Daily Devotionals

Colossians 3:17, 23

My high school graduating class had its 30th-anniversary reunion many summers ago. Since I could not attend, I decided to blow the dust off my yearbook and stroll down nostalgia lane. I remembered a project we seniors were given before the yearbook went to press back in ’52. We were asked to think about the next 20 years and answer, “What do I want to do?” The plan was to record our dreams and goals in the yearbook, then evaluate them at each subsequent reunion. Some of the goals are not fitting to repeat, but some are both interesting and revealing:

Psalm 46:10

Psalm 33:1–3

I cannot imagine anything more boring and less desirable than being poured into the mould of predictability. Few things interest me less than the routine, the expected, the status quo. A fresh run at life by an untried route will get my vote every time. Stay open-minded for a moment, and I’ll try to show you why.

Mark 12:29–30

Your mind is a muscle. It needs to be stretched to stay sharp. It needs to be prodded and pushed to perform. Let it get idle and lazy on you, and that muscle will become a pitiful mass of flab in a brief period of time.

How can you stretch your mind? What are some good mental exercises that will keep the cobwebs away? Here’s how Jesus said it:

Romans 2:1–4

Ever feel worn out by the spinning of your wheels in the muck of sin? Are you fatigued from fighting the battle against your dark nature? Do you sometimes feel like throwing up your hands and surrendering to the constant barrage of spiritual attacks that attempt to lure you away from a life of holiness and devotion?

Daniel 4:35

Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, an organization discipling and mentoring ministry leaders around the world, drowned while saving a swimmer from certain death. Eyewitnesses tell of the tears and helpless disbelief in the faces of those who now looked out across the deep blue water of Schroon Lake. Everyone’s face except one—Lila Trotman. Dawson’s widow. As she arrived a close friend shouted, “Oh, Lila, he’s gone. Dawson’s gone!” She replied in calm assurance the words of Psalm 115:3:

Our God is in the heavens,

Luke 12:17–21

Practically speaking, greed is an inordinate desire for more, an excessive, unsatisfied hunger to possess. Like an untamed beast, greed grasps, claws, reaches, clutches, and clings—stubbornly refusing to surrender. The word enough is not in this beast’s vocabulary.

Hebrews 4:15–16

Perhaps you’re fighting an inner battle with a ghost from the past. The spectre of a previous hurt haunts your mind and steals your peace.

Before you surrender your case as hopeless, consider the liberating evidence of freedom offered in the Bible. Take an honest look at men and women whom God used despite their past regrets.

Joshua 1:6–7

Galatians 5:22–23

The rare and remarkable virtue of patience is within the and-so-forth section of Galatians chapter 5. You know how we quote that passage ... “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and-so-forth.” That lazy habit has caused a very important series of virtues to escape our notice. Let’s read it together as a refresher:

The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).