Devotionals

Luke 16:19-31

A particular story Jesus once told comes to my mind every time I think of life after death. Because it is descriptive and brief, we are able to get a fairly uncomplicated picture in our minds of this subject of hell. 

Romans 3:10-18

It doesn’t take a PhD in English Literature to observe that God offers us a gift in salvation. The gift is eternal life, which is directly connected to His Son. 

1 John 5:11-13

Genesis 2:1-3

Following the sixth day of creation, the Lord God deliberately stopped working. He rested. It wasn’t that there was nothing else He could have done. It certainly wasn’t because He was exhausted. Omnipotence never gets tired! He hadn’t run out of ideas, for omniscience knows no mental limitations. He could easily have made more worlds, created an infinite number of other forms of life, and provided multiple millions of galaxies beyond what He did. 

But He didn’t. He stopped. 

Genesis 2:21-22

After God made man, He observed a need inside that life, a nagging loneliness that Adam couldn’t shake. 

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18) 

As a fulfilment to the promise to help Adam with his need for companionship, God got involved: 

Matthew 6:25-34

How do you get good at getting the rest God said was good for you? How do you get good at leisure? We can, of course, nod in agreement to all we’ve discussed in the past couple days about how important it is to rest and get recharged, but our greatest need is not inclination; it’s demonstration. 

Here are two suggestions that will help. 

1. Deliberately stop being absorbed with the endless details of life. Our Saviour said it straight when He declared that we cannot, at the same time, serve both God and man. But we try so hard! 

2 Peter 3

Entertainment is everything today. So important, in fact, that we have television programs and magazines devoted solely to the subject. All of which makes it real difficult to be committed to substance rather than the superficial. This includes reading widely, probing deeply, seeing with discernment, rejecting the false, learning the facts. In short, thinking!

Isaiah 53

I love music! Choral music, instrumental music, popular music, classical music...folk tunes, ballads, country western and bluegrass...the patriotic and romantic. For me, music is a must.

Like you, I have my favourite hymns—the ones that hold some special meaning for me or evoke grand and vivid memories of significant events. Invariably, those things pass in mental review as I become "lost in wonder, love, and praise" in my worship.

1 Samuel 16:7; Matthew 5:5

Centuries ago a little boy found himself in the midst of a vast crowd of people—larger than any group he'd ever seen. He had come out of curiosity, having heard that a man named Jesus was nearby.

Not knowing how far he would have to travel or how long he would be gone, the boy had packed a small lunch for himself, a couple of small fish and some bread.

Suddenly a man tapped the lad on the shoulder and asked what he had in his hand. And the next thing the boy knew, his lunch was feeding over 5,000 people!