Wisdom We Need
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Posted:Oct 8, 2023 6:31 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 13925 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Proverbs 4:10–19
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 30–31; Philippians 4
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. Proverbs 4:19
In his monumental book The Great Influenza, John M. Barry recounts the story of the 1918 flu epidemic. Barry reveals how health officials, rather than being caught off guard, anticipated a massive outbreak. They feared that World War I, with hundreds of thousands of troops crammed into trenches and moving across borders, would unleash new viruses. But this knowledge was useless to stop the devastation. Powerful leaders, beating the drums of war, rushed toward violence. And epidemiologists estimate that fifty million people died in the epidemic, adding to the roughly twenty million killed in the war’s carnage.
We’ve proven over and again that our human knowledge will never be enough to rescue us from evil (Proverbs 4:14–16). Though we’ve amassed immense knowledge and present remarkable insights, we still can’t stop the pain we inflict on one another. We can’t halt “the way of the wicked,” this foolish, repetitive path that leads to “deep darkness.” Despite our best knowledge, we really have no idea “what makes [us] stumble” (v. 19).
That’s why we must “get wisdom, get understanding” (v. 5). Wisdom teaches us what to do with knowledge. And true wisdom, this wisdom we desperately require, comes from God. Our knowledge always falls short, but His wisdom provides what we need.
Where do you see human knowledge falling short? How might God’s wisdom instruct you in a better, truer way to live?
Dear God, I wrestle with pride. My human knowledge can’t save me. Please teach me Your truth.
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A Choice
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Posted:Oct 7, 2023 5:08 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 13863 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Deuteronomy 30:15–20
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 28–29; Philippians 3
I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life. Deuteronomy 30:19
A few weeks after the death of a dear friend, I spoke with her mom. I was hesitant to ask how she was doing because I thought it was an inappropriate question; she was grieving. But I pushed aside my reluctance and simply asked how she was holding up. Her reply: “Listen, I choose joy.”
Her words ministered to me that day as I struggled to push beyond some unpleasant circumstances in my own life. And her words also reminded me of Moses’ edict to the Israelites at the end of Deuteronomy. Just before Moses’ death and the Israelites’ entrance into the promised land, God wanted them to know that they had a choice. Moses said, “I have set before you life and death . . . . Now choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). They could follow God’s laws and live well, or they could turn away from Him and live with the consequences of “death and destruction” (v. 15).
We must choose how to live too. We can choose joy by believing and trusting in God’s promises for our lives. Or we can choose to focus on the negative and difficult parts of our journeys, allowing them to rob us of joy. It will take practice and relying on the Holy Spirit for help, but we can choose joy—knowing that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28.
How can you choose joy in spite of your circumstances today? How is choosing joy similar to choosing life as God described to the Israelites?
Dear God, Giver of Joy, please help me to choose to follow You and believe and trust You this day.
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What Could Be Better?
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Posted:Oct 6, 2023 5:09 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 13918 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: 1 Timothy 4:6–16
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 26–27; Philippians 2
That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God.
1 Timothy 4:10
Eric heard about Jesus’ love for him while in his early twenties. He started attending church where he met someone who helped him grow to know Christ better. It wasn’t long before Eric’s mentor assigned him to teach a small group of boys at church. Through the years, God drew Eric’s heart to help at-risk youth in his city, to visit the elderly, and to show hospitality to his neighbors—all for God’s honor. Now in his late fifties, Eric explains how grateful he is that he was taught early to serve: “My heart overflows to share the hope I’ve found in Jesus. What could be better than to serve Him?”
Timothy was a when his mother and grandmother influenced him in his faith (2 Timothy 1:5). And he was likely a young adult when he met the apostle Paul, who saw potential in Timothy’s service for God and invited him on a ministry journey (Acts 16:1–3). Paul became his mentor in ministry and life. He encouraged him to study, to be courageous as he faced false teaching, and to use his talents in service to God (1 Timothy 4:6–16).
Why did Paul want Timothy to be faithful in serving God? He wrote, “Because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people” (v. 10). Jesus is our hope and the Savior of the world. What could be better than to serve Him?
What have you learned about Christ that you want someone else to know? Who could use your help and whose help might you need?
Dear God, please give me a heart to bring Your hope to those around me.
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Ready to Go
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Posted:Oct 5, 2023 2:47 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 13839 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Philippians 1:21–30
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 23–25; Philippians 1
I desire to depart and be with Christ . . . but it is more necessary . . . that I remain. Philippians 1:23–24
During the coronavirus pandemic, many suffered the loss of loved ones. On November 27, 2020, our family joined their ranks when Bee Crowder, my ninety-five-year-old mom, died—though not from Covid-19. Like so many other families, we weren’t able to gather to grieve Mom, honor her life, or encourage one another. Instead, we used other means to celebrate her loving influence—and we found great comfort from her insistence that, if God called her home, she was ready and even eager to go. That confident hope, evidenced in so much of Mom’s living, was also how she faced death.
