Blog (Page 3)

Blog (Page 3)

Daily Devotions

For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.” vs. 2 James 3:1-6 In a moment of candid reflection our old friend James hints that perhaps even he makes mistakes in the course of living a Christ-centered life. His problem, as with so many of us, seems to have been his mouth, but his own struggle with his tongue doesn’t keep him…

Daily Devotions

The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffereddistress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!’” vss. 3-4 Psalm 116:1-9 It’s hard to believe that 23 years have passed since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It’s a date that hangs on in our memories as a moment in which our realities were shattered.…

Daily Devotions

The Lord God helps me; therefore, I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame…” vs. 7 Isaiah 50:6-9a The prophet had likely been exposed to a shame-based culture, a society that seeks to regulate behavior by heaping shame and disgrace on any person who doesn’t live up to the cultural norms. Some of us know what that’s like too. For some perverted reason some…

Daily Devotions

The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.” vs. 5 Isaiah 50:4-5 Not only had Isaiah listened to the call of his Lord to teach the exiled people of Judah, he now continued to listen to the daily word that came to him in the stillness of his meditation. That’s what happens when we take some of the precious time allotted to us in the course of every day to be…

Daily Devotions

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” vs. 1 James 2:1-4 James evidently was fed up with the behavior of the believers in his congregations–and he doesn’t mince words. Because of their acts of favoritism, he questions whether they really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is it that they’ve been doing? It has to do with their reception of visitors. If a person with fine…

Daily Devotions

Happy are those whose hope is in the Lord, who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry, and sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, he lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow.” vss. 5,7, 8a, 9a Psalm 146:5-10 When the psalmist warned his readers not to trust mortal rulers and to put their hope in God, he…

Daily Devotions

O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;” vss. 1-2 Psalm 15 The question asked by the psalmist was enormously important for the religious leaders in Jerusalem. They revered the Law of Moses and believed wholeheartedly that only those who were perfectly obedient were welcome in the temple of the Lord. The righteous were those who walked…

Daily Devotions

And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?” vs. 8 Deuteronomy 4:6-9 Even though the world is good, brokenness has also been a part of the human experience from the beginning. One of the first great spiritual insights of our faith ancestors was that a system of laws and commandments would make it possible for them and their children to bring healing to their broken world.…

Daily Devotions

So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you toobserve, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.” vs. 1 Deuteronomy 4:1-2 As the community of our faith ancestors began to emerge from the tangle of tribes occupying the deserts of the Middle East, their leaders began to compile a legal code that would govern their behaviors and ensure their…

Daily Devotions

Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’” vss. 63-69 John 6:63-69 In the end, when we’ve considered all the options and checked out all the alternatives, there are many who come to the same conclusion as Simon Peter. There just isn’t anything out there that can come close to offering anything better than the gospel…

Daily Devotions

Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve… but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” vs. 15 Joshua 24:15-18 It was crunch time for the Israelites. They were in the Promised Land and now Joshua wanted to know who they intended to serve. There hadn’t been many options in the barren waste of the wilderness, but now they were living in a land where there were a…

Daily Devotions

Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.” vs. 14 Psalm 34:9-14 Most people have a curiosity about their ancestors. Some spend years in genealogical research to figure out their family tree. Others send in saliva samples to testing companies like 23andme or Ancestry to find out what an analysis of their DNA can tell them about…