Read: James 3:1-12
Bible in a Year: Exodus 12-13; Matthew 16
The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. —James 3:5
My daughter has had a lot of ill health recently, and her husband has been wonderfully caring and supportive. “You have a real treasure there!” I said.
“You didn’t think that when I first knew him,” she said with a grin.
Read: John 15:1-5
Bible in a Year: Exodus 9-11; Matthew 15:21-39
[Jesus said,] “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. —John 15:5
The church service was still in progress, and we had some visitors there that morning. The speaker was only halfway through his sermon when I noticed one of our visitors walking out. I was curious and concerned, so I walked out to talk with her.
“You’re leaving so soon,” I said, approaching her. “Is there a problem I can help with?” She was frank and forthright. “Yes,” she said, “my problem is that sermon! I don’t accept what the preacher is saying.” He had said that no matter what we accomplish in life, the credit and praise belong to God. “At least,” the woman moaned, “I deserve some credit for my achievements!”
Read: Proverbs 22:1-16
Bible in a Year: Exodus 7-8; Matthew 15:1-20
Start children off on the way they should go. —Proverbs 22:6
When my daughter described a problem she was having in the school lunchroom, I immediately wondered how I could fix the issue for her. But then another thought occurred. Maybe God had allowed the problem so she could see Him at work and get to know Him better. Instead of running to the rescue, I decided to pray with her. The trouble cleared up without any help from me!
Read: Romans 7:15-25
Bible in a Year: Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. —Romans 7:15
A middle-aged man approached me after I led a workshop at his place of employment and asked this question: “I’ve been a Christian nearly my whole life, but I’m constantly disappointed in myself. Why is it that I always seem to keep doing the things I wish I didn’t do and never seem to do the things I know I should? Isn’t God getting tired of me?” Two men standing next to me also seemed eager to hear the response.
Read: Luke 15:11-24
Bible in a Year: Exodus 1-3; Matthew 14:1-21
While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. —Luke 15:20
When we were going through a particularly challenging time with our son, a friend pulled me aside after a church meeting. “I want you to know that I pray for you and your son every day,” he said. Then he added: “I feel so guilty.”
“Why?” I asked. “Because I’ve never had to deal with prodigal children,” he said. “My kids pretty much played by the rules. But it wasn’t because of anything I did or didn’t do. Kids,” he shrugged, “make their own choices.”
Read: Philippians 3:17-21
Bible in a Year: Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13:31-58
Join together in following my example. —Philippians 3:17
Several years ago I received a letter from an Our Daily Bread reader after I had written about a family tragedy. “When you told about your tragedy,” this person wrote, “I realized that the writers were real people with real problems.” How true that is! I look across the list of men and women who pen these articles, and I see cancer and wayward children and unfulfilled dreams and many other kinds of loss. We are indeed just regular, real people writing about a real God who understands our real problems.
Read: Philippians 2:1-11
Bible in a Year: Genesis 46-48; Matthew 13:1-30
[Jesus] humbled himself. —Philippians 2:8
Tibetan-born Sherpa Nawang Gombu and American Jim Whittaker reached the top of Mount Everest on May 1, 1963. As they approached the peak, each considered the honor of being the first of the two to step to the summit. Whittaker motioned for Gombu to move ahead, but Gombu declined with a smile, saying, “You first, Big Jim!” Finally, they decided to step to the summit at the same time.
Paul encouraged the Philippian believers to demonstrate this kind of humility. He said, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4 nkjv). Selfishness and superiority can divide people, but humility unites us, since it is the quality of “being one in spirit and of one mind” (v. 2).
Read: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Bible in a Year: Genesis 43-45; Matthew 12:24-50
While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son. —Romans 5:10
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached on a Sunday morning in 1957, he fought the temptation to retaliate against a society steeped in racism.
“How do you go about loving your enemies?” he asked the Dexter Avenue Baptist congregation in Montgomery, Alabama. “Begin with yourself. . . . When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it.”
Continue reading Our Daily Bread — Minister of Reconciliation
Read: 1 Corinthians 14:6-12,26
Bible in a Year: Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23
Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church. —1 Corinthians 14:12
The world-class botanical garden across the street from our church was the setting for an all-church community gathering. As I walked around the gardens greeting people I have known for years, catching up with those I hadn’t seen recently, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings cared for by people who know and love plants, I realized that the evening was rich with symbols of how the church is supposed to function—a little hint of heaven on earth.
Read: Hebrews 5:11-14
Bible in a Year: Genesis 39-40; Matthew 11
Anyone who lives on milk . . . is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. —Hebrews 5:13
The axolotl (pronounced ACK suh LAH tuhl) is a biological enigma. Instead of maturing into adult form, this endangered Mexican salamander retains tadpole-like characteristics throughout its life. Writers and philosophers have used the axolotl as a symbol of someone who fears growth.
