Tag: DEVOTIONALS

  • LEARNING FROM ENEMIES

    Connect The TestamentsEzra 3:1-4:24; 1 John 3:11-18; Psalm 106:16-29 If a new venture is really worth pursuing, it will probably be opposed. Some people will refuse to get on board, and others will intentionally get in the way. While these people may be trying protect their own interests, it’s more likely that they don’t like…

  • FROM: Anonymous

    Reflections on Jude Jude exhorts believers in Jesus to have “more and more mercy, peace, and love” (Jude 2). He ends his letter with some practical advice on what this characterization should look like (Jude 20–22). But what else should we be doing? When I cradled my first paycheck at age 16, I recognized the…

  • NOT PERFECT?

    Connect The TestamentsEzra1:1-2:70; 1 John 3:5-10; Psalm 106:1-15 Sometimes sin can discourage us to the point that we loathe ourselves. At first glance, John’s letter seems to encourage this. Addressing a struggling church community, John seems to call for perfection: “And you know that that one was revealed in order that he might take away…

  • HE HEARS

    Reflections on 3 John It felt like God wasn’t listening. Scripture is full of verses about God hearing and answering our prayers. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we…

  • ENCOURAGEMENT AND POSITIVITY

    Connect The Testaments2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23; 1 John 2:28-3:4; Psalm 105:23-45 If we were to make encouragement one of our main strategies, we’d see positive results in most situations. If we made providing for others one of our goals, the world would be a kinder place. King Josiah epitomizes both of these attributes in 2 Chr…

  • LANGUAGE, LETTERS & LIES

    Reflections on 2 John What does God have in common with Romeo? When I first started dating my wife, I wanted to speak like Romeo, but without the tragedy part. What I didn’t realize is that the way we write and speak is already influenced by Shakespeare. Every language is a product of its great…

  • REMEMBERING GOD

    Connect The Testaments2 Chronicles 33:1-34:33, 1 John 2:18-27, Psalm 105:1-22 My mom discovered scrapbooking when I was a teenager. At first, the craft seemed time consuming and burdensome; paper scraps, pictures, and double-sided tape were constantly strewn over the kitchen table. But as the books came together, I began to appreciate her new hobby. A…

  • THE INTANGIBLE GOD

    Reflections on 1 John I lay on the table with wires attached to my arms and legs. Soon, the electrodes taped to my skin would have currents running through them. I was about to experience one of the many medical tests I’ve been subjected to over the past few years. The uncertain outcomes and pain…

  • FOR IT IS BETTER

    Connect The Testaments2 Chronicles 31:1-32:33; 1 John 2:15-17; Psalm 104:16-35 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you! For it is better for you that one of your limbs be destroyed than your whole body go into hell” (Matt 5:30). We might struggle to relate to this…

  • PREPARED FOR ACTION

    Reflections on 2 Peter In his second letter, Peter acts as a personal trainer. He writes both his letters “as reminders to stimulate [believers] to wholesome thinking” (2 Pet 3:1 NIV). His wants his audience “to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and…