Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.—Ephesians 4:26 (ESV)
In the quiet whispers of your heart, anger can arise from hurt or misunderstanding. Yet God calls you to a higher path—one where anger does not lead to sin. Transform your anger into prayer. Seek His guidance to navigate through difficult emotions with grace. By releasing your anger, you find peace.
Dear Lord, help me find peace in Your presence and wisdom in Your Word.
“You did not listen to me,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 25:7
Today’s Scripture
Jeremiah 25:4-11
Listen to Today’s Devotional
Today’s Devotional
Alida took a DNA test in 2020 and discovered a strong match to a man living on the opposite coast of the US. Later, she and her daughters found news articles from the 1950s that led them to conclude that the man was Alida’s long-lost uncle, Luis! He’d been abducted from a park in 1951 when he was six years old. That DNA test, taken seventy years after Luis’ disappearance, eventually led to a happy reunion with his biological family members. Alida said, “With [our] story out there, it could help other families . . . . I would say, don’t give up.”
Seventy years is a long time to keep hope alive. Jeremiah and the people of Judah must have been heartbroken and fearful when God said they would “serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:11). But they hadn’t listened to God and turned from their “evil ways and . . . practices” (v. 5), which had deformed them into “an object of horror and scorn” (v. 9). The people were condemned more than thirty times in Jeremiah for not listening to Him. Seventy years might have felt like forever, but God would be with them, and He promised that the hard season would eventually end (29:10).
As we face challenging seasons that seem to go on and on, let’s remember that while we may struggle to trust God, He promises that He’s with us and loves us (30:11). As we listen to Him and wait expectantly, we can find hope.
Reflect & Pray
How is it possible to endure difficult times? Where can you find comfort in God’s promises?
Loving God, please help me find hope in You.
Find out how you can find comfort in who God is and what He says He will do.
Today’s Insights
The people of Judah were stubbornly unrepentant, persistently refusing to trust God and blatantly ignoring His warnings of punishment for their idolatry (Jeremiah 25:3-7). The Babylonians would turn their country into a desolate wasteland, and the people would be exiled to Babylon for seventy years (vv. 8-11). But God wouldn’t abandon them. He assured them of His presence and love: “Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, . . . for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land” (42:11-12). Whatever situation we’re facing today, we can entrust ourselves to God, knowing that He loves us and is with us.
[Earnestly] remember the former things, [which I did] of old; for I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose.
Isaiah 46:9-10 (AMPC)
There may be times when it seems that you cannot go forward, but at least you do not have to go backward. You may not know how to forge ahead, but you can stand firmly on what you know of God.
Instead of passively yielding to the enemy, you can say, “This is the ground I have gained, and I am not giving it up, devil. You are not driving me back into the hole that God pulled me out of. I am going to stand strong in the power of God until He delivers me.”
Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me stand strong in Your power. I will not surrender ground to the enemy but trust You to keep me moving forward in victory, amen.
What do these surprising political headlines from the weekend have in common?
In each case, you have to be grateful for what is being reported to experience the news as good news. If you’re not a fan of Mr. Trump or Ms. Greene, if you don’t find New York City or Texas state politics relevant, or if you’re not interested in the cultural narrative illustrated by the Orthodox Church’s rising popularity, you won’t click on the links.
Here’s why this theme matters this Thanksgiving week and every week.
How God treated my migraine in Cuba
Gratitude is the pathway to flourishing. It’s not enough to have the resources necessary for happiness—we must be grateful for these resources to experience their full benefit.
Consider a mundane illustration: My wife sent me to our bank the other day to draw out some cash from the ATM. The machine asked how much I wanted. I asked the screen what the maximum amount was. It told me $800, so I asked for that amount. It then canceled my transaction. When I went inside the bank to see what had gone wrong, I was informed that $500 is the maximum amount you can withdraw, a fact lost on the ATM’s messaging system.
I was frustrated by this technological snafu, but I had been contemplating today’s theme for a few days and remembered it in that moment. I therefore made myself express gratitude for a bank that holds our money, ATM technology that dispenses it, and enough money to be able to withdraw what we needed.
