A WORD FOR TODAY, July 1, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, July 1, 2025
“I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:1-4, WEB
There is a commercial on television that shows a woman working at a computer who receives a telephone call with a caller ID from the power company. When she answers, the voice at the other end told the woman that a power bill was overdue. “I thought I paid that” she answered. A red flag pops up on the screen with the word “Pause.” The caller then warns that the power would be turned off that day if she did not take care of it. A red flag with the word “Reflect” pops up on the screen. The caller then offers help, “I can take care of that for you,” he says. A red flag with the word “Protect” pops up on the screen, and the woman knows without a doubt that the call is a scam. “Not today, thank you,” she says and hangs up the phone. She understood the red flags and stopped herself from making a terrible mistake.
The whole point of the commercial is to help people (especially seniors) make better decisions, help them learn how to discern what is good and helpful versus what might be harmful. The commercial ends with the encouragement to “Spot the Red Flags,” which is good advice for us all. I don’t know about you, but I have noticed an upswing of new tactics by scammers. There is a way to make the caller ID show whatever number and identification show whatever the caller wants it to show, and they have been faking with real numbers and IDs to get people to answer the phone. They have been very creative in finding new ways to fool people. Spot the red flags and save yourself from the hassle and dangers of the scammer.
The Little Golden book called “Tootle” was one of my favorite childhood books. Tootle was an anthropomorphized young steam engine learning how to be a Two-Miles-a-Minute Flyer. He has to learn all about the rules of being a flyer which includes the most important rule: Staying on the Rails No Matter What.” Another rule was “Stopping for a Red Flag.”
The problem is that Tootle likes to play in the meadows. He loves to sniff the flowers and chase the butterflies. Of course, we know that trains can’t play in the field, but the lessons of the story are helpful for children. The story doesn’t teach them specific rules, but to see that everything is better when we follow the rules that have been established. In the end, Tootle became the train he was meant to be because he learned to follow the rules, and then he became an inspiration to the new, younger trains who willingly listened to his advice.
It didn’t come easily because Tootle really liked to play in the meadows. Tootle really wanted to become a Two-Miles-a-Minute Flyer, but he just had to run and play. He promised to practice following the rules every day, but he jumped the tracks every time he was in the field. He thought that he did it in secret, but the townspeople, including the mayor, always saw him frolicking and the train workers noticed odd things about Tootle, like grass in his wheels.
The townspeople decided that they needed to do something about Tootle's daily wandering, so they made a plan. Since Tootle seemed to understand stopping for red flags, everyone hid in the meadow with a red flag. When Tootle jumped the tracks to play in the meadow, he discovered it wasn’t very much fun because everywhere he turned there was a red flag. Finally, he saw the station master Bill standing on the tracks with a green flag and realized that it was better for him to stay on the tracks. He learned his lesson and it led to his maturity as a flyer.
Red flags are understood as a something that makes us “STOP” doing something we should not be doing. In the case of the television commercial, it was about keeping us from doing something that can harm us. The same is true for Tootle, but it is even more important to remember that when we do something that we should not do, whether it is for our safety or to keep others from harm. See, that’s why Tootle needed to stay on the rails no matter what; jumping the tracks could harm those who rely on the train. Unfortunately, the scammers who try to fool us are jumping off the rails to the detriment of people who don’t recognize the red flags.
We see the caller ID on the phone and think that we are smart enough to recognize the scammers, but every day they get more and more creative. We don’t want to believe that people would try to take advantage of us, and we really don’t want to judge people negatively, but we are reminded that we are meant to be good stewards of everything God gave us, so that we will use it to His glory. When we fall for the scammer, we have less to use to serve our neighbor.
We have fallen into the trap of thinking that “judge not” means we shouldn’t point out one another’s wrongs or do the things that will protect us. When we see the red flags, we will pause, reflect, and protect ourselves and those around us. The townspeople knew that Tootle would never learn to be a Two-Miles-a-Minute Flyer if they hadn’t taught him to do what is right by raising the red flags. It is up to us to help one another be the best we can be, particularly by teaching each other to recognize the red flags that will stop us from doing what is not good, right, and true according to the word of God. We may have to reprove, rebuke, and exhort our neighbors, but let us always do so with grace.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org