Wednesday, September 18th

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”  Titus 2:11-14

Dear Jesus, I love it that you teach me that it is your grace and not law that teaches me to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions.  That’s a lot to contemplate.  You gave yourself for me to redeem me from the condemnation that my own wickedness had earned me.  You saved me from my own self-imposed mess and purified me to grant me a new start in life.  That new start begins again every morning because your mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23).  I want to do good today because I am good.  I was made good by you.  As a new person I will do what I can today to encourage faith, alleviate hurts, and be protective of everyone.  Amen.

We do good because we are good in Christ.  We don’t go good so we can feel good in ourselves. 

Tuesday, September 17th

“The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was lefty unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.  An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.  Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless-not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.  Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.  He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”  Titus 1:5-9

Dear Jesus, I thank you that for my whole life you have given me pastors and church lay leaders who not only lived with integrity and a love for what is good, but who also demonstrated a white knuckle grip on the gospel you won for us.  I’m thinking of many moments at their feet in church pews, Sunday school classrooms and seminary quarters.  All of them were very different men but had these two common denominators: 1) they lived worthy of respect and 2) they had a white knuckle grip on your word and grace.  These two virtues held me up when I doubted the truth.  I remembered them and the word they taught and it has always been a strength for me in the face of the wild liberal views and ever changing views of the world.  Thank you for giving me this gift and I pray that you would give more and more people the same through your church.  Make me the image of these men who are your image too.  I want to be this strength for those sprouts growing up under my branches.  Amen.

The greatest need we have in the church is leadership.  We already have the gospel. 

Monday, September 16th

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’  ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’  Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’  Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’  He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’  Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’  The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’  He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’  Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.’”  John 21:15-17

Dear Jesus, I do love you for what you have done to save me as well as how you always keep me safe in your truth.  But how easily I can be distracted from serving your people by the good things in life.  Like Peter’s fishing, I can be enamored with lesser good things.  You have left your finished work on earth in the hands of your people and their leaders.  You want us to change lives with the message of your life for ours.  I have both the supreme motive (love for you) and clear purpose (taking care of your people) to keep my life on the rails.  Give me the wisdom to use the best part of each day tending the faith and growth of your people instead of my own hobbies or pursuits.  Make my life what you want it to be for your cause, your people and the most lasting good for everyone.  Amen.

The spiritual and eternal welfare of people is God’s highest priority.  When we love God it’s ours too. 

Saturday, September 14th

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”    2 Corinthians 5:21

Dear Heavenly Father, It’s tough being on the winning side of the most unfair deal on the planet.  I understand that your grace is unconscionable, but what I don’t fully get is why you’d choose someone as insignificantly sinful as me to be the recipient of such an unfair gift.  I am humbled by what you did to Jesus because of me.  I accept the gift by faith and promise to keep working at making my new status in your favor a motivation for making good choice for the rest of my life.  Amen.

He died so we would live.  How fair is that?  Who cares?  Take the deal and run…all the way to heaven. 

Friday, September 13th

“So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.  Follow him.  Say to the owner of the house he enters, “The Teacher asks:  Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”  He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready.  Make preparations for us there.’  The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them.  So they prepared the Passover.”  Mark 14:13-16

Dear Lord Jesus, I’ve always wondered why you created such an austere way for the disciples to find a place for your last supper with your disciples.  But recently I read from a few commentators that said you most likely were keeping the place a secret so Judas couldn’t mess things up.  In addition, you wanted one last time to call him back to yourself in repentance.  So you kept him off kilter by not allowing him to know the place until you and your disciples walked in the door.  That explanation makes sense to me.  You were controlling everything for the greatest benefit of everyone involved.  How careful you were to make even the destiny of the betrayer your benevolent focus!  Your grace and love for each of us is overwhelming.  My heart is with you in the upper room that night.  I feel privileged to be able to read about what happened there and to connect it to every other time I take your Lord’s Supper.  Thank you for this sacred act that promises me time with you and my fellow believers in holy moments celebrating the grace we share that saves us forever.  Help me to always give your supper the respect you want it to have.  Amen.

The Lord’s Supper is supper with your Lord who is both the host and the meal. 

