Posts from April 2025 (Page 2)
Daily Devotions
When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” vs. 19:30 John 18-19 New Testament scholars have examined the differences between the gospel of John and the three other gospels at length. Some of those differences are most apparent in the descriptions of Jesus’ death and resurrection. John’s account is written in a unique style and contains details not found in the other gospels. While it’s fruitless to…
Daily Devotions
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” vss. 14-15 John 13:1-12, 31b-35 As is typical of John’s gospel, Peter and the other disciples didn’t quite understand what Jesus was doing when he washed their feet at the Passover meal. So when he had finished he explained what he had done,…
Daily Devotions
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…” vs. 1 Hebrews 12:1-3 The writer to the Hebrews couldn’t help but admire the faithfulness of the great company of saints who had come before him. In his book they were nothing less than remarkable and he found their courage inspiring.…
Daily Devotions
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.” vs. 9 Psalm 71:1-14 We should not be surprised to see a psalm written by an old person who is not feeling particularly good about having moved into the “golden” years. After all, old people have been around for a long time and pretty much all of them have the same laments about their declining strength and loss of status.…
Daily Devotions
He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” vss. 2-3 Isaiah 42:1-9 While Isaiah was not speaking of Jesus, he did provide a template for his ministry. There is little doubt that as Jesus began his work in Galilee he saw himself in the description of the Servant. When he…
Daily Devotions
But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.” vs.49 Luke 24:26-49 As the afternoon drew to a close on that fateful Friday, Jesus cried out, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” and breathed his last. The chief priests and the scribes lifted up the hems of their robes with thanksgiving and went home rejoicing at the death of their enemy. The repentant thief wondered and waited,…
Daily Devotions
A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.’” vs. 23 Luke 24:1-25 The gospels present the trial of Jesus as being a complete miscarriage of justice. The charges presented by the religious leaders were misrepresentations of his words and actions and some were outright lies. Neither Herod or Pilate were convinced of his…
Daily Devotions
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…” vss. 9-10 Philippians 2:9-11 Paul tells the Philippians that the Jesus who humbled himself unto death has been highly exalted and is worthy of worship. While Paul doesn’t specify the form of that worship, believers have certainly taken his words to heart. Their faith…
Daily Devotions
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” vs. 5 Philippians 2:5-8 The Philippians hadn’t gone through confirmation or participated in new member classes. Some of them were Jews, many were Gentiles, and they had no common traditions or doctrines. So it’s not strange that there was confusion in their community about their new life in Christ and what that meant for daily living. Paul wasn’t living with them any longer and he didn’t know if…
Daily Devotions
But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.” vss. 14-15 Psalm 31:9-16 The psalmist doesn’t specify which terrors were plaguing him at this period of his life. It could have been almost anything: illness, persecution, depression, aging. The list of those things which bring us to our knees in the course of a lifetime is endless. But we do know that he…
Daily Devotions
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens—wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.” vs. 4 Isaiah 50:4-9a Isaiah recognized that his primary function as a prophet was to teach people the way they could live God-pleasing lives. But beyond that he also realized that he had been uniquely gifted – he’d been given the tongue of a teacher.…
Daily Devotions
As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’” vs. 33 Luke 19:28-40 When Jesus was approaching Jerusalem for the last time he made a conscious decision to enter the city riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey. That image has taken hold of our imagination almost as completely as that of the cross. His mode of transport made abundantly clear that he was coming…