Facing possible death, Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. . . . I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body”
(Philippians 1:21, 23–24). Even with his legitimate desire to stay and help others, Paul was drawn to his heavenly home with Christ.
Such confidence changes how we view the moment when we step from this life to the next. Our hope can give great comfort to others in their own season of loss. Although we grieve the loss of those we love, believers in Jesus don’t grieve like those “who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). True hope is the possession of those who know Him.
How would you describe your response to the threatening realities in our world? How could intentional hope change your outlook on the struggles of life?
God of all hope, please remind me of Jesus’ death-conquering victory.
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Finding Life
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Posted:Oct 4, 2023 5:35 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 13755 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: 1 John 5:1–5
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 20–22; Ephesians 6
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. 1 John 5:1
It was a natural step for Brett to attend a Christian college and study the Bible. After all, he’d been around people who knew Jesus his whole life—at home, at school, at church. He was even gearing his college studies toward a career in “Christian work.”
But at age twenty-one, as he sat with the small congregation in an old country church and listened to a pastor preach from 1 John, he made a startling discovery. He realized that he was depending on knowledge and the trappings of religion and that he’d never truly received salvation in Jesus. He felt that Christ was tugging at his heart that day with a sobering message: “You don’t know Me!”
The apostle John’s message is clear: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1). We can “overcome the world,” as John puts it (v. 4),
only by belief in Jesus. Not knowledge about Him, but deep, sincere faith—demonstrated by our belief in what He did for us on the cross. That day, Brett placed his faith in Christ alone.
Today, Brett’s deep passion for Jesus and His salvation are no secret. It comes through loud and clear every time he steps behind the pulpit and preaches as a pastor—my pastor.
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his . Whoever has the has life” (vv. 11–12). For all who have found life in Jesus, what a comforting reminder this is!
What’s your story of faith? What led you to understand you needed Jesus?
Jesus, thank You for the gift of salvation and for those who pointed me to faith in You.
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I Can See You!
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Posted:Oct 3, 2023 5:01 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 13791 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: 1 Corinthians 13:4–13
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 17–19; Ephesians 5:17–33
Now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. 1 Corinthians 13:12
The optometrist helped three-year-old Andreas adjust his first pair of glasses. “Look in the mirror,” she said. Andreas glanced at his reflection, then turned to his father with a joyful and loving smile. Then Andreas’ father gently wiped the tears that slipped down his ’s cheeks and asked, “What’s wrong?” Andreas wrapped his arms around his father’s neck. “I can see you.” He pulled back, tilted his head, and gazed into his father’s eyes. “I can see you!”
As we prayerfully study the Bible, the Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see Jesus, the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). However, even with our vision cleared by the Spirit as we grow in knowledge through Scripture, we can still only see a glimpse of God’s infinite immensity on this side of eternity. When our time on earth is done or when Jesus fulfills His promise to return, we’ll see Him clearly
(1 Corinthians 13:12).
We won’t need special glasses in that joy-filled moment when we see Christ face-to-face and know Him as He knows each of us, the beloved members of the body of Christ—the church. The Holy Spirit will infuse us with the faith, hope, and love we need to stand firm, until we gaze at our loving and living Savior and say, “I can see You, Jesus. I can see You!”
What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you recently as you’ve read the Bible? How has your growth in the knowledge of God changed you?
Jesus, please help me see You clearer and know You intimately as I walk with You faithfully now and until the day You call me home or come again.
Grow in your spiritual walk with God.
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The Masterpiece Within
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Posted:Oct 2, 2023 4:00 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 14037 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Ephesians 2:1–10
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 14–16; Ephesians 5:1–16
We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Ephesians 2:10
Writing in The Atlantic, author Arthur C. Brooks tells of his visit to the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, which contains one of the largest collections of Chinese art in the world. The museum guide asked, “What do you think of when I ask you to imagine a work of art yet to be started?” Brooks said, “An empty canvas, I guess.” The guide replied, “There’s another way to view it: The art already exists, and the job of artists is simply to reveal it.”
In Ephesians 2:10, the word handiwork, sometimes translated as “workmanship” or “masterpiece,” is from the Greek word poiēma, from which we derive our word poetry. God has created us as works of art, living poems. However, our art has become obscured: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins”
(v. 1). To paraphrase the words of the museum guide, “The art [of us] is already there, and it’s the job of the Divine Artist to reveal it.” Indeed, God is restoring us, His masterpieces: “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive” (vv. 4–5).
