The Up Devotional

Affliction can be an accelerant which refines you to bless others in your future with greater integrity, wisdom or power.

Let’s unpack that sentence a few ideas at a time. 

First, affliction. It’s one of those things that isn’t nice, but can serve a greater purpose over the long haul. Consider what God’s people were told in Isaiah 48:10: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.” One of the results is that they live in faithfulness and glorify God.

Second, affliction can be an accelerant. An accelerant speeds something up. I remember a neighbour who was having trouble starting a campfire, so he doused it with gasoline. Pouf! That certainly sped up the process.

Third, affliction can be an accelerant which refines you. I’m not saying this is necessarily the case with all affliction, but it certainty is the case for some. 

Fourth, the refining process isn’t an end in itself. It is so that we become more like Christ and bless others.

Picture a future chapter of your life. Picture also a future version of you that has more integrity, more wisdom, and greater strength. What if some of your current afflictions—as difficult as they may be—could be understood as a refining process? 

This devotional goes out to a variety of different people with different backgrounds and experiences. So just keep in mind that I’m speaking in broad strokes. But there are times when looking at our challenges from a new perspective—a more constructive perspective—can be helpful in the journey of faith. 

Affliction can be an accelerant which refines you to bless others in your future with greater integrity, wisdom or power.

Notes:

-The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and resumes on May 18, 2026.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

In 1 Peter 1, the apostle is encouraging his readers to persevere and to have hope, even when they are experiencing hardship and affliction. 

In verses 8-9, he says: “Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

He does this, in part, to help them remember the big picture. ‘Keep focused on the end game!’

As a part of this, he mentions their souls. Your soul is the non-material centre of you that will live forever. Peter also mentions the “salvation” of their souls. It makes you wonder, “saved from what?”

Because of Jesus, our souls are saved from many things—from the consequence of sin; from eternal torment; from dread fear; from the power of darkness; and from an apathetic existence since we are the loving and meaningful hands and feet of Jesus in the world.

This is also a good word for us today. Though we sometimes go through trials and tribulations, we follow a faithful and never-failing Saviour who redeems us from the bad and leads us into the good things of eternity. Keep focused on the end game!

“Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Notes:

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

When we open the Bible, it’s not just about what we’re learning, but who we’re learning it from. 

Take, for example, the letter of 1 Peter. It was written by Peter the apostle (of course), who walked and talked with Jesus. 

But let’s notice six details about his life. He was passionate, imperfect, rebellious, reconciled, suffering and saved.

First, he was passionate. In John 14:37 when Jesus was speaking about leaving, he exclaimed: “I will lay down my life for you.” 

Second, he was imperfect. After Jesus explained that he was to suffer and die for his people, Peter acted as if he knew better than Jesus did: “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22).

Third, he was rebellious. In Jesus’ dark hour of betrayal, Peter denied him three times (Luke 22:61).

Fourth, he was reconciled. After the resurrection, and despite Peter’s previous denials, Jesus commissioned him to take care of his people after he was gone: “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17).

Fifth, he suffered. After years of spreading the message of Jesus, he too was crucified in Rome. One ancient source (although debated) even says he was crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy enough to be killed in the same way as his Master.

Sixth, he was saved. He made the good confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). Today, he lives in the peace and joy of paradise.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Because if you have ever felt as if you are any of these things, you are in good company—Peter’s! 

Faith is about following Jesus. He’s leading, you’re following—not the other way around. Trust in him, keep going, and don’t think you’ve been disqualified just because things have not always gone as planned. 

The road is sometimes rocky, but it’s worth it. Just as Peter. 

Notes:

-Blog and podcast episode: “Why I think we should say The Lord’s Prayer every day.” Click here, or listen on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ wherever you subscribe (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.)

-“From ‘Why Me?’ to ‘How Me?’” Sermon. Click here.

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

Diamonds. 

People love them. They’re valuable, obviously.

But did you know that diamonds don’t start as diamonds. They start as simple carbon. So, how are they transformed?

Through pressure.

The same principle sometimes applies to humans. Difficulty and affliction—“pressure”—can often refine us into someone who is more faithful, humble, wise and strong.

