Tag: Devotional

  • MORNING & EVENING

    Among other interpretations of this suggestive question, the following is full of teaching: “If the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself—the dry tree—shall fall into the hands of an angry God?” When God saw Jesus in the sinner’s place, he did not spare him; and when he…

  • AN IRRATIONAL LIFE

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 11:1-12:28; 2 Corinthians 3:9-18; Psalm 35:12-28 Love is irrational. It requires doing things that compromise every survival instinct.Moses tells God’s people to have a memory of what God has done among them and to love Him as a result: “And you shall love Yahweh your God, and you shall keep his obligations…

  • QUIET TIME DYNAMICS

    I once went eight months without a quiet time. It was not a good time in my life, but it was a spiritually powerful time. During this period, I was spiritually nurtured by worship services and Christian friends. I struggled with feelings of guilt but just couldn’t bring myself around. For several months before this…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honours which the blinded people of Israel awarded to their long expected King. Evening In this SOLEMN CONFESSION, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an…

  • A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 9:1-10:22; 2 Corinthians 3:1-8; Psalm 35:1-11 We file letters of recommendation from pastors, past supervisors, and teachers that highlight our skills, attitude, and work ethic. They present us as ideal candidates, glossing over the things we lack and the ways in which we’ve failed. But Paul’s letter of recommendation tells another story:…

  • QUIET TIME COMPANIONS

    One of the best ways to enhance our spiritual growth is to share our quiet time with at least one friend—a quiet time companion. Spiritual growth requires that we spend time alone. But once we have spent time alone with God, we need to be able to spend time with other believers. A quiet time…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    Jesus, bearing his cross, went forth to suffer without the gate. The Christian’s reason for leaving the camp of the world’s sin and religion is not because he loves to be singular, but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master. Christ was “not of the world:” his life and his testimony…

  • TREATING THE SYMPTOM

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 7:1-8:20; 2 Corinthians 2:12-17; Psalm 34:1-22 I regularly predict that something will only take me an hour when it actually ends up taking two. I’m beginning to think that this is a sign of a larger issue: the tendency to underestimate the severity of a problem. In medical offices, this is called…

  • FOLLOWING A QUIET TIME PATTERN

    Now that you have created a quiet time and place, what do youdo during your quiet time? Prayer and Bible study are the mainstays of quiet times. In Bible study we seek to hear what God has to say to us. In prayer we speak back to him. In other words, Bible study and prayer…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    We see in Simon’s carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts…