The Up Devotional

I was recently reminded of a story about Martin Luther, the well-known church reformer from the sixteenth century. 

One day he was confronted by the devil who accused him of sin after sin. I’m paraphrasing, but in essence the devil said, ‘How can you pretend to be a leader and reformer of the church? You’re a massive sinner! Look at all these sins!’

The devil then presented a list of Luther’s sins. Undeterred, Luther agreed with the devil that he was a big sinner. As I heard it, he even gave him a few more minutes to write down some additional sins that the devil had missed. 

But that’s when Luther told the devil to write 1 John 1:7 at the bottom of the list: “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” Then he confidently declared that all his sins had been paid for by Jesus, and the devil therefore had nothing to hold over him. 

With that, the evil one vanished. 

Every once in a while—and yes, perhaps even every day—we need the reminder that our standing with God isn’t based on what we have (or haven’t) done, but on what Christ has done on our behalf. 

In. Christ. You. Belong. To. God. Forever. 

And that’s true not only on your good days, but on your worst ones too.

Trust God. Trust what he did for you on the cross. Trust that Jesus is the “once for all” sacrifice on your behalf (Hebrews 10:10). Trust the leading of his Spirit. Trust that he makes you new. Trust that the devil’s accusations are not the last word. 

The last word is with Jesus, our risen and victorious Redeemer—and you belong to him.

Notes:

-“A biblical definition of humility.” Click here, or find it on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.)

-The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on July 13, 2026.

-Bible quotes, ESV.

Recently, I was putting together a new piece of furniture. The instruction manual had some spelling mistakes. As a result, I started to doubt how accurate it was.

If you don’t trust what you’re reading, you’ll start to question whether or not it’s actually going to help you.

This is why it’s important to be confident in the reliability of the Bible. I realize this is a big topic—and it’s not one I can fully address in a short one-minute devotional. (I have, however, written about this topic before; if you want some resources, just let me know.)

The point here is that within the Bible itself there are several details which give us increasing confidence in its reliability.

First, there are many, many prophecies that came true in Jesus, the Messiah. 

Second, the historical details of the Bible continue to line up with cultural and archaeological discoveries of the day. 

Third, supposed “contradictions” aren’t actually contradictions when you explore the context of the various passages and the literary conventions of ancient writing.

I could go on and on. 

But my focus today is on how the biblical writers themselves considered it to be inspired by God. Jesus often said “It is written” (ex. Mark 7:6), which was the ancient equivalent of saying “The Bible says.” He called Scripture the “word of God” (Mark 7:14). Paul said that the Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16).

One of my favourites is 2 Peter 1:21. That’s where Peter said: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah weren’t just crazy people spouting off random proclamations. They were messengers from God himself! 

And those messages are recorded for us in the Bible.

We live in a time when the Bible is continually under attack. It’s no surprise. Are questions good? Yes. Should we pursue a deep and intellectually rigorous faith? Yes. But when it comes to critiques of the Bible, as far as I can tell, there is nothing new under the sun. As a result, we ask good questions, we study, we don’t settle for cheap answers, we pray, we learn, we answer, and we grow. 

Be confident that the words you read are the words of the Redeemer. We stand on solid ground.

“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Notes:

-New podcast episode and article: “A biblical definition of humility.” Click here, or find it on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.)

-Bible quotes, ESV.

The Bible includes different kinds of lists. Some of these are sin lists. Others are virtue lists, which we could also consider character traits to pursue.

One of them is found in 2 Peter 1:5-8. It says: “For this very reason, 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, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is sometimes called the “ladder of faith.” This list includes seven qualities that are to be added to our faith. To summarize, these include virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection (i.e. mutual affection), and love.

Are these good? Yes.
Should we grow in these qualities? Yes. 
Is it easy? Not necessarily!

So, here is something to help. 

Notice how all of these qualities are first and foremost exemplified in Jesus. The list is, therefore, primarily about Christlikeness. He was virtuous, knowledgeable, exercised self-control, was steadfast, embodied godliness, demonstrated affection among his people, and led with sacrificial love.

When we try to grow in these qualities by our own efforts, or when we think that they are simply the accumulation of our own wisdom and strength without relying on the Holy Spirit, we will forever be frustrated and disappointed, or at least deluded.

As 2 Peter 1 makes clear, all of these qualities are overflow of Christ within you. Or, put another way, Christlikness through you is overflow from Christ in you.

