March 25, 2021 | Genesis 35:1–20 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue There are several popular shows today about how to organize your home. But before the experts can display your items neatly in clear matching bins, they have an important request: Edit! Go through all of your belongings and get rid of what you do not […]
March 19, 2021 | Genesis 27:1–28:5 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In the Old Testament, the patriarchal blessing was not merely a father’s wish for his child. Rather, it was a permanent declaration, mediated by God, that often included an inheritance. When Isaac was old and blind, he asked Esau to hunt and prepare a meal, […]
March 8, 2021 | Genesis 16 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue My husband and I longed for biological children for many years before God finally opened the door for us to adopt our two children. And while God has healed much of the pain of infertility, it still gets triggered at times, and I have deep […]
February 6, 2021 | Romans 3:21–31 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When someone is going to deliver a difficult message, they’ll sometimes ask you: Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? The word gospel comes from a Greek word that means good news. It was a technical term for a message […]
February 28, 2021 | Romans 16:1–26 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When I was a pastor, our church hosted Vacation Bible School every summer. Planning began months before the event with the same announcement every year: “Many hands make light work.” Paul would have liked this announcement because he was not a lone ranger in his […]
February 11, 2021 | Romans 6:1–23 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Juneteenth commemorates the day that Union General Gordon Granger announced to former slaves in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War had ended, and they were free. The announcement came two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This was life-changing good […]
February 10, 2021 | Romans 5:12–21 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In the days before digital pictures, photographic negatives were common. A negative is an image where the light areas are reversed to appear dark, and the dark areas now become light. It creates a mirror of the photograph but is also its opposite. Through the […]
February 9, 2021 | Romans 5:1–11 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lucy Pevensie opens the door of a wardrobe and discovers that it is a gateway to the dreamlike land of Narnia. As she pushes past heavy fur winter coats, she steps out of the wardrobe and into […]
February 8, 2021 | Romans 4:13–25 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue David Macaulay has authored a popular series of books for children (and loved by many adults) that describe The Way Things Work. Using colorful and precisely detailed illustrations, he explains the inner workings of things we encounter every day, such as computers or light or […]
EARNING RIGHTEOUSNESS February 7, 2021 | Romans 4:1–12 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue A popular children’s song goes: “Father Abraham had many sons / Many sons had Father Abraham. / I am one of them and so are you. / So let’s just praise the Lord!” Today’s reading explains why those who are in Christ can […]