My friends in Cuba would not share my frustration. A recent article in the Economist profiles the ongoing crisis gripping their island nation: electricity usually does not work, and water is often unavailable for drinking, cooking, washing, or even flushing a toilet. According to one study, 89 percent of Cuban families live in extreme poverty; only 3 percent can get the medicine they need at pharmacies.
Over my many preaching trips to the island, however, I have seen Cuban Christians adapt to their challenges. Without electricity, they open the windows of their worship centers and praise God by sunlight and candlelight. Without government support, they grow their own food and share it with each other. Without medicines, they pray for healing.
During one of my trips, I developed a migraine headache one evening. There was no aspirin or other medicine to be found, so the pastor brought an elderly member of his church to see me in my hotel room. “Brother Ben” anointed my forehead with oil and prayed for me, and my headache vanished.
Our Cuban sisters and brothers have taken to heart the biblical command, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Their gratitude helps them identify God’s blessings and then enables them to experience his gifts personally.
Displacing bad behavior with good behavior
This principle is rooted in basic human nature.
Many years ago, an article by the New York Times columnist David Brooks explained our theme. According to Brooks, “There’s a trove of research suggesting that it’s best to tackle negative behaviors obliquely, by redirecting attention toward different, positive ones.” He added, “Don’t try to bludgeon bad behavior. Change the underlying context. Change the behavior triggers. Displace bad behavior with different good behavior.”
In other words, when we are frustrated, disappointed, or otherwise challenged, choose to “give thanks in all circumstances.” Look for a reason to be grateful even in the midst of disappointment or pain.
You may be in the hospital, but you can be grateful that hospitals exist and that you are receiving medical care. You might be grieving the end of your marriage, but you can look for whatever good came from your relationship and be thankful for it. You could be facing your first Thanksgiving without a loved one, but you can remember wonderful times together and focus on the fact that every day is Thanksgiving for those who dwell in God’s glorious paradise.
When we do this, we experience more than the pleasurable emotions resulting from the dopamine and serotonin released in our brains by gratitude: we position ourselves to experience personally the blessings we remember.
“Changed” or “exchanged”?
This principle applies most of all to our ultimate purpose in life. Oswald Chambers observed, “The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of himself, the Holy One, by putting into me a new disposition, the disposition of Jesus Christ.”
Being “born again” is therefore not just metaphorical but real (John 3:3). Jesus remakes us as God’s children (John 1:12) and infuses us with his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). When we mentally replace our fallen nature with his perfection, seeking to manifest his character and continue his earthly ministry, his Spirit does something mystical and even miraculous in us.
Watchman Nee was right: “We think of the Christian life as a ‘changed life,’ but it is not that. What God offers us is an ‘exchanged life,’ a ‘substituted life,’ and Christ is our Substitute within.”
Remember the impact Jesus made in his incarnation. Now imagine his impact through yours.
Our omnipotent Lord cannot be Lord of our lives without changing our lives (cf. Acts 4:13). However, as Tim Keller noted,
“If God is not at the center of your life, something else is.”
Would those who know you say God is at the “center of your life” today?
If not, why not?
Quote for the day:
“Outside Christ, I am empty. In Christ, I am full.” —Watchman Nee
Our latest website resources:
by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son….These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:11, 13)
Our salvation does not find its basis in an emotional experience of the heart, although our emotional tendencies are God-given and not to be denied. Indeed, the salvation experience may be sweet and memorable, but all sorts of religions, non-religions, and cults have emotional experiences, like the Mormon’s “burning of the bosom.” Experiences alone are subjective and easily misinterpreted. Our faith should be a faith from the heart, and it should be founded on the written Word of God. The third verse of our hymn, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place,” presents this timeless truth.
My heart is leaning on the Word, the written Word of God,
Salvation by my Savior’s name, Salvation thru’ His blood.
I need no other argument, I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died, And that He died for me.
The Bible, God’s holy Word, is a book about Jesus and how God, through Jesus, deals with man. Much more could have been written: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).
