Daily Devotion - August 22, 2025

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures . . . He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. (Acts 18:24, 26)

Soon after a young man professed faith in Jesus, he began preaching in a small church. He didn’t know much about the Bible, or people, or preaching, but he knew God wanted others to know Jesus. So, the young man prayed that God would do a “mighty work” in that little church. 

Unfortunately, the church did not flourish. In fact, it closed. Grief over not reaching people in that community deepened the man’s desire to minister effectively. So, freed of the daily obligations of running a church, the man pursued further training – that taught him deeper truths of Scripture, how God’s people grow in faith, and how to preach. 

He is now one of the finest preachers in the country. God truly did a “mighty work” in that little church, humbling and preparing a man for God’s work. God answered prayer as he knew was best, placing a talented servant on a path to greater service. In God’s graceful timing, he always answers faithful prayers as he knows is best.

Prayer: Father, help me to remain faithful in my prayers with the confidence that you will answer in your graceful timing as you know is best.

Daily Devotion - August 21, 2025

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph. 4:31-32)

The story made headlines in Christian media. In post-apartheid South Africa, a frail black woman stood in a courtroom in front of the man who had murdered her husband and son. The judge asked her, “What do you want?” Her answer stunned everyone.

She replied, “I want three things: To know where my husband’s body is, so I can bury him properly.  Then, I want the accused to become my son, so that he can visit me, and I can show him the love I have. Finally, I want him to come forward now, so that I can I forgive him, as Jesus forgives.”

Then, the story fell apart because it could not be confirmed. Many suspected a hoax. Perhaps it was. But why did so many Christians embrace it so readily? Because we know the account, however suspect its details, accurately reflects Jesus’ calling to love as he loves – to forgive as we have been forgiven. 

Maybe the story serves best because we cannot pick its particulars apart. Instead, we must let the principles enter our heart, as from a modern parable, and consider how Christ’s mercy should motivate us. 

Who needs your forgiveness this day? I know that you and I will want to pick apart the particulars of why we need, or need not, show mercy. Still, our Lord has already declared what he wants: forgive as God in Christ forgave you. 

Prayer: Lord, as I have received your grace, please help me to extend mercy toward those who have hurt me. Help me to forgive as I have been loved by you. Nothing that you require is harder or clearer – or more blessed.

Daily Devotion - August 20, 2025

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt. 20:26-28)

Many people unconsciously expect their church to serve them. The expectation shows with the checklist we bring to worship. We ask, “Did the pastor preach a sermon to my liking? Did the music suit my taste? Does the building have the right décor?” 

Of course, we are right to be concerned that our church does what is right. The Bible tells us to be vigilant about God’s priorities. But sometimes God’s priorities get confused with our preferences. Whether we are expressing greater concerns about the latter than the former may take serious heart examination. 

That examination, if it is Biblical, often begins with asking whether we really are willing to follow Jesus by denying ourselves (Matt. 16:24)? Are we more seeking to serve or be served? 

Of course, we are all ready to testify that we are willing to be a servant – until someone treats us like one. Then, we must ask if Jesus only calls us to an occasional act of service, or to a life of selflessness for the sake of others knowing him.  

The charge to put God’s priorities above our own often can reduce our checklist to one item: Does this church help me serve Jesus better?

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for coming to serve rather than to be served. Help me to follow your example by being willing to give my life in the service of others knowing you better.

Daily Devotion - August 19, 2025

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16)

During America’s Great Awakening, Pastor Jonathan Edwards gathered eight hundred men together to pray. During this meeting, a woman sent a message to the men, asking them to pray for her husband. The note described a man whose spiritual pride had made him unloving, prideful, and difficult to live with. 

Edwards read the message aloud, hoping that the unidentified man would raise his hand to acknowledge his need and accept the prayers of the assembly. But, when Edwards asked for the man whose spiritual pride had made him so unloving to raise his hand, three hundred men raised their hands.

