one of my favorite subjects was Science. I was very curious then, and I wanted to learn many things. I wanted to know more about the planets and the stars. I wanted to know how the universe works.

Today, much has already been discovered. More stars have been named. Many theories have been formulated as to how the universe ever began.

One thing however still fascinates me, and that is what ETERNITY really means. What does it mean to live without end? What does it mean to have existed forever?

One thing is certain though. That God truly has etched eternity upon our hearts. Somewhere within us, we long for it. Somewhere deep within us, there is a part that cries out against death and not being able to go on.

When I think about ETERNITY, I sometimes imagine how God is already with my future self, and what a wonder it is to know how I’ve become! In the same way, it’s a wonder to know that God has already known me even before I was born. In fact, considering all these things, God has known me forever! I have existed forever within the mind of God.

Whenever I get impatient in this life, may I always remember how short it is compared to that wonderful eternity God has given us all.

“The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces… “ –Isaiah 25:8

There are times when I undergo a crisis in faith and I wonder whether all I believe in is true. Such times prod me to ask myself, “What is real life anyways?” Is it that kind of life which includes God, the angels, heaven, and a hope of a new and better life after this one?

On the other hand, could real life be what many people often talk about and aspire for? Is it that one made up of our jobs, of finding a partner in life, of thinking about retirement and of the next entertaining thing to do?

It is so tempting to go back to what many people call as ‘real life’.  It is so tempting to simplify everything and not think about the things we don’t often see with our eyes.  Real life as often portrayed in the movies seems so glamorous and exciting and… tangible.  It also seem so much easier.

However, when I do try to go back to this seemingly normal and real life, I couldn’t make sense of it for long.  After the initial excitement and thrill, and after tasting what delights the senses, I soon see the ‘other things’ that make up this real life.

I soon see hopes shattered and thrown away.  I see broken hearts.  I see betrayal.  I see sickness and old age and death.  This is real life, too.  That part of real life which many people often choose to forget as though it never existed at all.  Forgetting doesn’t make all these things go away, however.  It just makes us more afraid and lost later on.

It is then that I am able to reconcile what real life truly is.  Real life consists of all these things, of the happy and the sad, of our hopes and of our desperation.  Real life consists of both the visible and the invisible things, of those that are here, and those that are yet to come.  Real life includes even my faith and of all the things I believe in, even if many people won’t  allow them to be a part of their own lives.

As for me, I pray for a stronger faith, because only my faith gives me comfort to accept what real life is, with all its fleeting happiness, it’s greatest joys and it’s deepest darkest griefs.  With my faith, I can continue to hope, that even when real life includes hurts and diseases and death, all these things are not yet the end.  My hope allows me to hold on firmly to my belief that God has a real remedy for all the sufferings that I now see, creating joy out of our sorrows and love out of our greatest fears.

“If God does not exist, then life is futile. If God of the Bible does exist, then life is meaningful. Only the second of these two alternatives enables us to live happily and consistently. Therefore, it seems to me that even if the evidence for these two options were absolutely equal, a rational person ought to choose biblical Christianity. It seems to me positively irrational to prefer death, futility, and destruction to life, meaningfulness, and happiness.” -William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith

“Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” – Isaiah 49:23

Hope is when we see something that is not yet truly there. It is taking hold of tomorrow’s victory even when what we have today is sorrow and difficulty.

There are many times in my life when I have hoped only to have that hope crushed, when I have dreamed, only to have that dream taken away. Times like that I’ve asked myself, where is hope then? Why hope when you will be disappointed anyway?

Later on I’ve realized that my hope has failed me because I have hoped in people and things that cannot really guarantee the fulfillment of my hope.

No person is perfect no matter how strong or how good he may be. And no matter how they may wish to satisfy us and keep their promises, a time will come when even their strength won’t be enough. That’s when our hope fails us. That’s when we realize how fragile that hope really is.

On the other hand, we can come to know that there is One who has never failed us yet. God, who gave up even His own life and comfort, has always been there for us, keeping His promises, even in times when we fail again and again to fulfill ours. When we hope in God, we know that our hope is not in vain.

“We can put our hope in the best of things and in the best of people and they shall fail one by one. Only God suffices. Only God.”

“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress… “– Psalm 4:1, KJV

Troubles make us think as though God is so far away from us. When I experience problems in life like strained relationships or money problems, I easily fall into thinking that God has abandoned me and does not care for me at all.

It is only much later that I realize the good things that those difficult times have brought me. I realize that they brought me strength, greater patience, and most of all, a deeper understanding of the suffering of other people.

Without undergoing suffering myself, I can easily judge others or say words that offend without me even knowing it. Suffering softens the heart and increases our wisdom. It enables us to be of more help to other people.

God has enlarged me indeed in times when I think I was being reduced to worthlessness.

Lord, help me to be more patient today even when I don’t know what good these bad times are actually accomplishing for my soul.