The Reading Plan Daily Devotions

We spend our lives trying to gain certain things and are full of joy when we get them. Our first car, our first job, our first home. Reputation and prestige and influence. The list is long. But, is it possible to have all those things and not have the most important thing? Here’s what the Apostle Paul said: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)   Without the love of God flowing through your life, you have missed the most important thing. All you are is nothing, all you have is nothing, and all you have from all you do amounts to nothing. Pretty sobering.   WHAT IS REAL LOVE? ...

Christ instructed the church to regularly practice two primary, symbolic acts or ordinances: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both of these picture the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul gives two reasons for the Lord's Supper. TO REMEMBER "...do this in remembrance of Me...do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (vs. 24-25)  We are world-class forgetters. We lose sight that everything we are is because of Him and His incredible sacrifice for us. We lose sight that the "new covenant" was made through Christ's blood. And we need the regular reminder of the Lord's table to bring us back to center. TO PROCLAIM "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." (Vs. 26)   The bread tells of the broken body of Christ on the cross and the juice of his life's blood ... both reminders that there was the highest price paid for our redemption....

How do I decide about things that seem to be in biblically gray areas? Things that are not explicitly spelled out in Scripture? As always, God has a plan. Most importantly is the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit. That internal sense of "oughtness." The Word of God, Spirit of God, and people of God (godly counsel) are the premier means of discovering God's will. But Paul gives us some other criteria for what God desires that covers every area inclusively. It's found in 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 as he instructs believers about whether or not they should eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul says that it is not inherently sinful, but higher laws weigh on that decision. Here are six guiding principles.   1. Always choose what is profitable, not just lawful. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. (vs. 23) 2. Always choose what edifies (builds others up). All things are lawful, but not all things edify. (vs. 23) 3. Always choose what is be...

Everybody worships something. The question is: where is our worship directed, and is what we are worshiping worthy of our adoration? Listen to Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.   MANY SO-CALLED GODS   Pleasure, power, comfort, reputation, sex, money ... the list of gods is endless. Humans are capable of making a god of almost anything that captures their attention. The problem is, these gods do nothing for us except ruin our lives and present false hopes of life and satisfaction. They are powerless to give us what we need and utterly unworthy of our attention. We can bend and scrape and serve them (and we do in more ways than we imagine), but in the end, what they provide is a worthless su...

History is littered with supposed Christian leaders who brought great dishonor to God. Believers are shocked, and the world mocks God when sinful behaviors are uncovered from those we have looked to as spiritual leaders. (And they always will be disclosed because a lack of integrity always manifests itself. Always.) We should not be surprised at the revelation of false teachers and unfaithful leaders. It is one of Satan's most effective means to seek to discredit God. The Apostle Paul was continually concerned about this. He lived with a holy, healthy fear of personally dishonoring God and harming the Kingdom. He challenges other leaders regarding this and speaks as instruction and warning for the true church about what should be seen in a godly ministry. This teaching found in 2 Corinthians exhorts us and helps us evaluate true from false teachers around us. What must we  be , and what should we  see  in faithful leaders who serve the King and His Kingdom? ENDURING HARDS...