“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” [Romans 8:31]

If God is for us, who can be against us? Strong words from the Apostle Paul. We sing a song at church that reminds us of those words from the Book of Romans.

If God is for us…Does that sound kind of “iffy” to you? Like, we’re not really sure, but IF God were on our side, then things would be great! And IF that were the case, no one or nothing that opposes us would stand a chance.

Okay, I am going to go Greek-nerd on you for a moment. That “if” clause above is called a first-class condition. And the first-class conditional clause in ancient Greek assumes the statement to be true or factual. This “if” clause is not setting up a hypothetical situation but is in fact declaring what is indeed already very true.

So Romans 8:31 is making a rather dogmatic assertion (which is that God is very much “for us”) and that should be taken to heart by every Christ-follower.

I’ll conclude this “devotional” with words by my former Greek Professor Dan Wallace:

“The idea is not ‘if’ God is for us, but ‘since’ God is for us, who can be against us. The statement by the Apostle answers the doubts of Christians who wonder if they can endure all things. Paul wants the Christian to know there is no doubt that God is for them.

Consequently, no one can be against them because God loves His children, and it doesn’t matter who is against them. No angel or any other created thing is able to separate us from the love of God. Paul writes,

‘He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?’

Who can doubt that God is for us!”

For your reading accompaniment: “Paperback Writer” by The Beatles
In honor of this year’s recently announced Pulitzer Prize winners.

My three besetting sins
Now I’ve got your attention! 😊

That’s the way I have started a talk for men’s conferences or retreats in the past. I get them assuming I am going to confess some salacious sin or addiction in my life when in fact I am introducing the general and important topic of our temptations.

So, my “three besetting sins” are cars, pens, and watches. My somewhat modest income (and conviction about the type of automobile a pastor should drive) has kept my car ownership to a somewhat humble level. (I get away with my love for German engineering by buying Volkswagens.)

Now pens, that’s another story. I have purchased a few nice ones and have been the recipient of my fair share of Mont Blancs, Auroras, Watermans, and Sheaffers as gifts. Fountain pens are irresistible.

Finally, there is my lust for watches! I inherited that taste from my father and grandfather. My dad bought me a beautiful watch and also willed me one. And I have purchased a number of midrange Swiss watches as well. There are many reasons I love watches and not the least of which these days is that it minimizes the time I might otherwise spend on my phone. Unlike the Apple Watch, which demands you look at it 10 times during a meeting, an “old-fashioned” watch is passive (and looks great!). You need only look at it when you choose to. Some wise words on watch wearing concluded with this advice:

• Get a watch. Wear it daily. Enjoy less interruptions throughout your day.

• Monitor how often you use your phone and try to limit usage little by little.

• Choose windows of time each week to leave your phone behind. Obviously, this should be a day where you are able to enjoy losing track of time and fully disconnect. Sunday afternoons work well for a lot of people.

And it’s cheaper, too
Physicians in Switzerland are now prescribing visits to museums and botanical gardens as part of a program meant to support those who are experiencing mental health challenges or chronic illnesses. Instead of simply relying on medicines or talk-therapy, this program encourages patients to enjoy and experience the beauty and tranquility of the visual arts and nature. The hypothesis is that these settings can greatly assist in one’s emotional well-being.

“For people who sometimes have difficulties with their mental health, it allows them for a moment to forget their worries, their pain, their illnesses, to go and spend a joyful moment of discovery,” said Dr. Patricia Lehmann (one physician who subscribes to this treatment). “I’m convinced that when we take care of people’s emotions, we allow them somehow to perhaps find a path to healing.”

C’mon Cavs, gotta make it happen
Tonight is Game 2 of our beloved Cavs’ playoff series with the Indiana Pacers. A must-win, in my opinion. A great season will be all for naught if they stumble in this round. Despite some unfortunate injuries, I am confident of a win for the good guys. First-year coach Kenny Atkinson has had his team ready for every challenge this year.

Speaking of great basketball coaches, San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich is hanging up his clipboard after 29 years of running an amazingly successful program.

Sunday is Mothers’ Day
And it got me thinking of all the important, impactful women that have changed the world and my life for the better. First in my mind, of course, are the four closest to me, for whom I regularly pray and give thanks (my wife, my mom, my daughter, and my granddaughter).

I may get a chance to visit the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India this year. I hope to find a unique opportunity in which our church family may participate and see first-hand the legacy that Mother Teresa left there in serving the orphans and the dying in this poorest of cities. Talk about a world changer!

I can’t help but think of the many women who played major roles in God’s redemptive story of the Bible. For many, Moses is one of the great heroes of the Bible. And yet without several heroic women playing key roles in his life…who knows?

As Pharaoh was decreeing that all male Hebrew babies be drowned in the Nile River, key women rolled into action. Moses’ mother, Jochebed, hid her son for three months. When she could not hide him any longer, she put Moses in a reed basket down the Nile. His mother released him to the river but not to an unknown or hopeless future. Rather, she sent him square into the good and providential plan of God.

Her daughter, Moses’ sister Miriam, then jumps into action. The young girl watches her brother as he floats down the Nile. Courageously, she acts by approaching Pharaoh’s daughter and boldly asks her, “Shall I go and call a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And then, with such wisdom and chutzpah, Miriam gets the most powerful woman in Egypt to hire none other than Jochebed (Moses’ mother) to be his nurse. Miriam, as young as she was, with all her bravery and wisdom and persuasive skills, is used by God to help write his redemptive story.

And lest we forget, Pharaoh’s daughter is also a heroic woman in her own right, as she was moved with compassion to take Moses in and raise him as her own son. The rest, as they say, is history.

So yes, Mother’s Day is this Sunday. And in more ways than I can write, women are brave heroes, the writers and doers in all our stories. Sunday is a difficult day for some. Some grieve because they are not mothers. Others feel invisible. I know that, too. These dear ones are in our churches and our families and our neighborhoods. We ought always (not just this Sunday) to honor the crucial role and absolute wonder of all women—married or single, with or without children.

“O most gracious God, enlighten our minds that we may know you, and let us not be unfruitful in that knowledge. Lord, work in our hearts a true faith, a purifying hope, and an unfeigned love for you. Give us full trust in you, zeal for you, reverence of all things that relate to you. Make us fearful to offend you, thankful for your mercies, humble under your corrections, devout in your service, and sorrowful for our sins. Help us, O Lord, to act towards our neighbor that we may never transgress your royal law, of loving him as ourselves. Finally, O Lord, sanctify us throughout, that our whole spirit, soul, and body, may be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory forever. Amen.”
[Thomas à Kempis, 1380–1471]