And this is sufficient! Nothing else needs to be done or said or paid. Christ’s blood is enough. His Word tells us so. JDM
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters…so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God. — Psalm 123:2 kjv
This verse is a description of what it means to rely entirely on God. Just as the eyes of servants are riveted on their masters, so our eyes are fixed on God. Spiritual drift begins when we cease to lift our eyes to him. This loss of focus comes not so much through trouble on the outside as trouble on the inside, from questioning and doubting our own devotion and effort. “I guess I’ve been stretching myself a bit too much,” we think. “I’ve been standing on tiptoe and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary, humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
Think back to your own spiritual crisis. What happened after you made a stand for God and had the witness of the Spirit? At first you were full of inspiration and energy. But the weeks went by, then maybe the years, and you began to think, “Well, after all, I was being pretentious. Wasn’t I aiming a bit too high?” Your rational friends agreed with you. “Don’t be a fool,” they said. “We knew when you talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a fleeting impulse. You can’t keep up the strain, and God doesn’t expect you to.” Now you say, “I guess I was expecting too much.” It sounds humble to say this, but it means that your reliance on God is gone and reliance on worldly opinion has come in. The danger is that, because you no longer rely on God, you no longer lift your eyes to him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize how terribly you’ve been missing out.
Whenever you begin to lose your focus on God, remedy the situation immediately. Recognize that something has been coming between you and him and make a readjustment at once.
Wisdom from Oswald
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word.Disciples Indeed, 386 R
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
—Psalm 118:1
This year as we observe our season of thanksgiving, let us be grateful not only in word but also in deed. Let our gratitude find expression in a resolve to live a life more unselfish and more consecrated to Jesus Christ. When we sit around our tables laden with sumptuous delicacies, let us not forget that half the world will go to bed hungry. As we enjoy the comforts of our cozy homes, let us not forget that great numbers in other parts of the world have no homes to go to.
When we step into our sleek automobiles, let us not forget that most of the people in the world cannot afford even a bicycle. In the Lord’s Prayer as recorded in the sixth chapter of Matthew, we read, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Scripture teaches that the good things of this life are the gifts of God, and that He is the donor of all our blessings. Thanksgiving? Yes. Let us get on our knees humbly and thank God for the blessings He has given us, both material and spiritual. They have come from His hands.
Prayer for the day
You bring me such abundance, almighty God. As I think of Thanksgiving Day, may my heart be completely consecrated to Your Son, Jesus Christ, so that through Him my life will show my gratitude to You.
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.—1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)
As we near Thanksgiving, let your heart be filled with the unseen blessings God has woven into your life. This time is a gentle reminder to pause and reflect on the gifts of love, family, and even challenges that have strengthened your faith. In every moment, there is a reason to give thanks, for in gratitude, your heart aligns more closely with His.
Lord, fill my heart with genuine gratitude. Teach me to see Your hand in every circumstance.
He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber. Psalm 121:3
Today’s Scripture
Psalm 121
Listen to Today’s Devotional
Today’s Devotional
Two pilots fell asleep in the middle of their flight over Indonesia. While the commanding pilot had permission to nap once the plane reached cruising altitude, he woke up to find that his copilot had also dozed off. The two were asleep for about thirty minutes with more than 150 passengers and crew on board and while at approximately 36,000 feet altitude. The plane had veered off course, but thankfully the plane still arrived at its destination safely.
Human pilots may snooze mid-flight, but we can rest assured that God never falls asleep.
This is the comfort offered to us in the words of Psalm 121. In eight verses, we’re reminded that God is omniscient, or all-knowing about our life; omnipresent, or present all throughout our day; and omnipotent, or all-powerful and can protect us. The psalmist declares that our help comes from God (v. 2). He is our keeper and shade (v. 5), and He guards us from all evil while preserving our soul (v. 7).
God never gets tired. “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber” (v. 3). “The Lord will watch over your coming and going,” the psalmist concludes “both now and forevermore” (v. 8).
