Devotionals

Romans 5:3-5

Romans 8:28-30

Ever felt sorry for certain Scriptures? I sure have. I’m talking about passages like John 3:17, Hebrews 4:13, 1 John 1:10, and Philippians 4:14. Great verses, all...yet the popularity of their next-door neighbours has resulted in their being virtually ignored. 

Colossians 3:1–17

As I mentioned yesterday, as stimulating and invigorating as change may be—it is never easy. And when it comes to certain habits that haunt and harm us, change can be excruciating. But it isn’t impossible. 

Ephesians 5:1–10

When you boil life down to the nubbies, the name of the game is change. Those who flex with the times, refuse to be rigid, resist the mould, and reject the rut—ah, those are the souls distinctively used by God. To them, change is a challenge, a fresh breeze that flows through the room of routine and blows away the stale air of sameness. 

1 John 3:1–5

*Sensitive topic warning. The following post talks about suicide. 

If tears were indelible ink instead of clear fluid, all of us would be stained for life. The heartbreaking circumstances, the painful encounters with calamities, the brutal verbal blows we receive from the surgeon or an angry mate, the sudden loss of someone we simply adored, riding out the consequences of a stupid decision—ah! Such is the groan and grind of life. 

Hebrews 12:1–3; Psalm 91:1–2

What is perspective? 

Well, it’s obviously related to the way we view something. The term literally suggests “looking through...seeing clearly.” One who views life through perspective lenses has the capacity to see things in their true relations or relative importance. He sees the big picture. She is able to distinguish the incidental from the essential...the temporary from the eternal...the partial from the whole...the trees from the forest. 

1 John 2:15-17; Mark 4:19

We’ve been talking about Jesus’ parable in Mark 4:1–20 about the farmer who sows seeds in four different types of soil. As I mentioned in Part One, I’m bothered by the third group because thorns come in and destroy the healthy growth of the Christian. It is interesting that the thorns were already present at the time the seed entered, and that the thorns were never completely out of the picture even though the seeds began to take root (Mark 4:7). 

Mark 4:1–20

Give the Reverend Dullard Drydust enough time and he will manage to confuse most sections of the Bible. Because we preachers are notorious for getting hung up on Greek tenses and purpose clauses and theological trivia, we often shy away from those passages that appear nontechnical and plain. 

2 Chronicles 7:13–15

The history of great civilizations reminds me of a giant revolving door. It turns on the axis of human depravity as its movement is marked by the perimeter of time. With monotonous repetition each civilization has completed the same cycle, having passed through a similar sequence of events. One man summarized it like this: 

1 John 4:17–19

Each morning you awaken to an unpredictable set of hours filled with surprises and trials and anxieties. You know before your feet ever touch the floor you are in for another who-knows-what day. You could be in an accident on the freeway, fired from the job, the victim of a personal attack, mistreated, robbed, slandered, or threatened with a lawsuit. Sounds pretty bleak, but it’s true. Happens to hundreds like us daily.