Monday Morning Devotion-August 12, 2024
Pebble Beach
Holy Brothers & Sisters who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we declare to be God's Messenger and High Priest to whom we confess. Hebrews 3:1
Welcome to a special edition of Monday Morning Devotions. This is the 1,000th devotion we have posted since beginning them in 2005. Currently we are posting the Top 10, those that were read by the largest number of weekly readers. We are counting down from 10 to one and this week’s devotion, “Pebble Beach,” which we are reposting word-for-word is the 8th most popular devotion. Originally posted on May 5, 2014 it was read by 3,338 people.
Pebble Beach
Sorry to disappoint you golfers who saw the title "Pebble Beach" and thought this devotion would be about golf. Well, that's not the topic but, I guess it has applications to golfers as well as everybody else.
To clarify this offbeat beginning let me tell those who don't understand that Pebble Beach is the name of a famous golf course in California located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Guess why it is called Pebble Beach? Well, it has lots of pebbles of all shapes, sizes and some in different colors on that beach. Now that was a no brainer, right?
No imagination involved there. What requires imagination is to link that to a devotional topic, but that wasn't very hard either, thanks to "Jesus Today."
Sarah Young suggests that we picture ourselves standing on the edge of the ocean on a beach covered with pebbles. Hmmm, wonder if she plays golf? :)
Anyway, each of these pebbles represents a problem. Some are your own problems. Some represent your family's problems. Others are the world's problems.
Now that you have that picture in mind reach down and pick up one of these small stones and hold it close enough to your eyes so that you can examine the details of it.
As you are looking closely at the pebble it obscures your vision of the beautiful ocean scenery. You can't see all the beauty around you because you are intent on examining that pebble.
Now when you put down that pebble you see another one that looks interesting, and you pick it up and look intently at it. Once again you can't see everything else around you because your focus is on this one pebble.
These pebble-problems represent the way we lead our lives at times. We are so intent and caught up in a problem we fail to notice the beauty of God's presence. He has surrounded us with lots of blessings that fade into the distance when we are so focused on our current situation and the problems inherent in it.
When our focus is totally on the current problem we are facing we fail to enjoy the beauty of God's presence and miss out on His help.
Sarah says, "The ocean represents Me (Jesus)---endlessly glorious and continually present with you. I am calling you to put down all the pebbles for a time so that you can experience My Presence and receive My unfailing Love."
Jesus encourages us to draw near to Him by praying and choosing to see what He has in store for us. He has the answers. He is the answer.
Recently in a talk I gave to a local church I shared something I had read in Rob Bell's book "Velvet Elvis" which explains why we should keep our eyes on Jesus and follow Him. It speaks to how and why he has the solutions to these pebble-problems.
"The Bible keeps on insisting that Jesus is how God put things together and how God holds all things together. Jesus is the arrangement, the design, the intelligence. For a Christian, Jesus's teachings aren't to be followed because they are a nice way to live a moral life. They are to be followed because they are the best possible insight into how the world really works. They teach us how things are."
So, Jesus is acquainted with every problem we encounter. The author of Hebrews who shared our scripture with us today uses different pictures to explain Jesus' relationship to us. The Quest Study Bible elaborates on these:
Jesus is: 1) The messenger of God to whom we should listen
2) Our High Priest through whom we come to God, the Father
3) The Ruler of God's house ( in charge of the entire household)
whom we should obey.
The Bible paints many different pictures of Jesus. It uses different names to describe
Him. These all point to Him as the Great Problem Solver. He has the solution. If everyone relied on Him and followed His lead those pebbles would all be cleared away to reveal a beautiful white sandy beach where children could build sand castles while adults spread colorful towels and blankets to lie down on and enjoy the sunshine.
The author of Hebrews, to make his point in our scripture lesson today, went on to compare Jesus to Moses saying that Jesus was faithful to the task He was assigned to do by the Heavenly Father just as Moses was in leading the Israelites out of Egypt at God's bidding.
In those times the people were very familiar with the story of Moses and how his brave actions had helped God's chosen people escape bondage and build a new life in a different place.
The author then goes on to point out a difference.
He writes: "But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a fine house deserves more praise than the house itself. For every house has a builder, but God is the one who made everything. Moses was certainly faithful in God's house , but only as a servant. Christ, the faithful Son, was in charge of the entire household. And we are God's household if we keep up our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ." (Hebrews 3:3-6)
There may be lots of pebbles with many flaws that need examining in your life from time to time. You can toss them into the ocean thereby gaining resolution when you entrust those solutions to the Lord Jesus.
Monday Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for always being there to take those pebbles from us no matter how large the problems are. Amen!