Devotionals

“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3). Read Matthew 7:1-21. Many today point to the words of Jesus to defend an “anything goes” way of living. They remind us that Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1). But is Jesus really saying that we should turn a blind eye toward sin? Our Lord is not telling us to accept perversion—shrugging our shoulders and saying, “Who am I to judge?” As we’ve seen throughout this study, the entire Sermon on the Mount presents a contrast between the righteousness we receive from Christ and self-righteousness; between internal faith and external rituals; between God’s way and man’s way. My friend, when Jesus says, “Do not judge,” He means that we should avoid judging the unseen motives of other people. Only God can see the heart; only He knows what is […]

“But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32). Read Matthew 5:31-32. At this point in Jewish history, there was a debate raging between Pharisees and other teachers of the law. It concerned a foundational issue from God’s Law: marriage and divorce. You see, Deuteronomy 24:1 describes a certain situation in which a man divorces his wife because she becomes “displeasing to him” because “he finds something indecent about her.” One group of rabbis said that this “something indecent” was adultery and only adultery. Another group said that it could be anything that offended the husband—from burning the dinner to embarrassing him in public. In other words, this more liberal school of thought believed that a husband could divorce his wife for any reason at all. That sounds a lot like our culture today, doesn’t it? Jesus, knowing […]

“Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2). Many people, both Christians and non-Christians, fail to understand the important role of verified, objective Truth in the Christian life. They have the mistaken notion that faith is belief without any evidence, or even belief contradicted by the evidence. Many people, both Christians and non-Christians, think that science and Christianity are irreconcilable kingdoms of thought. The late agnostic paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould tried to resolve the conflict between people of science and people of faith by stating that religion and science are “non-overlapping magisteria.” A magisterium is a realm of authority or teaching. Gould was saying, in effect, that the church should stick to matters of faith and leave science to the scientists, and that scientists should stick to science and not get involved in matters of God, spirit, morality, and religion. Dr. Gould meant well, but it’s simply not possible to […]

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Our Western civilization was founded on a belief in the central importance of rational thought, objective Truth, and timeless Biblical principles. For centuries, Christian thinkers—great men of the faith like the apostles, Augustine, Origen, Calvin, Luther, C. S. Lewis, John Stott, Norman Geisler, and William Lane Craig—have taught that the Christian faith is reasonable and based on evidence. The Bible does not tell us to practice “blind faith,” but a faith that is rooted in objective reality. No other religion is based on the objective evidence of history—only Christianity. Truth is a bedrock concept in the Christian faith. Paul tells us that God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). And Jesus told a group of new followers, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my […]

“But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God” (Nehemiah 9:31). There is a danger that comes with rebuilding broken walls. After a while, when we have been following God’s vision and resisting those who oppose us, we can begin to think that we have done the work on our own. And nothing will shatter the closeness we feel with our Father like unchecked pride. If we are to continue walking in step with the Lord, we must ask God to make us aware of our sins, confess those sins to God, and ask for His forgiveness. Read Nehemiah 9. Toward the end of Nehemiah, we see a wonderful prayer of confession—an example for us as we daily commit our lives to our Savior and continue our journey toward Christlikeness. The walls around Jerusalem had been rebuilt, and now was the time for celebration. The […]

“You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you” (Psalm 86:5). Read Genesis 18:16-33. When Abraham interceded for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah, it was a persuasive prayer. It was persuasive not because Abraham tried to remind God about how good he had been. He did not recall to Him how he had faithfully tithed a tenth of all he had had to Melchizedek or how he had left all his family and country behind to follow God. Abraham did not try to persuade God based on how he had trusted Him in the past or on any other of his merits. He did not inject himself into the picture or even ask anything for himself. Rather, Abraham pleaded with God on the basis of God’s character, on the basis of His glory. He brought his requests before God because of his zeal for the honor of God. In the same way, our prayer […]

