December 21, 2020 | Romans 5:1–8 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When we say it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, we may be referring to the changes taking place in our home. Scattered family members often return. A tree is decked with ornaments. Cookies are baked and stockings hung. Holiday movies are watched, over […]
December 19, 2020 | Isaiah 9:2–7 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Right now, how many wars do you think are happening around the globe? The United Nations has three criteria for a conflict to be called a war: First, it must involve armed struggle by at least one province against another. Second, it must be formally […]
December 16, 2020 | 1 Corinthians 15:12–23 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we must not forget the joy of the Resurrection (Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:36–53). What an incredible example of tremendous grief turned to overwhelming joy! After Jesus was executed, His followers were mourning and afraid. Would the authorities […]
December 15, 2020 | Matthew 13:44–46 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue A French family found an unexpected treasure in 2018. It was a vase, kept in a shoebox and stashed in their attic because they didn’t like it much. When examined by experts, the vase turned out to be from the 18th century Qing dynasty in […]
December 7, 2020 | John 13:1-35 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue The classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” celebrates the sacrificial love of its main character, George Bailey. As a young man, George gave up his dreams of success and travel, to stay and help his father and his community. When he almost lost everything, […]
December 6, 2020 | John 3:1-21 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In China, some parents follow their freshman children to university. They’re allowed to camp nearby for a month in order to help them adjust to life away from home by, for example, cooking their meals or washing their laundry. Tianjin University offers “tents of love” […]
December 4, 2020 | Psalm 130 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Do you have biblical hope? The great nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon responded: “When you are cleaned right out, when even the last rusty counterfeit farthing has been emptied out of your pocket and you stand before your God as a wretched, starving and bankrupt beggar, […]
December 3, 2020 | Romans 8:18–25 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue “In the barn on Christmas Eve, after all the people leave, The animals in voices low, remember Christmas long ago.” So begins The Animals’ Christmas Eve. In this children’s book, the animals retell the first Christmas, recalling the birth of the Christ-child and how He […]
November 29, 2020 | Acts 27:1–44 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue During a violent storm at sea, the 18th-century evangelist John Wesley experienced a crisis of faith. While everyone around him seemed terrified, a band of believers known as Moravians were untroubled. While others screamed, they sang hymns. Wesley, who was already a preacher and considered […]
November 27, 2020 | Acts 25:1–27 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Did you know you are a citizen of not one but two kingdoms? Martin Luther observed that we are in kingdoms of Earth and of heaven. In the heavenly kingdom, God rules perfectly. In the earthly, God has delegated authority to rulers who often exercise […]