Daily Devotions

The cross is evidence that in the hands of the Redeemer, moments of apparent defeat become wonderful moments of grace and victory.  Read Acts 2:14–36 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2%3A14%E2%80%9336&version=NIV At the center of a biblical worldview is this radical recognition—the most horrible thing that ever happened was the most wonderful thing that ever happened. Consider the cross of Jesus Christ. Could it be possible for something to happen that was more terrible than this? Could any injustice be greater? Could any loss be more painful? Could any suffering be worse? The only man who ever lived a life that was perfect in every way possible, who gave his life for the sake of many, and who willingly suffered from birth to death in loyalty to his calling was cruelly and publicly murdered in the most vicious of ways. How could it happen that the Son of Man could die? How could it be that men could capture and torture the Messiah? Was this not the end of ...

If you are God’s child, you’re either giving in to sin or giving way to the operation of rescuing grace, but your heart’s never neutral.  Read Galatians 6:1-10 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+6%3A1%E2%80%9310&version=NIV One of the beautiful results of God’s redeeming grace in your life and mine is that the hearts of stone have been taken out of us and replaced with hearts of flesh.  Think of the word picture here. If I had a stone in my hands and I pressed it with all of my might, what do you think would happen? I could press that stone with all of the strength that I have and nothing whatsoever would happen. Stone is not malleable. It exists in a fixed shape. Before your conversion, you had that kind of heart. It was resistant to change. But that is not true any longer. Grace has given you a fleshy heart, one that is moldable by transforming grace.  Now, this means that when you sin, desiring, thinking, saying, or doing what is wrong in G...

Living in this present broken world is designed by God to produce longing, readiness, and hope in me.  Read 1 Peter 1:3-12 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+1%3A3%E2%80%9312&version=NIV It’s not natural for us to think about our lives in this way, but the difficulties we all face in this broken world are not in the way of God’s plan. No, they are part of it. The fallen world that is your address is not your address because he didn’t think through his redemptive plan very well. You are living where you’re living and facing what you’re facing because that’s exactly how God wanted it to be. The hardships that we all face between the “already” and the “not yet” are not a sign of the failure of God’s redeeming work, but rather a very important tool of it.  What we are all going through right here, right now is a massive, progressive process of values clarification and heart protection. God is daily employing the brokenness of this present world to clarif...

Today you’ll encounter things that will confuse you, but rest assured the One who rules all those things is not confused.  Read Isaiah 40 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+40&version=NIV We really don’t know much. Every day we are all greeted with mysteries. None of us can predict for sure where our personal stories are going. We are all confused about what happens to us, to those close to us, and in the world in which we live. As much as we try to make sense of our lives, there are things that we simply aren’t able to understand. Here’s what all of this means—you and I will never find inner peace and rest by trying to figure it all out. Peace is found in resting in the wisdom and grace of the One who has it all figured out and rules it all for his glory and our good.  When our children were very young, when I would refuse to let them do something, they didn’t understand why, so they would begin to protest. I would then get down on my knees so we cou...

We are often quick to anger and slow to love, but God is not like us. He’s slow to anger and abounding in love.  Read Psalm 104 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+104&version=NIV You know the scene. You’ve rushed to the grocery store to get a few critical items your family needs. Your plan is to get in and out as quickly as is humanly possible.  You sprint down the aisles and grab your stuff, then run to the checkout, only to discover that the self-serve lanes are closed for repair and only one person is working. Just as you reach her lane, a guy pulls in front of you with a cart of 150 items. You can feel your chest tighten. You’re beginning to get angry. It's then time to pay. It’s as if it’s a fresh concept to him. As he pulls every card out of his wallet, you bellow, “Come on, are you kidding me?” As everyone at the front of the store turns to look at you, you realise you said it louder than you planned.  Examine the moment with me. You are li...

