January 21 “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.” (1 Sam. 16:14) There are verses in the Bible that seem to assign evil actions to God. For example, when Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and…
January 20 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Heb. 10:17) God’s ability to forget sins that have been covered by the blood of Christ is one of the most soul-satisfying truths in Scripture. It is a great wonder when we read, “As far as the east is from the west, so…
January 19 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Without the assurance of this verse, it would be practically impossible to go on in the Christian life. As we grow in grace, we have a deepening awareness…
January 18 “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight…” (John 18:36) The fact that Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world is enough to keep me out of the world’s politics. If I participate in politics, then I am casting a vote of…
January 17 “With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” (Eph. 6:7) Paul’s instructions to slaves (Eph. 6:5-8) are freighted with meaning for all who profess to be servants of Jesus Christ. They show, first of all, that any honorable work, no matter how menial it is, can be done…
January 16 “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” (Jonah 3:1) Here is a message that glows with hope and promise. Just because a man has failed does not mean that God has put him on the shelf. David’s failures are recorded with stark realism. As we read them, we sit…
January 15 “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” (Gal. 5:13) The liberty of the child of God is one of his priceless possessions. Made free by the Son, he is free indeed. But he is called to…
January 14 “All things are yours.” (1 Cor. 3:21-23) The unsaintly saints in Corinth had been squabbling over human leaders in the church. To some Paul was the ideal. Others made Apollos their favorite. And still others felt that Cephas was superlative. Paul is telling them that it is ridiculous to limit their choice to…
January 13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.” (Phil. 4:13) It is easy to misunderstand a verse like this. We read it and immediately think of hundreds of things that we cannot do. In the physical realm, for instance, we think of some ridiculous stunt requiring superhuman power. Or we think…
January 12 “…what hast thou that thou didst not receive?…” (1 Cor. 4:7) This is a good question because it reduces us all to size. We do not have anything that we did not receive. We received our physical and mental equipment through birth. What we look like and how brainy we are is something…