Kerusso Daily Devotional

A lot of us like action movies. And if they have a faith theme or element, even better. The iconic film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” comes to mind. In fact, the wild ride taken by Indiana Jones really typifies what we’re talking about this week: finding the grit to move beyond failure.

As he pursues the famous Ark of the Covenant, Jones chases and fights Nazis, and his own doubts. Along the way, his physical and mental stamina are challenged like never before. 

Romans 5:3–4 says, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

In a sense, Indiana was sorting out his faith, too, as he looked for the most famous relic of all time. For sure, in the end, he had enough evidence to believe in the God of the Bible.

That’s kind of the way faith is. We look at it with skepticism. Sometimes for years! But then something happens to us that we can’t explain. Then we turn a corner on the street and there He is: Jesus.

If you are wrestling with your faith, stop and go back to the source: think on who Jesus really is. Your Savior. Your path to glory will be worth it all!

Let’s pray. 

Lord, our journey to faith is not always smooth and straight. Thank you for sticking with us to the end. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Have you ever recorded minutes for a meeting? Whether you were taking notes at work or for a volunteer organization, such as the PTA at your child’s school, taking minutes and reporting on them at a follow-up meeting is an important responsibility.

What ideas were discussed?

How were those ideas followed up on?

Who, including yourself, agreed to complete certain tasks before the next meeting? And were those tasks completed on time, and correctly? 

Recording minutes looks pretty mundane from the outside, but this person ultimately holds colleagues accountable to their responsibilities.

If someone was taking minutes on your life, what would those minutes say about you?

Romans 14:12 says, “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”

In this verse, Paul isn’t talking about salvation; when you’ve given your heart to the Lord, He offers forgiveness and salvation freely. We can’t earn or lose God’s promise of eternal life for us. Salvation is a gift.

Paul is talking about the judgment seat of Christ—a moment at the end of time when we will be accountable to Jesus for our actions. 

Did we create lasting value? 

Did we serve Him, and others, well? 

Were we ultimately responsible during our lifetime?

As believers, our goal should be to leave lasting value, to impact others for eternity, and ultimately to take responsibility for the legacy we are leaving in the name of Jesus.

A godly man is responsible.

Let’s pray.

Lord, along with the gift of salvation comes the incredible responsibility of sharing the Good News with others. Thank you for loving us enough to sacrifice yourself for us, and for the gift of salvation. Help us each to be responsible for sharing that gift with others. We love you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ means that we don’t just sit in our houses and shut away the world.

Scripture is an action item.

Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.”

If the Bible is true—if God’s story intersects with our story—then a hurting world is in need of a Savior. The pain many are enduring will have no end until they meet the God-Man, Jesus. He is our healer, and His glory fills the earth.

We all have different personalities and various methods of engaging with others. But whatever personality God has given us, we are tasked with sharing the life-giving news of Jesus and His sacrifice.

Get in the game and do that very thing! God has called you to share His salvation with anyone and everyone. Darkness can be oppressive. 

The Light has come!

Let’s pray. 

Lord, you showed up in our world at precisely the moment we needed you most. Help us tell others that eternal story. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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We “love” all sorts of things. We love a friend’s new hairdo. We love pistachio ice cream and travel to exotic places. Many times, the word itself loses all real meaning. It’s like homemade chicken soup without the chicken…and without the soup. 

1 John 3:16–18 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 

The Divine Word helps us yet again. Here we learn that true love means doing for others. Get involved. Don’t just say you love your community. Show the community your love.

Cleanup projects, running errands for a shut-in, taking your niece to the movies because her mother is working two jobs: you know what to do. You know the opportunities.

Think you love those around you? Show them.

Let’s pray.

Lord, there is so much good to do in the world! Please show us opportunities every day, so that we can put action to our words. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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As humans, we compartmentalize things. It’s in our nature to make lists, and rank priorities, and really box certain things in. We’ve got our work-life over here, and our family life over there, and our faith...somewhere else. And this can often lead us to confusion about which direction we’re supposed to go.

This confusion even extends to our faith. We wonder: when am I supposed to pray, and when am I supposed to take action on my faith?

Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

When we get the Word deep in our hearts, we can have an answer to our personal questions. This sweet psalm tells us that we are to always remember the great gifts Father God bestows on us. His greatness is ever before us and in this way, we can worship Him all the time, no matter what we are doing.

Learn to bless the Lord and praise Him as you do your job, as you fellowship with others, and even as you engage with people who don’t believe what you believe. They need to see the love of Christ shining through you.

Let’s pray.

Lord, we bless you and praise you with our words. Thank you, Father, for never ever forgetting us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Humans tend to see the world from a me-me-me perspective: What can I get out of this situation? How can I benefit from this?

It’s the same with being thankful.

Not that we shouldn’t focus on all that God does for us. That’s important—even critical. But when you think about it, who should benefit most from our gratitude?

The answer is: others.

When we thank others and recognize the effort they took to do something for us, we should train ourselves to understand how it impacts them, not us. Thank them, and be specific: it takes a good heart and a values-driven person to help others.

The gratitude we express is a kind of glue that bonds us together, long after the ‘thank you’ has been delivered.

Ephesians 1:15–16 says, “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”

Let’s pray.

