The Heimlich Maneuver

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." — 2 Corinthians 5:17

“Someday, I’ll be a bea–u–tiful butterfly!”

Throughout the movie “A Bug’s Life,” Heimlich, an unquestionably pudgy caterpillar with an insatiable appetite, has a singular desire: he wants to be a beautiful butterfly. From the first scene to the last, Heimlich constantly reminds us of his quest. Then towards the end of the movie, you see Heimlich jumping out of a tree, holding leaves in all of his hands and flapping them like they were wings. He exclaims, “Look at me! I’m flying like a beautiful butterfly!”

The movie sets up the final scenes with absolute clarity. The scene pans up to a cocoon. Here is the moment we have been waiting for. The cocoon begins to shake and open. We can’t wait to see what a beautiful butterfly Heimlich has become. Then it happens . . . the Heimlich Maneuver. Out of the cocoon drops the exact same unquestionably pudgy caterpillar WITH TWO LITTLE-BITTY WINGS!

Animation dictates that characters must look the exact same to be recognizable. Therefore, you can imagine how hard it would be to change a pudgy caterpillar into a graceful butterfly and it still be recognizable as Heimlich. The animators for “A Bug’s Life” chose not to solve this problem. They simply turned Heimlich into a worm with wings.

I would say that all of us – at least at times – have fallen victim to the Heimlich Maneuver. We have bought into the lie. The Evil One has come up beside us and said, “You are nothing but a worm with wings. Just look in the mirror. You haven’t changed at all. You aren’t any better today than you were before you knew Christ. You will never be beautiful. So, you have wings. Big deal! Under those wings, you’re still just a big, fat worm.” And we buy the lie.

Our God is not in the business of putting wings on worms. He is in the business of creating beauty and perfection. When He says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, ALL THINGS have become new,” (2 Corinthians 5:17), it is either true or false. There is no middle ground. Some things did not become new. Most things did not become new. ALL THINGS became new!

Yet we say, “But I don’t feel any different.” The fact is that you’re looking in the wrong mirror. Do not look into the mirror of the flesh. Look into the mirror of God’s Word. His Word says you are complete, 100% forgiven, accepted and much, much more. He says you are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people.” (1 Peter 2:9) This is the vision He has for your life. As G. K. Chesterton says, “The vision is always a fact.”

There are a large number of beautiful butterflies – God’s own special people – crawling around like worms with wings, because they have been looking in the mirror of the flesh and bought into the lie of the Heimlich Maneuver. Isn’t it time for us to look into the mirror of God’s Word, accept that we are a new creation in Christ, set our eyes on the vision God has for our life, and start living as the beautiful children He has made us? Isn’t it time?

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

Life is Fair?

“There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness
And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.
...For there is not a just man on earth who does good
And does not sin." — Ecclesiastes 7:15, 20

“Life is so unfair” is the refrain heard from every child that ever lived. Ever. If you were unfortunate enough to live in my house, it was always met with the retort, “Life is fair! Because it is unfair to everyone!”

Few things ruffle our feathers more than unfairness. Someone cutting the line, or cutting you off in traffic. Someone getting a better raise for less work. Or even someone getting a larger piece of cake. We struggle when we see it. We bristle when it happens to us. We just want life to be fair! Or do we?

I certainly do not! I want it to be unfair!

Sure, I struggle with perceived unfairness. And with passages like that found in Ecclesiastes where the righteous man perishes and the wicked man prolongs his life. I struggle when I see others taken advantage of around me. But I often forget that “there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.” (v.20)

That’s me! And I do not want the fair reward for my sin!

What is truly unfair?

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,…” (1 Peter 3:18)

What is truly fair?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

While the verse from Ecclesiastes is not necessarily a prophecy verse, it certainly applies to fairness. We all think we want fairness until we realize the only righteous man to ever live had His life cut short for us. In doing so, He prolonged the life of the wicked (for no man does good and does not sin). He did so in effort to save those who are perishing (you and me). That anyone who would believe in Him and receive Him as their Lord and Savior might be saved.

He took upon Himself, unfairly, the penalty for our sinfulness. We, in Christ, receive unfairly the just reward for His righteousness. Life is fair! He received what He did not deserve and we receive what we do not deserve: forgiveness, life, acceptance, hope, righteousness and every spiritual blessing!

Fairness is only found in the finished work of Christ, not the world. But it is truly unfair to everyone! It is grace. Grace is not based on merit. It is unfairly bestowed on those who do not deserve it. Yet, each person must choose. The same grace is extended to every person on earth, but only those who receive it benefit. Only those who walk in it experience it. It is up to each person to choose.

So, let me ask you: do you want life to be fair to YOU (based on your merit)? Or do you want the fairness that can only be found in Christ? Do you want the fairness due for your efforts? Or do you want the fairness due from the finished work of Christ?

It is all about Him and not about us. As hard as it is to remember this in the stark reality of the unfair world, we must remember that it was Christ being treated unfairly that made us fair in the eyes of God.

Life is fair because it is unfair to everyone! Praise God that Christ unfairly took the penalty for my sin that I might walk in His reward. And may that truth give us all the grace to endure the unfair world in which we live. And perhaps extend a little grace ourselves.

