A SURPRISING ARRIVAL April 1, 2020 | Matthew 1 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Surprises can be paralyzing . . . or at least for 1/20th of a second. That’s what Tania Luna, a researcher who studies how surprise affects the brain, says. She says surprises can freeze our attention and intensify our emotions. She will […]
PROTECTION AND SECURITY March 2, 2020 | Judges 16:1–21 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When I was a child, my father installed a deadbolt on the front door of our home. Since at the time it was the safest lock we knew, we felt very well-protected! Times have changed, though, and nowadays many homeowners set up […]
SERVING SIDE BY SIDE February 29, 2020 | Esther 9:29–10:3 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When the Church operates according to God’s design, we serve effectively to accomplish His will. Unity should be the hallmark of God’s people, but it’s not always easy. From biblical times to this present day, God has drawn a variety of […]
HOLY WAR? February 24, 2020 | Esther 8:9–17 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Just War Theory is a set of criteria that governments, philosophers, and theologians use to determine if war is justifiable. According to this theory, war is always horrible but not always the worst way forward. Some commonly agreed-upon reasons for a “just war” […]
CHARACTER TRANSFORMED February 15, 2020 | Esther 5:1–5 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Don’t you love it when a character finally learns an important lesson and changes for the better? This transformation, in literature, is called the “character arc”—the way in which the main character develops and grows as a result of the story’s conflict. And […]
THE PLACE OF PROVIDENCE February 9, 2020 | Esther 2:21–23 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue God’s providence has been compared to an elaborate piece of embroidery. If you look at the underside, all you see are knots and tangles. But flipping it over reveals a beautiful and intentional design. Our earthly, limited view, means we are […]
February 1, 2020 | Esther 1:1–8 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue The opening montage of The Great Gatsby movie from 1974 includes the following images: newspaper clippings from the society column, the façade of a stately mansion, silk monogrammed bedding, and a gold-plated vanity set, lying next to an opulent pocket watch and ring. Each camera […]
BY FAITH ALONE January 23, 2020 | Romans 1:11–17 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue One of the major reformers of Christianity was the German monk Martin Luther. Before he posted his 95 Theses on the church doors in 1517, protesting the church’s corruption, Luther wrestled with his own salvation. He was tormented by his own sinfulness, […]
Thursday, JANUARY 2, 2020 SCRIPTURE READINGS: Isaiah 43:18-19, Philippians 3:13- 16 EXPOSITION: God in His wisdom has divided time into days, weeks, months, years and seasons so that we can have the opportunity to evaluate our lives and have a fresh start. As a new year begins today, it is worth evaluating how you fared […]
September 28, 2019 | Psalm 37 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue After experiencing a crushing political defeat and breaking off an engagement to be married in 1841, Abraham Lincoln was in a dark place. He later talked about how he had contemplated suicide, but refrained because he “had done nothing to make any human being remember […]