When the Holy Spirit is active among us, he not only convicts our hearts of sin, but makes us willing to confess our sin to God and to one another. Such mutual confession encourages believers that they are not alone in their sin and not alone in fighting it. 

God powerfully works among his people to heal and to accomplish his purposes when we are transparent about our need of him and about our gratitude for his grace. In church communities where people find safety and acceptance for the confession of their sin to one another, pride withers, humility grows, and the gospel spreads. 

Prayer: Lord, I confess that I sin against you daily in thought, word, and deed. If I believed I were alone in this, I would hide my faults from others, perhaps from myself, and even from you. Thank you for fellow Christians who help me grow in your grace by confessing they need it, too.

Daily Devotion - August 18, 2025

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 4:10-11)

An old car wax commercial depicts a young woman preparing to sell her car. Aged and dull, the old vehicle no longer holds the allure it once had.  Yet, when the woman uses the “miracle” wax to put back the shine, the new gloss revives her affection for the car. She drives away, tossing the “For Sale” sign.

The commercial speaks to a deeper truth. We love what we invest in. When we labor with God’s gifts to improve the security, maturity, and understanding of other people, we spread Christ’s glory to them and they become more precious to us.

Bringing out the glory of Christ in others by the various gifts and graces he provides, helps them and, and at the same time, seals relationships. The result is greater glory to Jesus reflected in all.

Our churches, our families, our neighborhoods, fellowships, and the people in all of these, become more precious to us as we invest in them, and Jesus shine brighter because we do. 

Prayer: Lord, help me today to use the gifts you have given me to serve and bless others you love. May my investment not be begrudging but a way of making your glory so evident in them that I delight to serve them to see more of your glory. 

Daily Devotion - August 15, 2025

When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. (Tit. 3:4-6)

Imagine the thief who died next to Jesus standing at the gate of heaven. Also imagine some guardian at the gate asking the thief, “Why should I let you in?” 

The only response the thief can give: “I got nothing. I lived a sinful life and died before I could do anything to make up for it.” But that’s not all.

“Yet,” says the thief, “the One who died next to me said, ‘Today, you will be with me in Paradise.’ Now He stands next to me, and I am with Him.” 

The two claims of the thief are the only claims that will qualify anyone for heaven: “I got nothing,” and “I’m with Him.” There is nothing we can do that will save us from our sin for heaven’s blessings. Yet, heaven is ours when we are with Jesus, uniting our souls to him by faith in his provision. 

God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.” He washes us from past sin, generating new life for us by his Spirit – even when we can’t make up for our wrongs. So, whoever confesses, “I got nothing but Jesus,” gets heaven. 

Prayer: Father, your mercy for my messes is astonishing! Help me to count on your loving kindness rather than my goodness, when I stand before you in heaven – or this day.

Daily Devotion - August 14, 2025

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

When English missionary Ann Judson accompanied her husband, Adoniram, to Burma, she could not have predicted how important she would be in reaching millions with the gospel. Nor could she have anticipated the degree of sacrifice her usefulness would require.

When tensions arose between England and Burma, Adoniram was imprisoned in horrible circumstances. Ann helped him survive with visits that were dangerous to her. She would smuggle morsels of food and lift his spirits with the whispered: “Do not give up. God will give us victory.” When hope died in others, and Ann herself became deathly ill, the words of Ann kept Adoniram alive.

When Ann passed from this life into glory, Adoniram Judson took her words as a charge from God to keep sharing the good news of the gospel of grace. Adoniram’s ministry and translation work ultimately reached millions. They were the spiritual children of Ann Judson who knew the peace and power of Jesus’ words “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Prayer: Father, thank you for giving us the promise that Jesus’ purposes will triumph despite the troubles of this world. Help me to live for him, knowing that his purposes will prevail. Our trials will end but his triumph will not.

