Category: DEVOTIONALS

  • MORNING & EVENING

    The whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact that “Christ is risen from the dead;” for, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins.” The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in his resurrection, since he was “Declared to…

  • SUCCESS DECEIVES

    Connect The TestamentsJudges 15:1-17:13; Philippians 4:2-9; Psalm 69:18-70:5 When leaders come to power, there are always people who become insistent on stopping them. It’s incredible how easy it is for people to justify envy or hatred for authority figures. Most of us have made the offhand remark, “I hate that guy.” And in those words,…

  • GOD, NEAR AND FAR

    Reflections on Ezekiel Today we often take our church buildings for granted; but in Ezekiel’s day, the temple was a big deal. The temple served as God’s earthly dwelling place, representing his presence among his people. Because of the people’s disobedience and idolatry, however, God removes his glory from the temple (Ezek 10:1–22). Yet in…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    All the goodness of the past, the present, and the future, Christ bestows upon his people. In the mysterious ages of the past the Lord Jesus was his Father’s first elect, and in his election he gave us an interest, for we were chosen in him from before the foundation of the world. He had…

  • BEYOND REGRET

    Connect The TestamentJudges 13:1-14:20; Philippians 3:21-4:1; Psalm 69:1-17 I’ve excelled at regret. When I’ve dwelt on the wrongs I committed against other people and my offensive rebellion against God, I lost my focus. It’s difficult to be confident in our righteousness through Christ when we go through these periods. In Philippians 3:12–14, Paul offers both…

  • BEFORE THE TEARS ARE WIPED AWAY

    Reflections on Lamentations My brother Tripp died unexpectedly when I was in college. When I returned to school, still shell-shocked from his funeral, I was met with a barrage of friendly fire in the form of “Christian comfort.” One after another, friends offered snippets of hope: “God works all things for good,” “God is in…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    Years are short to the happy and healthy; but thirty-eight years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the life of the poor impotent man. When Jesus, therefore, healed him by a word, while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was delightfully sensible of a change. Even so the sinner…

  • MAKING GOOD OUT OF BAD

    Connect The TestamentsJudges 11:1-12:15; Philippians 3:1-11; Psalm 68:15-35 God is renowned for working through unlikely means with the most unlikely people. During the period of the judges, there were few candidates less likely for God’s work than Jephthah himself: “Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead…

  • WHEN EVERYTHING CRUMBLES

    Reflections on Jeremiah We spend our time building for the present. We stack bricks of time and energy into relationships, savings and careers. We believe our passion will serve as the mortar that will hold it all together. When it all comes crumbling down—when a spouse cheats, when a position is terminated, when tragedy strikes—we’re…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    What a mass of hideous sickness must have thrust itself under the eye of Jesus! Yet we read not that he was disgusted, but patiently waited on every case. What a singular variety of evils must have met at his feet! What sickening ulcers and putrefying sores! Yet he was ready for every new shape…