Daily Devotionals
Need a little daily dose of inspiration and a challenge to make faith more than a Sunday morning activity? Our daily devotions provide a short reflection on a passage of scripture along with ideas of how to apply its truth to everyday life. Sign up to receive an email every morning as a gentle reminder to start your day with a thought from God’s Word. Below are some samples of past devotionals.
Babbling
I’ve got a short attention span. I rarely watch movies because most are simply too long to keep my interest. Thus, Melissa and I almost never go to a theater for fear that I’ll waste the ticket price and start scrolling on my phone instead of paying attention to the film’s plot. Instead, I like to watch half-hour or one-hour shows (max) on DVR at home—that way we can fast-forward through the commercials and then move on to something else. I can generally keep focused for up to 50 minutes…
Love Your Enemies
At the outset of this devotional series, we took time to consider the primary commands of Jesus to love God and to love others. These commands are the foundation for everything else Jesus told His followers to do. Everything Jesus wants is comprised in His commands to love God and love others. But in today’s reading from the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Jesus make a very specific demand of those who follow Him…
Greatly Troubled
Perhaps no single person on earth has better understood the incarnation than Mary. While theologians have pondered for centuries the spiritual significance of God becoming flesh and blood, while preachers have given countless Christmas Eve sermons on the Son of God appearing as a baby and being laid in a manger, while numerous hymns and spiritual songs have been written proclaiming that all mortal flesh should keep silence in response to the appearance of the Messiah….
Jesus Looked at Him
Today, we begin to explore the Gospels to see what they tell us about a fisherman named Simon who would become the Apostle Peter. Most of the passages we will consider will be from the book of Mark, since it is widely believed that Mark gained much of his information on the life and teachings of Jesus from the disciple Peter. However, the other three Gospel writers include some interesting information about Peter and so we will also visit them. For example, John’s description of the calling of Peter is worth our attention…
Don't Grumble
Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
-James 5:9 (NIV)
And yet again, the Apostle James serves up a gut punch: Don’t grumble against each other. If you do grumble, you will face judgement. And by the way, the Judge is right behind that door and is ready to hold you accountable.
This is another one of those times that God’s Word is unapologetically designed to…
Completely
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
-Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
I don’t know if this happens to you or not, but every once in a while I read a passage of scripture and I receive a Holy Spirit gut punch. And sometimes, it’s a single verse that delivers that punch. As I sat down to write today’s devotional, it was one of those times…