Read: Ephesians 2:4-7
Bible in a Year: Genesis 36-38; Matthew 10:21-42
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. —Hebrews 4:16
In the winter of 2009, a large passenger plane made an emergency landing in New York’s Hudson River. The pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who landed the plane safely with no casualties, was later asked about those moments in the air when he was faced with a life-or-death decision. “One way of looking at this,” he said, “might be that for 42 years I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education, and training. And on [that day] the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal.”
Read: Luke 9:57-62
Bible in a Year: Genesis 33-35; Matthew 10:1-20
No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. —Luke 9:62
Saying goodbye is hard—to family and friends, to a favorite and familiar place, to an occupation or livelihood.
In Luke 9:57-62 our Lord describes the cost of being His disciple. A would-be follower says to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus responds, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (vv. 61-62). Is He asking His followers to say goodbye to everything and every relationship considered precious?
Read: John 10:1-9
Bible in a Year: Genesis 31-32; Matthew 9:18-38
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. —John 10:9
Italian artist Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) spent years skillfully crafting images of Jesus’ life into the bronze doors of Italy’s Florence Baptistery. These bronze reliefs were so moving that Michelangelo called them the Gates of Paradise.
Read: Revelation 3:7-13
Bible in a Year: Genesis 29-30; Matthew 9:1-17
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have. —Revelation 3:11
A cowboy friend of mine who grew up on a ranch in Texas has a number of colorful sayings. One of my favorites is “It don’t take much water to make good coffee.” And when someone ropes a steer too big to handle or is in some kind of trouble, my friend will shout, “Hold everything you’ve got!” meaning “Help is on the way! Don’t let go!”
Read: Romans 5:6-11
Bible in a Year: Genesis 27-28; Matthew 8:18-33
You were bought at a price. —1 Corinthians 6:20
After my mother-in-law died, my wife and I discovered a cache of US Indian Head pennies in a dresser drawer in her apartment. She wasn’t a coin collector, as such, but she lived in the era when these pennies were in circulation and she had accumulated a few.
Some of these coins are in excellent condition; others are not. They are so worn and tarnished you can hardly see the imprint. All bear the stamp “One Cent” on the opposite side. Although a penny these days has little value and many consider them useless, this one-cent coin would have bought a newspaper in its day. And collectors still find value in them, even those that have been battered and abused.
Read: Joshua 20:1-9
Bible in a Year: Genesis 25-26; Matthew 8:1-17
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. —Proverbs 18:10
In March 2014 a tribal conflict broke out in my hometown area, forcing my father’s household, along with other refugees, to take cover in the region’s capital city. Throughout history, people who have felt unsafe in their homelands have traveled to other places searching for safety and something better.
As I visited and talked with people from my hometown, I thought of the cities of refuge in Joshua 20:1-9. These were cities designated as places of safety for those fleeing from “relatives seeking revenge” in the case of an accidental killing (v. 3 nlt). They offered peace and protection.
Read: Isaiah 12
Bible in a Year: Genesis 23-24; Matthew 7
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. —Isaiah 12:3
When people drill holes deep into the earth, it is normally for pulling up core samples of rock, accessing oil, or finding water.
In Isaiah 12, we learn that God wanted His people, who were living in a spiritual desert as well as a geographical desert, to discover His “wells of salvation.” The prophet Isaiah compared God’s salvation to a well from which the most refreshing of all waters can be drawn. After many years of turning their back on God, the nation of Judah was destined for exile as God allowed foreign invaders to conquer the nation, scattering the people. Yet, said the prophet Isaiah, a remnant would eventually return to their homeland as a sign that God was with them (Isa. 11:11-12).
Read: John 8:31-38
Bible in a Year: Genesis 20-22; Matthew 6:19-34
If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. —John 8:31-32
“Everybody’s doing it” seemed like a winning argument when I was young. But my parents never gave in to such pleas no matter how desperate I was to get permission to do something they believed was unsafe or unwise.
Continue reading Our Daily Bread — The Best Kind of Happiness
Read: Matthew 6:5-10
Bible in a Year: Genesis 18-19; Matthew 6:1-18
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. —Matthew 6:8
My home sits along a creek in a canyon in the shadow of a large mountain. During the spring snowmelt and after heavy rains this stream swells and acts more like a river than a creek. People have drowned in it. One day I traced the origin of the creek to its very source, a snowfield atop the mountain. From there the melted snow begins the long journey down the mountain, joining other rivulets to take shape as the creek below my house.
It occurs to me, thinking about prayer, that most of the time I get the direction wrong. I start downstream with my own concerns and bring them to God. I inform God, as if God did not already know. I plead with God, as if hoping to change God’s mind and overcome divine reluctance. Instead, I should start upstream where the flow begins.
Read: Psalm 37:21-31
Bible in a Year: Genesis 16-17; Matthew 5:27-48
Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. —Psalm 37:24
The clock tower at Westminster, which contains the bell known as Big Ben, is an iconic landmark in London, England. It is traditionally thought that the melody of the tower chimes was taken from the tune of “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth” from Handel’s Messiah. Words were eventually added and put on display in the clock room:
Lord, through this hour be Thou our guide;
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