“Then he said, ‘May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?’” (Genesis 18:32). Read Genesis 18:16-33. In my estimation, persistent prayer is the Achilles’ heel for most Christians. I think not giving up praying is something we all struggle to do. We make our requests known to God, and if we don’t get it by noon, it’s over. We give up and don’t pray anymore. The most incredible aspect of Abraham’s prayer is not his persistence but God’s encouragement to him to persist, to focus on Him. God’s graciousness and love, His care to hear from Abraham, astounds me. Moreover, in the Middle Eastern culture, then and today, it was not the custom to approach someone in authority, someone who has importance and power, and make a huge request, asking for everything you want. You start by asking for something small, and then if the individual says yes, […]

“Then Abraham spoke up again: ‘Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, . . .’” (Genesis 18:27). Read Genesis 18:16-33. When God told Abraham He was about to bring judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham did not say, “Well good. They are wicked people and are getting what they deserve.” No, Abraham immediately went into prayer mode, and his intercession should serve as a model for our prayer for our nation. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah had rejected the true God. The cities were riddled with bloodshed, corruption, and immorality, for the people took pride in their sin and abomination. The outcry against these sins prompted God to come down and deal with their wickedness. You see, God does not ignore the evil in the world. Injustice and evil cry out for judgment, just like the blood of Abel cried out to God (see Genesis […]

“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk’” (John 5:8). Read John 5:1-15. In Jesus’ day, there was a pool in Jerusalem called the Pool of Bethesda. It was famous for its supposed healing properties. Fed by underground springs, every so often the water would bubble and swirl on the surface, a circumstance that came to be attributed to the work of an angel. Whoever got into the water first after one of these “angelic stirrings” would receive healing for whatever their ailment. John’s gospel doesn’t tell us how many people were at the pool the day Jesus showed up. Maybe there were dozens—perhaps hundreds. But Jesus singled out a certain man who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years—and only him. Jesus then asked the man, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6). It seems a silly question, but of course, our Lord does not ask foolish questions. He asked the man […]

“‘Go,’ Jesus replied, ‘your son will live.’ The man took Jesus at his word and departed” (John 4:50). Read John 4:43-54. When Jesus first announced his ministry in His hometown of Nazareth, the people rejected Him. As Jesus once said, “Truly I tell you, . . . no prophet is accepted in his hometown” (Luke 4:24; see also John 4:44). The people of Nazareth in Galilee simply couldn’t believe that the young man they knew, the boy they had watched grow up, the local carpenter’s son, was the Messiah they had all been waiting for. When Jesus read from the book of Isaiah in the synagogue and declared its fulfillment—when He pointed out in Scripture how God had blessed Gentiles rather than just the faithless Israelites, drawing out the parallel to His day—the people of His hometown were appalled (see Luke 4:16-28). In fact, they tried to throw him off a precipice (v. 29). But later, once the Galileans had […]

“What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11).  Read John 2:1-11. While the other gospels refer to Jesus’ supernatural works of astonishing change as miracles, John’s gospel includes seven of these instances, calling them signs—seven pieces of evidence that occurred before Jesus’ death and resurrection that reveal Jesus is none other than the Great I am. When Jesus demonstrated His supernatural power, it was for a definitive purpose—that souls would believe that He is the expected Messiah. His supernatural acts were not a sideshow, not entertainment. Through His miracles, Jesus was showing the world His power over nature, over demons, over death, and over disease. Again and again when the disciples or the crowds saw one of Jesus’ signs, they believed in Him (see John 2:11; 7:31; 11:45). And that is why they are so very important—they were recorded that […]

“Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right’” (Acts 10:34-35). Read Acts 10:1-48. In the days of the early church, Jews did not associate with non-Jews. In fact, they had nothing to do with them. Peter, though he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, was a good, rule-keeping Jew. It wouldn’t have even crossed his mind to associate with a Roman centurion, nor would he have ever considered sharing the Gospel with such a man. But God chose Peter for this very assignment. The Lord was gracious to prepare Peter’s heart for such a task. God granted him a vision of unclean animals coming down from heaven on a sheet. These were the sorts of creatures that Peter never would have eaten; they were forbidden by the kosher food laws in the Old Testament. And […]