The apostle Peter speaks to this in 1 Peter 1:6-7 when he says: “though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Like diamonds, the pressure of affliction can change us. What if that change, although difficult, was actually making us more faithful, humble, wise and strong over the long haul?

When things are difficult, here’s a question that can re-frame our thinking: “How might these current hardships be refining me to more powerfully bless others in the future?”

If things are currently difficult, let me know and I’ll pray for you. I also encourage you to remain tethered to faithful sources of help and hope. But it can also be a good idea to remember that we worship and serve a God who can bring good out of bad.

How might these current hardships be refining you to more powerfully bless others in the future?

–New blog and podcast episode: “Why I think we should say The Lord’s Prayer every day.” Click here, or listen on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ wherever you subscribe (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.)

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

There is a lot of battle and warfare language in the New Testament. 

For example, we are to “take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:13). In Romans 13:12 we are told to put on the “armour of light.” In 1 Timothy 1:18 Paul’s young protégé is encouraged to “wage the good warfare…”

Further, when Jesus speaks about the coming “kingdom of God” there is clearly an implication of conflict—with dark forces, with hypocrisy, and with hate.

I hope that today’s devotional is a help for those who are sometimes uncomfortable with some of this language. 

G.K. Chesterton has said: “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”*

This is a very helpful perspective. It shifts the focus from fighting in a general sense, to who we are fighting for.

Think about the people you care about. When we wage the kind of battles that are described in the New Testament, we are engaging in acts of love. When we do so, people are helped, good news is shared, lives are built up, the oppressed become liberated, victims are given assistance, and men and women who are despairing find new reasons to hope.

The point isn’t the battle. The point is taking back territory from the kingdom of darkness, advancing the kingdom of God, and sharing God’s love with people who are made in his image, including the people you care about most. 

Marching we will go into battle!—with prayer, with truth, with grace, with hope.

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

Notes:

-*I have seen this online and attributed to Chesterton in the Illustrated London News from December 31, 1910.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

“…make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness…” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

In the past few devotionals, we’ve been talking about spiritual disciplines, and what to do when you feel as if you’re in a bit of a rut.

As a reminder, we’ve talked about the relationship between drawing closer to God and joy. We’ve also talked about tweaking some of your existing practices. 

Today’s suggestion is to try something radical. That’s right, radical. 

We know that we’re supposed to be “like Jesus” (see 1 John 2:6). And he was radical, right? Well, what if we tried something radical when it comes to our devotional practices?

Here are a few ideas just to get you thinking.

What if you observed the “night watch” like a monk? Perhaps for a few days next week, what if you set your alarm for 3:00 a.m. and spent some time reading Scripture, praying, singing a few hymns or praise songs, and waiting in silence for the return of Jesus?

Or what if you memorized the entire Sermon on the Mount? You’re right, it would be a big project. But over time, you could do it. Can you imagine how renewing it would be to have those words permanently in your mind?

A third idea could be fasting. What if you fasted for 24 hours, giving extra intensity to your prayers? (If this is new to you, do some research and ensure you are healthy enough to do so.)

I’m not saying that we have to do these things. You don’t. However, if you feel stuck, it might be helpful to think bigger, not smaller.

I’m sure many of you are doing well. You’re praying, reading your Bibles, and living each day as the hands and feet of Christ. That’s incredible. 

But when you need a change, and when you feel that you want to draw closer to God with a new practice, perhaps trying something radical is just the unexpected thing you need.

Notes:

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

In the previous devotional, we talked about spiritual disciplines. These are deliberate, repetitive, biblical practices the Holy Spirit uses to make us more like Christ.

Even still, there are times when we can feel stuck. 

When that happens, one suggestion is to shake things up. Here are some examples.

I know people who have moved their morning prayer time. Instead of sitting on the couch, they go for a walk and speak with the Lord on the way. 

I know another person who downloaded a Bible app. When they walk their dog, they listen to the Scriptures in the ear buds. 

I know of several people who have tried a new kind of fasting. They have fasted from social media. In the evenings, they replace the time they would usually have spent scrolling with prayer. 

In Romans 12:11, Paul says: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” When we are in a spiritual rut and come across passages like this, it can make us feel bad since we don’t feel very “zealous” or “fervent.” As a result, we wrongly conclude that we’re forever doomed to spiritual sloth.

