Posts from 2024 (Page 4)
Daily Devotions
Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.” vs. 16 Psalm 90:4-7 The psalmist is praying that the wondrous work of God would be manifest to all the congregation. There really is nothing better than to be a part of a community that recognizes the goodness of the world, and who are working together to bring healing and restoration to its brokenness. So we like it when our friends can see the fingerprints…
Daily Devotions
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” vs. 14 Psalm 90:12-14 Some folks awaken in the morning with a song of thanksgiving on their lips. They’ve been refreshed in their sleep and are grateful to have yet another day in which to experience the steadfast love of God. It is really wonderful to be able to welcome another twenty-four hours, because it’s not inevitable. One day we’ll…
Daily Devotions
Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.” vs. 11 Amos 5: 11-15 Amos called out the people living in the prosperous cities of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He knew exactly how they had gained their wealth! They had gotten rich from their relentless taxation and exploitation…
Daily Devotions
They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.” vs. 10 Amos 5:6-7, 10 If Amos could somehow be transported to our time, and given a chance to observe our economic and political practices, he would feel right at home! Behaviors haven’t changed a whit since he marched into the land of Israel to bring a word from the Lord. Liars abound and the economy favors the rich. Money can buy…
Daily Devotions
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.” vs. 13 Mark 10:2-12 It’s hard to know what the disciples were thinking. We do know that Jesus was heavily involved in teaching and perhaps they considered the children to be a distraction. Perhaps they were like ushers in our worship services who advise mothers to take their crying babies to the nursery so the preacher’s every word can…
Daily Devotions
Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” vs. 9 Mark 10:2-12 The Pharisees regularly accused Jesus of being lax about matters of the law, but Jesus wasn’t really lax about anything. Of course he thought their rules about healing on the sabbath were malarkey, but he maintained that the law itself was corrupt. In the case of marriage Deuteronomy allowed a man to divorce his wife if he found something objectionable about her. Jesus told the Pharisees…
Daily Devotions
It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” vs. 10 Hebrews 2:5-12 The many references to suffering in our scriptures reflects its universal presence in the human community. Every generation has struggled with both personal and communal encounters with violence, injustice, oppression, and torture, and those concerns are lifted up in all parts of the bible. The writers were…
Daily Devotions
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.” vss. 1-4 Hebrews 1:1-4 After Jesus’ death and resurrection, it took a couple of generations for his followers to sort out their differences and arrive at some sort of common understanding of his significance. Initially the greatest conflict…
Daily Devotions
Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.” vss. 40-41 Mark 9:38-41 Jesus wasn’t nearly so fussy about boundaries as his disciples seem to have been. John had gotten all bent out of shape because he had seen an outsider casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It was as though this interloper was…
Daily Devotions
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” vs. 16 James 5:16-20 Because the world is good, and broken, the healing that comes with forgiveness will always be a central part of our life together. That’s why so many of our congregations will take time for confession of sins in each weekly worship service. It’s a moment, scarcely long enough, for…
Daily Devotions
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” vs. 14 James 5:13-15 When we feel sick we will likely go to an Urgent Care Center or to an emergency room for treatment, and usually some sort of healing will follow, sometimes quickly, but often after a period of time. James presented his readers with another option. Since medical…
Daily Devotions
He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’” vs. 35 Mark 9:33-37 We can only imagine how disheartening it must have been for Jesus to pour out his heart to his disciples about the cost of discipleship, and then have them engage in a great debate about which of them was the greatest. They had completely missed the point of his teaching! The only…