Religious Journey

4 Belonging: Church membership

The Fruit of the Spirit

6 Ageless Attitudes: Proof of Identity

7 Love: Wanting the Best for Others

8 Joy: Choosing to Rejoice

9 Peace: Turning Away From The Big I

10 Patience: Endurance, Perseverance

11 Kindness: Creating Habitat for Righteousness

12 Goodness: Doing the Right Thing

13 Faithfulness: Honesty, Diligence, The Servant Attitude

14 Gentleness: Power Under the Master's Authority

15 Self-control: Ruling One's Own Spirit

Other Biblical Virtues, Attitudes, Spirit

16 Assurance: The Good Shepherd

17 Compassion: What Makes All the Difference

18 Confidence: Calm, Quiet, Inwardly Secure

19 Discretion: Prudence, Tact, Diplomacy

20 Encouragement: Stepping Stones

21 Forgiving Heart: More Than Seventy Times Seven

22 Gracious Speech: Sweet, Healing, Gracious Words

23 Grieving: Sources of Strength for Healthy Mourning

24 Honesty: No Ifs, Ands, or Buts

25 Hope: A Demonstration

26 Hopeful: Holding Fast to Hope

27 Just: Defending the Oppressed

28 Legacy: A Good Name

29 Loneliness: When No One Comes to Visit

30 Patriotism: The Spirit of Christian Citizenship

31 A Quiet Life: At Peace With One's Self

32 Reverence: Awe, Respect, Fear

33 Spirit Filled: Spirituality

34 Submissive: Out of Reverence for Christ

35 Strong: Champions in Christ-Like Virtues

36 Thankfulness: Giving Thanks Always

37 Thoughts: Mind Control

38 Weak Hands and Feeble Knees: Strengthening our Grip

39 The Christian's Role: The Witness Mentality

40 A Working Religion: Papa's Rifle

Footprints

41 Abraham: God's Friend

42 Andrew: Movers and Shakers

43 Barnabas: In a Supporting Role

44 Boaz: Giving and Receiving a Blessing

45 Caleb: Faithful in the Minority

46 The Comforter: Sources of Comfort

47 Cornelius: Unlearning Tradition

48 Daniel: A Godly Gentleman in Injustice

49 David: In the Name of the Lord

50 David: A Pure Heart

51 David: Envisioning Beyond Ourselves

52 David's Morning Prayer: Undivided Heart

53 Elijah: Regaining a Hopeful Outlook

54 Elijah: Prescriptions for Depression

55 Elijah: When God Speaks in a Whisper

56 Esau: Too Late For Repentance

57 Esther: Doing the Right Thing

58 Gamaliel: Peacemaker Caught in the Middle

59 The Gerasene Demoniac: Overcoming Religion's Escape Response

60 The Good Samaritan: Getting the Question Right

61 Habakkuk: Does it Pay to Be Good?

62 Hagar: The Far-Reaching Needle of Ridicule

63 The Herod Family: Just Protecting Their Interests

64 Isaac: Treating Children Equally

65 Isaiah: Our Divine Purpose in Life

66 Jacob: Building Our Own Altars

67 Jeremiah: Living in the Now

68 Joab: Living by the Sword

69 Job: Patient Struggle

70 John: Transformation Needed

71 John the Baptist: None Greater

72 Jonathan: Hands on My Shoulder

73 Joseph: Speaking Kindly

74 Joseph: Outstanding People Who Don't Stand Out

75 Joshua: God Out Front

76 Judas: Control Freak

77 Leah: When We'e Unwanted

78 Lot: A Slave to Impulse

79 Luke: Fulfilling God's Plan

80 Mark: Mending Broken Relationships

81 Mary: The Virtue of Pondering

82 Matthew: The Hated Disciple

83 Moses: Still Learning New Things

84 Paul: About Face!

85 Peter: Increasing in Reverence

86 Peter: Following at a Distance

87 Pharaoh: Playing God

88 Pilate: Reputation

89 The Prodigal Son: Coming to Our Senses

90 Rebekah: Why Me?

91 The Rich Young Ruler: Heaven's Price Tag

92 Ruth: God's Inclusive Grace

93 Samson: Enslaved to Vengeance

94 Samuel: Changing Times

95 Saul: Jealousy, the Green-Eyed Monster

96 Solomon: Good Start, Bad Finish

97 The Sower: A Bountiful Harvest Guaranteed

98 Stephen: Called by a Problem

99 The Wise Men: Disappearing Worshippers

100 Zacchaeus: Trying to See Jesus

Endnotes

Preface

These devotions are presented in the assumption that most seniors are active to some significant degree. This work is a fellow traveler's suggestions about what we will do well to consider, rather than an expert's pronouncements about what you ought to do.