When we’re wondering if God has forgotten us, we can rest assured that He’s at the wheel. He’s always awake and watching over us.
Reflect & Pray
Why does it sometimes feel like God is asleep? How does it comfort you knowing that He’s always alert and aware of what you’re experiencing?
Almighty God, thank You for always watching over me.
Discover A Prayer for Wondering If God Is There.
Today’s Insights
All adult male Israelites were to come to the temple every year to observe three national feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16). The journey was a perilous one, with travelers vulnerable to the treacherous mountain terrain, weather, wild animals, and robbers. As they journeyed into Jerusalem, the travelers sang from an anthology of fifteen “Pilgrim Psalms” or “Songs of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134). Psalm 121, often referred to as “The Traveler’s Psalm,” is one such song. It acknowledges the Israelites’ safety and security concerns and highlights God’s protection of them. This psalm is dominated by the Hebrew verb shamar, translated “watch[es]” (vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) or “keep” (v. 7). The word means “to preserve,” “to guard,” “to watch carefully over,” “to care for.” As we tread through life’s uncertainties and dangers, we can be assured that we’re under God’s watchful eyes. He journeys with us, keeping us in His protective care.
Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!
Matthew 5:7 (AMPC)
Being merciful can be defined as giving goodness that is undeserved. Anyone can give people what they deserve. It takes someone who desires to be close to God to give goodness to people when they do not deserve it.
Revenge says, “You mistreated me, so I’m going to mistreat you.” Mercy says, “You mistreated me, but I’m going to forgive you, restore you, and treat you as if you never hurt me.” What a blessing to be able to give and receive mercy.
Mercy is an attribute of God’s character that is seen in how He deals with His people. Mercy is good to us when we deserve punishment. Mercy accepts and blesses us when we deserve to be totally rejected. Mercy understands our weaknesses and infirmities and does not judge and criticize us.
Do you ever need God or man to show you mercy? Of course, we all do on a regular basis. The best way to get mercy is to be busy giving it away. If you give judgment, you will receive judgment. If you give mercy, you will receive mercy. Remember, the Word of God teaches us that we reap what we sow. Be merciful! Be blessed!
Prayer of the Day: Lord, thank You for showing me mercy when I don’t deserve it. Help me forgive others, give mercy freely, and reflect Your character in all I do.
When news broke that President Trump was preparing to present Ukraine and Russia with a plan for peace, many were wary of what the proposal might entail. As details began to leak last night, it appears that at least some of those concerns were warranted. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears open to discussion, even if many of the nation’s European allies are not.
Axios reported the complete list, but some of the most important points are:
Overall, the plan appears to clearly favor Russia over Ukraine, though the circumstances of the war meant that this scenario was always the most likely. The question now is whether the plan provides enough room for both sides to agree.
Ceding the land currently controlled by Russia—much less giving up territory still controlled by Ukraine—has long been the most difficult aspect of any negotiations for peace. Doing so is technically illegal under Ukraine’s constitution, and many in Europe are wary of any end to the war that makes it seem as though Russia won.
So, what changed? Why does Zelensky seem more open to this kind of agreement now than he has been in the past?
Why Zelensky may be more motivated for peace
When Zelensky was first elected president of Ukraine, he ran on a promise to clean up the government and crack down on those who abused their positions of power for personal gain. And while he has made some progress in that regard, a series of scandals has begun to rock his hold on the government.
Earlier this summer, he was forced to quickly backtrack after attempting to limit the organizations responsible for investigating corruption. Now he faces renewed pressure after two top officials were caught embezzling $100 million from the nation’s energy sector through kickbacks.
While the two officials have since resigned and Zelensky has not been accused of taking part in the crime, his political opponents are calling for more. Namely, they want him to force out his longtime chief of staff and political “gatekeeper,” Andrii Yermak, arguing that it’s difficult to see how corruption on that scale could have escaped his notice.
Yermak has played a key role in managing Ukraine’s relationships with its western allies and in negotiating a potential end to the war. Losing him would be a blow to Zelensky without any guarantees that it would restore the trust lost with his people.
