Daily Devo

Listen to today’s devo!

What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (Rom. 1:19)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:18-32

We tend to think of “spiritual things” as those things that are somehow separate from our everyday lives. And sometimes, that can be true: God can move in ways that are supernatural, extraordinary, and “other than” our normal routines—perhaps even in ways that disrupt us.

But more often than not, God’s most durable work is done in ways that fly under the radar—ways that, because of our pace, our focus, or our attention, we walk right by.

This past week, we’ve walked through a lot of heavy theology laced throughout Romans 1. But underneath the beliefs, behaviors, and dispositions Paul talks about is a surprisingly simple theme: God is—everywhere and always—yearning to make himself known.

Every time I read through Romans 1, I get tripped up by the words “God has made it plain to them,” because it seems to me that there are many people to whom God’s work isn’t plain, and I wish God would show off a little bit more. But God is not obsessed with showmanship in the ways we often are. He just keeps subtly inviting us to pay attention to the quiet, “plain” ways he shows up to us.

Our task is to stay content and pay close enough attention to catch the gifts God is yearning to give us each day.

Name one way God has been plainly present in your life.

Ethan Linder is the discipleship pastor at College Wesleyan Church (IN) and contributing editor for Education and Clergy Development of The Wesleyan Church.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

They have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. (Rom. 1:31)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:28-32

“When people offend me, that’s it.”

“If you don’t agree with me about this, I don’t understand how you can call yourself a Christian.”

“We’ve tried it this way before, and it hasn’t worked.”

You’ve probably heard all of those unChristlike things from people who regularly show up in Christian spaces. Paul’s words in Romans 1:31 are written to describe hard-hearted people who were exposed to the gospel, but walked away. For Paul, the lack of these things was evidence of their hard-heartedness due to lack of attunement to the Spirit.

But Paul’s description could easily apply to the ways Christians in many churches treat one another during misunderstandings. Under the banner of Jesus Christ, we can treat one another in a way that curses instead of blesses.

In Paul’s day, as in ours, Christians’ way of living together in community was one of the distinct witnesses of discipleship—our churches, our small groups, and our families are all a beta-test of “on earth as it is in heaven.” This simply means that when we live in step with the Spirit, our ways of relating with each other will change.

Put simply: the best measurement of how you’re doing spiritually may not be how often you do devotions . . . The best measurement of how you’re doing spiritually may be how you’re loving the people around you.

Analyze how you’re doing spiritually by how you’re loving others.

Ethan Linder is the discipleship pastor at College Wesleyan Church (IN) and contributing editor for Education and Clergy Development of The Wesleyan Church.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator. (Rom. 1:25)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:24-27

What are you daydreaming about lately? You can tell a lot about a person based on the things that capture their attention.

Our attention shapes our character. Christians are repeatedly called to pay attention to Christ; but that’s hard in moments when other concerns feel more real than the presence of God in our lives. When those things loom large, our focus can grow away from our call to be humble servants, and instead shift toward building feelings of security.

The prescription, Paul says, is right worship. But for Paul, worship isn’t just a moment in a gathering; worship is a way of paying attention. Paul writes that submission to Christ will lead disciples to be renewed in both our hearts and our habits. When others hoard, disciples give; when others bemoan the state of the world, Christians focus on ways God is bringing life. Every moment you inhabit today is a space where God can transform you. From budget meetings, to changing diapers, to the grocery checkout line—the Spirit is yearning to apply the character of Jesus Christ to your way of being present there.

The call of the disciple is to enter into worship, laying down our agenda and submitting our attention, time, desires, and habits to the Holy Spirit so that we can pay attention to how God is bringing life to each moment.

Tell someone how you will attend to God this week.

Ethan Linder is the discipleship pastor at College Wesleyan Church (IN) and contributing editor for Education and Clergy Development of The Wesleyan Church.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being. (Rom. 1:22–23)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:21-23

Sooner or later—whether because of pain, or doubt, or theological crisis—most of us arrive at a point where our image of God starts to break down, and we’re left to confront the gap between the God we thought existed, and the God who actually exists.