They are biblically based, each with a text and three other passages that hopefully will prompt further reflection and insight. Each devotion treats a topic. In the case of those about Bible personalities, the topic relates to that character, but may not be the topic most obvious or most definitive for that individual.

The approach throughout is spiritual, carried out in view of two Bible passages. Galatians 5:22-23 describes or identifies the fruit of the spirit in terms of nine virtues, attitudes, or spirits. In Matthew 5:21–48, part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, six times he quotes a religious rule or law, and each time he supersedes it with a religious virtue, attitude, or spirit. These two passages suggest that God looks upon our inner spirits more than upon our outward actions. In these devotions therefore I have aimed to take that same spiritual focus.

After five devotions introductory to some basic matters about Christian faith, 35 devotions treat 35 Christian virtues. The remaining 60 are about a gallery of Bible characters, each presenting a truth in the conviction that we can glean real life truths best from the biblical record of real people, real lives.

Some readers will find these devotions too brief to accomplish any serious meditation. Others will find them too lengthy for a quick thought on the way out the door in the morning. They average two pages each, 465 words. For better or for worse, the length was chosen deliberately with appearance and the intended content in mind.

One hundred devotions, one for each of a hundred days, hopefully will engage the reader sufficiently to make an impact. Fewer might have been more like a pamphlet. More might have been more cumbersome.

Many prayers are copied from others. Many are my own prayers. This variety should give readers a broader scope both in praying and in improving their own prayer language and habits.

About ninety percent of the material is positive. However, some truths are presented negatively, as in the devotions about Pharaoh, Judas, and Pilate.

The topics and discussions came from my own forty years in the pastoral ministry. Most of the Quotes to Remember came from on line research and are footnoted as such. The print size should be sufficient for those who do much reading. Several translations are used, and are always indicated.

Introduction

Happiness and fulfillment in living depend on relating appropriately to our current life stage. The teen who studies and lays the ground work for self respect in adulthood is likely to be content with who she is and who she is becoming. However, the youth who wants to be regarded too quickly as wise and experienced, is likely to meet with disappointment. As the decades pass, one stumbles painfully along from one frustration to the next. The other ages gracefully.

At every stage in life many have found their highest joy and satisfaction by investing themselves in something bigger than themselves. God forever calls His followers forward, onward and upward. He is ever a few steps ahead of us, beckoning.

These devotions reflect on relating biblical truth appropriately to those called seniors, elderly, retirees, the aging. We draw from two kinds of sources. One source is those spirits or attitudes that the Christian scriptures hold up as godly. The other source is the wisdom we find in contemplating the lives of biblical characters. Like the clothes we wear, these truths are much needed at every life stage from childhood on. And like the clothes we wear , these truths have an appropriately different appearance at different life stages.

Therefore our goal in these pages is to call forward from the Bible those perspectives that give guidance and motivation to aging individuals to invest ourselves in something bigger than ourselves. We have not yet outgrown the upward call of our God.

For some, this investment may be a first time experience. For others it will be a reviewing and renewing of commitments that we made to the Lord decades ago. May the Lord of all life inspire our hearts as we meditate in coming days on how to meet the passing years with Christlike grace and dignity.

Dedication

For my immediate family, all of whom were or are in the category of aging adults. In grateful memory of my parents Bob and Violet Frazier, and my brothers Earle and Syl. In love and appreciation for my sisters Thelma, Barnes, Pearle, and Myrtas, and my brother Roy. I'm thankful that I am who I am because of them.

Acknowledgements

Several aging individuals have mentored me along the way.

In my first full time pastorate, a Methodist minister, Rev. Henry O'Brien, and I served in the small Georgia town of Bethlehem. He was concluding his life's work; I was beginning mine. He helped me get my head back on straight a few times.

In Roanoke, Virginia, Dr. Lynn Dickerson was a prominent Virginia pastor who had retired in the congregation that called me as their pastor. He asked the pulpit committee to bring me by his house. In my early thirties, I was scared to death when he left the committee in the living room and took me back to the kitchen. He said, Brother Frazier, I just want you to know that if these people call you as their pastor, and if you accept, I know how to let you be their pastor, and I will do that. Not only was he true to his word, but his friendship and counsel were invaluable.

