Where am I?
All Devotionals
| 02/03/2012 FRI |
The Freedom of Following God's Appointed Path
Each summer my family attends a Christian family camp in Colorado, where I often hike with friends up the steep slopes of Horn Peak. One year a friend and I started out on a sunny day in late June. As we reached the tree line, clouds came over the mountain, but I had climbed there enough to have no real concern about finding the way. I could not have been more wrong. |
| 02/02/2012 THU |
Right With God According to Our Criteria--Or His?
In principle most of us readily agree that the rules that humans make up do not make us acceptable to God. However, our desire to please God, combined with the human bent to prove our acceptance by comparison with and control of others, makes us factories of human legislation. |
| 02/01/2012 WED |
Accepted by Grace--Plus Absolutely Nothing of Our Own!
To demonstrate the truly revolutionary nature of the gospel for my seminary students, I often draw a spectrum on the blackboard. At one end I write the word “legalism” and at the other end I write “liberalism.” Then I ask where mature Christianity falls between the perceived restrictiveness and licentiousness of the two extremes. |
| 01/31/2012 TUE |
Hope Out of Hopelessness--Becaus Christ Died for Us
A proper understanding of the gospel of grace—that God loves us on the basis of his actions in Christ and through no accomplishment of our own—frees us from our futile attempts to earn God’s love. |
| 01/30/2012 MON |
Grace Is No Excuse to Be Soft on Sin
Whenever we broadcast that God’s unconditional love has provided an escape from the guilt and power of sin, fears arise that we will broaden the definition of what God allows. |
| 01/27/2012 FRI |
The Great Escape From Sin--and the Love That Provides It
What tempts us is pervasive and powerful, but Christ’s love is a match for it all. |
| 01/26/2012 THU |
Safe in the Arms of the One Who Defeated Temptation
Faith in the love that paid the penalty for our sin provides powerful motivation to flee temptation. Because God has given us this escape, we have reason to go to him in prayer to ask his forgiveness and seek his aid. |
| 01/25/2012 WED |
If You Can't Fight Temptation, Run From it!
Temptation is bigger than we are; but God is bigger than it is, so he will provide a way of escape. If he has placed us in a situation where we must endure the temptation, then he will not give us more than we can bear. But when the way of escape is opened for us, we should not just stand idle. God says, “Run!” |
| 01/24/2012 TUE |
Obedient Not to Gain God's Love--But Because of It
A good analogy to help us understand the relationship between God’s love and our progress in becoming Christlike is our children’s obedience. My child’s compliance with my standards and his resistance to counter impulses do not cause or deter my love. He is entirely my child, and has the affection of my whole heart solely as a consequence of that relationship. Still, in order for him to grow and have the parental approval every child desires, he must obey me. |
| 01/23/2012 MON |
Standing Together Against Temptation
I know a group of Christian businessmen who recognize the commonness of power and temptation in their lives. They hold each other accountable with a set of questions that they ask every time they get together: “Did you stay pure in your hotel room when you last traveled?” and “Did you stay honest on your expense report after you returned?” What would cause respectable businessmen to subject themselves to answering honestly such potentially embarrassing questions? |
| 01/20/2012 FRI |
Resisting Temptation by Fighting the Good Fight
The fight against temptation will stretch us, sometimes to our very limits. |
| 01/19/2012 THU |
Temptation is Bigger Than We Are--But So Is God
If temptation is so pervasive, how can we possibly stand against it? |
| 01/18/2012 WED |
The Dilemma of Temptation--and the Victory of Faith
Paul says that there is no temptation out there in the world that does not find resonance in every human heart. This is a truth I do not like to hear. It’s one thing to be told that what I feel others also feel. But I find it very difficult, if not detestable, to accept the notion that the sinful tendencies of the perverse, the cruel, and the weak exist in me as well. Still, this is what the Bible says. |
| 01/17/2012 TUE |
Facing Temptation with Confidence in Christ
As a seminary professor, I am often tempted to believe that I have (or should have) risen above the common temptations that others face. This makes the appearance of sin in my life all the more disappointing and difficult to confess. |
| 01/16/2012 MON |
The Power of--and the Response to--Temptation
We often wonder at the failings of others who give in to temptation, yet a look at our own lives will reveal just how easy it is to buckle under to the temptations that attract us--and how difficult it can be to resist them on our own. |
| 01/13/2012 FRI |
Repentance That Sings
If we could see the dimensions of spiritual illness as plainly as we can the effects of physical disease, then perhaps the nature and effects of repentance would be more obvious to us. The attack of sin on our souls is just as real as such a physical attack on our bodies, and the way in which we are to seek God’s help and respond to it is just as clear. |
| 01/12/2012 THU |
Living in the Joy That Forgiveness Brings
The reason we should keep on the Savior’s path despite the stumbles that distress us is evident in the mental state of the rich young man as this story ends. As he leaves without repentance, there is something else missing from his life: he has no joy. |
| 01/11/2012 WED |
Delighting to Follow Jesus Down the Path of Life
The natural response for one who has seen the beauty of the Savior is to follow him. Yet the young man goes away sad. He does not repent of the sin that is in his heart, and thus experiences no joy in the love Christ offers. |
| 01/10/2012 TUE |
Drawn to Repentance By a Love That Forgives
I remember a night in high school when I stayed out too late, well beyond my curfew. I had been having fun with my friends, and the time got away from me. I was wrong and no excuse would make my actions right. I did not want to go home because I thought I knew what was waiting for me there. |
| 01/09/2012 MON |
The Repentance That Restores
Repentance is fundamentally a humble expression of a desire for a renewed relationship with God—a relationship that we confess can be secured only by his grace. We long for his pardon, presence, and Spirit to repair the damage our sin has caused to our relationship with him. |
| 01/06/2012 FRI |
Alive in a New Way--Through the Power of Christ
I pray that our story of Katy and her father has given you a deeper understanding of your own relationship with our heavenly Father—and hope for the many other relationships in your life. |
| 01/05/2012 THU |
Loved By God--No Matter What
Having overwatered her father’s special orchid after being told not to, Katy is afraid her father will not love her any more. Her daddy has explained why his love for her, like God’s love for his people, will never change. Now Katy has an opportunity to live out what she and her father have been talking about. |
| 01/04/2012 WED |
Forgiven by God--Forgiving of Others
Having overwatered her father’s special orchid after being told not to, Katy is afraid her father will not love her any more. Her daddy has explained why his love for her, like God’s love for his people, will never change. Now Katy has an opportunity to live out what she and her father have been talking about. |
| 01/03/2012 TUE |
Saved by the Love That Will Not Let Us Go
Having overwatered her father’s special orchid after being told not to, Katy is afraid her father will not love her any more. Her daddy continues to explain why his love for her, like God’s love for his people, will never change. |
| 01/02/2012 MON |
Established and Maintained by God--Despite Our Failings
Having overwatered her father’s special orchid after being told not to, Katy is afraid her father will not love her any more. Her daddy continues to explain why his love for her, like God’s love for his people, will never change. |