Daily Devotion - August 13, 2025

Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods…. (Daniel 3:17-18)

Daniel’s companions teach us what faith means by their confidence in God’s ultimate rescue. These faithful men announced that God was able to deliver them from a pagan king’s fiery furnace, but they also confessed their allegiance if he did not. 

Their famous “But if not” statement is their clear declaration that God is worthy of our worship and faith regardless of our circumstances. The young men knew that God had provided an eternal rescue that extended beyond this life – and beyond a fiery trial. Even if they could not predict his present actions, they had faith in the eternal security he provides.

Don’t let anyone convince you that trusting God means telling him what he must do. We must declare our trust in God by entrusting our lives and our eternities to him. We trust him to be good to us and through us. That may mean delivering us from an immediate trial or giving us the strength to bear it.

Early in ministry, I visited a widow to provide pastoral care. She did more for me. Through tears she said, “I prayed for God either to heal my husband, or to give me the strength to bear his loss.” Then, like a sunbeam after rain, a smile burst through her tears and she said, “And he did. God gave me the strength.” 

Her trust strengthened and informed my own – and maybe yours, too. Trust the God of eternity for the grace you need today.

Prayer: Father, I know that you always have the power to deliver me. Help me to trust you to provide what is best for my eternal care regardless of present outcomes.

Daily Devotion - August 12, 2025

We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. (Heb. 4:15)

Secular storyteller and popular professor, Brené Brown, says, “Empathy is the great antidote to shame.” When we experience human empathy, we begin to heal through another’s understanding of our difficulty.

Divine empathy, from One we instinctively think would only judge us, offers soul-deep empathy as grace to heal our deepest shame. That’s why the writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus can empathize with our weaknesses because he was tempted in every way we are – yet he did not sin. 

Jesus experienced all the pressures upon his soul that this world can throw. Although none of these external threats to his holiness penetrated his spiritual armor, he now knows how threatened we are by them and what it takes to resist them.

Because Jesus understands what we go through, he’s able to empathize. He’s been there. So, when he hears our cries for help, he really understands prayers about loneliness, suffering, cruelty, and abandonment. Not only does he hear, he responds as he has learned first-hand to strengthen, support, heal, and forgive.

Jesus knows our worst nightmares because he walked through this dark world. So, he knows how to guide us, intercede for us, and to provide the light for our plight. We go to Jesus because we know that, when no one else really understands, our God knows!

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for becoming one of us, so that you know what it means to be tempted. Thank you for assuring me that when no one else understands, I can know that you know. Because you empathize, I can endure.

Daily Devotion - August 11, 2025

He [Jesus] said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Have you ever been startled by the jarring surprise that comes with the last crank of a Jack-in-the-Box? God’s grace was never meant to surprise us that way.  

Instead, Jesus’ words assure us that God was preparing his people to receive the grace of Christ long before his appearance on earth. God began revealing his plan in the opening chapters of the Bible. There he promised a Son who would crush the powers of Satan, and the rest of Scripture unfolds what that should mean for us. 

The message of salvation doesn’t get dumped on humanity all at once. We couldn’t receive it that way. Instead, we are led by laws, examples, and prophecies to understand the pervasiveness of human failing and the necessity of a divine solution. That’s the gospel message carried through from Genesis to Revelation. 

Why should we care that the Bible unfolds that way? Because this reveals how patient and persistent is the grace of God for sinners and strugglers like us. He did not turn away because his people did. He did not abandon his children because they stumbled. Instead as the light of dawn grows brighter toward the day, the message of grace grew clearer until it revealed the Savior we need every day. 

Prayer: Lord, help me always to read your Word with gospel glasses that reveal divine provision for human need. Let me not to settle for simple “do good” lessons that do not lead me to my Savior as your Word always does.

Daily Devotion - August 8, 2025

Not that I have already obtained this [righteousness of Christ] or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Phil. 3:12)

As followers of Christ, we must continually fight against sin, but that doesn’t mean we’ll attain perfection on this side of heaven. Even the Apostle Paul acknowledged that he was not “already perfect.”