As such, it seems as though he might be more willing to consider conditions of peace that were off the table in the past over fears that his position—both militarily and politically—is only going to get worse from here.
So, while it’s unlikely that every part of Trump’s proposed ceasefire will be enacted, something akin to this deal may be the best offer that Ukraine gets. The question now is whether Zelensky and his allies can accept that reality.
However, they are far from the only ones who struggle with such decisions.
Redeeming our fallen reality
Jonah Goldberg once noted that “Self-awareness is indispensable to seeing the lines between what you want to be true and what is actually true.” Unfortunately, self-awareness tends to be a quality that many of us struggle to consistently live out. And the results are often catastrophic.
If it helps, though, humanity has been fighting against false self-perceptions of our abilities and limitations from the start.
In many ways, Satan’s temptation to Adam and Eve in the Garden was rooted in the idea that they were not only capable of being equals with God but that they deserved to be as well (Genesis 3:5–6). Israel’s issues with God in the wilderness and their refusal to worship him alone in the centuries leading up to the Exile stemmed from much the same place. And the call to submit our sense of need and entitlement to the Lord in order to find peace with him and with each other is one of the most frequent themes throughout Paul’s letters.
When we refuse to accept the reality of our situation and of our own limitations, it makes accepting God’s will for our lives extremely difficult. And when we evaluate his will through the lens of what we feel entitled to or from the perspective of our own selfish desires, it will often seem lacking.
The truth is that God loves us enough to disappoint us when he knows doing so is in our best interests (Matthew 7:9–11). In those moments, learning to offer Christ’s prayer from the garden that “not as I will, but as you will” is crucial to walking in step with the Lord (Matthew 26:39).
So, where are you struggling with self-awareness today? Are there any areas of your life where you’re finding it difficult to accept God’s will because it conflicts with your own?
This side of heaven, all of us will face moments where it’s difficult to accept the reality of our lives and where our choices have brought us. However, your situation isn’t going to improve by simply wishing things were different or—even worse—trying to live as though it already is. The sooner we accept that fact, the quicker we can join God in his plans to redeem our fallen reality in ways that only he can.
Are you willing to make that choice today?
Quote of the day:
“Faith is acting like God is telling the truth.” —Tony Evans
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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.
“The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.” (John 9:30)
A “marvelous thing” in the Bible is something that generates awe or wonder. Sometimes it refers to a miracle but more often to something very unexpected and remarkable.
But the most marvelous thing of all is that unbelievers still persist in their unbelief. In our text passage the Lord Jesus Christ had just performed one of His most amazing miracles of creation—making perfect eyes for a man blind from birth. As the man testified to the frustrated Pharisees, “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind” (John 9:32). Yet, these religious intellectuals, so opinionated in their prejudices, refused to believe what they saw and heard. Similarly, “when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things [i.e., ‘marvelous things’] that he did…they were sore displeased” (Matthew 21:15).
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. One of the saddest verses in the Bible is John 1:10: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” And, “he came unto his own, and his own received him not” (v. 11). Even when He raised Lazarus from the dead, “the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus” (John 12:10-11).
Modern “intellectuals” are still the same, rejecting the overwhelming testimony of the created complexity in the cosmos to the fact of a personal Creator in favor of an impossible scenario of chance origin. “Herein is a marvelous thing!” Such people “willingly are ignorant” and “without excuse” (2 Peter 3:5; Romans 1:20). HMM
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. — John 17:4
The death of Jesus Christ was the performance in history of the mind of God. Jesus’s death wasn’t martyrdom; it wasn’t something that happened to Jesus or that might have been prevented. The death of Jesus Christ was on purpose. It was the very reason he came.
When you preach, take care not to belittle Jesus’s death or make his cross unnecessary. We do this when we preach that our heavenly Father forgives us because he loves us. Our Father does love us, but this isn’t the reason he forgives us. The reason is the death of Christ. To preach otherwise makes the redemption “much ado about nothing.” God could forgive humanity in no other way than by the death of his Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of his death. “We do see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death” (Hebrews 2:9). The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was the note sounded on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30). This is the last word in the redemption of humankind.
