​(Author’s note. This was first written in 2017).
Maggie.
Sweet. Steal your heart smile. Spontaneous. Strong willed. Energetic. Enthusiastic. In love with life. Like a beautiful butterfly in flight, my three-year-old, free-floating granddaughter, glides into a room on a wind of innocence and purity.
While visiting with her Doodah and Grandma this past weekend, I looked at her precious face and everything in me said “innocence.”
Maggie’s take on life is simple: enjoy what God has put in front of her. And I mean enjoy! Life to Maggie is for the taking. Get after it, no matter who or what is in the way. Oftentimes baby brother Evan (nine months old) is run over when Maggie takes flight on her next adventure.
I love her innocent spirit. Like all of us, Maggie has a sinful nature which comes out in various forms from time to time. Parents and grandparents know what I mean! But, oh what I love about her is she is pure, uncorrupt, unassuming, and uncomplicated. She takes life at face value and trusts. In her little innocent heart, she believes to the best of her ability that life is good.
How refreshing to this Doodah’s heart who has lived almost seven decades and honestly needs an injection from her innocent spirit.
It is no wonder to me that Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a child.
“And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them saying “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all. “Luke 18:15-17
The spirit of a humble, innocent child is what the spirit of God’s Kingdom is like.
I can see Jesus hugging up and playing with little ones. Laughing with them as they giggle. Having plain, old, pure fun with kids. Maybe loving the spirit of children kept Christ’s spirit young while he fulfilled His mission to be the Savior of the world.
Innocence lost is something that humanity cannot afford to lose.
 
The Spirit Of Innocence

• Innocence and purity reflect the spirit of our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
• Innocence sees life with eyes of spontaneity, curiosity and discovery.
• Innocence keeps life simple, carefree and uncomplicated.
• Innocence believes the best, shuns the worst and enjoys the moment.
• Innocence does not overthink, overanalyze or stress because life cannot always be figured out.
• Innocence looks at life with an unbiased, unprejudiced, nonjudgmental, trusting spirit.
• Innocence sees life as a day at a time and lets us milk it for all its worth!

Whatever happened to innocence? Our culture, including the church, has lost sight of innocence before the Lord. We have corrupted so much of life. Perverted what is pure. Complicated what is simple. Lost sight of what really matters.
No matter what age or stage you at are as an adult, chill out a little bit. Uncomplicate your life. Step back a step or two to days of innocence, purity and spontaneity. Too many of us “mature” people are stressed out. Wrinkles and worry fissures dot the landscape of our aging faces. Some of us look like we were baptized in lemon juice! Cranky. Negative. Uptight. Even cynical.
When was the last time you acted like a little child? (I know wives think husbands act like kids all the time!).
 I mean, how long has it been since you threw caution, not commonsense or wisdom, to the wind and unwound with a little innocent spontaneity? Who gives a rip what someone else thinks. Let innocence overwhelm.
 Life is too short and eternity too long to miss the joys and satisfaction of spontaneous innocence.
Oh, Doodah, to be like Maggie occasionally. She challenges me to get out of my old man comfort zone and enjoy life for a moment. Really enjoy the life that I have in Christ.
Maybe a dose of childlike innocence is what you need today. Ask the Lord to make your heart trust, leap, fly and run like a child. That is His will for us.
Maggie. Thank you little one for blessing dear old Doodah’s heart.
A Word For Your Week: Lighten up your life with a little innocent behavior.

​Give every aspect of my life a thorough going over. Send the search light of the Holy Spirit into the deepest recesses of my mind, heart and spirit. Examine my thoughts and actions. Let me know if they line up with the Word of God. 
 
You can only do this if you are a man or woman of INTEGRITY.
 
People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. Their lives are an open book. The word integrity according to the dictionary means “wholeness,” “entireness” or “completeness.” The root word means untouched, intact and entire. A person of integrity is whole and has their act together. There is no division between conviction, character and conduct.
 
Someone said “What you see is what they be” applies to integrity minded people.
 
