'grace' Tagged Posts (Page 12)
Daily Devotions: February 8, 2019
February 8, 2019 To read full passage click: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 …“For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” vs. 9 Paul occasionally drops autobiographical material into his writings, and what he says about himself usually corresponds to what we read about him in Acts. Initially, he had no love for the church and actively participated in the persecution of its members. All that changed with his…
Daily Devotions: February 5, 2019
February 5, 2019 To read full passage click: Isaiah 6:5-8 …“And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’” vs. 5 When Isaiah envisioned the awesome power of the living God, his own inadequacies were exposed and he sensed that his whole being was flawed. He knew himself so very well, and…
Daily Devotions: December 19, 2018
December 19, 2018 To read full passage click: Psalm 80:4-7 …“O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?” vs. 4 The psalmist was very aware of his people’s history. He’d heard the stories and committed them to memory. He knew they were a blessed and privileged people and that God had rescued them out of slavery and given them a fresh start and a new land. He also knew that they had messed…
Daily Devotions: November 9, 2018
November 9, 2018 Hebrews 9:24-28 …“And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” vss. 27-28 Many early Christians were steeped in the imagery of the sacrificial system and used that language to describe what had happened in Jesus. As the…
Daily Devotions: October 22, 2018
October 22, 2018 Jeremiah 31:31-34 …“No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” vs. 34 This is the dream! Jeremiah expressed it well. He was an eye-witness to the fall of Jerusalem and became a refugee in the land of Egypt. In his heart…
Daily Devotions: October 14, 2018
October 14, 2018 Mark 10:28-31 …“Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’” vs. 28 It seems that sometimes the disciples were confused by Jesus’ words and wondered if they’d made the right decision to follow him. In this instance, his comments about the impossibility of salvation had made Peter think that their commitments and sacrifices had been pointless. That’s a common reaction to the gospel of grace. If it’s all God, then what’s…
Daily Devotions: September 26, 2018
September 26, 2018 Psalm 19:7-14 …“Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.” vss. 11-12 Those of us who have been steeped in grace sometimes develop a subtle disdain for the law. We just don’t see the point of all the ordinances and commandments of scripture when salvation comes by grace through faith. The psalmist would have been amazed at our thinking! He…
Daily Devotions: July 13 , 2018
July 13, 2018 Ephesians 1:11-14…“In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;” vs. 13 It’s likely no accident that the words of this verse remind us of what is said following baptism in many of our congregations, “You have been marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit.” From the very beginning…
Daily Devotions: July 5 , 2018
July 5, 2018 2 Corinthians 12:6-9…“Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’” vss. 8-9a People have long wondered about Paul’s thorn in the flesh and have offered countless possibilities ranging from the plausible (eye issues) to the speculative (doubts or unbelief). Of course we really don’t know; Paul says only that he considered it a…
Daily Devotions: June 14 , 2018
June 14, 2018 Corinthians 5:6-10…“For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.” vs. 10 As followers of Jesus pick and choose their favorite passages of scripture, they often skip over verses like this one from Paul. Those who bask in the grace freely offered by God are troubled by intimations that there might one day be a time…
Daily Devotions: May 17, 2018
May 17, 2018 Psalm 104:31-35…“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.” vs. 33 The psalmist felt a calling to continually praise God for the wonder and majesty of creation. Everywhere he looked, from dawn to dusk, he saw the signs of God’s creative and renewing spirit. How often we miss out on the joy of that kind of living! We tend to get so immersed…
Daily Devotions: May 8, 2018
May 8, 2018 Psalm 1:1-3…“They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.” vs. 3 So who are these folks who prosper in all that they do? According to this psalmist, they are those who love the law of the Lord and who meditate on it both day and night. Jesus said nearly the same thing at the close of…