Thursday, September 12th

“At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else.  Herod wants to kill you.’  He replied, ‘Go tell that fox, “I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.”’  In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”       Luke 13:31-33

Dear Jesus, They could not take from you something you had already given away.  When you left heaven you gave away your life for ours.  So, no threat from a puny earthly king could take over that gift.  What freedom total self-abandonment brought for you.  It made you immune to the anxieties people could cause you.  I want that immunity too.  I have spent way too many moments agonizing over the power people have to mess with my life.  I will give myself to you and in service to all people I will dedicate myself to being their servant.  How could they take from me what I have already given away?  Help me walk in your steps and live a salutary life for others.  I want to say with Paul, “I fill up in my body was lacking in the sufferings of Christ.”  (Colossians 1).  Walk with me today and teach me how to treat praise and threats as two twin impostures.  Amen.

When you have given yourself away in love for God and people, no one can steal your peace or joy. 

Wednesday, September 11th

 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”  Romans 10:17

Dear Heavenly Father, I’ve noticed over many years of spiritual pursuit that faith never comes to me through my own pondering.  I have to hear your word and then it stirs up faith in my soul.  My heart cannot produce the goods needed to produce faith.  Left to my heart’s desire I will wander off into wild places where there is no peace or power to live a godly life.  But if I stay close to your word and listen to good Bible teaching, my faith is invigorated and grows.  I make better decisions and bless more people.  There it is in this passage, “Faith comes from hearing the message about Christ.”  You knew all along what we needed and so you planted the word on earth and in every generation you raise up preachers and teachers to drive it into our hearts.  Thank you for not leaving me to find my way alone.  Your grace made you fill my life with your word.  Amen.

Don’t try to think your way through challenges, find a Bible passage and let it light the way for you. 

Tuesday, September 10th

“So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.  Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the read and drink from the cup.  For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”  1 Corinthians 11:27-29

Dear Jesus, How serious you want us to be when we take the Lord’s Supper!  It’s the celebration and proclamation of your greatest act of love that has the greatest effect on our lives!  It’s the partaking of your very sacrifice that you made for us.  I will take it reverently for the rest of my life.  Give me a sober and faith filled attitude about this sacred act and help my brothers and sisters to take it seriously too.  It connects us together in faith and love and it connects us to you who is our life.  After I have taken your supper, help it to give me peace and hope for the days I face until the next Lord’s Supper moment with you.  I don’t want to ever lose the significance of this simple, yet powerful meal.  Amen.

We all have a favorite meal.  The Lord’s Supper is God’s favorite!

Monday, September 9th

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”  Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”  The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”’  Matthew 25:31-40

Dear Jesus, I am thankful that you will divide all humanity at the end of the age before you start commenting on our lives.  I noticed also that you won’t be reminding us Christians of all the times we failed to take care of your people.  Help me to demonstrate in common acts of kindness for your people, that I love you and believe in you as my personal Lord and Savior.  I know that of all of the people on the planet, only you and your people on the planet, only you and your people are my true forever family.  Give me eyes to see the believers around me that need your love reaching to them through me so they are encouraged and strengthened on their way that leads to eternal life where we all live in harmony and celebration forever.  Amen.

Your Christians friends are your next of kin.  Live like it! 

Saturday, September 7th

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.  The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.  The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.  At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him!’  Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.  The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’  ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you.  Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’  But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.  The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet.  And the door was shut.  Later the others also came.  ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’  But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”  Matthew 25:1-13

Dear Jesus, You told this parable so my life would be characterized by waiting for you instead of living for myself.  You are my bridegroom.  My world is about you and not just me and my interests.  I know you’re coming back to take us, your bride, to heaven.  Everything here seems smaller when I know it will soon be the place I am from but not where I am.  I will wait for you the way wedding parties wait for the bride and groom.  I will wait for you the way pets and children wait for their parents to get home.  My life is about when you return and not just the here and now.  If I become self-indulgent in this world don’t hesitate to bring me back to this place in my heart.  Amen.

If we have no future with God then we really possess not present with him either. 

Friday, September 6th

“’But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.’  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”    Matthew 24:36-42

Dear Jesus, Parents warn their children because they love them.  It doesn’t ‘t always feel like love coming from their vocal cords, but it is  In the same way, these words don’t necessarily feel like love from you but I know they are.  You don’t want to catch me off guard when you return.  You want me to be ready.  So, you remind me that there will be signs that the end is near, but you won’t tell me when you are coming.  I see all the signs you have told us about.  I feel it could be any moment that you split the skies to end the entire history of this groaning planet.  Help me to live like it could be today.  Make me ardent in prayer, athletic in service to my neighbor and peaceful in my heart.  Help me to feel everything you want me to feel as I wait for your rescue.  Amen.

