'daily living' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” vs. 15 Romans 7:15-20 There’s probably not a person on the planet who could not identify with what Paul says here, particularly if they’ve ever had a golfing experience! In that particular sport, athletes approach each shot with definite expectations, and again and again they are horribly disappointed. No matter how much they might want to make…
Daily Devotions
But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.” vs. 22 Romans 6:17-23 One of the peculiarities of life in Christ is that after years and years of choosing the good in the course of daily living, we become virtually incapable of being anything but good. To use Paul’s words, we have been freed from sin and enslaved to God. At times, because the changing…
Daily Devotions
No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.” vs. 13 Romans 6:12-16 Paul implies here that the folks in Rome had an option to present themselves either to sin as instruments of wickedness or to God as instruments of righteousness. His words resonate with our own observations of the world and our…
Daily Devotions
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.” vs. 41 Mark 9:38-41 The disciples were thrilled to be a part of the Jesus brigade but they didn’t have a clue about what that involved. They were applying the world’s standards to the Peaceable Kingdom and believed that they had become insiders by following Jesus. It was a pretty small group,…
Daily Devotions
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” vs. 4 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Paul uses dualistic language here to describe those forces present in the world that contrive to keep us from recognizing the presence of Christ, either in ourselves or in the world. While we might not call those powers the…
Daily Devotions
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” vs. 35 Mark 1:32-39 The Sea of Galilee is a harp-shaped lake about eleven miles long and is surrounded by large hills. Along its banks in the time of Jesus were a number of small towns and villages. Capernaum is at the northern edge, right about where the Jordan River enters the lake. When Jesus got up…
Daily Devotions
Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’” vss. 23-24 Mark 1:23-26 According to Mark the demons knew exactly who Jesus was–they spotted his holiness a mile away and called him out. They not only knew his name but they knew his divine origins, and…
Daily Devotions
Philippians 4:1-5 … “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” vss. 4-5 Paul tells the Philippians in the closing part of his letter that the “Lord is near.” Most often we read these words as a kind of warning–Paul wants the Philippians to be on their best behavior when Jesus returns–and it could be that this is what he has in mind. But it’s more likely…