We Must Guard Against Turning the Symbol of Jesus’s Death into a Modern-Day Idol Do you worship the cross? The cross is the instrument of Jesus’s death when he died in our place for the wrong things we did—our sins. As such, it rises as a powerful symbol of our faith. Yet some well-meaning people […]
Today’s passage: Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:1–9, Luke 9:28–36, and John 12:27–30 Focus verse: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5) Yesterday’s passage ended with the puzzling statement that “some of you present won’t experience death before you see me coming in my kingdom” (Matthew […]
We Should Continue to Remember the Poor The Bible talks about the poor and teaches how to deal with poverty. Poverty shows up 21 times in the Bible, most in the practical advice-giving book of Proverbs. The word poor appears much more often at 176 times. Combined, these passages give us much insight in how […]
Today’s passage: Matthew 16:21–28, Mark 8:31–38, Luke 9:21–26, and John 12:23–26 Focus verse: Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem . . . be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Matthew 16:21) We open our Lenten devotional with Jesus predicting his death. This is key. It confirms that […]
Embrace the Season of Lent in a Fresh Way Many Christians and churches celebrate the season of Lent to remember Jesus and his passion for coming to earth to die for us and our sins. This is a gift to us and not something we need to earn. When we accept Jesus’s present, he makes […]
Successfully Move from One Year to the Next I never really understood the allure of staying up late on December 31 to welcome in the new year. As such, I saw no reason to celebrate New Year’s Eve. As a teenager, however, I embraced the idea of staying up until midnight as confirmation I was […]
Baby Jesus in the Temple Luke 2:21–24 He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. (Luke 2:21) The shepherds arrived shortly after Jesus’s birth to see the child the angel had told them about. Our story picks up eight days later, when it’s time to circumcise him. We’re […]
John’s Vision for These Churches Provides Us With Practical Insight Today Many people love the Book of Revelation, the apostle John’s supernatural treatise of the end times. It’s an epic read of God’s awesome power and the amazing, scary, exciting events that will usher us from this world into our eternal reality. Yet readers are […]
Segregating the Two Sides of Christmas Is Christmas an important holiday to you? I suspect you’ll say, “yes.” And if you follow Jesus, you may say Christmas is the most important holiday because it celebrates his birth some 2,000 years ago. That’s when Jesus came to earth to live among us and die in our […]
Anticipating the Arrival of Baby Jesus I don’t really think of Christmas Eve as a holiday as much as the prelude to one. Yet there is—or should be—a spiritual reason to celebrate Christmas Eve. Anticipating Christmas As a child I looked forward to Christmas Day with much excitement. On Christmas Eve I found it hard […]