Blog (Page 4)
Daily Devotions
1 Peter 3:13-17…“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the- hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” vss. 15b-16a The exiles to whom Peter was writing were suffering. We don’t know the particulars but we can guess that it might have had something to do with periodic suppression by the Romans. Or it could have been related to the ongoing struggle with the Jews who were…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 66:16-20…“Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.” vs. 20 While the psalmist did believe that God had answered his prayer, he also believed that God would not have listened to his prayer if he had iniquity in his heart. We can understand his reasoning because those same assumptions are often operative among us. It makes sense from a human point of view that God would pay no attention to…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 66:8-15…“I will come into your house with burnt-offerings; I will pay you my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.” vs. 13-14 The psalmist evidently knew a thing or two about tough times. He compares his own travails to the plight of the Israelites in Egypt and the perils of their flight from slavery. He flooded the heavens with prayers and, as humans are prone to do, promised payment if those…
Daily Devotions
Acts 17:22-31…“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ’For we too are his offspring.’” vs. 28 There were Jews living in Athens and Paul went first to the synagogue to argue and debate with them about Jesus as the messiah. But when some of the Athenian sages heard what Paul was talking about they invited him to come and speak to them on Mars Hill near the…
Daily Devotions
John 14:8-14…“I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” vss. 13-14 As far as some Christians are concerned this is the point in his ministry when Jesus gave his disciples the secret code that would guarantee answered prayers. All that they would need to do to get their heart’s desire would be to offer their prayer…
Daily Devotions
John 14:1-7…“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” vs. 6 Thomas was confused about Jesus’ words. Jesus had said that he was going away but that he would come again and take them to himself, and that the disciples knew the way to where he was going. But Thomas didn’t know where Jesus was going, and he didn’t know the way. So Jesus makes…
Daily Devotions
1 Peter 2:4-10…“Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house…” vss. 4-5a A verse in Psalm 118, “the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” is quoted in each of the gospels as referring to Jesus. It was considered the perfect metaphor to describe what had happened to him in his death and resurrection. Peter too,…
Daily Devotions
1 Peter 2:1-3…“Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” vss. 2-3 Like the people that Peter was writing to, we live in a world that is awash with folks spouting malice, guile, insincerity, envy, and slander. It’s what we see on news clips and videos every day, and it corrupts our spirits and threatens our serenity. Fortunately there is another…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 31:15-16…“Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.” vs. 16 It’s very likely that the psalmist, in the course of temple worship, had heard the Aaronic Benediction many times. It was the blessing that, according to the scriptures, had first been pronounced over the Israelites by Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first high priest. “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 31:1-5…“Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.” vs. 5 Last words have significance. There are many occasions where the dying words of people have been particularly memorable. The gospel writer Luke believed that they were important and faithfully reported the last words of both Jesus and Stephen, words which seem to have been a quotation from Psalm 31, “Into your hand I commit my spirit.” In both instances the quote is…
Daily Devotions
Acts 7:55-60…“While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.” vss. 59-60 Stephen, one of the seven persons chosen by the apostles to help with the distribution of goods to the needy, was eloquent and full of the Spirit. When challenged by Jewish opponents he preached a long sermon, recounting the…
Daily Devotions
John 10:6-10…“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” vs. 9 In the Roman catacombs the earliest artistic rendering of Jesus is as the Good Shepherd. And in the gospel of John this is how Jesus spoke of himself–it’s a familiar image. But John also reports that Jesus called himself the gate of the sheep, and this depiction can be helpful in understanding just who Jesus is…