Daily Devotionals

1 Peter 1:3

Can you remember a recent "grey slush" day? Of course you can. So can I. The laws of fairness and justice were displaced by a couple of Murphy's Laws. Your dream dissolved into a nightmare. High hopes took a hike. Good intentions got lost in a comedy of errors, only this time nobody was laughing. You didn't soar, you slumped. Instead of "pressing on the upward way," you felt like telling Bunyan to move over as you slid down into his Slough of Despond near Doubting Castle, whose owner was Giant Despair. Discouragement is just plain awful. 

1 Peter 5:1-4

If we hope to demonstrate the level of excellence modelled by Jesus Christ, then we'll have to come to terms with the kingdom we are going to serve: the eternal kingdom our Lord represented and told us to seek (Matthew 6:23) or the temporal kingdom of today.

Let's pause long enough to understand what I'm referring to when I mention the kingdom. It's one of those terms we like to use but seldom define. 

2 Corinthians 7:1

I need to be very candid with you. If you are a "Sunday Christian," you will not stand alone when outnumbered. Apart from a personal and vital faith in Jesus Christ, it is impossible to wage a winning effort against the system called "the world."

Trying to overcome the powerful magnet of the majority without help from above would be a frustrating and counterproductive effort. Only God can give us such transforming power through our faith in His Son. 

Psalm 139:13-16

One of the great American myths is that we are all a bunch of rugged individualists. We would like to think that, but it simply is not true. There are some exceptions, of course, but for the majority it is not that way at all.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Reflect on God's gifts to you. In case you need a little help, read through Psalm 103.

Job 8:21; Psalm 126:2

Luke 9:51

When Jesus tells us to "seek first the kingdom of God," the very word "seek" implies a strong-minded pursuit. J. B. Phillips paraphrases the idea with "set your heart on." The Amplified Bible says, "Aim at and strive after." The Greek text of Matthew's Gospel states a continual command: "Keep on continually seeking...." The thought is determination, which I define as "deciding to hang tough, regardless." 

Hebrews 9:27

Life is so short. We really don't have many years. And to spend them doing dumb stuff seems like such a waste.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Monotony and mediocrity mesh like teeth in gears. One spawns the other, leaving us yawning, bored, and adrift. In referring to monotony, I do not have in mind a lack of activity as much as a lack of purpose. We can be busy yet bored, involved yet indifferent. Life becomes tediously repetitious, dull, humdrum, pedestrian. In a word, blah. 

2 Samuel 7:1-3

There is an important dimension to hanging tough that you dare not miss. It is the thing that keeps you going. I call it a dream. I don't mean those things we experience at night while we're asleep. No, by dream, I mean a God-given idea, plan, agenda, or goal that leads to God-honouring results.