Posts from January 2021 (Page 2)

Posts from January 2021 (Page 2)

Daily Devotions

Psalm 62:5-8 “For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” vss. 5-6 Psalm 62:5-8 We don’t know what was going on in the psalmist’s life–we can only imagine and then guess that his journey was not that different from ours. There are times when words fail us, those moments when the things we hold dear seem to be disintegrating.…

Daily Devotions

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.” vs. 10 Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Jonah was having a tough time with God. He believed that he had been commissioned to announce to the people of Nineveh that their city was about to be destroyed. He hadn’t wanted to deliver the message–after all, who would…

Daily Devotions

“Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’” vs. 50 John 1:47-51 From the tone of the text in John’s gospel, we get the impression that Jesus nearly laughed when Nathaniel called him the Son of God and the King of Israel. Granted, Nathaniel had been blown away when Jesus did his David Copperfield imitation, but Jesus tells him greater things are still to…

Daily Devotions

“Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’” vs. 46 John 1:43-46 Philip didn’t try to argue with Nathanael. It wouldn’t have done any good. As soon as Nathanael had heard where Jesus was from, he had discounted any possibility that Jesus could be the promised messiah. We’re like that in our interactions with new people. We have our own preconceived notions of value and worth, and when people don’t…

Daily Devotions

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?” vs. 19 1 Corinthians 6: 15-20 Paul was a champion of God’s grace, but he wasn’t the least bit permissive! There was no way that he could condone the visits to prostitutes that were evidently taking place in the congregation at Corinth. In his estimation such a practice was a sin…

Daily Devotions

‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything. vs. 12 1 Corinthians 6:12-14 Paul had asserted that in Christ believers had been set free from the law, and naturally the folks in Corinth had misinterpreted his words. They began doing the things that had been forbidden, particularly in the area of sexuality. The new freedom felt wonderful to them–but when Paul got…

Daily Devotions

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” vs. 14 Psalm 139:13-18 Whether we’re evolutionists or creationists, when we take time to reflect on the wonders of our existence and the intricacies of our environment, we’re almost bound to join the psalmist in his hymn of praise. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and our bodies have been knit together in a spectacular fashion. When a child is born,…

Daily Devotions

Psalm 139:1-6 “You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways…Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.” vss. 3, 6 The psalmist didn’t think of God as some bearded old man sitting on a cloud, a figure like that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. No, the Lord was bigger than that, a Being intimately acquainted with all his thoughts and…

Daily Devotions

1 Samuel 3:1-10 “Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” vs. 1 Corruption was rampant in the days of Eli. People were bringing sacrifices to Shiloh where an altar to the Lord had been set up but the priests, even Eli’s sons, were nothing but scoundrels. And in the midst of the chaos the word of the Lord came to a child,…

Daily Devotions

Mark 1:9-11 “And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” vs. 11 We only get a couple of glimpses at what might be called the “interior life” of Jesus in the gospels. The first is here during Mark’s account of his baptism by John. For one reason or another (Mark does not say) Jesus had come from Nazareth and joined the crowds at the Jordan who were listening to John…

Daily Devotions

Mark 1:4-8 “I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” vs. 8 There seems to have been some controversy in the early church about water and spirit baptism. Water baptism was of course linked with John the Baptist, but Jesus didn’t baptize anyone with water–though according to John’s Gospel, his disciples did baptize. Jesus simply interacted with hurting people, laid hands on some, and invited others to become his followers. He didn’t have…

Daily Devotions

Acts 19:4-7 “When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied—” vs. 6 According to Luke, when John the Baptist’s disciples submitted to baptism Paul laid hands on them–and there were spectacular manifestations of the Spirit, much like what had happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. It was not unusual in the early congregations for such things to take place–speaking in tongues or “glossolalia” was considered…