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That you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
Luke 1:4

Recommended Reading: Luke 1:1-4

True faith does not ignore the evidence; it responds to it. Dr. John C. Lennox, the famous Irish mathematician and scientist, said, “Faith is not a leap in the dark; it’s the exact opposite. It’s a commitment based on evidence.” Take the story of Simon Greenleaf, for example. He was a Harvard law professor who spent many hours studying the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He wanted to determine if the evidence could stand up in a courtroom.

The result? He ended up giving his life to Christ.

Believing in spite of the evidence isn’t faith. Faith is believing because we have evidence. Some of that evidence is personal to us. As we see God keeping His promises to us, our faith grows. The One who was with us yesterday will be with us tomorrow. He has been our help in ages past, and He is our hope for years to come. Take a look at God’s care for you, and trust Him with your cares today.

God is not an alternative to science as an explanation…. He is the ground of all explanation: it is His existence which gives rise to the very possibility of explanation, scientific or otherwise.
John C. Lennox

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If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always.
Isaiah 58:10-11, NIV

Recommended Reading: Isaiah 58:6-12

Isaiah 58 is a remarkable chapter that promises God’s blessings on those who help the oppressed and correct injustice (verses 6, 10) and who share their bread with the hungry and clothe the naked (verse 7). The Lord’s righteousness will go before them and His glory behind them (verse 8). The Lord will answer their prayers (verse 9). The Lord will guide them always and satisfy their needs in a sun-scorched land.

It’s easy to take biblical promises out of context. For example, verse 11 says, “The Lord … will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (NIV). But within the context of Isaiah 58, this is a promise specifically for those who care for the poor and oppressed.

Let’s be generous to those in need, allowing others to see the love of God through us. As we care for others, the Lord will care for us—like a well-watered garden. Whom can you help today?

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
Amy Carmichael

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Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.
1 Chronicles 29:16, NIV

Recommended Reading: 1 Chronicles 29:14-20

A couple enrolled in a financial stewardship course, and it changed their perspective. They said, “We wish we had done this 15 years ago! It’s been so helpful to realize that ‘our money’ is really ‘God’s money.’… The most significant lesson we learned was that giving to God’s Kingdom is a form of worship.”¹

The apostle Paul said about giving: “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” (2 Corinthians 9:8, NLT).

In stewardship, we’re giving what the Lord has provided for us. Then He provides some more, which allows us to give more. What a wonderful cycle of sufficiency! King David said, “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chronicles 29:14, NIV). Don’t wait fifteen years to discover this. Start where you are today!

The less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become.
Hudson Taylor

1. “Helped by a Budget Coach,” Crown Financial Ministries.

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You cannot serve both God and money.
Luke 16:13, NIV

Recommended Reading: Luke 16:1-13

John Wesley, the eighteenth-century revival preacher, said in his sermon on the shrewd steward (Luke 16:1-13) that we should use every penny God gives us in a way that will most profit our souls. That doesn’t necessarily mean we put all our money in the offering plate. It means we are shrewd stewards of all we have, and we should use our money wisely in a way that keeps us spiritually strong.

Some people don’t give because they don’t trust God to take care of them. But do you trust Him to take care of you in eternity? If so, then you can certainly trust Him to take care of you until then. The Lord has promised to look after us, both now and forever.

It’s not just our offerings but our very lives that are in His hands. Choose to trust Him, knowing He is the best first step in getting right financially.

Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep for myself?
John Wesley

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Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19

Recommended Reading: Joel 2:25-27

If you are entering the new year with a sense of regret over things that happened in the previous twelve months, remember this: God is the God of the future. God does not want us to dwell on the past but to trust Him for the future.

Isaiah exhorted the captives in Babylon not to dwell on the past, including the sins that resulted in their captivity in Babylon. Instead, God told them that He was going to do a “new thing,” referring to their deliverance from Babylon. He would make a “road in the wilderness” to bring them home. The same principle applies to us. We do not live in the past; we live in the present and look to the future for what God is going to do.

As you prepare for the year ahead, don’t dwell on the past. Believe that God has for you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to his love, and the future to his providence.
Augustine

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Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me.
Romans 15:30

Recommended Reading: Romans 15:23-32

One of Paul’s biggest ministry projects was collecting funds for the persecuted church in Jerusalem. Second Corinthians 8–9 recount Paul’s encouragement to the churches in Achaia and Macedonia to give toward the Jerusalem fund and his coordination of his fellow workers who would be in charge of collecting the funds before meeting up with Paul.