However, just because you fall into a rut, that doesn’t mean you’ll always be there. It’s okay to adjust some of your spiritual practices (as long as they remain biblical), and experience a new kind of zeal and fervency in the process.

If you feel stuck, shake things up a bit. “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”

Notes:

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

I recently presented a workshop on spiritual disciplines. These are deliberate, repetitive, biblical practices the Holy Spirit uses to make us more like Christ.

Some of the most well-known practices that fit into this category are prayer, Bible-reading, fasting, worship, serving others, etc. There are others, but those are some of the most popular.

Over time, we can start to feel “stuck” in our routine. We know these practices are good for us. We know they help us draw closer to God. However, we can still feel like we fall into a rut. 

That’s why it can be helpful to remember the relationship between communion with the Lord and joy. 

When we commune with God, we draw closer to God. Since he is the author of true and abiding joy, we are also nourishing ourselves with a growing joy that only he can provide.

One of the most famous verses about rejoicing is Philippians 4:4-5: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand…” 

That last part about the Lord being “at hand” could also be translated like this: “The Lord is near.” People sometimes think that this is about the return of Jesus. Perhaps in part. But Paul goes on to talk about deliberately focusing on practices that honour God—whatever is true, honourable, just, pure, lovely and commendable (verse 8). When that happens, we will experience more of God’s peace.

The point is this: When we draw closer to God, we are nourishing ourselves with a growing joy that only he can provide.

My hope is that this provides you with some motivation to continue with those spiritual practices that grow and deepen your relationship with God. If there is a relationship between communion with the Lord and joy, how can we not? Joy is what happens when you abide in the presence of a God whose love for you is constant.

~

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

When I was in university one of my professors told our class that during our discussions, we weren’t allowed to use the word “interesting.”

Why not? Since it was a word that people over-used, it had lost it’s meaning. “Yes, that is an interesting idea.” The more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. Many people tended to use the word “interesting” as a way of saying something, but nothing specific.

Today, the word “love” has the same problem. We use the word “love” too broadly. We say that we “love” people, fashions, hobbies, bumper stickers, and ice cream flavours.

Because of this, when we come across the word “love” in the New Testament, we can project our modern watered-down use of the word love back onto the text. When that happens, the power of the original biblical teaching is sometimes neutralized.

Teresa of Avila was a Spanish nun and the founder of a contemplative order called the Displaced Carmelites. With a solid grasp of the biblical uses of the word “love,” she says this: “Love isn’t solely found in intense feelings of devotion; it resides in a fervent commitment to strive to please God in all things, to steer clear of all that might offend Him, and to pray for the greater glory and honor of His Son and for the growth of the Church. These are the signs of love.”*

I encourage you to read that again. 

When we speak about loving God and loving others, let’s do so with the thrust, integrity and power that we find in the New Testament, and most perfectly in the life, example and teachings of Christ.

Notes:

-*Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle: A Modern Translation, ed. Peter Northcutt (Modern Saints, 2023), 50.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

Jesus said: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44)

Do you have enemies? Perhaps you do, perhaps you don’t. 

If you don’t, perhaps you still have people who you feel are somehow “against” you. They always seem to say the wrong thing at the right time. They foil your plans, put you down, or otherwise try to throw you off course.

In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes: “The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.”*

Imagine a wagon being pulled by powerful horses. The driver is the devil. That wagon, and those four wagon wheels, have a lot of momentum. That’s like evil and hatred. You can’t stop the wagon by doing what the wagon does. You need to do something different to get it to stop.

Love is like a big metal bar that is thrust through the spokes of the wheel. It jars the wagon to a stop and upsets the momentum. In a world that obsesses over muscle, bluster and volume, we can wrongly assume that love is weak and that hate is strong. Although hate can certainly be strong, it’s not the greatest power there is.

Love is an atomic force that jams the Devil’s wheels.

Paul says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). In other words, our primary battle is not against people, but against the dark and demonic powers that are behind the hateful or angry decisions and actions that people make. 

So, what’s to be done? We put on the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). We cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light (Romans 13:12). And we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

Hate certainly has muscle. But it’s not the currency of Christ. Love is an atomic force that jams the Devil’s wheels.

Notes:

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1959), 147.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.