Devotionals

Nafi and Kamran joined a military coup. They fought for years, and when their side won, were given desk jobs in the capital. It’s not going well. There’s little to do so they go online. Nafi says that many of his comrades, “including me, are addicted to the internet, especially Twitter.” Kamran adds, “The real test and challenge was not during the [war]. Rather, it’s now. At that time, it was simple, but now things are much more complicated.” Citing the various temptations he found on the Web, he added, “Many . . . have fallen into these seemingly sweet, but actually bitter traps.”

Kamran’s right that we’re most vulnerable to let down our guard when we’re at ease, as he was after a war. In Scripture we find a similar caution in the story of David’s adultery with Bathsheba. It all began when he sent others off to war but remained behind in the capital. Like an undisciplined man scrolling the internet, David “got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace” (2 Samuel 11:2). He put himself in harm’s way. And when “he saw a woman bathing,” he didn’t turn away (v. 3).

We avoid the postwar letdown by remembering we’re still at war. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but . . . against the spiritual forces of evil.” So, as He helps us, we “put on the full armor of God” and prepare to “stand our ground” (Ephesians 6:12–13).

In 1905 a scruffy young man holed up in his apartment in Bern, Switzerland, engaging in complex thought experiments regarding the nature of the universe. With frenzied focus, the physicist worked and reworked his calculations. Four mind-crunching months later, this man had rewritten much of what was known about how the world works. The man was Albert Einstein. He was twenty-six.

The year 1905 is now famously called “the miracle year,” the moment Einstein peered into God’s design of the universe. Yet despite possessing a great scientific mind, Einstein said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”

The Bible frequently points to the majesty of God reflected in His creation: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), and Job predated Einstein’s words: “Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens” (Job 11:7–8).

But God’s creation glory is even greater than the expanse of universes: “In the beginning was the Word. . . .The Word became flesh” (John 1:1, 14). There are no mathematical calculations that can explain God’s extraordinary act of entering humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. God is not just “out there” in a universe we cannot begin to know, but He’s here alongside us, the Word among us, the light of life (1:4) whom we can know personally and intimately.

When Christ was born in Bethlehem, that was the true “miracle year.”

After great-grandma Clara passed away, her ten-foot-long prayer list became a family heirloom. On the long roll of paper were typewritten names of people for whom she prayed regularly. There were many extended family members, her friends, and people her friends were praying for, and the names of high-profile evangelists, pastors, and ministries. New family members and specific prayer requests are handwritten in the margins. I became emotional seeing my mother’s name on the list, added when she was just a child.

The apostle Paul wrote to the early church, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12). In his letter, Paul exhorted believers to do many things that displayed love in action—hating evil and loving good (v. 9), honoring others above yourself (v. 10), passionately serving God (v. 11), and practicing hospitality (v. 13). All these good works would be empty without the love of Christ working in us. That’s where faithful prayer comes in. Paul called his friends to “join [him] in [his] struggle by praying to God for [him]” (15:30). Specific requests for safety from opposers and a favorable reception in Jerusalem (v. 32) were on Paul’s list. I wonder if they ended up on the private prayer list of a great-grandma in Rome too.

Prayer empowers us to live in a way that “overcomes evil with good” (12:21). Though we may not always see the outcome, it creates a legacy of faithfulness for generations to come.

J.D. witnessed amazing sights on his trip to several African nations. His text messages to us from Eastern Zambia included several pictures of faith-filled women who presented their three-year gospel ministry plan. “It is one of the most powerful strategic plan presentations I’ve ever heard in my life. Instead of a whiteboard, they drew in the dirt. Instead of handing out nice copies of what they were going to do, they displayed their plan on poster-sized crumpled paper held up by two of them. It was just incredible!”

They were demonstrating the kind of faith that Jesus values. Matthew 15:21-28 records another example. A daughter’s condition drove a woman to seek Him. “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly” (v. 22). Her “great faith” (v. 28) in Jesus contrasted with the faithlessness of the Jewish leadership whose hearts were far from God (v. 8). While Christ recognized the outward pedigree of those belonging to Abraham, His commendation was for a gentile woman who possessed “the faith of Abraham.”

What compels you to look to Jesus today? A personal, family or community need? Whatever prompts you to go to Jesus, go even if you feel that you’re limping. Go to Him because it’s not the size of your faith that matters. What matters it’s the object of your faith: Jesus and Jesus alone.

