Daily Devotions

Naming Jesus as Lord is the start of a theological commitment. Living as though he is Lord demands day-by-day forgiving, rescuing, and transforming grace. 2 Timothy 3:10-17 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+3%3A10-17&version=NIV I love the theology of Scripture. As I look book on my theoogical formation in reading Graeme Goldsworthy's "According to plan" and learning Biblical theology, it has been much, much more than gathering together the elements of a system of theology. It was profoundly more than getting to know my faith better. I was receiving more than advanced biblical literacy. I was being given a way to think about everything. I wasn’t simply being educated. I wasn’t just collecting a boatload of theological information. No, something deeper was happening. I was going through a process of heart and life transformation that was deeper and more formative than I understood at that moment. I was changing, and the whole direction of my life, ...

By calling you to die daily, the gospel welcomes you to live eternally. Contrary to popular opinion, death really is the portal to life. Read John 12:23-26 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012:23-26&version=NIV It is one of the principal paradoxes of grace. From a distance, it seems to make no sense at all, but you cannot understand God’s work of grace in your life if you don’t face this paradox. It’s clearly presented in these words of Jesus Christ: And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here w...

The battles of sanctification are many, but God’s mercies are new morning after morning after morning. Lamentations 3:22-27 says: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.  The battle for your heart still goes on. Temptations exist all around you. The enemy lurks as a roaring lion. Falsehood battles with truth. The people of God live as an often misunderstood minority. Sickness and suffering enter your door. You need to grow in grace. In weakness, you give way to what you should resist. You are sinned against by others. Hopes, dreams, and plans fail. You experience corruption and injustic...

You can’t hear him, but he’s wiser; you can’t see him, but he’s more faithful; you can’t touch him, but he’s nearer than whatever else you'd trust. Read 1 Peter 1:1-12 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%201%3A1-12&version=NIV It is one of the most amazing statements of what only grace can do. On the surface, it doesn’t make any sense. If it were not rooted in the most important fact of the universe that you could ever consider, you would call the people involved “crazy.” It marks the fundamental dividing line of all human beings. The apostle Peter is talking about believers living between the “now” and the “not yet” when he says of their relationship to Jesus Christ:  “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:8-9). Now, allow yourself to consider the radical nat...

With lockdown ending, let us give God thanks and praise! For prayer is abandoning a life of demand and complaint, recognising undeserved blessing, and giving myself to a life of thankfulness. Read Matthew 6:5-15 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A5-15&version=NIV When you think of prayer, what comes to mind? When you pray, what is it that you want from God? What requests dominate your life of prayer? True prayer happens at the intersection of surrender and celebration. Prayer is profoundly more than handing a wish list to God and letting him know that you're thankful that he exists and has the power to deliver. This kind of prayer puts you at the centre and, in a real way, reduces God down to the divine waiter. It’s not him that you want. It’s not his wisdom that you see yourself as needing. It’s not his grace that your heart craves. Wish-list prayer essentially says, “I know what's best for my life and I’d appreciate it, God, if you would use your m...

A thing I can’t live without, such that I doubt God’s love when it is absent, becomes a functional God-replacement, directing my heart more than he does. Read 1 Timothy 6:17-19 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%206%3A17-19&version=NIV Be honest right here, right now—what do you tell yourself that you don’t have? What have you become convinced that you can’t live without? What are the “if-onlys” that you carry around with you that shape the way you think about yourself, about life, and about the goodness of God? In the absence of what are you tempted to doubt the faithfulness of God? When you look back with joy at how things have gone in a certain situation or relationship, what gives you that joy? Here’s where all these questions are going: What things of this earth tend to capture your heart and, in so doing, control your thoughts, words, and behaviour? The apostle Paul captures the struggle that we’re examining here with these words: “If then you have b...