Every sports team plays with more intensity when the game clock reads 2 minutes left.  Hint? 

Thursday, September 5th

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”  Matthew 24:14

Dear Jesus, As you let troubles go back and forth over your planet, I sometimes wonder what you’re doing.  Right here in the middle of your sermon where you list off all the troubles of this age, you tell us what you are doing.  You’re making sure the gospel is preached in every corner.  So, right alongside of your action to resolve our temporary issues through family, friends, good government, and the medical community,--right alongside of these, you are preaching the gospel of rescue to take us to another place.  When you told us in this chapter about all these troubles that we would endure, you were in the very week that you would be dying to redeem us.  I’m not going to forget that making sure the gospel is preached in every trouble is the biggest thing you are doing.  Thank you for “small things” and the “big thing” you do in order to bless my life every day.  Amen.

Sometimes our anxieties about our troubles are a sign that we have forgotten about the biggest thing you have done for us. 

Wednesday, September 4th

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately.  ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’  Jesus answered:  ‘Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Messiah,” and will deceive many.  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.”  Matthew 24:3-8

Dear Jesus, There you sat looking over the golden city as the sun bathed it in an orange glow.  The disciples were intrigued by your prophecy about the fall of the city and the destruction of the temple.  But you saw it as the beginning of the end of the world.  Your saving work that was happening in just three days would usher in the end times.  From that day forward the world has been racked with wars and natural disasters just as you promised.  This latest pandemic is one of many plagues that have circle the globe.  Your book of Revelation spells it out pretty well too.  Trouble will haunt us for humanity’s entire existence.  I accept your judgment on this world and I’m happy to get into your lifeboat to eternity.  Thank you for being honest with me about the sinking ship and forthright with me about the way to eternal life.  I will live today with repentant hope in your salvation.  Amen.

The ship is going down.  There is a life boat waiting but have no doubts that the ship is going down! 

Tuesday, September 3rd

“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.  ‘Do you see all these things?’ he asked.  ‘Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.’” Matthew 24:1-2

Dear Jesus, How hard it must have been for you to foretell the destruction of your Father’s house!  Jews loved it as their national treasure.  You loved it because it was your Father’s house.  There his name was glorified and proclaimed.  But his new home would be human hearts.  He wouldn’t need this obsolete place anymore.  Your saving work would make true spirituality portable.  It would go wherever your people went.  Where they go, there is your active love, giving and forgiving.  The disciples couldn’t wrap their minds around the thought that the destruction of the temple was the birth of the church.  They just wanted to know when this would all take place.  But you changed their hearts at Pentecost.  They never needed a place very much anymore.  Now they were the place.  In their hearts they had the Holy Spirit.  I do too.  Give me the wisdom and faith to not need a place on earth as my holy place.  Help me live as your “holy place” wherever my body goes since you live in my heart.  Amen.

God decided that his most favorite place on earth would be in your heart.  Make him feel welcome there. 

Monday, September 2nd

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.  ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.’”     Matthew 23:13-15

Dear Jesus, You didn’t pull any punches in your final day of teaching in the temple during your last week.  You exposed for me that the measure of a person’s religion is not whether they work hard at it or not.  It’s about truth.  If they don’t point people to who you are and what you have done for us, they are just law-teachers that lead people to trust in themselves.  It’s a recipe for disaster.  Lord, help Christian teachers everywhere to allow the gospel to predominate their teaching so those who are searching can find the real you.  Keep me from being a moralist who lives and teaches as if keeping the law is the supreme goal of spirituality.  Help me to live in the Gospel not just give it lip service.  Amen.

Without Jesus and his completed work, the finest religious teaching is a heap of rubble. 