Lord, help us even in our gratitude to think of the other person first, and not so much about what we gain. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Today’s message is really about taking the long view. 

The human attention span is short, like really, really short. Between the world wars, Winston Churchill warned Europe that Hitler was a threat to the continent at least, but people ignored him. And then when the Nazis turned violent, the people turned to Churchill as their prime minister. 

Having led the country through another costly war to preserve freedom, Churchill was defeated for reelection in the last days of World War II. It’s like the people had forgotten his priceless contribution to world peace. He knew the war would take a long time and that it would be costly, and the people wanted to avoid thinking about it, and even later wanted it over quickly. And that’s rarely how life works. Churchill returned as Prime Minister in the 1950s, but his experiences show that people mostly want short-term solutions. 

Working for the long goal is rarely popular. 

Jeremiah 15:15 says, “Lord, you understand. Remember me and care for me, avenge me on my persecutors. You are longsuffering. Do not take me away. Think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.” 

Here God is reminding us that often, we’re required to stay in it for the long haul. Nowhere is this more true than in the pursuits of peace and contentment. That kind of thing is not built quickly, and not surprisingly too many people don’t stay with it, and they stumble along looking for solutions in the wrong places.

If you’re in a bad place today, you’re going to have to start with basic steps. Talk to Jesus and tell Him you’re struggling. Maybe you have a vague sense of depression and just can’t locate the direct cause. Take the example of people who did understand the source of true happiness, and were committed to seeing it through no matter how long it took. 

Abraham knew the value of prayer, and he waited for decades to have a son. Hannah was also unable to have children, but she prayed and stayed faithful, and eventually, God gave her a child and she felt fulfilled. Joseph spent years in exile in prison because of his brothers’ actions, but his faith didn’t waver. He actually found his contentment in the middle of these trials, and eventually, God restored his family, and all he had lost.  

If you’re depressed or ground down from money worries, or facing some other huge challenge—go to God right now and tell Him you need peace for your soul. Tell him you fully trust Him and will wait with as much patience and faith as you can. It’s then you start the clock ticking on your difficult circumstances, and while you wait, your heart will be at rest. 

Let’s pray. 

Father, thank you for the good gifts that we already have. Help us be grateful for those things that sustain life. We fully trust you to bring about our delivery from life’s circumstances at precisely the moment you have chosen. Sustain our spirits on this journey, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

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There is a famous story in the book of John and it involves an act of amazing grace by Jesus. It changed one man’s life forever. As we discuss walking by faith this week, make sure these stories find their way deep into your memory.

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we live by faith, and not by sight.”

In our story, Jesus meets a man blind from birth. He tells His disciples that, incredibly, the man will be the catalyst for God’s glory to be displayed to all who know him. Jesus then puts mud on his eyes and tells him to go wash in a nearby pool of water.

When he does, for the first time in his life, he can see! Simple faith released a miracle that lives through the ages.

Notice that the man listened to the instructions of Jesus, and then made the decision to believe Him. By doing so, a whole new world opened to him.

Darkness disappeared into light. And that can happen for us, too.

Let’s pray. 

Lord, you teach us always to believe in simple faith. And when we do, good things happen! Thank you for that. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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You’ve probably heard of the Ingalls family, or even met some of the clan through the Little House on the Prairie TV series, or beloved children’s books about pioneer life in the 1860s by author Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The story of the Ingalls family is inspiring, whether you watch it or read it. The fun and camaraderie shared by Charles, Caroline, Mary, Laura, and little Carrie is heartwarming, and makes many of us yearn for simpler times—before technology and the hurried expectations of modern life.

In reality, the story portrayed in both the novels and television show isn’t the whole story. The conditions of pioneer life were often harsh, and the situations families faced were dangerous. Starvation, violence, and death were all part of the history of the pioneers as well, and the darker themes of the Ingalls’ life on the prairie were left out of the telling, in part to protect the children the books were intended for, and in part to preserve the memory of Laura Ingalls Wilders’ parents, in whose memory she lovingly wrote her books.

James 1:2–4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

What sustained the Ingalls family in books and television, and in life, was their shared faith in God. The legacy of Little House on the Prairie shows us when we invest our hope in the Lord, no floods or winds, grasshoppers or blizzards, poverty, or scorching prairie fires can knock us from the path, or separate us from His love.

Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for believers who came before us. God, help us to place our faith firmly in you, and to find strength and courage in you alone. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Most of us feel a deep respect in our hearts for those who have sacrificed so that we can remain free. Loving those who have paid the ultimate price is just something we do as people. We pause to remember each year.

Isaiah 56:5 says, “To them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.”

God instituted the concept of maintaining memorials. He remembers, and so do we.

Maybe you’ve had a brother or mother or cousin or uncle that never came home from war. Even before the American Civil War, our citizens were placing flowers at the graves of veterans. It’s one way we can keep their sacrifices front-and-center, so that we don’t forget and become complacent.

This year on Memorial Day, stop to take time and pause. Do something tangible, like visit a cemetery. Ask an older relative to give you some insight into a family member who never came home. And then thank the Lord for that sacrifice.

Let’s pray.

Oh Lord, We remember those who had paid with their lives. It’s the least we can do, but we want to do more by keeping their memories alive in our hearts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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