Only the immense glory of God can rescue you from all the miniglories of creation that regularly seduce and kidnap your heart.  Read Joel 2:21–27 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joel+2%3A21%E2%80%9327&version=NIV There is one thing that you know for sure—the sign is not the thing. The sign was created to point you to the thing. It cannot give you what the thing can deliver. The sign can only point you to where the thing can be found. The sign pointing to Manly beach will never give you what Many beach can. So it is with the physical glories of creation.  Here’s what you need to understand: only two types of glory exist—sign glory and ultimate glory. Sign glory is all the wondrous display of sights, sounds, colors, textures, tastes, smells, and experiences of the physical world that God created. These glories were not designed to satisfy your heart. They were not made to give you contentment, peace, meaning, and purpose. They have no capacity to give you l...

Because God rules all the places where you live, he is able to deliver his promises to you in the very circumstances where they are needed.  Read Jeremiah 32:16–27 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+32%3A16%E2%80%9327&version=NIV I don’t know whether you have ever thought of this before, but God’s promises are only as good as the extent of his sovereignty. He can deliver what you need only in the places where he rules. If his rule is not firm and unchanging, his promises are not either. I think that many of us fail to make this connection, and when we do, we allow ourselves to celebrate his promises while subtly resisting his rule. He is your sovereign Savior. If he were not sovereign, you would have no guarantee that he could exercise the authority necessary to be your Savior.  Think for a moment about the flow of biblical history. Think of the many generations of people that existed between the fall of Adam and Eve and the birth of Jesus Christ. T...

Obedience is freedom. Better to follow the Master’s plan than to do what you weren’t wired to do—master yourself. Read Psalm 119:1–88 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119%3A1%E2%80%9388&version=NIV It is true that the thing that you and I most need to be rescued from is us! The greatest danger that we face is the danger that we are to ourselves. Who we think we are is a delusion and what we all tend to want is a disaster. Put together, they lead to only one place—death. If you’re a parent, you see it in your children. It didn’t take long for you to realise that you are parenting a little self-sovereign, who thinks at the deepest level that he needs no authority in his life but himself - even if he cannot yet walk or speak, he rejects your wisdom and rebels against your authority. She has no idea what is good or bad to eat, but she fights your every effort to put into her mouth something that she has decided she doesn’t want. As he grows, he has little ability to c...

Faith is about measuring your potential, not on the basis of your natural gifts and experience, but in the surety of God’s presence and promises.  It is almost a funny story. It’s found in Judges 6:11–18:  Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valour.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel?...

Facing disappointment and failure? Don’t be surprised—you’re still flawed and your world is still fallen. For this, there’s grace.  Read Genesis 6:1-8 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6%3A1-8&version=NIV If you fail to take seriously what the Bible says about who we are and about the nature of the world we live in, you will live with unrealistic expectations, you’ll be naive when it comes to temptation, and you’ll find yourself regularly surprised and disappointed. Let’s examine what the Bible says about us and our world in this period of time between the “already” and the “not yet”.  Although God’s work of redemption has begun, you and I still live in a world that is terribly broken and simply does not function in the beautiful way that God intended when he put it together. No passage captures the current brokenness of our world better than Romans 8. Paul employs three provocative phrases to capture this brokenness: “subjected to futility” (v. 20)...

If you put too many things in your need category, you will end up frustrated with life, hurt by others, and doubting God’s goodness.  Read Psalm 145 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+145&version=NIV "Need" is really is one of the sloppiest words used in human culture. If need means “essential for life,” then the vast majority of the things we say that we need we don’t actually need. You know this if you have children or are around children. Let’s say you’re a parent and you have taken your child to Westfield (which is your first mistake). As you’re walking through the shopping centre your child sees the Rebel Sport and immediately makes a left-hand turn. Now, with nose pressed against the window, he says, “Mum, I neeeeeeeed those new runners.” You look down at his feet, which are encased in perfectly good shoes, and you say: “No, I’m not getting you those runners. You already have perfectly good shoes.” Now, when you say this, your child does not think: “...