As we go through challenges and difficulties, we might take comfort in knowing that the Divine Artist is at work: “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Know that God is working in you to reveal His masterpiece.
What are some of the ways that you, as God’s artwork, have become dimmed? How do you feel He’s working in your life these days?
Creator God, thank You for making me one of Your masterpieces.
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Elegant Design
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Posted:Oct 1, 2023 5:47 am
Last Updated:Oct 1, 2023 5:48 am 13939 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Genesis 1:14–23
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 11–13; Ephesians 4
God said . . . “Let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” Genesis 1:20
An international research team has created a flapping-wing drone that mimics the movements of a particular bird—the swift. Swifts can fly up to ninety miles per hour and are able to hover, plunge, turn quickly, and stop suddenly. The ornithopter drone, however, is still inferior to the bird. One researcher said birds “have multiple sets of muscles which enable them to fly incredibly fast, fold their wings, twist, open feather slots and save energy.” He admitted that his team’s efforts were still only able to replicate about “10 percent of biological flight.”
God has given the creatures in our world all kinds of amazing abilities. Observing them and reflecting on their know-how can be a source of wisdom for us. The ants teach us about gathering resources, rock badgers show us the value of dependable shelter, and locusts teach us there’s strength in numbers (Proverbs 30:25–27).
The Bible tells us that “[God] founded the world by his wisdom” (Jeremiah 10:12), and at the end of each step in the creation process, He confirmed that what He’d done was “good” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). The same God who created birds to “fly above the earth across the vault of the sky” (v. 20), has given us the ability to combine His wisdom with our own reasoning. Today, consider how you might learn from His elegant designs in the natural world.
What part of God’s creation do you admire the most? How does it speak to you about His wisdom?
Dear Father, open my eyes to Your wisdom as I consider Your creation.
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Least Likely
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Posted:Sep 30, 2023 3:50 am
Last Updated:Sep 30, 2023 3:54 am 13902 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Joshua 2:1–4, 9–14
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 9–10; Ephesians 3
For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Joshua 2:11
Hollywood gives us larger-than-life spies who are dashing drivers of flashy Aston-Martins and other luxury sports cars. But Jonna Mendez, a former CIA chief, paints an opposite picture of the real thing. An agent must be “the little gray man,” she says, someone nondescript, not flashy. “You want them to be forgettable.” The best agents are those least likely to appear like agents.
When two of Israel’s spies slipped into Jericho, it was Rahab who hid them from the king’s soldiers (Joshua 2:4). She was seemingly the least likely person for God to employ as an espionage agent, for she had three strikes against her: she was a Canaanite, a woman, and a . Yet Rahab had started to believe in the God of the Israelites: “Your God is God in heaven” (v. 11). She hid God’s spies under flax on the roof, assisting in their daring escape. God rewarded her faith: “Joshua spared Rahab the , with her family” (6:25).
Sometimes we might feel we’re the least likely to be used by God. Perhaps we have physical limitations, don’t feel “flashy” enough to lead, or have a tarnished past. But history is filled with “nondescript” believers redeemed by God, people like Rahab who were given a special mission for His kingdom. Be assured: He has divine purposes for even the least likely of us.
In what ways do you feel “in the background”? What do you think might be the mission God has for you?
Dear God, please help me be ready for Your calling, for the mission You might have for me.
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A Giver’s Heart
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Posted:Sep 29, 2023 4:22 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:31 am 13837 Views
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Today's Devotional
Read: Proverbs 11:15–25
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 7–8; Ephesians 2
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25
On our last day in Wisconsin, my friend brought her four-year-old Kinslee to say goodbye. “I don’t want you to move,” said Kinslee. I hugged her and gave her a canvas, hand-painted fan from my collection. “When you miss me, use this fan and remember that I love you.” Kinslee asked if she could have a different fan—a paper one from my bag. “That one’s broken,” I said. “I want you to have my best fan.” I didn’t regret giving Kinslee my favorite fan. Seeing her happy made me happier. Later, Kinslee told her mother she was sad because I kept the broken fan. They sent me a brand-new, fancy purple fan. After giving generously to me, Kinslee felt happy again. So did I.
In a world that promotes self-gratification and self-preservation, we can be tempted to hoard instead of living with giving hearts. However, the Bible says that a person who “gives freely . . . gains even more” (Proverbs 11:24). Our culture defines prosperity as having more and more and more, but the Bible says that “a generous person will prosper” and “whoever refreshes others will be refreshed” (v. 25).
God’s unlimited and unconditional love and generosity continually recharge us. We can each have a giver’s heart and create unending giving cycles because we know God—the Giver of all good things—never gets tired of providing abundantly.
How has the generosity of others helped you get closer to Jesus? How can you put someone else’s needs above your own this week?
Dear God, help me give as generously as You’ve given to me.
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