Devotionals

Lenten Devotional Series Day 30. Today’s meditation is on Eph 4:25-32. In some parts of the world, people use an elegant method to trap monkeys. They hollow out a gourd or coconut and put a hole in it just big enough for a monkey’s open paw to squeeze through, put something desirable inside it like…

Lenten Devotional Series Day 29. Today’s meditation is on the Eighth Commandment, “You shall not steal,” in Exodus 20:15. Implicit in the Eighth Commandment’s prohibition against stealing is a Christian ethic of generous living in response to God’s gracious provision for us. This way of life is commended throughout the Scriptures in a variety of…

Lenten Devotional Series Day 28. Today’s meditation is on the eighth commandment, “You shall not steal,” found in Exodus 20:15. The eighth commandment is not difficult to understand. A small child can read it and grasp its meaning. But it is difficult for us to obey.

Lenten Devotional Series Day 27. Today’s meditation is on 1 Cor 6:12-20. By God’s design, we are physical beings in a physical world. Before sin entered the world, God made us to reflect his image in human bodies, and he called what he had made very good. Then came the rebellion in Eden and two…

Lenten Devotional Series Day 26. Today’s meditation is on Matthew 5:27-30. It is hard to manage our hungers. We hunger for various things: success, recognition, admiration, respect, and love, among others. A Christ-centered appetite is good, but when our appetites start to control us they become idols which we serve in the place of our…

Lenten Devotional Series Day 25. Today’s meditation is on the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” found in Exodus 20:14. In Matthew 12:43-45, Jesus warned the Pharisees that deliverance from Satan’s power without an accompanying conversion to faith in him would only leave a person ripe for worse Satanic oppression. One demon gone: good.…

Lenten Devotional Series Day 24. Today’s meditation is on the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” found in Exodus 20:14. Adultery is sexual intimacy between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse. The seventh commandment explicitly prohibits adultery, and by implication, any and all other sexual acts outside of marriage. If…

Lenten Devotional Series Day 23. Today’s meditation is on 1 John 3:10-15. John writes, “Do not be surprised that the world hates you.”  Why would the world hate Christians? 

Lenten Devotional Series Day 22. Today’s meditation is on Matthew 5:21-26. Jesus said, “[21] You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ [22] But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to…

True Christian friendship is a rewarding act of love, involving time and commitment, openness and vulnerability, trust and faithfulness, prayer and thanksgiving, hospitality and feasting, laughter and joy, tears and heartache. It reaches out not only to those who are friendly to me, nor only to those who are like me, but to my neighbor whoever he might be. It is gentle, patient, forgiving, and kind, but also frank, honest, and challenging. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but an enemy multiplies kisses” (Proverbs 27:6). A true friend knows when to be silent and when to speak, when to encourage, and when to rebuke.