May 15, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 5:1–6 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue An elementary school teacher told her class to be ready because in the coming week there would be a fire alarm. She taught them what they should do when the bell rang. They would need to follow directions and act promptly. But, of course, she […]
May 14, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 4:15–18 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue The “Day of the Lord” is portrayed in Scripture as a day of fear and trembling, justice and judgment. On that day, God will come as a Mighty Warrior and conquer the nations (Joel 2:1–11; Zeph. 1:14–16). The Day of the Lord is a recurring […]
This Month’s Issue African American poet James Weldon Johnson depicted Death as God’s servant in his poem “Go Down Death: A Funeral Sermon.” In the poem, a woman was dying, and God summoned Death to liberate her soul and bring her to heaven to be in His presence. The pastoral voice in the poem admonishes […]
May 12, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue While many people associate success with accumulating wealth or prestige, one woman had a different type of dream. After years of being unhappy in her high-pressure, prestigious government job, she sold her suburban home and moved to the country. Her ambition? To open a […]
May 11, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 4:9–10 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Philadelphia is known as the “City of Brotherly Love.” The motto references the Greek word phileo which means “brotherly love” or the love between friends. Christians revolutionized the way this term was used. In Paul’s day, the word was used only to reference actual family […]
May 10, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 4:1–8 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Following Jesus should impact every area of our life. It changes the way we work and how we spend our money. It shapes the way we treat our neighbors and the way we address conflict in our own homes and marriages. But in this […]
May 9, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 3:11–13 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When I was a child, pastoral prayers were a main feature of our church worship service. When the prayer began, I knew to settle in for a long one. Over the years, it seems that pastoral prayers have diminished in length and prominence or […]
May 8, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 3:6–10 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue My family, to be honest, is not always thankful. We have to work at it. One year, we wrote on slips of paper and filled a jar with things for which we were thankful. Some years, we keep a weekly gratitude journal to remind […]
May 7, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 2:17–3:5 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Picture for a moment those first moments of a family reunion. The entire extended family is reunited— aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and others. They may come from around the country or even fly in from overseas. They have not seen each other in […]
May 6, 2021 | 1 Thessalonians 2:13–16 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When Paul arrived in Thessalonica, he presented the gospel first to Jews in the local synagogue, as he often did. Some believed, but others responded with hostility, stirring up mob violence and driving the apostle out of the city. When he moved on to […]