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

“Christianity Doesn’t Work For Me!”

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.” — Isaiah 55:8

I was listening to a young woman struggling in her faith and sharing all the trauma and drama in her life. She was trying to understand why situations in her life continue to go wrong. She shared with me all that she has done; read her Bible, pray, go to church, do things the right way, etc. Yet, the circumstances didn’t change. In exasperation, as I have heard many times before, she ended with, “Christianity doesn’t work for me!”

I responded, “Good! It is not supposed to.”

What? What could I possibly mean by that? I mean Christianity is not supposed to work for you!

We live in a world that is all about us. In fact, many of the churches you can attend in America are mostly concerned with practical advice on how to live your life. I’ve presented in churches that would specifically ask me to end my sermon with practical steps for people to apply. I always refuse. While there are practical things we can learn from the Bible, there is nothing practical about being a partaker of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Many have fallen back into the old covenant view of blessing and cursing. Certainly in the Old Testament the relationship God had with man was one of blessing and cursing. If you follow the law, God will bless you in the world. Break the law and God will curse you.

We often embrace this idea today and think: If I do everything right, then my life will be perfect, my spouse and kids will be perfect… finances, job, etc. …all will be perfect.

This is not Biblical. Many who have walked closely with God were imprisoned, stoned, persecuted, crucified, fed to wild animals, and put to death in unimaginable ways. They were poor, slaves, outcasts and from all walks of life. Not because they were doing things wrong. Rather, because Christianity didn’t work for them, it worked for Him. Because the world is not God’s kingdom.

Jesus said speaking of Christians, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:15-16)

Christianity is all about Jesus and not about us. It is all about His kingdom and not this world.

Paul provides one of the craziest passages in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 7:20-22, “Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.”

What ongoing circumstance could be worse than slavery? Yet, we are told not to be concerned even about that circumstance. Your circumstances in the world are irrelevant from an eternal perspective. Rather it is the circumstances of your spiritual life that matter most to God.

That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about what you are going through. He cares deeply. We are to pray without ceasing. Bring our circumstances, troubles, worries and burdens to Him. Yet, His plan is not to work everything out to give you a heaven on earth. His plan is to grow you in His grace and knowledge for the Heaven that is to come.

Christianity is not supposed to work for you in this world. The work is done! It was finished in Christ. We were created to worship our Lord. We were created to grow in His grace and knowledge. We were adopted to join Him in the perfection of the age to come.

God does not work for us! We were created for Him. The moment we put a litmus test on Christianity by how God works for us, we have lost all perspective on who God is and who we were created to be.

Certainly God blesses those who walk with Him. Always spiritually, sometimes physically. However, those blessings are just as true and real in a vacation house on the beach as they are in a prison. They do not waver from the mansion to the shack. They are not changed by prosperity nor by poverty nor by any other circumstance.

Christianity only works when we understand who God is and who we are called to be in Him. It only finds life when we allow the Living Lord to live through us. It only truly has hope when all our hope is placed in Him rather than the next circumstance in our life. It reminds me to examine myself everyday as to whether my eyes are focused on the world or on He who has overcome the world.

Where is your focus today?

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

Asking for a Friend

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” — Revelation 2:4

I need your advice. I normally write a devotion every week, but today I am seeking advice for a friend.

I have a friend who fell in love with a girl. He went out to a bar one night as the designated driver. He was just there to make sure his buddies got home safe. A girl approached him at the bar and they started talking. One thing led to another and they “hit it off”. However, she was actually “working” the bar to make extra money to pay for college. My friend pushed past this and a relationship developed. Eventually they got married and all was well.

They had three kids together and were living a seemingly wonderful domestic life. However, it was actually pretty strained. She missed the excitement of her early years. She felt she was missing out. That she had settled to live a boring life. She reconnected with a former boyfriend via social media. They began talking and it wasn’t long before it become more romantic in nature. One day she left her family and disappeared.

My friend searched for her and discovered she had run off to Albuquerque to be with her former boyfriend. Unwilling to give up on the relationship he began to reach out to her. He eventually left everything to go to Albuquerque to try and win her back. He connected with her and in time won her over. She was finally willing to come back home.

It turned out her “boyfriend” was more of a pimp. He claimed she owed him a small fortune in debt she had to work off. He threatened both of them if they tried to leave without paying the debt. My friend realized she had been thrust back in to her old ways of “working” for a living. Yet, he still utilized all his life’s savings to pay off the debt so they could leave without incident.

She followed him home. They began working through building a new future with their children. Even now, after all the love, forgiveness, acceptance and grace my friend had showed her, she still longs for a more exciting life.

My friend shared this story with me and asked me what I would do? Honestly, I’m struggling with my response.

I am not violating any confidence in sharing this story with you. It is a somewhat modern paraphrase of the Biblical book of Hosea. My friend is Hosea (or God). His wife is Gomer (or Israel or MYSELF).

