Wed Dec 3-Practical Love
John the Baptist sets the standard for the practical dimensions of love at work in the world.
Devotional
Devotional
Wed Nov 26-Unique Praises
Comparison is a dangerous thing. We know already that it steals joy. But it does something even more corrosive: it steals gratitude. The moment we fix our eyes on what someone else has, we stop seeing the gifts that are already in our hands. Gratitude cannot grow in a heart preoccupied with someone else’s harvest.
Devotional
Tue Nov 18-New Every Morning
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” No one is quite sure who said it first—it’s often credited to Churchill, but there’s no record of him ever saying it. Still, the wisdom stands. Giving up is easy. Persevering—especially when life feels heavy—is hard.
Devotional
Tue Nov 11-When We Feel Shame
This is the first instance of human shame recorded in the Bible. Up to this point, the humans’ relationship with God (and with each other) has been carefree and close. God walks in the garden, and the implication is that Adam and Eve come to walk alongside. But after the incident with the fruit from the forbidden tree, things change.
Devotional
Mon Nov 3-Unseen But Known
How often do you feel unseen? You give your best at home, at work, or in serving the community, yet it seems no one notices. You may begin to wonder whether what you do even matters.
Devotional
Fri Oct 31-Stay in the Promise
The idea that “life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backward,” is attributed to the 19th-century Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard. I’ve often preached it this way: “We typically only see God in the rearview mirror.”
Devotional
Tue Oct 21-VIP
This is one of those passages that’s liable to be misinterpreted – not because it’s message isn’t clear, noble or good, but because many of us in the church struggle with our own self-perception.
Devotional
Fri Oct 17-It All Belongs
“Now, now, this is no time for _____.” How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said it?
Devotional
Wed Oct 8-Correction
No one likes being told they’re wrong. Whether it comes from a spouse, a sibling, a friend, or a colleague, correction is uncomfortable. Most of us never learned how to receive it without becoming defensive. Our first instinct is to push back – sometimes loudly and angrily.
Devotional
Wed Sep 24-It Matters
When my grandmother died in 1998 and I offered to speak at her funeral, this scripture leapt to mind. I guess you might say this was the first Bible passage I ever preached.
Devotional
Fri Sep 5-Like Trees Planted by Water
While I was in seminary, I was invited to help teach an adult VBS in a Baptist Church, and Psalm 1 was our guide through the week. I had never taught adults at VBS before, and so this was a brand new experience.
Devotional
Thu Aug 21-Refuge
The psalms return again and again to this image of God as a refuge — a stronghold, a fortress, a shelter, a rock. All of these metaphors point to one truth: in God we find safety when the world around threatens to undo us.
