“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” Revelation 22:12 Differences divide. When people look different from each other, talk differently, act differently, or eat different foods, these all can become reasons that divide. We see this in people. We even see this with entire nations and cultures. However, differences also divide those who are the same. People of the same family, of the same faith, of the same culture also struggle with anger, resentment, and hard feelings. Even where you ...
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:11,12 Jesus could not have been clearer. He said, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned” (Luke 6:37). ...
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another. Romans 13:8 Credit cards and car payments. Mortgages and medical bills. Leases and braces. Collectors and filing for bankruptcy. Then there is always the question of whether there will be enough retirement benefits and enough for tuition payments. We all know the burden of financial commitments to one degree or another. It’s like a treadmill that we can’t get off. It can feel like a mountain that keeps us buried. Debt leaves us imprisoned and burdened. No wonder wise Solomon wrote, “The borrower ...
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. . . I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19,23 It may be a virtue to put other people’s needs ahead of your own, but it can burn you out fast. Compassion fatigue is a real thing. Needy people can take everything out of you. Unappreciative people can make you resentful. If you are going to find out other people’s needs ...
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:43-45 If your main goal in life is to meet the needs of others, not yourself, what does that make you? A flight attendant? The parent of a newborn? Service staff in a restaurant? No, it makes you a Christian. Let me explain. When Jesus became a human ...
But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:1,2 Picture the scene. A courtroom with a judge and jury. A gallery full of people. The prosecutor armed with damning evidence. And a defendant who knows his guilt. The prosecutor has a book full of the wicked things the defendant has done. With a smirk on his face, he begins to open his ...
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10 Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah got a glimpse of what Jesus would do. The details in Isaiah chapter 53 lead us to believe that Isaiah saw pretty clearly how Jesus would die on a cross. The selfless sacrifice of the suffering servant of the ...
Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Isaiah 35:4 Around the year A.D. 156, a man named Polycarp was arrested during a time of Christian persecution. He was the leader of the church in Smyrna. His arrestors urged him to renounce Christ and to make a small offering to the Roman Caesar. They didn’t want to see this old man put to death. In their minds, they were asking a small thing. “Curse Christ, ...
This devotion is selected from Marin Lutheran College’s seasonal devotional series: We are thankful to Martin Luther College and the professors there for providing these devotions. The author Rev. Richard Gurgel serves Martin Luther College as president. Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 1 ...
This devotion is selected from Marin Lutheran College’s seasonal devotional series: We are thankful to Martin Luther College and the professors there for providing these devotions. The author Rev. Daniel Balge serves Martin Luther College as a professor of Greek and German. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). Matthew 27:46 Can you imagine a sermon just one paragraph long? Probably. One sentence? Maybe. One word? Unlikely. How about a sermon as short as a single letter-in ...
