Devotionals

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Like sticks of dynamite taped together with a short fuse, our times are really volatile. Anger is ready to explode into physical violence at the slightest provocation. This entire globe seems brimming with hair-trigger hostility, ready to flare into full-scale disaster.

It's not just a vast global problem, however. It's personal. It's in your neighbourhood. Your school. Where you work. Home security systems are no longer considered a luxury for the rich. Even teachers are not safe in the classroom.

Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.

John 3:11-17

For years we have been hung up on records and statistics—particularly in the world of sports. They have become the standards for greatness.

1 Corinthians 11:28, 31

Thanks to the Word of God, we can list several marks of integrity that God would have us appropriate into our lives. Do you have these marks of integrity?

    • An excellent attitude 
    • Faithfulness and diligence at work 
    • Personal purity of the highest calibre 
    • Consistency in your walk with God 

You have the scalpel in your hand. Self-examination is up to you. It is not only a good idea, it's a biblical imperative.

Matthew 16

Better than any other word I can think of, change describes our world. Vast, sweeping changes, especially in the last 150 years. Simply to survive requires adjusting, and to make any kind of significant dent calls for a willingness to shift in style and to modify methods.

Consider two of the more pronounced changes in our world. 

Population. It was not until 1850 that the number of people on this globe reached one billion. By 1930 (a mere 80 years later) the number had doubled. Only 30 years later—1960—it had shot up to three billion.

1 Samuel 17

I wrote this back when Lenny Dykstra was playing for the Mets. But the truth still applies.

No offence, but Lenny Dykstra doesn't look like much of an athlete. He looks more like some team's mascot. Or like the guy who wears that silly chicken suit and does cartwheels around stadiums. The kid can't stand much more than five-seven. That little Dutch boy is the starting centre fielder for the National League New York Mets. Nicknamed "Nails"—as in "tough as" and "harder than." 

Psalm 23 

The path of the pale horse named Death, mentioned in Revelation 6:8, is littered with bitterness, sorrow, fear, and grief. This ashen stallion started his lengthy journey ages ago and races through time with steady beat and dreadful regularity. As long as we exist in the land of the dying, we shall hear the sombre knell of his hoofbeats.

Sadly, some people hurry their appointment with death. Painful though it may be to hear and accept, thousands of people will take their own lives during the next 12 months. For in our land, suicide is now almost an epidemic.

Nahum 1

Blow that layer of dust off the Book of Nahum in your Bible and catch a glimpse of the last part of verse three, chapter one: "The way of the Lord is in the whirlwind and in the storm" (Berkeley Version).

Several years ago I asked the ministry staff at the church I was pastoring to reflect on how their mothers had influenced their lives. Here are a few of the responses I received.

"The interest, concern, and care for older people that my mother modelled in a Christlike manner impacted my life to the extent that today I am involved in a ministry with senior adults" (Dave Jobe).

2 Timothy 1:1-5

Several years ago someone interviewed the contemporary artist Marc Chagall for a PBS program. The young, arty interviewer started the session with a question about influences. His question was very long and involved and exhibited his own learning along the way, giving everybody, including Chagall, a lecture on the nature of influences on the artist.