Discontent is good if it makes you long for home, but bad if it makes you doubt the One who prepares a place for you in his home.  Psalm 4 says: Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.  These words were penned by David in one of the most heartbreaking moments of his l...

Any time you question God’s wisdom or step over his boundaries, you are telling yourself that you are smarter than God. It is one of those “put-you-in-your-place responses.” God is speaking to Job and drawing the Creator/creature line of distinction in bold strokes. It is a stunning description of God’s majesty and Job’s smallness.  These are words we should read again and again:  Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garm...

If you mourn the fallenness of your world rather than curse its difficulties, you know that grace has visited you.  Read Genesis 1-3 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1-3&version=NIV Life in this terribly broken world is hard. You are constantly dealing with the frustration of this world not operating the way God intended. You are always facing the unexpected. Almost daily you are required to deal with something you wouldn’t have chosen for your life, but it’s there because of the location where we live. Life right here, right now is like living in a disheveled house that has begun to fall down on its own foundation. It is still a house, but it doesn’t function as it was meant to. The doors constantly get stuck shut. The plumbing only occasionally works properly. You are never sure what’s going to happen when you plug an appliance in, and it seems that the roof leaks even when it’s not raining. So it is with the world that you and I live in. It really is...

Of course you haven’t been fulfilled in this world. It’s a sign that you have been designed for a world to come.  Read 1 Corinthians 4 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+4&version=NIV It is an item on each of our theological outlines, but we don’t actually live as though we believe it. We all say that we believe that this is not all there is. We say we really do believe that there is life after this one ends. Our formal theology contains the fact of a new heaven and a new earth to come. But we tend to live with the anxiety and drivenness that come when we believe that all we have is this moment.  Here’s the real-life, street-level issue: if you don’t keep the eyes of your heart focused on the paradise that is to come, you will try to turn this poor fallen world into the paradise it will never be. In the heart of every living person is the longing for paradise. The cry of a toddler who has just fallen down is a cry for paradise. The tears of the...

The stuff outside you, no matter how troubling, is not as dangerous as the mess inside you, and for that you have the grace of Jesus.  Read Romans 3:21–31 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+3%3A21%E2%80%9331&version=NIV Listen to the words of Jesus:  And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality,...

God questions us, “Why spend money on what’s not bread and labor for what doesn’t satisfy?” Sadly, many of us do that day after day.  Read Isaiah 55 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isa+55&version=NIV It’s another one of those things that we all tend to do. We all tend to look for life in all the wrong places. We all tend to look for life horizontally when the reality is that we will only ever find life vertically. Somehow, some way, we all tend to look to the created world to give us life. We all carry around with us our personal catalogue of “if-onlys.” “If only I was married, then I’d be happy.” “If only I could snag that job, then I’d be satisfied.” “If only we could buy that house, I don’t think I’d want another thing.” “If only my marriage was better, then I’d be okay.” “If only my children would turn out right, then I’d been content.” “If only I could achieve ____, I wouldn’t want anything more.” “If only our finances were more stable, then I wouldn’t co...

Yes, your life is messy and hard, but that’s not a failure of the plan; it is the plan. It’s God working to complete what he’s begun in you.  Read Psalm 66 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+66&version=NIV It is so very different from the way we normally think about grace. It’s not the way we tend to think about God’s love. It doesn’t seem wise and good to us. It causes us to question God’s faithfulness and love. It’s just not what we thought we signed on for when we placed our trust in Jesus Christ. It’s not a typical definition of the good life, and it causes us to think at times that God isn’t paying attention and that the bad guys are winning.  You are tempted to think that because you’re God’s child, your life should be easier, more predictable, and definitely more comfortable. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. Instead, it reveals that struggles are part of God’s plan for you. This means that if you’re God’s child, you must never allow yourse...

