'Paul' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” vss. 13-14 Philippians 3:9-14 Paul knew that the best was yet to come and he was determined to press forward in the Way of Christ Jesus. He uses some sports talk to illustrate…
Daily Devotions
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” vss. 7-8a Philippians 3:4b-8 Sometimes it’s interesting to look back at our lives from time to time, and if we look way back most of us can point to some achievements along the way. There may have been academic excellence or athletic awards, maybe even…
Daily Devotions
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” vs. 17 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 One of the basic truths of all great world religions is that the past does not define our future, and that is most certainly true of Christianity. Paul makes that very clear in his second letter to the Corinthians when he writes that in Christ, the old has passed away and everything has become…
Daily Devotions
No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” vs. 13 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 Paul has no illusions about the power of human beings to resist temptation. He knows that even people of faith can be spineless and feeble when immorality, greed, and idolatry…
Daily Devotions
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea … Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them…” vss. 1, 5 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 Paul certainly was no Pollyanna. He knew from Hebrew history that most of the people of Israel, rescued from slavery in Egypt, had fallen away from the faith by the time they left the wilderness. Therefore he does not…
Daily Devotions
If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” vs. 18 Romans 12:16-21 One of the problems in a diverse community, as the Body of Christ is intended to be, is learning how to live with people who are different from ourselves. We have different ethnic and religious backgrounds, different perspectives on gender issues, different political preferences – in fact, we likely think differently about every matter under the sun. So there will be…
Daily Devotions
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” vs. 1 Romans 12:1-2 When Paul was making his own decisions about life he used his personality and his learning to launch a crusade against Jews who believed that Jesus was the messiah. After he was confronted by the living Christ everything changed. Moved by the gospel of grace,…
Daily Devotions
For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.” vs. 32 Romans 11:29-32 Paul knew that the Jews and Gentiles had nothing in common on the basis of their heritage or religious background. But what they did have in common was disobedience. All people are created good and are in the image of God, and all people are broken. To put it bluntly, all people are sinners! That’s what we have in common with…
Daily Devotions
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.” vs. 1 Romans 11:1-2a Paul knew his heritage and was proud of it – he could name his ancestors in a heartbeat. Some of us know what that is like. We proudly fly the national flags of our ancestors, and have spent years tracing our lineage back for hundreds of years. We gorge…
Daily Devotions
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh.” vs. 3 Romans 9:1-5 Midway through his letter to the Romans, after having described justification by faith in excruciating detail, Paul offers a section on Israel’s election as the chosen people of God. He tells the church in Rome that it breaks his heart that so many of his kindred, according to the…
Daily Devotions
Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.” vs. 58 Acts 7:55-58 Paul was very open about his past, that he had in fact been involved in the persecution of the followers of Jesus. In his letter to the Galatians he writes that he violently persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it, not out of hate, but…
Daily Devotions
Paul…to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…” vss. 1-2a 1 Corinthians 1:1-4 Paul had lived in Corinth for some time in the course of his first missionary journey, and had founded the congregation there. Mostly Gentile, they had continued to be faithful to the gospel and had kept in contact with Paul after he had gone on to Ephesus. Not only had they written him a…