On his way to Jerusalem Paul met with church leaders from Ephesus. He expressed concern about the dangers of visiting Jerusalem, but his only concern was finishing the work God had given him to do (Acts 20:22-24). Prior to stopping to meet with them, Paul wrote to the church at Rome with a promise to visit them as soon as possible. In his letter is evidence of the magnitude of the work he was doing—work that needed prayers to God (Romans 15:23-30). There it is—the blending of work for God and being dependent on God for the work to succeed.

Whatever work you are doing for God, never lose your dependence on God for success.

In an effort to get the work of the Lord done, we often lose contact with the Lord of the work.
A. W. Tozer

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Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze.
Exodus 35:5

Recommended Reading: Exodus 35:4-9

During the offering a boy pulled a dollar from his pocket for the offering plate. The man behind him tapped his shoulder and handed him a twenty-dollar bill. The boy was perplexed, but he dropped the twenty into the plate too. Afterward, the boy asked the man about it. The man said, “That was your twenty. It fell out of your pocket when you pulled out the dollar.” The boy had put $21 into the collection plate, but he only got credit in heaven for one!

We can often do better when it comes to our tithes and offerings. Some people see them as a necessary evil so the church can pay its bills. But tithing is a spiritual reality, just like reading the Bible, praying, and witnessing. It enhances our spiritual growth, maturity, and poise. It curbs our bent toward materialism. It helps express our worship, and it funds the work of God around the world.

Don’t be afraid to be generous with the Lord. Give with a willing heart.

We should be guided in all our works by this one thought alone—that we may serve and benefit others in everything that is done.
Martin Luther

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So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7

Recommended Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

Are you cheerful today? Joseph Addison said, “Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.” Perhaps Addison was inspired by Proverbs 15:15: “All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast” (NIV). We should ask the Lord to help us obey the words of Jesus in Matthew 9:2: “Be of good cheer.” A cheerful heart brings a brightness to our faces—and to our finances. When we’re cheerful, our world is happier, and that includes the world of our giving.

Oh, thank God that He gives to us so that we, in turn, can give to others! What a joy! What a privilege! What an opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven. All we have is from Him, and we give Him simply that which is His own.

The famous Bible commentator John Gill said that a cheerful giver is one who gives freely and with a pleasant countenance. Our gifts to God should all be given with smiles!

A cheerful heart is an anchor in the storm and a lamp in the night.
Unknown

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For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Galatians 6:8

Recommended Reading: Galatians 5:16-18

Think about all the gifts and abilities found in the human race: creativity, industriousness, entrepreneurship, managerial ability, leadership, generosity, and many more. Some invest their gifts in the Kingdom of God, while others invest in the kingdom of this world. The difference in using one’s gifts for oneself rather than for God is what the New Testament refers to as sowing to the flesh versus sowing to the Spirit. “Flesh” doesn’t necessarily mean “evil”; it basically refers to the priority of self above all—whether for good or evil. Choosing self over God is called sowing to the flesh.

The New Testament is also clear about the outcomes of sowing to the flesh versus sowing to the Spirit. The former leads to “corruption”—meaning eternal separation from God—while the latter leads to eternal life with God. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

Ask yourself daily: Am I living today for myself or for Christ?

The wisdom of the flesh is always exclaiming against the mysteries of God.
John Calvin

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Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Galatians 6:7

Recommended Reading: Matthew 13:18-23

Jesus identified one of His parables as the key to understanding all the parables (Mark 4:13). The parable was the one dealing with soils, seeds, and sowing. The seed is “the word of the kingdom” (Matthew 13:19), and the soil is the heart into which the seed is sown. If the heart is receptive, the seed can bear fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold (verse 23).

Jesus’ focus in the parable was on the soil (the heart). The better the condition of the heart, the more abundant will be the spiritual harvest. The apostle Paul wrote that our harvest will be commensurate with our sowing (Galatians 6:7). Sow sparingly, and you will reap sparingly. Sow bountifully, and you will reap bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6). When we sow the Word of God into our heart, the spiritual fruit in our life will depend on the amount of seed sown and the condition of our heart.

Jesus identified this parable as important for a reason: that we might keep our heart prepared to receive as much of the Word as possible.

As seed is made for soil and soil for seed, so the heart is made for God’s truth and God’s truth for the heart. 
Richard Glover

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See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15-16

Recommended Reading: Colossians 4:5

This proverb arose in the fourteenth century: “Time and tide wait for no man.” Tide suggests the rising and falling of the ocean’s tides. But in early English tide referred to seasons or periods of time (think yuletide referring to Christmas). So the proverb might best be understood as “Time and seasons wait for no man.”

The point of the proverb is obvious: Time is an unrelenting reality that cannot be stopped, delayed, reversed, lengthened, or shortened. As you are reading this devotional, the clock of your life is ticking. You are closer to the completion of your time on earth at this moment than you were when you woke up this morning. So when Paul wrote, “[Redeem] the time,” he was conscious of the precious nature of time. We should take advantage of every day, month, and year and treat them as gifts of God. We should use our time wisely, knowing we will never get back time that has passed.