We won’t be perfect in this life because there’s only person who was: Jesus Christ, our Savior. But the fact that we are not already perfect does not keep us from pressing on to live as he lived. One reason is that we have already been granted a perfect record by the grace of God – he has erased the record of our faults by the blood of Jesus. 

When we understand how incredible God’s love for us really is, our heart’s desire is to live for him. The Apostle Paul said it simply and compactly, “I press on to make it [a righteous life] my own, because Christ Jesus made me his own.”

We long to reflect Christ’s heart because he claimed ours. His love for us makes us want to live for him and to be like him. 

Friends of ours adopted a child from an African village where food, medical care, and education were almost non-existent. The adoption was truly lifesaving. 

Years later, we noted the silhouette of the child – now a young man – approaching us at twilight. His gait was unmistakably that of his adopted father; so was his voice; so was his faith.  

So also, we delight to mirror our Messiah. We seek to make our own the life of the One who made us his own. 

Prayer: Lord, you know I am far from perfect, but don’t let that discourage me from seeking to honor you. Fill me with desire to make my own the life of the One who made me his own by his saving grace.

Daily Devotion - August 7, 2025

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor. 10:13)

The Apostle Paul writes to people like us who have been tempted by the world’s traps and snares to think there is no way out! He assures us instead, “When you are tempted, God will provide an escape.”

Not only does God promise this escape from temptation, but he also promises escape from debilitating shame. Our tendency is to think, “The reason that I am so tempted is that I am weak and weird. If I were a mature person – a real Christian – then I would not be tempted this way.

Instead, the apostle assures each of us that we are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of others across the ages and across the world who struggle with similar things. Don’t let Satan weaken you with the shame of believing that you are so unique or weird or awful that God’s grace cannot help you.

The assurance of a way of escape from temptation to multitudes of persons like us also keeps us from creating our own exclusion clause from seeking God’s help and obeying his commands. 

God says, “Others have struggled like you, and have found victory in my provision. So can you.” That assurance enables us to overcome our weaknesses and turn away from our temptations.

Believe that these promises of God are real. Then you will have power to fight your temptations and flee to the escape he graciously provides.

Prayer: Lord, when I am tempted, enable me to believe you will provide a way of escape, to believe you will give me strength to take it, and to run through it!

Daily Devotion - August 6, 2025

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. . .Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Heb. 11:1, 6)

Without confidence in our relationship with Christ, we become like my children, who at a young age feared standing up to cross a rope suspension bridge.

The anchors and ropes that held the bridge were perfectly secure, but my young children approached it with dread! They were far more focused on the depth of the chasm beneath them than on the security of the bridge that held them. So, in fear and anguish, they would only crawl across the bridge, even as other people confidently walked past them. 

My children’s actions are at times reflected in believers who doubt their security in Christ. They crawl forward in their pursuit of God’s purposes, far more focused on personal weakness and spiritual danger than on the promises of God. Doubting the certainty of his care, they take baby steps for Jesus instead of confidently marching forward in his care.

The chasms of potential failure are real, and dangers from spiritual foes are immense, but the bridge to God’s purpose is supported by cables of his love and power that no earthly power can overcome. So, walk forward on the bridge of obedience to his Word with the faith that it is secured by the wisdom, strength, and love of your sovereign God.

Take each step of faith with the drumbeat of these oft-repeated words: The will of God will not lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.   

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to walk by faith in your sure provision this day, so that I step forward in your purposes with courage and confidence and not with childlike fears.

Daily Devotion - August 5, 2025

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

If you were in deep in debt for ten million dollars and someone wrote you a check for the full amount, you would be thrilled but not out of the woods.

After all, even after your debt was relieved, with no other funds added, you would still have an empty balance in your bank account. That’s the way lots of Christians feel, when they only consider half of the gospel.

