Daily Devotionals

Romans 2:2–4

It was a shocking display of all-out defiance. Minutes before his execution, convicted Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, gave a handwritten copy of William Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus” to the prison warden. The final lines of that ominous ode of defiance still send shivers up my spine:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Jeremiah 22:18–21

When you boil life down to the bare bones, the name of the game is change. Those who flex with the times refuse to be rigid. They 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.

Acts 2:43–44, 46–47

Shortly after his conversion in 1929, C.S. Lewis wrote a letter to a friend, and in the letter, he included these words:

“When all is said (and truly said) about divisions of Christendom, there remains, by God’s mercy, an enormous common ground.”

Proverbs 22:6

Ephesians 4:1–3

I’ve never run a marathon. I’ve never even wanted to. I admire those who have, and I’m always amazed at the intense training marathon runners endure before they strap on their race-day shoes and head to the starting line. Interestingly, when it comes to running the marathon of faith that God has called us to run, He encourages us to begin with a “walk.”

Romans 15:4

When I’m reading an obscure passage in the Old Testament, I sometimes think of Paul’s words to the believers in Rome:

“Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” (Romans 15:4)

Ephesians 2:3–5

I’m told that when suffering a heart attack, it feels as if someone has placed a hundred-pound weight directly on your chest. The panic comes when you can’t get relief.

2 Chronicles 7:14

In 1968, an airplane headed for New York—a normally routine flight. But this time it proved to be otherwise.

While on their descent pattern, the pilot realized that the landing gear was not engaging. He messed around with the controls, trying again and again to get the gear to lock into place without success. He then asked ground control for instruction. As the plane circled the landing field, the emergency crew coated the runway with foam, and emergency vehicles moved into position.

2 Timothy 2:1–7

I’ve been thinking these days about what makes a church effective. It’s on my mind more and more as I’ve rounded the turn into my 80th year of life. What I’ve come to realize is that part of what makes a church a winsome place is when believers live transparently with one another.

The Apostle Paul challenged Timothy, his son in the faith, to push past the facade and live his life in touch with reality:

Proverbs 4:18–23

The older I get the more serious I am about study and preparation. From my early days as a student at Dallas Theological Seminary, I was convinced of the importance of rigorous preparation, deep reading, and a solid theological and biblical education. In fact, I’ve sometimes wished I could’ve had more training—spent more years pursuing an even more scholarly set of skills.