Blog (Page 186)
Daily Devotions: April 5, 2019
April 5, 2019 For full passage click: Philippians 3:10-14 …“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” vs. 12 Suffering and death were not obstacles for Paul. In fact, he saw them as the means by which he might identify totally with Christ Jesus, and then experience the power of resurrection. While those things lay in the…
Daily Devotions: April 4, 2019
April 4, 2019 For full passage click: Philippians 3: 4b-9 …“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.” vs. 7 Paul was a proud man! He loved his tribal roots and his religious heritage. He loved his knowledge and his blameless life. Some of us know what that feels like. We’re proud of our ethnic purity and the quality of our education. We hang our advanced degrees on the wall and love…
Daily Devotions: April 3, 2019
April 3, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 126:4-6 …“Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.” vs. 6 There’s an old saying that packs a lot of truth into a few words: “What goes around, comes around.” It’s an affirmation of the cyclical nature of life on the journey and finds its roots in what we read in Ecclesiastes, “For everything there is a season…a time to…
Daily Devotions: April 2, 2019
April 2, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 126:1-3 …“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” vs. 1 For the people of Israel, life with the Lord was like a roller coaster ride, and most of the time when they’d completed a terrifying section of the track, an even scarier portion loomed ahead. But not all the time! Occasionally there would be a time of prosperity and blessing, and they were stunned. They hadn’t…
Daily Devotions: April1, 2019
April 1, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 43:16-21 …“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” vs. 19 Pessimists abound in the mainline denominations. They point to declining worship numbers, pastoral shortages and closing congregations as signs that the end of Christianity is at hand. They’re caught up in nostalgia and yearn for a return to the…
Daily Devotions: March 31, 2019
March 31, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 15:18-32 …“But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.’” vs. 29 Sinners, wandering sons and daughters, people eating with pigs—all love Jesus’ story of the waiting, loving, ever-merciful father. They rightly understand it to be a…
Daily Devotions: March 30, 2019
March 30, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-19 …“But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!’” vs. 17 The parable of the Prodigal Son is perhaps one of Jesus’ most loved and often preached upon stories, probably because it touches on universal themes that most of us can identify with. We know all about rebellious children and leaving…
Daily Devotions: March 29, 2019
March 29, 2019 For full passage click: 2 Corinthians 5: 18-21 …“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” vs. 21 Most of us have grown to maturity thinking that Jesus of Nazareth was sinless, that he never once did any of the things that we do regularly—never a cross word, never an impure thought, never an act of rebellion. We believe this because…
Daily Devotions: March 28, 2019
March 28, 2019 For full passage click: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 …“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” vs. 17 Being a disciple of Jesus is far more than believing in him and walking in his way. While those things are important Paul describes discipleship as more of a mystical union, an entering into Christ that allows us to experience the pulsating energy of God that is…
Daily Devotions: March 27, 2019
March 27, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 32:6-11 …“Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” vs. 11 The psalmist would have loved praise services. He couldn’t get enough of exultations and shouts of joy and wanted all the upright and the righteous to join in giving thanks to the Lord. Some who read these words might have the impression that they don’t have an invitation to the party.…
Daily Devotions: March 26, 2019
March 26, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 32:1-5 …“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” vs 5 The psalmist had been engaged in a great cover-up and his conscience had been nagging at him. We don’t know what had happened but it doesn’t seem to have been a public matter. Only he knew what…
Daily Devotions: March 25, 2019
March 25, 2019 For full passage click: Joshua 5:9-12 …“The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.” vs. 12 According to one of their ancient narratives, God had sustained the Israelites with a special bread from heaven through their years in the wilderness. But when they crossed the Jordan River and entered the land of Canaan, that…