Prayerfully consider how you can best use the coming year. Once passed, it can never be replaced.

If you die wrong the first time, you cannot come back to die better a second time.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne

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Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
Matthew 6:19-20

Recommended Reading: Philippians 3:17-21

In 2013, a hard drive belonging to a man in Wales was accidentally thrown away and ended up in a landfill. The man quickly realized the mistake. But he has been unable to retrieve the hard drive, which contained the digital keys necessary to access his investment in cryptocurrency which, as of today, is worth almost $800 million! Sadly, this is irredeemable by him without the digital keys on the discarded hard drive, and so far, the courts have refused to allow him to dig up the landfill or buy it outright. His treasure remains lost.

Jesus warned His followers about accumulating treasures on earth where moths, rust, and thieves—and lost hard drives—can result in those treasures being destroyed. Instead, He advised accumulating a different kind of treasure—treasures in heaven that will last forever. Since we are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20), we should accumulate our treasures there.

Only two things on earth will last forever: souls and the Word of God. Investments made in those will become treasures in heaven.

We must read our Bibles, like men digging for hidden treasure.
J. C. Ryle

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Arise, go to Zarephath…. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.
1 Kings 17:9

Recommended Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16

Last year, Deputy Ignacio Diaz died in a crash in Palm Beach County, Florida. A nearby boy Charlie Allsup wanted to do something, so he set up a lemonade stand to raise money for Diaz’s family. When Fox News asked Charlie why he had done this, he replied, “I just saw a need and I just thought that is what Jesus would do. I thought I could help.”6

Our giving to the Lord is just about as simple as that! Have you noticed that many of the biblical characters who did the most are the ones who had the least? The classic example is the widow who gave her two mites in Mark 12:41-44. But think also of people like the widow of Zarephath who gave her bit of bread to Elijah (1 Kings 17:8-16), and Dorcas, the woman of Joppa, who was “full of good works and charitable deeds” (Acts 9:36).

You don’t have to be rich to richly bless others. The Bible tells us to “be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). How can you practice that principle today?

Our gifts are not to be measured by the amount we contribute, but by the surplus kept in our own hand.
Charles Spurgeon

1. “Florida Nine-Year-Old Opens Lemonade Stand to Pay Tuition for Fallen Officer’s Son,” Fox News, December 7, 2024.

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And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Luke 12:15

Recommended Reading: Luke 12:13-21

Actress Shannen Doherty who passed away from stage 4 breast cancer once said that her battle with cancer had changed her perspective on her physical possessions. She told People magazine she accumulated a lot of antiques, but they were sitting in storage. “I’m not enjoying it and others aren’t enjoying it, and do I really need any of it? Do I need to have three dining room tables? The answer is no, none of us really need all the stuff that we have.”¹

We’re living at a time ancient kings couldn’t conceive. A time when inventions, devices, technologies, and new products are coming at us on a daily basis. How do we keep our perspective? When we give the first ten percent or more of our income to the Lord, it helps us find balance.

The best way to deal with materialism is by tithing. Giving God the first ten percent of our income is a way of showing Him that He is our priority, not the things we possess.

There is nothing wrong with me possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.
Billy Graham

1. Esme Mazzeo, “Shannen Doherty Shared How She Was Preparing to Die and Her Wishes for Her Funeral Before Her Death,” People, July 15, 2024.

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He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 5:10

Recommended Reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-10

In 2010, Microsoft cofounder, Bill Gates, and his (then) wife, partnered with investor Warren Buffett to create the Giving Pledge. So far, more than 250 individuals or families from 30 countries—nearly all billionaires—have signed the pledge to give away at least half their wealth to charitable causes by the end of their life.

We don’t know the amount of wealth possessed by King Solomon at the end of his life, but while he was king of Israel, he may have been the world’s wealthiest individual. But near the end of his life he admitted that the accumulation of wealth does not satisfy. Indeed, he called such a pursuit “vanity.” The apostle Paul warned against the love of money, calling it the “root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Not money, but the love of money. Instead, he recommended pursuing “godliness with contentment,” calling it “great gain” (verse 6).

Instead of seeking security and personal affirmation in the size of your wealth, find contentment in your eternal relationship with the Lord.

A lack of generosity refuses to acknowledge that your assets are not really yours, but God’s.
Timothy Keller

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And [Christ] is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 1:18

Recommended Reading: Colossians 2:16-19

Modern medicine has succeeded in transplanting many critical parts of the human body: liver, kidney, lung, heart, and others. But there has never been a successful transplant of the head, either in humans or animals. For both medical and ethical reasons, replacing one head with another has proved too challenging. The head is the seat of the brain—the control center which directs the movement of the body.

