GuideStone® was originally established in 1918 to provide financial support and assistance for retired pastors and widows. Today, we continue to carry out that mission through the ministry of Mission:Dignity®. Here’s an encouraging devotional from one of our recipients:
The Greatest LessonMark 8:36 (NKJV)
Larry Adkinson authored this issue’s devotional. He served the Lord alongside his wife for more than 50 years.
Having reached the ripe old age of 80, I feel like my senior friends when they say, “A lot of water has run under the bridge,” but through it all, God has been good.
I grew up in a family of six children with loving parents. We were very poor, but I didn’t know it at the time. My mother was the head of the home and took great care to teach us right from wrong. She taught us many important life lessons.
In the summer, we would pick flowers, and whoever found the first violet would be the violet king or queen. When she made biscuits, she would take her wedding ring off and hide it in one of them. Then we had to eat slowly, and whoever found the ring got to be king or queen for the day.
Life was simple but hard. We walked three miles to school, and our clothes were not as good as the other kids’. One of the greatest lessons the Lord ever taught me came from a school Christmas party. We were all given Kool-Aid, candy and popcorn, and just as everything was beginning to unfold, my brothers and sisters and I were told to get our coats because we were going to be carried home. Oh no, I thought. Why, in the midst of the party, were we snatched up and taken home? We were loaded into three cars and given a waxed paper cone of popcorn. Was all this because we were poor kids? How unfair!
When we arrived home, we were taken inside as the adults began to unload groceries from the cars — more food than I had ever seen, all because someone saw a need and did something about it, much like the wonderful people of Mission:Dignity. A pastor friend gave our names to those people, and because of the goodness of their hearts, I realized that life is more than a cone of popcorn.
Looking back, I see how God used the kindness of others to meet our needs and teach us what truly matters. As Mark 8:36 reminds us, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (NKJV) All the world’s treasures pale in comparison to our heavenly reward.
How can you show generosity to someone in need this week, even in a small way?
Want more devotionals? Our 40-day devotional book written by our Mission:Dignity recipients is available to order here.
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Commentary
• Jul 7, 2026 