Besides attending ceremonies and signing policies after taking the oath of office, new US presidents are greeted with a cold reality: they start making their own funeral plans. That way the country will be prepared to celebrate their lives when they die. George H. W. Bush was asked if it was “weird” to be planning his own memorial. He replied, “You kind of get used to it.” Historians will write about their legacies, but presidents get to plan the personal and traditional parts of their services and the ways they will be remembered.

Death is a sobering reality we all must face. King Solomon, who searched for the meaning of life in pleasure, work, and knowledge, and came up empty, said, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting” (Ecclesiastes 7:2). Negative situations give more perspective than happy times. If we face the reality of death, we can better prepare for what comes after. Verse 2 adds, “Death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” We should ponder it and plan on it.

Preparation comes from receiving forgiveness of sin from Jesus, who died for us and rose again. Everyone dies because death came when the first man, Adam, disobeyed God, and we have followed his ways. But “everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (1 Corinthians 15:22 nlt).

In 1859, the largest solar storm in recorded history took place. Known as the Carrington Event, it produced a massive geomagnetic disturbance blamed for disrupting the telegraph system. The website Space.com says, “It’s been conjectured that a storm on the scale of the Carrington event, if it happened today, could cause an internet apocalypse.”

The ominous word apocalypse intrigues us. It’s the Greek title of the book of Revelation (apokalupsis). But the word doesn’t only mean a catastrophe or the end of the world. As the title Revelation implies, it also refers to an unveiling, a revealing.

The book opens, “The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1). Revelation reveals Jesus as the Lamb of God, a term John uses more than twenty-five times in Revelation to describe Him. The book also reveals Christ as one whose “eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters” (vv. 14-15). When John first saw the Lamb of God, he “fell at his feet as though dead” (v. 17). But this Lamb touched him and said, “Do not be afraid. . . . I am alive for ever and ever!” (v. 18).

Rather than fearing any apocalypse, we can embrace Revelation for showing us the glorified, resurrected Christ. He’s the one we worship.

“We wave until they’re out of sight. It’s a way of showing that we love them.” Those words from my mother when I was a boy explained a habit she and my father had when a family member left our home after a visit. Mom and Dad stood outside and waved to the ones leaving until they disappeared in the distance. Sometimes they stood there a long time, but that didn’t matter. When I left home myself, I understood why.

Seeing them waving in the rearview mirror touched my heart, and I felt loved and cared for. I still say goodbye to our family visitors that way to show love for them. It’s a habit I hope my children will continue.

Another way we can express love for our families is to communicate God’s love shared in Scripture. As the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan into the promised land, God taught them with these instructions for life: “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds. . . . Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 11:18-19).

These are words that would one day find fulfillment in the perfect love of Jesus, who promised, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). As we share His truth and kindness, we can trust that His love is able to overcome every distance.

On the basketball court, our grandson’s seventh-grade team did their best to score. Offense was their passion. But after each basket, their coach urged them to hurry back downcourt and play defense, which they were sometimes reluctant to do. Everyone wanted to score, but no one seemed eager to put in the hard work of defending.

The key to the game, the coach taught them, was in anticipating the movements of the opposing players. Stepping in front of a pass or shot would thwart the other team’s scoring and help the team win the game.

A defensive strategy that anticipates the moves of our enemy can also help in our spiritual lives. And who is that enemy? Peter’s letter to believers in Jesus reminds us. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). So “be alert and of sober mind,” Peter wrote. Indeed, we’re called to “resist” our spiritual enemy, “standing firm in the faith” (v. 9).

Living out an active defense leads us as believers in Jesus to be more effective in our lives and in the productive work we seek to do for His kingdom. Then, if we have spiritual setbacks, the God of all grace “will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (v. 10). He is the One who establishes us, and who builds our strong defense—in Him.

After a company couldn’t meet the specifications for ink pens use in some US government offices in the 1960s, the General Services Administration asked National Industries for the Blind (NIB) to make 70 million pens—despite NIB having never made pens before. They accepted the challenge and met all the specifications. Since 1967 blind factory workers have assembled these writing instruments used extensively by military personnel. The pens can be used to write upside down, make a mile-long line, and withstand extreme temperatures.

Genesis 1:27 reminds us that each human being has been made to God’s perfect specifications: “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” How we’re created reflects God’s character and nature. Being created in His image means everyone has inherent dignity and worth. God said that each person’s story begins with being made “in [His] image, in [His] likeness” (v. 26). This truth provides the foundation for understanding human dignity, identity, and relationships with others.

Just as those pens serve a vital role, so do we! Though we might feel unimpressive, each of us holds intrinsic value and purpose crafted by God. Today, may we embrace our story, knowing our Creator treasures us and calls us “very good” (v. 31).