Posts from February 2023
Daily Devotions
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.” vs. 8 Psalm 121 Life is an ongoing cycle of going out and coming in. We know the pattern–up in the morning, out during the day, and then a coming home at night. Day after day, year after year, during good times and bad, from the time of our youth until the arrival of the golden years, the rhythm continues. And through…
Daily Devotions
I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” vs. 2 Genesis 12:1-4a Israel’s ancient origin story begins with Abram and Sarai, the intrepid pair who left home and family in favor of a wandering nomadic life that took them all the way from Mesopotamia to Egypt. They became revered, not because of their wealth or station, but because they lived by faith–they trusted…
Daily Devotions
Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’” vs. 10 Matthew 4:5-11 As Jews dreamed of the coming Messiah, they imagined a ruler like David to whom all the kingdoms of the world with all their splendor would be obedient. And in the wilderness, as he considered the dimensions of his call, Jesus came to realize that for that to happen he would need to make a…
Daily Devotions
He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’” vss. 2-3 Matthew 4:1-4 It had been an exhilarating and exhausting time for Jesus. First, he had gone for baptism at the Jordan, and in the immediate aftermath he had heard a voice saying, “You are my Son, my Beloved. With you I am well-pleased.”…
Daily Devotions
For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” vs. 19 Romans 5:12-19 Paul had loved the ancient stories of the Hebrews and had tucked them away in his memory bank. And now as he attempted to explain the righteousness of God to the Romans, he drew on one of those stories to make sense of his message. He explained that the disease of…
Daily Devotions
But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” vs. 4-5 Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 The ancient Hebrews used the story of temptation in the Garden of Eden to explain the presence of evil in the world–when not taken literally it contains profound truths about human nature and our relationship to God. Often we think…
Daily Devotions
Ash Wednesday Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” vs. 1 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 For some believers, the season of Lent is a time for serious reflection on faith and its implications for daily living. They cherish the opportunity to retreat from some of their usual distracting activities by adopting one or more disciplines. Often thought of as “giving something up for…
Daily Devotions
We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way…” vss. 3-4 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:3-10 Paul had been reconciled to God through Christ Jesus, and now, as Christ’s ambassador, he believed that others might be reconciled to God through his ministry. Because of that important calling, he was now determined not to be an obstacle to anyone’s faith. His behavior…
Daily Devotions
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.” vss. 12-13 Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 The people of Israel were facing an invasion, not of armies, but of a horde of locusts. Joel likely knew this wasn’t the first time–the devastation wreaked by the regular migratory cloud of insects had been seen before, but he knew the country was facing a crisis. There…
Daily Devotions
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.” vss. 7-8 Matthew 17:5-9 The disciples had been blown away. It had been a spectacular vision, with both visual and aural elements, and it terrified them. But when it was over Jesus was there, not to explain the vision, but to give them comfort. And that’s what they needed, not an explanation, just…
Daily Devotions
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.” vs. 2 Matthew 17:1-9 Many of us don’t quite know what to do with the story of the transfiguration as found in the gospels. It doesn’t fit with the rest of what we read about Jesus’ Galilean ministry, and seems more like a resurrection appearance than anything else. It’s like Peter, James, and John got a glimpse of the risen Jesus…
Daily Devotions
First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” vss. 20-21 2 Peter 1:19-21 When we engage with our scriptures, it’s not unusual to struggle as we try to figure out what the various passages mean. Since we often speak of the bible as God’s Word, some believe that it…