The first half of the gospel promises that the debt of our sin was fully paid when Jesus died on the cross. He became sin for us, taking the penalty for our sins on himself. That’s great, but we can still feel guilty that our sin caused his suffering, and there is another problem: you and I continue to sin. 

God’s standard for yesterday, today, and tomorrow is, “Be holy, for I am holy.” That means every day that we are not perfect, we accumulate new debt. And, even if Jesus cancels that, we still only have zeros to our name in our spiritual account.  

 That’s why we need the second half of the gospel. Jesus not only paid for our sin, he provides his righteousness for us. Paul writes that Jesus provided so that “in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus gives what God requires, making us rich in his righteousness even as he forgives our debt.  

Praise God that you’re debt is paid and your spiritual bank account is overflowing with grace.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for both halves of the gospel: for paying my debt in full and for providing Jesus’ righteousness in abundance. I need both. I praise you for such rich grace.

Daily Devotion - August 4, 2025

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

The Jefferson Barracks Memorial Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River, reflects an architectural design called a tied arch. It’s a series of cables suspended from a massive arch that supports the bridge’s roadbed. 

For the bridge to support the intended load, the cables must have a specific tension. To test that, each cable is plucked like a huge harp string to see if it has the proper resonance. Whether the bridge will hold is revealed by the tone the cable emits.

In a similar way, God’s hold on us is revealed by the tone of our hearts. When our hearts are tuned to God’s heart they resonate with his love for others. 

Sometimes those heart strings are plucked harshly or unkindly by the actions of others, but the Christian heart reverberating with humble gratitude for Christ’s mercy still resonates with his grace. 

A heart tied to God’s heart resonates with his love; a heart that does not cannot claim to know God. That may sound harsh, but God loves us enough to give the warning sounds of spiritual danger. If loveless tones have come from you recently, tether your heart again to the forgiving heart of Jesus.

Prayer: Father, I pray that my heart will resonate with love and gratitude for what you have done for me in Christ. Help me to love when it is difficult, confirming Christ in me.

Daily Devotion - August 1, 2025

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever. (Daniel 4:34)

We love to hear a dramatic testimony. We delight in stories of radical change in people like the Apostle Paul, who turned from persecuting Christians to building the early Church!

Such stories are woven throughout Scripture because we keep wondering if God can work so powerfully and personally. Sometimes the unlikeliest persons are chosen to make clear that God can work precisely this way for people without any other hope. 

We would have trouble identifying anyone more wicked that Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar. He was a ruthless idolator, enslaver, and murderer. Yet, he ended up praising the God of the people of Israel that he had so cruelly enslaved and persecuted. 

This king may be unique in his wickedness but not in his path to God. There is no way that this wicked man could have compensated for his sins to claim God’s love. So how did he come to God?

When he was absolutely incapable of helping himself, he did not point to his achievements, or look down on anyone else to compare his goodness. Instead, he looked up to heaven for God’s help.

God blessed the humility of a man who possessed no good in himself. That’s gospel gold!  God made a pagan king a member of heaven’s family by grace alone. We, too, become members of God’s family by faith in his grace alone.

Look up to the One who sent Jesus down to you. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for enabling me to be a member of your family – not because of anything I’ve done but solely by your grace. May humility be my path to you. 

Daily Devotion - July 31, 2025

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. (2 Tim. 2:24)

The world is filled with opinions, and social media has expanded the opportunities for many persons to express theirs without boundaries or fears about facing those their words buffet. 

A lot of anger and criticism is aimed at Christians for beliefs that are rooted in God’s Word. But we, too, often join in the fray, justifying blunt and cutting words by the supposed sin or faithlessness of those on the receiving end of our critiques.

Some may argue that Christian obligations to act lovingly only apply to brothers and sisters in Christ. They may also point to inspired prophets who spoke to enemies of God with sharp-tongued zeal. 

It is important for us to remember that speaking for God should humble us before we seek to humble others. An inspired apostle did not limit speaking Christianly to Christians. Paul commanded those who would serve the church to be kind to everyone and not to be quarrelsome or resentful with anyone. 