Assurance If you’re God’s child, you can rest assured today that both your standing before God and his rule on your behalf are sure and secure.  Read  Romans 8:31–39 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=+Romans+8%3A31%E2%80%9339&version=NIV There are two things in life you simply don’t have to worry about anymore, two big concerns that you just don’t have to carry. Every day, you and I carry important life concerns. No, I’m not talking about being crushed with worry, but rather about taking important things seriously. It’s right to be concerned about your finances. It’s important to carry the concern that your marriage would be all that God means it to be. It’s good to focus much concern on the welfare and development of your children. It’s vital to take your church and your relationship to the body of Christ seriously. It would be silly not to see your physical health as an important concern. It is responsible to carry these concerns. It would be unwise not t...

Grace and Prayer Prayer is abandoning my reliance on me and running toward the rest that can be found only when I rely on the power of God.  Read Luke 11:1–13 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+11%3A1%E2%80%9313&version=NIV Prayer abandons independence. Prayer forsakes any thought that you can make it on your own. Prayer affirms dependency. Prayer acknowledges weakness. Prayer renounces assessments of capability. Prayer embraces the reality of failure. Prayer tells you that you are not at the center. Prayer calls you to abandon your plans for the wiser plans of another. Prayer flows from a deep personal sense of need and runs toward God’s abundant grace.  Because of what prayer really is, prayer is not natural for us. It’s not natural for us to embrace our sin, weakness, and failure. It’s not natural for us to be comfortable depending on the mercy of another. It’s not natural for us to surrender our hopes and dreams to the better vision of another. It’...

Waiting on God  Waiting on God doesn’t mean sitting around and hoping. Waiting means believing he will do what he’s promised and then acting with confidence.  Read Romans 4 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+4&version=NIV Waiting on God is not at all like the meaningless waiting that you do at the dentist’s. You know, he’s overbooked, so you’re still sitting there more than an hour past your scheduled appointment. You’re now reading New Idea magazine. You’ve begun to read the article titled “The 7 Best Chicken Recipes in the World.” When you’re getting ready to tear a chicken recipe out of New Idea magazine because the recipe sounds so good, you know that you have been waiting too long!  But waiting on God is not like that. Waiting on God is an active life based on confidence in his presence and promises, not a passive existence haunted by occasional doubt. Waiting on God isn’t internal torment that results in paralysis. No, waiting on God is int...

Mercy-forgetfulness Mercy means I am so deeply grateful for the forgiveness I have received that I cannot help offering you the same.  Read Luke 6:27–36 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A27%E2%80%9336&version=NIV We all do it, probably every day. We have no idea that we’re doing it, yet it has a huge impact on the way we view ourselves and the way we respond to others. It is one of the reasons there is so much relational trouble even in the house of God. What is this thing that we all tend to do that causes so much harm? We all forget.  In the busyness and self-centredness of our lives, we sadly forget how much our lives have been blessed by and radically redirected by mercy. The fact that God has blessed us with his favor when we deserved his wrath fades from our memories like a song whose lyrics we once knew but now cannot recall. The reality that on every morning brand-new mercy greets us is not the thing that grips our minds as we frenetically prepa...

Our desperate need for God's grace Do you need anything more than the cruel cross of Jesus Christ to convince you of how deep your need for grace is?  Read 1 Peter 3:18–22 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+3%3A18%E2%80%9322&version=NIV Think about it—God was so sure of the depth and expansiveness of your sin, of your inability to grasp how desperate your condition is (and, even if you were able, your complete inability to free yourself from it), that he was willing to harness the forces of nature and to carefully control the events of human history so that at a certain point Jesus would come to live the life you could not live, die the death that you should have died, and rise again, conquering death. Why did God go to this elaborate and sacrificial extent? There is only one answer to the question. God the Father planned it, God the Son was willing to do it, and God the Holy Spirit applied this work to your heart and mine because there just was no other ...