Anything that belittles or seeks to obliterate the holiness of God by a false view of his love is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ. Never allow the thought that Jesus Christ stands with us against God out of pity or compassion. Jesus Christ became a curse for us, not out of sympathy but by divine decree. Through the conviction of sin we are able to realize the overwhelming significance of this curse. Shame and penitence are gifts, given to us by the great mercy of God, which enable us to grasp the meaning of Calvary. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in humankind, and Calvary is the estimate of his hatred.
Wisdom from Oswald
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
… ye might have life through his name.
—John 20:31
“Is life worth living?” To scores of people life has ceased to be worth living. To all of you I have good news. God did not create you to be a defeated, discouraged, frustrated, wandering soul, seeking in vain for peace of heart and peace of mind. He has bigger plans for you. He has a larger orb and a greater life for you.
The answer to your problem, however great, is as near as your Bible, as simple as first-grade arithmetic, and as real as your heartbeat. Upon the authority of God’s Word, I tell you that Christ is the answer to every baffling perplexity which plagues mankind. In Him is found the cure for care, a balm for bereavement, a healing for our hurts, and a sufficiency for our insufficiency.
Prayer for the day
Teach me, Lord, as today I read Your Word, that the life You would have me live is one of joy and fulfillment.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.—Romans 5:8 (NIV)
Have you ever taken a moment to dwell on the profound depth of God’s love for you? It’s a love that reaches you even when you are at your lowest. Allow this truth to seep into the core of your being: You are cherished.
Heavenly Father, I will bask in the fullness of Your love.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment. Romans 12:3
Today’s Scripture
Romans 12:3-8
Listen to Today’s Devotional
Today’s Devotional
Do you ever feel like a fraud? You aren’t alone! In the late 1970s, two researchers identified “imposter syndrome” as the condition of doubting one’s skills, talents, or abilities and interpreting oneself as a fraud. Even successful and brilliant people struggle with inadequacy, worrying that if anyone peeked behind the curtain of their lives, they’d see how much they don’t know.
Paul exhorts the people of the first-century church in Rome to be humble: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment” (Romans 12:3). We understand the importance of not elevating our abilities. But when we doubt our own value, we go too far, robbing others of the gifts God wants us to use to serve Him. To think of ourselves with “sober judgment” (v. 3) is to have a sane estimation—a realistic regard—for what we offer. Paul nudges us to overcome our hesitancies, to embrace who we are “in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of [us]” (v. 3). In this way, God’s body of believers may be built up (vv. 4-8).
Rather than degrading our offerings with imposter syndrome, let’s embrace God’s giftings within us. By gratefully accepting His grace, we can think neither too highly nor too lowly of ourselves. In doing so, we please our Father and build up Christ’s body of believers.
Reflect & Pray
Where do you struggle with imposter syndrome? How can God offer you faith to overcome?
Dear God, please help me to see myself the way You see me, in accordance with the measure of faith You give.
For further study, read For When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong.
Today’s Insights
Paul’s call for us to have “sober judgment” (Romans 12:3) regarding our abilities and giftings comes just before he compares Christ’s church to “one body with many members” (v. 4). Everything we have is a gift, including our faith (v. 3) and our talents (vv. 6-8). A proper self-awareness recognizes that we’re neither worthless nor indispensable. We’re not worthless because we’re created in God’s image and redeemed by His Son who died for us. And we’re not indispensable because all our gifts and abilities come from Him in the first place. He equips all who believe in Him to serve Him and others. But it’s essential that believers do this work together, as one body. Such interdependency requires love, which the apostle highlights in the next section. “Love must be sincere,” he wrote (v. 9). When we accept God’s grace, we’ll see ourselves as He sees us and “be devoted to one another in love [and] honor one another above [ourselves]” (v. 10).
But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].
Hebrews 11:6 (AMPC)
Seeking God is central to our walk with Him; it is vital for spiritual progress. But what exactly does it mean to seek God?
