Devotionals

Daily readings to encourage your heart and mind in the pursuit of God and his glory.

  • Speaking the Truth

    Ephesians 4:25

    Martin Luther purportedly said, “Peace if possible, but truth at any rate.” We cannot lie to others about the depth of our sin or the sin of others even if we know lies will maintain “peace” between different parties. We ...Read More

  • What We Learned in Christ

    Ephesians 4:23-24

    Taking off our old selves — our Adamic natures that love rebellion — and putting on Christ is really a single act. We cannot live in Adam and in Christ at the same time, which means that we cannot refuse ...Read More

  • Learning Christ

    Ephesians 4:20-22

    John Calvin writes, “He whose life differs not from that of unbelievers, has learned nothing of Christ; for the knowledge of Christ cannot be separated from the mortification of the flesh.” Scripture never asserts that sinless perfection is attainable before ...Read More

  • Ignorance and Hardness

    Ephesians 4:17-19

    Sin affects our entire being, including our ability to love, our capacity to reason, and our physical bodies. The longer we persist in sin, the harder it is to see and do the will of God, so we must endeavor ...Read More

  • Jesus Our Peace

    Ephesians 2:14

    God’s law defines what is pleasing to Him, so we must always seek to understand it and follow it in the power of the Spirit. Yet while the law tells us what is right and wrong and what we may ...Read More

  • The World, the Flesh, and the Devil

    Ephesians 2:2-3

    Paul makes a subtle shift in Ephesians 2:1–3 from “you” (the Gentile Ephesians) to “we” (Jews like Paul and the Gentiles), indicating the universality of sin. John Chrysostom writes, “All are included. It is not possible to say that anyone ...Read More

  • Love and Evil

    1 Corinthians 13:5-6

    Gossip and slander are two of the most overlooked sins in our day. We are quick to condemn sexual immorality, theft, and murder, but at the same time we often relish the opportunity to hear and tell stories about what ...Read More

  • Sin’s Reality and the Ideal

    Philemon 8

    As today’s study shows, understanding the cultural background of a passage in Scripture is important to figuring out why an author says what he says. In turn, as we hope to show in future studies, knowing this historical context also ...Read More

  • Honoring God

    Romans 1:18-32

    The flippant references about God and lack of respect for authority that are rampant in our culture reflect the primal sin of not giving honor to the Creator. Unfortunately, even those of us in the church are not entirely guiltless ...Read More

  • Putting Off and Putting On

    Colossians 3:9-10

    Having been baptized into Christ we have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27), and a deceitful tongue has no place in those who belong to the Savior. All people should expect honesty from us, for we are followers of the Lord ...Read More

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