We may quickly object that’s not the way others are treating us, but that is the point. The Christian community should display the alternative society the world cannot know apart from Christ. If we only echo the world, the message of grace cannot be heard.  

Jesus could certainly speak with boldness, but his goal was to make the gospel plain. God’s truth without his gracious intent is not his will. 

Prayer: Lord, teach me to consider your love for persons with whom I disagree so that I will show the love and respect that make your grace known to all who need it.  

Daily Devotion - July 30, 2025

God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17)

In a hospital room, I faced a father whose son’s life hung in the balance due to a freak accident. Through his tears, this father confided, “I know what is going on. God is punishing my son for my sin.”

I was shocked. Standing before me was a wonderful man of faith, who, during a moment of hardship could only think of God as an ogre in the sky, demanding a pound of flesh for some past error.

I had no idea how to answer, but somehow the Holy Spirit supplied words: “God is not putting the penalty of your sin on your son, because he has already put the penalty of your sin on his Son.” 

I still wonder how the Spirit planted those words in the panic of my thought, but they have since helped me in times of my own hardship. When I am tempted to think God is getting back at me for my sins, I remember that he completely poured out his wrath on his Son so that I would have his mercy.  

God is good all the time because his Son took all the punishment we deserve. When you believe that, God has promised your salvation not your condemnation.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for allowing your only Son to pay the penalty for my sin. When I’m tempted to doubt your care, remind me you gave Jesus for me so that my sins will not ever condemn me or my loved ones.

Daily Devotion - July 29, 2025

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself. (2 Cor. 5:17)

The Apostle Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” That doesn’t mean all believers suddenly have the body of a pro athlete or the mind of a prophet. The changes are in our spiritual nature. 

Before we were united to Christ, we had no ability to live a righteous life for God. Even nice things we did that seemed good to others and to us were not done to please God. We were living for ourselves – for our pleasure, or others’ approval, or to compensate for something in us. That self-focus was the core of our old nature! 

But through Christ, our nature was changed. Our sins were forgiven, and we were also made able to live for Christ and those he loves. In fact, that became our heart’s deepest desire. We don’t always express that desire well – our sin nature still influences us. But, for the first time in our lives, we have the desire and ability to live for God – that’s our new nature.

Because of Christ’s mercy and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have Christ’s pardon from past sin and spiritual power to resist more sin! We are not perfect yet, but we are no longer controlled by sin.

Now that we are new creations, we realize that God’s grace is not our license to sin but Christ’s release from its guilt and power!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, today help my words and actions to demonstrate that I am a new creation. Cleanse me from the guilt of my sin and then, may gratitude for your mercy compel me to act on the power you have granted me to resist sin.

Daily Devotion - July 28, 2025

One will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:7-8)

Early in ministry the Lord blessed me through the powerful testimony of the believing parents of a young woman killed by a drunken driver. I tremble still to remember accompanying police officers to their home to tell them of the loss of their only child.

Their grief was profound. In many ways I felt useless for the task of helping them. Yet, because the Lord had filled them with his Word, they grieved as those who had the confident hope of their daughter’s eternity and their family’s reunion in heaven.

Their faith was as profoundly displayed as their grief, when they crossed paths in a drugstore with the young man, awaiting trial, who had killed their daughter. Said the parents to the one who had done such damage to their family, “Trust in Jesus, and he will forgive all your sins.”

How they said this was the work of the Spirit of God – the Spirit sent to testify of Jesus. These dear parents spoke as the Spirit’s witnesses of the One who died for us while we were still sinners. Their testimony was his truth for all who trust Jesus.

Do not believe that your sin is greater than God’s grace. Jesus died to reconcile his enemies to God. His grace is greater than the greatest sin of the greatest sinner. Trust this Jesus!  

Prayer: Jesus, when I doubt that you could love someone like me, remind me that you died for sinners just like me. Help me trust that your grace is greater than my sin.