One way we seek God is to think about Him—thinking about His Word, His ways, what He has done for us, how good He is, and how much we love Him. Thinking about His goodness will cause us to desire a better relationship with Him simply because of Who He is, not because of what He can do for us. As you seek Him regularly, you will come to know Him more intimately and realize that He is your loving Father, Who cares about every aspect of your life.
Prayer of the Day: Father, help me seek You daily—not just for what You can do, but because of Who You are. Deepen my love for You and my trust in Your care.
Two very disparate stories are headlining the news this morning.
First, President Trump stated on social media last night that he has signed the bill that directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publicly release all its Jeffrey Epstein-related files. Senators from both parties said the DOJ must now release the files within thirty days.
Second, the Associated Press is reporting that “the House voted overwhelmingly yesterday to repeal part of a new law that gives senators the ability to sue the federal government for millions of dollars if their personal or office data is accessed without their knowledge.”
The Senate included such a provision in the funding bill that ended the recent government shutdown. This was in response to reports that the FBI analyzed phone records of as many as ten senators in 2023 as part of an investigation into President Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The House was “blindsided” by the provision and has voted to overturn it. Now the Senate must decide how to respond.
“The definition and axioms of free society”
I have the greatest admiration for Abraham Lincoln. I have visited his birthplace in Kentucky, stood near where he stood at Gettysburg, and been in the theater where he was shot and the home where he died.
I have enormous respect for Thomas Jefferson as well. While I grieve his failures and hypocrisy concerning slavery, I am grateful for his brilliant intellect and revelatory wisdom so foundational to America’s birth. I have visited his Virginia home and burial site and stood in awe beside the room in Philadelphia where he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
However, I must audaciously disagree with something Mr. Lincoln said about Mr. Jefferson.
In Jon Meacham’s magisterial biography, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, we find a statement in which Mr. Lincoln praises Mr. Jefferson: “The principles of Jefferson are the definition and axioms of free society.” Meacham adds that “chief among [them] was that all men were created equal.”
Mr. Lincoln elaborated:
All honor to Jefferson—to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so to embalm it there that today, and in all coming days, it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression.
If only it were true.
Why are there 49,000 federal laws?
In the partisan political furor over the Epstein files, with each side looking for ways to attack the other, the victims of Epstein’s sexual abuse and sex trafficking are all too easily overlooked. Even senators, occupying one of the highest echelons of political power in the land, can reportedly be victimized by the government they lead.
From Cain and Abel to crimes generating headlines today, fallen humans have consistently and often emphatically rejected Thomas Jefferson’s assertion that “all men are created equal.” Pornography objectifies people made in the image of God; sex trafficking commercializes souls for whom Jesus died; crime victimizes people loved infinitely by their Creator.
The beating heart of our fallen nature is the will to power: our quest to be our own god (Genesis 3:5) at the expense of everyone else. All the while, they are doing the same at our expense. Is it any wonder that the US has enacted over forty-nine thousand federal laws across our history? Or that they consistently fail to restrict our behavior or reform our character?
And yet, despite all our failed attempts to legislate morality, we persist in the effort. In large part, this is because abandoning the effort obviously would lead to anarchy and chaos. But also, this quest for a just society reveals something transcendent about our souls.
“The echo of a tune we have not heard”
This week, we have been focusing on the transforming power of intimacy with Jesus. Today, let’s add a very different dimension to the conversation.
In “The Weight of Glory,” C. S. Lewis identifies “a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience.” He speaks of books or music, for example, in which we experience beauty but never quite attain the deeper beauty to which they point. As he notes, “They are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”
I myself have had this experience many times. Sitting on my favorite bench beside my favorite lake; watching the sun rise or set over the ocean; hiking in the woods amid blossoming dogwoods and azaleas on a glorious spring morning. I have been privileged to visit places that will remain fixed in my memory to the end of my life—the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee, the hushed beauty of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, the majesty of the Acropolis in Athens, and the wonder of the Pantheon in Rome spring to mind.