Integrity is BEING WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE and DOING WHAT YOU SAY YOU DO.
 
Does integrity matter? You bet it does. Integrity mattered to David. In Psalm 26. David is experiencing serious heat from evil men.
 
“Vindicate me O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity; and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart” Psalm 26:1-2
 
As the malicious assault on his character and conduct rages, the psalmist turns to the Lord. He invites God to examine His life with the purpose of vindicating and justifying him. Men are lying about him. Slinging mud. Assassinating his character. Destroying his credibility. Dead set on ruining his reputation and life.
 
But David knows who he is and knows that God knows who he is.
 
He is not afraid to look to the Lord to set the record straight. With sincerity and confidence he says, “Lord, I have trusted you without flinching or shrinking back. I have walked in my integrity. My daily life has not been hidden. Everyone has seen who I am and what I do.”
 
I love verse four where he declares “I have not walked with PRETENDERS.” David is the real deal. No pretense. No deception. No secret or double life. No duplicity. No hypocrisy for him. God’s response? He backs David up and puts the detractors down.
 
Integrity equals credibility.
 
Society is long on hypocrisy and short on integrity. Our culture promotes charlatans while pummeling and penalizing godly character. I am afraid this insidious moral infection has invaded the church of Jesus Christ.
 
Christians and the church are in an integrity crisis.
 
Ever wonder why the unbelieving world mocks us and turns their back on us? Lack of integrity. Sadly, too often, we are not who we say we are and do not do what we say we will do. It is that simple. Too often I have heard people say I will never do business with a Christian again. I will not listen to Christians because so many are so hypocritical.
 
This lost world will not listen to the Gospel if God’s people are phony.
 
Life may be short, but it gives most people time to outlive their intentions. Integrity has nothing to do with good intentions. It has everything to do with good behavior.
 
I have known a businessman for fourteen years. I love him as a brother in Christ, call him friend, but have no respect for him as an integrity minded person. Repeatedly, he tells me what he is going to do, and he never comes through. Good intentions. Bad integrity. I will never trust him to assist me with something that is significant because he is not who he says he is and does not do what he says he will do.
 
Lack of integrity is inner dishonesty.
 
Is it any wonder some Christians have trouble living in a Christlike, healthy, wholesome and productive manner with themselves and others. They are not honest. Bless their hearts--they are not who they say they are and do not do what they say they do.
 
 INTEGRITY MEANS…
 

• You are a person of your word.
• You deliver what you promise.
• You can be counted on to come through.
• You are credible and trustworthy.
• You are a person who righteous men stand up and declare” There goes a person of integrity.”
• INTEGRITY means you are not PHONY BOLOGNA!!!

 
INTEGRITY CHECK: Do you keep your word? Do you keep appointments? Arrive on time? Pay your bills? Deliver promised products and services? Honor your prices? Do your wife and kids believe your words? Do they respect your behavior? Are they proud of who you are at home and in public?
 
This devotional is tough. Why? Because we know who we are and what we do or do not do better than anyone else except for Almighty God who knows and sees all things.
 
JUST A THOUGHT WORTH THINKING ABOUT.
 
Why not start today and help turn the tide of integrity? THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD ARE IN DESPERATE NEED IN THESE LAST DAYS TO BE INFLUENCED BY PEOPLE OF INTEGRITY.  
 
Integrity matters if you desire to be Christlike and win lost souls to Jesus.
 
“But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity….”   Psalm 26:11
 
“Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me.” Psalm 7:8
 

• BE WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE AND DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU DO!!!

 
A Word For Your Week: If you want God to stand up for you, stand up for Him with a life of biblical integrity.

Accountability. Transparency.
Two very familiar, over-used, increasingly empty words many people in our culture use as an expectation of others. But seldom of themselves. Of course, I did not mean me or you!​​

• To be accountable means to give an account, record, be answerable, responsible for our life.
• To be transparent means to appear, show oneself, an open book, non-secretive.