In Woodstock, Virginia, in my second Intentional Interim Pastorate, Rev. Richard Moyers was and still is a wise and dear friend, confidante, and encourager.

It's interesting what sticks in your mind. As a young pastor I went to visit Mamie Williams one day. She had lived her life and was still able to keep house by herself, with the help of her devoted son who lived in the same town. We sat in her small living room by a large window. One of the most unassuming individuals I can recall, she had a remarkably contagious peace. I thought about our country's social turmoils that she had lived through, and about the fact that surely she had had her own turmoils as well. As we talked I looked out at a walnut tree and watched two squirrels play more leisurely than most squirrels do. Even they seemed to be at peace.

The Lord has always seemed to have someone older and wiser than I nearby, to hold my hand and walk with me. Sometimes our interaction was brief and seemingly superficial; at other times it was deeper and lasted longer. In addition to my family members named in the dedication, these other aging individuals also played significant roles in who I am. Thereby they also played significant roles in making these devotions possible.

Devotion Number 6

Ageless Attitudes

Proof of Identity

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self–control.
(Galatians 5:22–23 NASB)

In Matthew 21:23–31 the religious leaders tried to embarrass Jesus in conversation. Their spirits, or attitudes, were harsh, judgmental. Jesus said to them that some prostitutes would get into the kingdom of heaven before they would get in. Of course, these first century counterparts of the preachers and the deacons thought that they were the most righteous people alive while prostitutes were the most unrighteous. But church membership and whatever theology we embrace mean nothing in comparison to our spirits. Our attitudes are who we are.

We identify Christlike spirits, attitudes, virtues, in the thirty–five meditations that follow. These are the proofs of our Christian identity. We begin with nine virtues in Galatians 5:22–23. At the checkout counter the clerk may ask for some photo identification. If we look like the picture, then the clerk is satisfied that we are indeed who we say we are. But if a short, fat, bald man presents a picture of a tall, muscular, athletic looking guy, the clerk is suspicious.

Paul presents a nine–point picture of a child of God. If we look like the picture, then we are indeed his children. Welcome these virtues; let them intertwine and seep into our spirits.

A Quote to Remember

I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. They are not like him. Mahatma Gandhi

Think on These Things

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:9 NIV)

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV)

The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. (Ephesians 5:9 KJV)

Prayer

Lord of love, joy and peace, grow me in your likeness I pray. God of patience, kindness, and goodness, live in me and through me I pray. Spirit of faithfulness, gentleness, and self–control, bear your fruit in my interactions with others I pray. I desire above all else to be like you.

In the meditations of coming days, guide the paths of my thoughts, that they may increasingly mold and make me in your image. I surrender up to you now all that stands in the way of my becoming what you desire me to be, in order that I may accomplish the service to which you have called me. Take away every unChristlikeness, I pray. In their place, plant and nurture the fruit of your Spirit, until there is room for nothing else. Amen

Devotion Number 23

Grieving

Sources of Strength for Healthy Mourning

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
(Psalm 23:4 KJV)

Grief at the death of a loved one can be managed in healthy and realistic ways, or it can be mismanaged in ways that debilitate us longer. We do have sources of strength and comfort available to us. Christians find great comfort in the presence of our Good Shepherd, the Lord. Grief has much less power over those who fear no evil in death.

The Bible has dozens of passages that speak directly to our grief. The Bible also has a track record of encouraging those who just read it and meditate frequently.

It's important to select the good memories and be intentional about focusing on them. We do not intend to deny the reality of other memories, but the healthy approach in looking back is to choose and dwell on thoughts that encourage and uplift us.

Gratitude is wonderful medicine. As we thank God for his blessings, the thankful attitude itself becomes a source of strength and stamina both emotionally and spiritually.

Give in to sadness and tears once in a while. Grief returns from time to time for months or even years. This is normal. Choose times and places to let loose, cry, remember, and be sad.

We must be realistic. Refuse the naive idea that at some point life will return to normal. The healthy approach is to recognize that the passing of a loved one has changed our lives so that we cannot go back to the way things were. We can, however, adjust and move on. Reflect on the thought that our deceased loved one would want us to do just that.