Another head-body union which will never be altered is that between Jesus Christ and the Church. The New Testament uses the analogy of the human body to illustrate the relationship between Christ, the Head, and Christians, the members of the Body (the Church) (1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 5:23-24). Just as the human body responds to directions which flow from the head, so the Church should respond to directions which flow from its Head. As Paul notes in Colossians 1:18, Christ as “the head of the body, the church” should “have the preeminence.”

When you need wisdom, guidance, or strength, turn first to the Head of the Church—and allow Him to have preeminence in your life.

What is this Christ to us?… Is He our head, to fill us with vitality, to inspire and to command?
Alexander MacLaren

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January 10, 2026

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To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Recommended Reading: Isaiah 40:28-31

A music trivia question: Which number one hit song has the distinction of containing the oldest lyrics? The answer is “Turn! Turn! Turn!” released by the folk-rock group The Byrds in 1962. The song was originally written by Pete Seeger in 1959 using—almost exclusively—the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which were written by King Solomon in the tenth century B.C.

While Seeger originally wrote the song as a protest anthem—“A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8)—Solomon’s motivation in writing his words was different. Solomon’s words were like those in Psalm 31:14-15: “I trust in You, O Lord…. My times are in Your hand.” Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes while looking back on his life filled with momentous challenges and events. His perspective was one of patience, of trust in God’s plan and timetable. There is a time for everything that God has ordained. Our challenge is to wait on the Lord and His timing to be revealed (Isaiah 40:31).

You no doubt have plans for the coming year. Solomon would say, “Wait on the Lord; submit your plans to God. There is a time for everything.”

To wait on God is to live a life of desire toward Him.
Matthew Henry

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For by [Christ] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Colossians 1:16

Recommended Reading: John 1:1-3

Any attempt to take away a favorite food or toy from a toddler may be met with a stern look and a firm, “Mine!” Even at a young age, the rights of ownership seem to be built in.

The fallacy of the two-year-old’s thinking is that nothing is “Mine!” Everything is part of creation and, therefore, the property of the Creator, Jesus Christ. He created everything in heaven and on earth; every earthly ruler is subject to the Ruler of all. “All things were created through Him and for Him.” With these words the apostle Paul echoed the words of Psalm 2 where the Davidic Messiah-King would be given the nations and all the earth as His possession. Kings and rulers are warned to be wise and submit to Him in fear and trembling. But not just kings—the same warning applies to us.

As part of creation, we are bound to recognize Christ as Lord of our lives. Recommit yourself today to His lordship in your life.

Christianity . . . is a bowing of the knee to the lordship of Christ.
Frederick R. Wood

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Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Luke 6:38, NIV

Recommended Reading: Luke 6:37-42

Glenn Morison, a Canadian Christian, wrote in his church-related paper, “I’ve never met a person who tithes who is unhappy doing so!”¹

We have a God who has promised to meet our needs as we cooperate with Him in our finances, worshiping Him with the first part of our income. We’re told that as we honor God with our possessions and the first part of our income, our “barns will be filled with plenty, and [our] vats will overflow with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10). We’re told our Lord will open to us the windows of heaven and pour out abundant blessings on us (Malachi 3:10).

When we don’t put God first in our giving, we are admitting that we don’t believe He will do what He says He will do—supply all our needs. Today rest in the assurance that God will provide.

Both the idea of tithing and the opportunity to tithe is a gift, and for me, it is a gift that God wanted me to have.
Glenn Morison

1. Glenn Morison, “The Joy of Tithing,” Friends Journal, January 1, 2025.

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And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
2 Corinthians 8:5

Recommended Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

One day when twelve-year-old David Grant went with his father to a church service, a missionary named Charles Greenaway made an appeal for Christ. When the ushers later passed the offering plate, young David put it on the floor and stepped in it. The Lord seemed to say to him, “David, you will go to India.” In the decades that followed, David Grant had a powerful missionary career.¹

We all need to step into the offering plate, at least in a figurative sense. Paul commended the churches of Macedonia for more than just giving to the offering he was collecting for the poverty-stricken Jews of Judea. The Macedonians first gave themselves to the Lord.

Before we give our resources to God, we must first give ourselves, recognizing that we belong to God and that all we have is already His. Why don’t you take a stand for Christ by offering to Him all you are and have. Each day ask God to navigate your path.

When the Holy Spirit passes the offering plate, step in…. God is not so much interested in your money; He’s interested in you.
David Grant

1. George P. Wood, “The Boy Who Gave Himself to God,” U.S. Missions, September 17, 2021.

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