Daily Devotionals

Romans 6:11

In the wonderful sixth chapter of Romans, Paul presents three techniques for living by grace, above sin's domination. I find each one linked to a particular term he uses: 

Galatians 5:1

Grace killers cannot be mildly ignored or kindly tolerated. You can no more allow legalism to continue than you could permit a rattlesnake to slip into your house and hide. Before long, somebody is going to get hurt. So then, since liberty is worth fighting for, how do we do it? Where can our personal grace awakening begin? I can think of four strong strategies: 

Galatians 2:19

In contrast to yesterday’s thoughts on liberty, what does it mean to say that legalism puts people under bondage? Legalism is an attitude, a mentality based on pride. It is an obsessive conformity to an artificial standard for the purpose of exalting oneself. A legalist assumes the place of authority and pushes it to unwarranted extremes. 

Romans 7:24-25

Without becoming needlessly academic, I want to define a term that I've been tossing around. What do I mean when I declare that the Christian has liberty? Essentially, liberty is freedom...freedom from something and freedom to do something. Today I will concentrate on what liberty gives us the freedom to do.

Romans 7:24-25

Without becoming needlessly academic, I want to define a term that I've been tossing around. What do I mean when I declare that the Christian has liberty? Essentially, liberty is freedom...freedom from something and freedom to do something. Today I will concentrate on what our liberty gives us freedom from.

1 Corinthians 15:10

Whatever he became, according to his own statement, Paul owed it all to "the grace of God." When I ponder the words from that grand apostle, I come up with what we might call his credo. We can reduce it to three single-syllable statements, the first consisting of only eight words; the second, 10 words; and the third, 12. Occasionally, it helps to take a profound, multi-faceted theological truth and define it in simple, non-technical terms. 

Romans 14:22

Three suggestions come to mind as I think about living with the risks of grace and putting all this into balanced living. 

First, guard against extremes if you want to enjoy the freedom grace provides. Try your best to keep balanced, then enjoy it. No reason to feel guilty. No reason to be afraid. Try this first: Simply give yourself permission to be free. Don't go crazy...but neither should you spend time looking over your shoulder worrying about those who "spy out your liberty," and wondering what they will think and say. 

1 Corinthians 13:11

Because of grace we have been freed from sin, from its slavery, its bondage in our attitude, in our urges, and in our actions. But having been freed and now living by grace, we can actually go too far, set aside all self-control, and take our liberty to such an extreme that we again serve sin. But that isn't liberty at all, that's license. And knowing of that possibility, many opt for legalism lest they be tempted to live irresponsibly. Bad choice. How much better to have such an awesome respect for the Lord we voluntarily hold back as we apply self-control. 

Isaiah 44:22

Isaiah 44:22