I’m struggling with my response because the friend I’m asking for is me. This is my story. Whether it be lust, money, pride, fame, position or any of a horde of other indiscretions, I often find myself as Gomer longing for a life apart from my great Love; Christ. They always draw me away into a life of debt and debasement. Yet, I’m drawn to them. I secretly seek them out. Maybe you, my friend, do too.

How quickly I forget the love of my Lord! How easily I dismiss the forgiveness, acceptance and grace of the one who seeks me out no matter what dark hole I’ve wandered into trying to find fulfillment. How simply I write off the debt He has paid for me. How ignorant I am to dismiss the earnest love of my Savior.

How easy my heart, my eyes and my emotions wander! What is Gomer to do? What am I to do? What is my friend to do?

“Turn to Me with all your heart … Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.” (Joel 2:12-13)

God’s grace abounds to all who will receive it! What better advice could you give than to return? Asking for a friend.

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

Did You Have a Good Day?

“. . . draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” — Hebrews 10:22 

Kendra, a five-year-old girl my wife and I kept after school, jumped into the back of the van. She was all smiles. She did not have a care in the world. She was out of school. It was a beautiful spring day, and she was ready to play.

As we started pulling out of the parking lot, I looked at her in the rear view mirror. I asked her, “Did you have a good day?” Immediately the smile was gone. It was replaced by a look of confusion. I thought maybe she didn’t understand me, so I asked again. “Did you have a good day?” This time she answered without hesitation, “I don’t know! I haven’t looked at my folder yet.”

The folder is a form of discipline used by the school our children attend. Each child has a folder. If a child forgets their homework, they get their folder signed. If they do something wrong, they get their folder signed. The first time is a warning. The second signing earns them a 15 minute time-out. The third a 30 minute time-out. The fourth signing earns them a free trip to the principal’s office. It is a vacation they didn’t want to take. Every day they bring the folder home. To Kendra, and I am sure many of the children at the school, a good day is determined by whether or not their folder was signed.

I was amused by Kendra’s response. I mean it was obvious by the pep in her walk and the smile on her face that she was having a wonderful day. Yet, she couldn’t say so. Her day was not determined by what she knew to be true, it was determined by what someone else thought.

It seems silly, but most adults live each day the same way. We may not carry around a literal folder, but we carry around many mental folders. We have one for work, one for home and one for our social events. We have a mental folder for everything we do, and we are always checking them to see how our day is going.

Your boss scowls at you – bad day. Your boss gives you a pat on the back – good day.

Your children are embarrassed by you – bad day. Your children think you are a hero – good day.

Your friends are too busy for you – bad day. Your friends can’t wait to get together with you – good day.

Your spouse doesn’t say a word to you – really bad day. Your spouse wakes you up with a kiss – really good day.

Lest we forget: You give in to the same temptation you have fallen for over and over again – bad day. You overcome the temptation – good day.

In the end, we are just like little Kendra. As our day comes to a close, we look back through all our mental folders and try to determine whether or not we had a good day. The problem is that most of the things we keep folders on are out of our control. We cannot control how our boss, friends or even our spouse act or react from day to day. Have you ever heard the phrase, “an emotional roller-coaster”? We always feel like we are on an emotional roller-coaster. Why? Because we allow our circumstance to decide who we are and how we feel.

God knows that every folder we keep will always end up with way too many signatures in it. Take the area of your life where you have the strongest performance, and you will still fall drastically short of perfection. God knows that if we focus on our own performance, not only will we have a bad day, we will have a bad life, so God came up with a better plan.

He took all of our folders and gave them to His Son. All our signed folders earned Jesus a trip to the cross. When He died, our folders died. They were not wiped clean and then handed back to us to try again. They were gone. And in their place, God gave us His Son’s folder in the form of the indwelling Christ. We carry with us the folder of the Perfect Child. It has our name on it. It is who we are!

The question is: what folder are you trying to look at? The Deceiver loves to dig up the memories of those old folders. He loves to wave them in front of our face and say, “Look how bad you are!” All too often we fall for it. We sulk in the shadows and mumble through our bad days. Then one day we look up and realize that we have been sulking and mumbling our entire lives.

I have written many times about how God sees us. The Bible says we are perfect and holy in His sight. We are righteous, accepted, loved, and forgiven. Yet this doesn’t mean much if you are looking at those old folders and sulking in the shadows, hiding from God and hoping He doesn’t come looking for you. This is the trap we fall into. It is in the shadows that we allow our circumstances to define who we are and how we feel.

God wants us out of the shadows. That is why Hebrews 10:22 encourages us to “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” God wants us to stand before Him with full assurance of faith. He also wants us to go through each day with the same assurance. What is the assurance? It is not that you can do better. Our assurance is the indwelling Christ. Our assurance is that when God looks at us, He sees the folder of Christ. Are you living under this assurance?

I am what I am because the Great I Am said I am! That’s a great day! There are going to be days filled with bad circumstances. Are you going to allow the bad circumstances to control how you act? Or are you going to allow the indwelling Christ to act through you in those circumstances? Focus on who the Bible says you are. Trust the indwelling Christ to live through you. Go forward with assurance and confidence in Christ. Have a great day!

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.