And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 1 Corinthians 9:25
Recommended Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
COMMENTS: Have you ever had interruptions in your work day and schedule? Of course, we all have. So what has been your natural reaction? If have to confess, that my human reaction is to put that “distraction” off to a more convenient time. That my schedule is more important than the disruption. But how does a doctor reaction when an emergency demands his priority and attention. What if he said “I come back later when I have some free time”? Of course not all interruptions are emergencies but an objective discernment and choice is needed.
Have you notice when those disruptions are coming from God and when just from an impatient individual. Well, I’ve had countless personal examples, most of which I could either delegate distraction or schedule them into schedule as well as those that were important enough to take priority over current work or focus of my time.
But I must admit my own discernment and impression and choice has been in error much of the time. There are times I wish I’d focused on the distraction right away and some rare occasions I wish I’d stayed on course and delayed the “left turn” towards the distraction.
What I’ve learned over a nearly 70 years of life and nearly 40 years in a working career. Over 60 years of Christian life and 42 years of marriage and 40 years of being a father and now 8 years of being retired. All this to say I’ve concluded I need to be careful rejecting or delaying distractions and also to put and keep Christ on my mind and attune to His guidance throughout the day so I am ready to hear and discern His input.
Well, in spite of already living a life longer than many, I still struggle maintaining such focus and much of my day find myself already distracted from keeping my attention on Him. How about you?
An example I ready in a recent David Jeremiah devotion is about Harry Swayne, a NFL professional, who had a teammate frequently invite him to bible study. Swayne keep declining persistent invitations, but noticed a big difference in how his teammate dealt with problems and distractions and even crisis. But the persistence of his teammate and that difference in conduct convinced Harry to finally go with him to bible study, but not before Harry felt conviction in his soul longing for a life and character his teammate consistently lived.
In January 1999 the Broncos won Super Bowl XXXIII, Harry piled into the caravan of limos going to celebrate. Harry said “I was so convicted that I told my limo driver to take a left, and I made him take him back to the hotel. And I gave my life to Christ.” If he had continued to the party, the outcome might have been much different. Many come to that crossroad and keep going straight and miss the opportunity with eternal consequences resulting.
Well, how often has God nudged you to take a “left turn” and you put it off? Reflect on personal examples of both when delayed and when obeyed right away. I have found God’s nudging to be much stronger when “distraction” was much more important and urgent. I had such an example recently felt nudged to visit a good friend. I’m sure glad I did.
The closer we get to Christ and more we listen to and follow the nudging of the Holy Spirit, the more you and I will recognize both the Holy Spirit’s voice in our soul and priority He has put on our obedience.
God is merciful and will forgive our disobedience and procrastination. Every morning brings a new day to build from the experiences of pervious days. So let’s learn from yesterday and today and do better tomorrow. God always has our best interest at heart and others as well. He has infinite knowledge and wisdom and clearly sees the future and best path to the future. So when He asks us to “turn left”, it will end up being a better path to our destination or the best path to a better destination.
Christmas and New Year’s is a very good time to reflect and make some course corrections. Christmas is a very busy time but probably not as busy as previous years since family and church and work parties are limited in size and frequency, so reflection and more time devoted fellowship and worship and listening to Him is vital to our physical and spiritual health and growth.
Besides, if Covid 19 is a sign of worse things coming as we approach the beginning of the end time prophecies foretold in scripture. If we are suffering from God’s protection being removed due to our sin and rejection of His Will, then we can expect much worse because that old devil really wants to hurt God and believes by hurting us, is the way He is able to hurt God. That is exactly what He will do but God will only allow his evil mischief so far before He will return and stop it (Mark 13:20, Matthew 24:22).
The greatest gift we can offer our Savior is to yield our lives to Him. Compared to knowing Christ, even a Super Bowl victory dims and fades. What the world offers—even the most expensive Christmas present—is perishable. When we give Jesus our hearts and lives, we become imperishable, and we become the recipients of imperishable riches.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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