In that moment, we begin to confront the fact that we, like Paul’s audience, have exchanged the glory of God for an image of God we’ve made in our own likeness: a God whose convictions, dreams, and plans always seem pleasant, and never requires us to stretch our faith. That image of God is as false as it is comforting: that God can “refill our spiritual tank,” but will never make life more difficult. That God can be given credit for our promotion at work, but seems absent when we receive a diagnosis we would rather have avoided.

That vision of God—the vision that secures prosperity, that helps us avoid trials, and that can be counted upon to deliver us from life’s unpleasantness—is meant to die, because it’s a picture in our own likeness.

The invitation to us is the same implied in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome: trade in that vision of God for a picture of God who, though he doesn’t prevent suffering, accompanies us through it.

Reflect on how your picture of God has been disrupted lately.

Ethan Linder is the discipleship pastor at College Wesleyan Church (IN) and contributing editor for Education and Clergy Development of The Wesleyan Church.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Rom. 1:21)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:21

We notice more of what we’ve been thinking about. Every time I buy a new pair of shoes, I notice what other people are wearing on their feet. I love cars—so when I’m researching a new car model, or have heard about a car recall, I notice those vehicles out on the road frequently. Our kids do this, too. As our oldest has learned to ride a bicycle, he’s noticing other kids taking their first rides without training wheels.

Our money, our time, and our habits are all good indicators of where we’re paying attention, because life tends to follow our attention. Paul writes in Romans 1 about people who know God, but who (over time) refused to keep their attention on God, and so grew dark-hearted, because their life and their attention pulled them out of the light.

As much as we would like to villainize this, and say, “We wouldn’t do that,” the odds are, our focus is already on something that is casting a shadow over the light God calls us to abide in. The good news is—just like that pair of sneakers, or that car we see driving down the road—we can train our attention toward things that pull us back to the light, instead of following our attention wherever it wanders.

Take action to train your focus on God’s priorities.

Ethan Linder is the discipleship pastor at College Wesleyan Church (IN) and contributing editor for Education and Clergy Development of The Wesleyan Church.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen. (Rom. 1:20)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:18-20

Nearly every time I go to the grocery store, I walk out feeling woefully inefficient. Odds are, I’ve been through many aisles three to four times because on my first trip(s) I have walked right by something I intended to put in my cart. The problem isn’t that the item isn’t there; the problem is that I walked right by without knowing.

In Romans 1, Paul confronts a similar problem in the neighbors of the church in Rome: there are people around the city of Rome who have become obstacles to the truth because they have missed God’s subtle invitation to pay attention.

According to Paul, all of creation—the beauty of the sunset, the laugh of a child, the wind rippling over the water—bears witness to the glory of God, so that people who see everything that God made can catch a whiff of the divine that makes them crave more of their creator.

Hopefully nobody is writing a letter calling you (or me) “wicked” or “godless” as Paul does in Romans 1. And yet, we are often guilty of walking by God’s presence in our lives that is “clearly seen”—if only we have the eyes to see it.

At the end of today, name three ways you saw God’s presence.

Ethan Linder is the discipleship pastor at College Wesleyan Church (IN) and contributing editor for Education and Clergy Development of The Wesleyan Church.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. (Ps. 70:4)

Expanded Passage: Psalm 70:1-5

As a Wesleyan, I grew up hearing sermons on entire sanctification and being filled with the Holy Spirit. I can’t remember when I first heard the connection between the idea of being filled with the Spirit and having the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. It made sense. How do you know if someone is filled with the Spirit? They should especially manifest the fruit of the Spirit!

What struck me a little funny about that connection is that I did not remember the people I grew up around being particularly joyful. Somehow, being filled with the Spirit seemed focused more on things you weren’t supposed to do or wear. I didn’t remember a lot of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.”

The psalmist here speaks of the joy that comes from the Lord’s deliverance. His life is in danger. Others are desiring his ruin. There is no hope without the Lord’s help. In this context, he speaks of the joy that comes from salvation.