But each and every time, without exception, there was a nagging sense in the back of my soul that this is not “it.” There is something more, something beyond this, something more perfect of which this is a beautiful but ethereal imitation. Plato was right in calling this world a “shadow” of the ideal. We legislate against our immorality and strive for beauty and joy with all our hearts, but we never actually attain what we seek. Even when it seems we do, the moment passes and the shadows envelop us once more.
Lewis had the explanation to which I am pointing us today:
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
“When I am weak, then I am strong”
If nothing in this fallen world can satisfy our souls, let’s use the temporal to experience the eternal, the material to unite with the spiritual, the mundane to seek the transcendent. Aristotle corrected Plato by claiming that the ideal is found in the material, and in a sense he was right.
If God is truly omnipresent, we can meet him in every moment and place. If he is truly omnibenevolent, we can experience his love even in the most loveless moments. If he is truly omniscient, we can find his wisdom and follow his guidance even in the darkest valleys. If he is truly omnipotent, we can experience his transforming strength even in our greatest weakness.
In fact, it is likely that it is in just such moments that such revelations will come. When Paul trusted his “thorn in the flesh” to God’s providence, he discovered that he could say, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
What is your “thorn” today? Where are you most disappointed or frustrated with life? Conversely, if your circumstances happen to be joyful this morning, are they enough for your soul?
The Bible assures us, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). In just the moment where you find yourself today, can I invite you to seek “with all your heart” the Father who is seeking you (Jeremiah 29:13)?
Quote for the day:
“You can’t truly rest until every area of your life rests in God.” —A. W. Tozer
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by Henry M. Morris III, D.Min.
“Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.” (Colossians 4:15)
Some Pauline epistles, which included the letter to the church at Colossae, were written during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, approximately from AD 60 to 62. Three cities (Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae) were close together and were near Laodicea. Paul instructs Nymphas to read the Colossians letter to the church at Laodicea.
There is a group labeled “fellow workers” (Colossians 4:11)—Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Marcus, and Justus. They were the men who ministered to Paul in Rome. There were also friends from the third missionary journey: Epaphras, Demas, Nymphas, and Archippus from the cities around Colossae who kept in close contact and probably supported Paul financially. Luke, the “beloved physician,” apparently joined Paul on the second missionary journey on the trip to Rome (Acts 16—the “we” passages).
Several godly attributes are identified with these men. “Beloved brother” is used to emphasize the intense relationship that Paul had with some of these men. “Faithful minister” (a “deacon”), along with “fellow servant” and “fellow worker,” stresses the service Paul enjoyed with them. “Fellow prisoner” is an obvious identification.
“Labouring fervently” (the Greek word agonizomai) is used to speak of Epaphras (Colossians 4:12), who was always praying for the church at Colossae with great zeal. This and other lists such as the sixteenth chapter of Romans give us precious insight into the lives of godly men and women who shared the lives of key leaders and made their ministry more effective.
May it please the Lord Jesus to have us so named in “the books” of eternity (Revelation 20:12). HMM III
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. — Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God, the view that says the reason God forgives us is that he is so kind and loving. This idea has no place in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us and reinstate us in his favor is the tremendous tragedy of the cross of Christ. It is “through his blood” that our sins are forgiven. To put forgiveness on any other ground is blasphemy.
Forgiveness is easy for us to accept, but it wasn’t easily won. Forgiveness cost God the agony of Calvary. It’s possible for us to forget this and to take everything God gives us with the simplicity of faith—to take forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit and our sanctification without recalling the enormous price he paid to make them ours. Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace, a miracle wrought in the atonement. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God that erases the atonement. The revelation of God is that he cannot forgive without the cross of Jesus Christ. If he did, he would compromise his holiness and contradict his nature. God’s forgiveness is natural only in the supernatural domain.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is slight. Sanctification is simply the expression of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. The thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sin. The apostle Paul had this well awakened in him, and he never got away from it. When you, like Paul, realize what it cost to forgive you, you will be held as he was: in an iron grip, constrained by the love of God.
Wisdom from Oswald
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word.Disciples Indeed, 386 R
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