A Quote to Remember

Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. Rossiter Worthington Raymond

Think on These Things

So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end. (Deuteronomy 34:8 NASB)

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10 NIV)

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. (Romans 8:18 NLT)

Prayer

Lord of life and of death we pray for strength in the inner person in these days of grieving. The tide of mixed emotions ebbs and flows, and we need the sense that our present dismay will give way to spiritual strength as we meditate on the Eternal God who is our dwelling place, and whose everlasting arms are underneath us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Devotion Number 58

Gamaliel

Peacemaker Caught in the Middle

The council accepted Gamaliel's advice.
(from Acts 5:40)

Gamaliel is unique in scripture. He was a member of the Sanhedrin (the council), the 70 leading religious officials in Jerusalem. As a group they were bitterly opposed to Jesus. Some of them were involved in facilitating his crucifixion.

But Joseph of Arimethea, who helped give Jesus a respectful burial, was also a Sanhedrin member. Nevertheless the Bible recognizes him as a good and upright man. So not all of the Sanhedrin were bad people.

In Acts 5 the council was considering trying to get Jesus' disciples put to death. It was Gamaliel who advised restraint. Was he just cautious, or was he able to perceive that the disciples had some real religion?

Another clue is that Gamaliel was Paul's mentor, and Paul was able to do a spiritual about face from persecutor of the church to missionary of the church. Did Paul see something in Gamaliel's integrity that helped him get his own act together?

One legitimate way of looking at Gamaliel is that he was wiser and closer to the Lord than most of his peers on the Sanhedrin, and that he remained a member of that group as a peacemaking ministry. He wasn't caught in the middle. He chose to be there to serve his God.

In any event, he had great influence: intrinsic authority. We know that, because when they were about to foment some mob action, Gamaliel spoke up and they calmed down.

Our family, friends, or group may need just such an influence now. When we study Gamaliel thoughtfully, the Lord will show us how to have that kind of influence too.

A Quote to Remember

It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace. Aristotle

Think on These Things

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. (Ecclesiastes 9:17 NIV)

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. (Hebrews 10:24 KJV)

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17 KJV)

Prayer

Lord God, Advocate of peace, Champion of reconciliation, teach me the way toward peace, I pray. Lead me to carry the torch of peace, that congenial oneness may reside always in my heart. Use me as you transform this troubled world into a peaceful state. In Jesus' name, amen.

Devotion Number 96

Solomon

Good Start; Bad Finish

So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord;
he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
(1 Kings 11:6 NIV)

Athletic stamina to the end of the contest is a great thing. Spiritual stamina to the end of our lives also is a great thing. Solomon is known for his wise prayer at the beginning of his kingship, his wisdom as a ruler, the magnificent temple he built, and for taking Israel to its highest status ever among the nations.

There are signs however that his later years were not as praiseworthy. That's an ugly fact worded nicely. Solomon's spiritual stamina declined greatly. His magnificent building program was accomplished by forced labor. His godly character eroded in tragic proportions.

1 Kings 11 tells of Solomon's further spiritual decline: loving many foreign women, building shrines to other gods, worshipping those gods himself. God even declared that, for the sake of David, the kingdom would remain united as long as Solomon, David's son, lived, but thereafter it would be torn apart. And indeed it was torn apart within months of Solomon's death.

This kind of good–start–bad–finish story happens frequently enough to merit attention. It is a warning to the wise. If the man often spoken of as the wisest man who ever lived could fall so far and so badly, surely none of us can consider ourselves beyond the realm of that possibility.

Let us then redouble our resolve that the passing years will find us drawing closer to the Lord rather than falling away; not abandoning the good decisions made in younger years but rather building on the best of our youth; not regressing to the worship of other gods but rather growing in spirituality.

A Quote to Remember

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Samuel Ullman

Think on These Things

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. (Acts 20:24 NIV)

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7 NIV)

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don't need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. (Hebrews 6:1 NLT)

Prayer

God, I pray for strength to increase in faithfulness as time goes by. Build determination and perseverance in me. Send encouragements and motivations. Help me finish strong I pray. Amen.

Gray Matters

Paperback   230 pages   18.00

Several books previewed on this website are available on line;
Or you may send the purchase price plus $4.00 shipping and handling to:
Edwin Ray Frazier, 4202 Appleton Way, Wilmington, NC 28412
Questions? email: edrafr9@gmail.com phone: 910-232-1258
Thank you.