Saturday, August 31st

“While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ‘What do you think about the Messiah?  Whose son is he?’  ‘The son of David,’ they replied.  He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord”?  For he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord:  “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’  If then David calls him “Lord,” how can he be his son?  No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.”  Matthew 22:41-45

Dear Jesus, You didn’t need the affirmation, but they needed the information.  They never dreamed that Messiah would be both man and God at the same time.  So, you pointed them to their own Bible to teach them that you weren’t just claiming this for yourself.  It was intrinsic to the entire plan to save humanity.  God the Son would become flesh and do what we could never do; offer himself as the perfect sacrifice for all people.  Old King David saw this 1000 years before it happened and called you Lord!  When I look at my flawed, aging body, it’s hard for me to imagine that you had one of these just like mine.  You are God and yet you took on flesh just like ours.  What intimate love that is; that you would become one of us trapped in a body destined to die.  Thank you for dying so that I might live.  It gives me hope in the face of grave medical difficulties.  It gives me peace as one by one, my dear friends lose their bodies to death and decay.  It gives me triumphant thoughts when I think about the end of all things when you step on death’s neck forever.  Help me live in this Easter feeling during this entire spring, even in the days of Lent.  Amen.

You cannot figure out how God could also be man anymore than you can figure out that light has no mass yet bounces off things. 

Friday, August 30th

“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’  Jesus replied:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:34-40

Dear Jesus, I do love you, the Father and Holy Spirit and I do love the people around me, but I know my love for God and my neighbor is deeply flawed.  I often choose myself over everyone else and when I meet someone hard to love, I easily justify turning away from them.  I repent of such fickle love.  Lord, fill me with your unconditional love for everyone.  Make me love my enemies as much as my dearest friend.  Give me the love that you demand.  I don’t have the wherewithal to love like you want unless you give me your enabling grace.  I know that by meditating on your cross I can see and feel the love I’m praying for.  So, that will be meditation today, you on the cross for all other sinners and me.  Amen.

Love is life’s goal and love from God is the power to reach it. 

Thursday, August 29th

“That same day the Sadducees, came to him with a question.  ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.  Now there were seven brothers among us.  The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.  The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh.  Finally, the woman died.  Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?’  Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.  At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.  But about the resurrection of the dead-have you not read what God said to you, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”’  When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.”  Matthew 22:23-33

Dear Jesus, It’s the most comforting argument you ever won.  The question those Sadducees raised struck at the heart of my biggest fear (death) and your biggest promise, (resurrection from death.)  I’m like the crowd in the last verse.  I’m astonished at your teaching and encouraged in my faith.  I feel safe.  The Bible they doubted really does teach eternal life beyond the grave.  It’s even assumed in passages where it’s not taught explicitly.  When we get to heaven we will be like the angels in fact that we won’t be married.  We’ll all be close friends with everyone in every way.  When I watch you win that argument, I go from doubt to faith-filled anticipation.  You are my champion and my Lord.  How could I ever thank you enough for including me, of all people, in the knowledge of your victory over this otherwise dead end life?  I will live in joy and grace today as my tribute to you.  Amen.

When you know you are going to live forever, you live differently in the here and now. 

Wednesday, August 28th

“Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him I his words.  They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.  ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.  You aren’t swayed others, because you pay no attention to who they are.  Tell us then, when is your opinion?  Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?’  But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?  Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’  They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this?  And whose inscription?’  ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.  Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed.  So they left him and went away.”  Matthew 22:15-22

Dear Jesus, I’m sad that those men sent their underlings to trap you in words about taxes.  What a grand miscue that they would want to talk about taxes when you were laying down your life for their salvation.  How tolerant you were to answer them, even though they wouldn’t listen.  In your answer I hear the freedom of faith and love.  It’s freedom to pay taxes to a grossly imperfect government because I believe in God.  Faith in your heavenly Father leads me to submit to the government he has afforded me.  It’s very flawed but it’s built on principles of freedom and opportunity for all.  They strive for fairness and protection of their citizens.  There are checks and balances and room for me to speak my mind.  Give me the faith to live in peace under my government because I know you are guiding the entire world with your saving hand.  Amen.

God gives us a government to live under while he gives us a message of hope that helps us live larger than that government. 

Tuesday, August 27th

“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.’”  Genesis 28:20-22

Dear Heavenly Father, Jacob had ruined his family and his testimony.  He stole the blessing you were going to give him anyway.  Then you chased him down, but not to hurt him.  No, you chased him down to restore him in redeeming grace.  What an amazing Creator you are!  You must have smiled with parental, condescending mercy when he promised that if you would travel with him, he’d bless you with a 10th of all you gave him.  How patient you are with us people who flatter ourselves when we give back to you part of what you already owned anyway!  Thank you for the grace you have in every corner of our stinking lives.  It’s the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food that we crave.  Accept my small life as my way of saying thanks for chasing me down to save me.  Amen.

When you give something to God from your heart, don’t forget to thank him for the privilege of participating in his universe.