Certainly, there should be transparency and accountability in our personal and corporate lives.
But, and it is a BIG BUT, where can you find it today? Seems to me everybody wants everyone else to be accountable and transparent. Truth be told: those who call, clamor for, and demand accountability and transparency, are often those arrogant, stuck-on- themselves folks who refuse to be transparent and give an account of their life.
Sad. But oh, so true.
General negative attitude to being accountable and transparent. Me? Accountable? You must be kidding. I do not have to give an account to anybody for anything. Not God. Not any person. My life is nobody else’s business. But others must give an account and be transparent with me.
May I ask? When did each of us become a deserted island bordered by I, me, mine and myself? The fact is all of us share space with eight billion fellow human beings on earth while we live the life our Creator gave us.
In the United States, we have entered an election season. (Oh, happy days!). Politicians running for office declare” I will be the most accountable and transparent servant of the people our nation has ever seen.”  (GAG!!!). You and I have heard that song and dance before. Then scratched our head in disbelief about certain candidates!
Fellow Christians, let us be biblical during this time and every day of our lives. You and I who profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior are accountable to Him, to fellow Christians and to the unsaved. Our life should be an open book of God’s Good News!!!  
Jesus taught about giving an account and transparent living. Read Matthew 12:26, Matthew 18:23, Luke 16:2. The Lord was an open book to the disciples. He hid nothing. He told them the truth and lived truth in their presence for three years.
The Apostle Paul writes about accountability in Romans 14:12-13.
“So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore; but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or stumbling block in a brother’s way.”
After reading those words, you and I need to get on our faces before the Lord, take care of our business and repent of judging another brother’s life.
Paul pointed out two important truths.

1. Each of us, you and me, will give an account to God. We will stand before His holy presence one day. The book or our life and testimony will be opened. The transparent light of glory will shine on how we represented and honored the Lord Jesus Christ.

Steve Roll will give an open book account of Steve Roll’s life.

1. Because we give an account of our own life, we do not get to judge a brother’s life. Brothers and sisters in Christ will answer for themselves. Jesus made it crystal clear not to judge others. (Matthew 7:1-5).

Just a thought my friends. Politicians should be accountable to voters, physicians accountable to patients, lawyers to clients, CEOs to employees and customers, teachers to students and their parents, bosses to employees, employees to bosses, Pastors to church members, church members to fellow members and church leaders, husbands and wives to one another and to their children.
On, and on and on. You and I should be accountable and transparent with our Creator and our fellow human creatures.

• PARENTS: please teach your children Biblical accountability and transparency. The world will not. Instruct your kids from the Word of God and by your personal example.

The Bible is a book about accountability. From Genesis (Adam and Eve) to Revelation (all of us before God’s throne), we human beings, created by Almighty God in His image are accountable to answer to Him. God created us to be accountable and transparent to Him, others and ourselves.
 Blessings/Benefits of accountability and transparency.

• Being accountable and transparent is a mark of personal growth and maturity.
• Being an accountable, transparent person means you can be trusted.
• Being accountable and transparent results in others respecting you.
• Being accountable and transparent means you do not have to hide anything.
• Being accountable and transparent makes you pleasing to God and the people you care about.
• Being accountable and transparent produces a good, clear conscience night’s sleep.

My friend, how about you? Personally accountable? Transparent? If God called you home to heaven today, what would your life account look like?
A Word For Your Week: Christlike accountability and transparency make for a conscience clear life….and a peacef