We are promised salvation if we trust in the Lord. Sometimes the Lord rescues us in this life. How many times has the Lord delivered me from trouble at just the right time? Sometimes our salvation from worldly trouble happens in the next life. Either way, our God saves. He is our help and salvation, and that is a reason for joy!

Show the joy of your salvation in your actions and reactions today.

Ken Schenck is provost with Campus EDU. He previously served as vice president for Houghton University and dean of Wesley Seminary.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. (Rom. 1:16)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:1-17

I didn’t want to go to a Christian college. My high school chemistry teacher was hoping I would pursue science at some big-name school. In the end, however, I felt like God wanted me to go to what is now Southern Wesleyan University. I would be lying if I said I proudly told him the news. The look on his face said I was crazy, and I found it hard to explain from a human standpoint.

Paul clearly felt peer pressure from his fellow Jews to explain a gospel that put Gentiles on an equal footing before God. “Weren’t you a rising star among the Pharisees, Paul? I expected so much better from you.” It is in this context that Paul boldly proclaimed, “I am not ashamed of the good news I am proclaiming to non-Jews and Jews alike.” Why? Because it entailed the possibility of salvation.

Why would we be embarrassed about the power of God? Even more, when the world is in such dire straits, why would we be embarrassed about the possibility of salvation? You have perhaps heard the illustration of the person who doesn’t tell an oncoming car about a bridge that is out. He doesn’t want to annoy them when they are so peacefully on their way—to their deaths. No, let us not be ashamed of salvation! It’s a really good thing.

Ask God to take away your insecurity and exchange it for boldness.

Ken Schenck is provost with Campus EDU. He previously served as vice president for Houghton College (NY) and dean of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. (Rom. 1:17)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:16-17

This verse and the one before it are the key verses in Romans. One of Paul’s purposes in writing the Roman churches was to assure them that God had in fact remained faithful—both to the people of Israel and to those who had more recently come to faith from the non-Jewish world. No doubt, some Jews accused Paul of betraying his own people. Some Gentile believers probably thought themselves God’s new favorites and that God had left his earlier people for them.

In the magnificent book of Romans, Paul emphasized to Jewish believers that all have sinned and Jews and Gentiles stand equally before the cross. To Gentile believers, he reminded them that, although God grafted them into the tree, they could be cut out again. Further, Paul reiterated the fact that not being “under the law” was not a license to sin.

How easily Satan can twist a good thing! He can deceive us into thinking we are better than others without us even realizing it. Maybe I grew up following God, but am I better than someone who has just come to Christ? Maybe I am new to the church and can see places the church needs to improve, so am I better than those who seem stuck in their ways?

Wherever we came from, we all are the same—wholly dependent on Christ.

Ask for protection from thinking you are better than others.

Ken Schenck is provost with Campus EDU. He previously served as vice president for Houghton College (NY) and dean of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Listen to today’s devo!

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. (Rom. 1:14)

Expanded Passage: Romans 1:11-15

Some conversations in life are super-fun and enjoyable. You look forward to them. Other conversations you dread. Maybe the person is rude or always looking to start an argument. Maybe they talk down to you and think they’re either smarter or better than you are.

Although Paul was writing to the Romans, he followed a common grouping of his world into the smart and the uncultured, the Greek and the non-Greek. The thing is: Paul was a Jew. In that culture, he fell into the foolish category. Even more, he used this very language in 1 Corinthians, where it is clear that he considered the “wisdom” of the Greeks in fact to be foolishness to God (1 Cor. 1:20).

So he poked a little fun at the Greeks here, who stereotypically thought they were smart when they did not actually know much about God and the real truth. To Paul, it ultimately did not matter—he was obligated to preach the good news to everyone, humble and arrogant, pleasant and unpleasant.

It is human for us to want to shun or ignore the foolish or condescending, the rude and contemptuous. We cannot do it in our own power, but share the good news we must. Woe to me if I do not share the good news with people of all types!

Ask the Lord for patience to be good news to the difficult.

Ken Schenck is provost with Campus EDU. He previously served as vice president for Houghton College (NY) and dean of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.

© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.