​Secular and Christian based surveys reveal that loneliness is the number one personal concern for Americans. Anxiety/stress ranks number two. Depression number three. Currently in America, just over 50% of our people live alone. This number includes not married yet but want to be. Single by choice. Divorced. Widowed.
Often in crisis counseling I hear the words “I feel so alone.”
The first thing our Creator told Adam in the Garden of Eden (after He directed the first human to cultivate the land, eat its fruit, but not to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15-17) was that it was not good for man to alone. (Genesis 2:18).
Loneliness was not God’s plan for man. Being alone is not a good thing. So, God created Eve. Adam was an incredibly happy boy when his eyes fastened upon a beautiful, unclothed woman! I heard a man or two reading this say AMEN!
The antidote for loneliness in the body of Christ, the church, is FELLOWSHIP.
Throughout my forty-plus years of pastoral ministry, I have been asked countless times “Pastor Steve, what is Christian fellowship.” My response:” Fellowship is two fellows in the same ship!” Christians sailing, not solo, but together, on the sea of faith.
TWO FELLOWS IN THE SAME SHIP. The word fellowship appears fifteen times in the New Testament. Acts 2:41-47 is God’s blueprint for Christian fellowship. Study the entire passage. Meditate on it. Then evaluate your fellowship experience/practices according to the New Testament church experience.
“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to FELLOWSHIP, and to the breaking of bread and prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were TOGETHER (in the same boat!) and had all things in common. And they began selling their property and possessions, and sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
 And continuing day by day, with one mind in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, taking their meals together (Many fellows in the same ship!) with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Multitudes of new fellows in the same ship!).
The New Testament Christians were not Lone Rangers. Mavericks. They were a band of born-again, Holy Spirit empowered, joyful, bold gunslingers for Jesus Christ, praising God for His goodness and the opportunity to win lost sinners to Christ. First generation Christians did the above together. They even went to jail together. Fellowshipped behind bars. Incredible!
FELLOWSHIP! OUR FIRST BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST DID IT TOGETHER.
Today, 2024, Christian fellowship is about Christ’s followers worshipping together. Praising the Lord together. Praying together. Preaching, teaching and studying the Word together. Serving the Lord together. Caring for each other together. Sharing meals together. Ministering to and meeting the needs of people together. Fighting the good fight of faith together. Standing against Satan together. Reaching the lost together.
TOGETHER…IN THE SAME BOAT!!!
Random Thoughts Regarding Christian Fellowship

• Christian fellowship is based on our relationships with Jesus Christ. A Christian’s fellowship is with Jesus and with each other. You and I need Him. We need each other as we await His glorious return.
• Hebrews 10:23-25 sternly warns believers in Christ to not forsake the assembly of the saints. Do not stay away from the ship folks!
• You and I must fellowship with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to experience a mutually fulfilling, satisfying, biblical relationship with God and His people.
• The fellowship factor is vital to spiritual growth, maturity and unity. Those who drop out of fellowship with Christians inevitably become carnal, worldly folks whose eyes are no longer on the prize. Staying away from fellow Christians they lose their way.  
• Fellowship fortifies and strengthens our faith. Weak, worldly minded, non-committed Christians avoid fellowship like it is a plague or something.
• Satan is a pick-off expert. His chief strategy: deceive, Isolate and destroy. I have seen it hundreds and hundreds of times. Christians drop out of fellowship, DRIFTING away from Jesus and the body of Christ. Picked off by the enemy of their soul.

 

• Two fellows in the same ship: much, much better than two fellows in their own ships.

I am very blessed to have a couple of brothers in Christ who sit in my ship and I in theirs. We have fellowshipped together for decades. Amazing! I need them. They need me. Sometimes they sit in my ship. Sometimes I sit in theirs. We share anything and everything. Joys. Victories. Sorrows. Downtimes. Uptimes. Questions. Direction. Wisdom. God’s guidance. Faith.
We are “iron sharpens iron” guys. “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens one another.” Proverbs 27:17. I am so grateful the Lord has given me a couple of brothers who help me stay “sharp” in my faith walk.
 Our desire and goal is to be increasingly like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We also fellowship with many others and are involved in the life and ministry of our local churches.
QUESTIONS YOU AND I MUST ANSWER:  Whose ship are you sitting in? Who is sitting with you in your ship? Who are your fellowship partners? Name them. Thank God for them. Spend time with them. Encourage them. Build them up. Serve them in Jesus’ name.
Two fellows in the same ship. Fellowship. What a way to go!
“But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” I John 1:7   
A Word For Your Week: Who are you going to fellowship with this week?