Put the relationship first. Like any other relationship, when we stop investing in the other person, things go south. Communication breaks down, trust is diminished, and joy struggles to keep it’s head up. We cannot grow in faithfulness if we neglect the one who gives it to us.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to mark up your Bible (either your hard copy or the digital version on your phone), I encourage you to underline verses 5 to 8. Then write in the margin: “character traits of Jesus.” Then circle “our Lord Jesus Christ” a few times at the end of verse 8.

Christlikness through you is overflow from Christ in you.

Notes:

–New podcast episode and article: “A biblical definition of humility.” Click here, or find it on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.)

-“When it comes to virtue, roots before fruits” Click here. Sermon.

-Bible quotes, ESV.

Have you ever felt frustrated at your lack of spiritual growth? Or perhaps you can see some progress, but you feel defeated because it’s taking longer than you’d like? 

If so, Walter Adams has some food for thought. He says: “Look after the roots, and the fruits will look after themselves.”*

Let’s look more closely at his metaphor, and then how it relates to our spiritual progress.

An unhealthy or dead tree doesn’t produce fruit. Only a healthy tree can do that. Jesus says this very thing in Matthew 7:18: “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” Makes sense.

When it comes to people, our “fruit” is the evidence of our faith. Paul uses this same language in Galatians 5:22-23. That’s where he talks about the “fruit” of the Holy Spirit working through us. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

As people, our “roots” are a bit more difficult to identify. What are they? Thankfully, the apostle Peter provides some clarifying information in 2 Peter 1. He makes a direct connection between knowing Jesus and being spiritually productive (i.e. fruit-producing). In other words, our “roots” are our knowledge of Jesus. The deeper they go, the more spiritually healthy we are.

This isn’t only about head knowledge. The word he uses (Greek: epignosis) implies a knowledge that is intimidate, deep and precise. 

My point is this: Roots before fruits. If we want spiritual fruit in our lives—qualities like love, joy, peace, patience, etc.—we need to look after our relationship with Christ. 

Learn about Jesus, deeply. 
Ponder his ways, carefully. 
Listen for God, attentively. 
Seek his will, honestly. 

“A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” 

Roots before fruits.

Notes:

-“When it comes to virtue, roots before fruits” Click here. Sermon.

-*Quoted in: Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle, Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders (Nashville: Faith Words, 2025), xxv.

-Bible quotes, ESV.

“Don’t drink the Kool Aid.”

It’s an expression that traces back to a cult leader who compelled his followers to consume a sugary drink (it wasn’t technically “Kool Aid”, but the idea caught on.) This person’s followers died in the process.

Today, the expression is used to warn people against dangerous group-think. ‘Don’t blindly adhere to a certain way of thinking that looks appealing but which ends up hurting you.’

It also speaks to the power of numbers. Here’s another statement we sometimes hear: “Would you jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it?” This question suggests that there is power in numbers, and not always in a good way. We can be easily persuaded, even when the wider group we are a part of is being unreasonable, irrational, unfaithful, or unloving.

Today’s point is this. Our goal is to thoughtfully follow Jesus not thoughtlessly follow the crowd. 

I’ve always been encouraged that as people of faith we are told to use our minds. Told.  As Jesus famously said in Mark 12:30: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” 

With all your… mind.

We are allowed to go deeper. We are allowed to ask questions. We are allowed to have meaningful conversations. Should we trust God in the process? Yes. Should we pray? Yes. Should we engage the Scriptures? Yes, yes, yes. 

And when we come up against group think, let’s remember that the crowd in Nazareth tried to shove Jesus off a cliff (Luke 4:29). 

Sometimes we will in fact go along with the crowd when there is faith, wisdom and love. But when there isn’t, we won’t. The world offers Kool Aid, but Jesus offers living water.

Our goal is to thoughtfully follow Jesus not thoughtlessly follow the crowd.

Notes:

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.

In Ephesians 4:27 we are told to “give no opportunity to the devil.” 

In the original Greek manuscripts of this verse, the word for “opportunity” is topos. It’s where we get our English word “topography.” In Ephesians, this word suggests some sort of location or space. 

Various biblical translation teams have struggled to adequately capture it’s meaning. Here are a few of the ways they have tried to do so. The King James translation says: “Neither give place to the devil.” The NRSV says: “do not make room for the devil.” The NIV says: “do not give the devil a foothold.”

The words “opportunity,” “place,” “room,” and “foothold” are all attempts to translate this same word: topos. 

But what does any of this matter?

Think of two siblings chasing each other around the house. One is trying to get away from the other. He runs into the bathroom and starts to shut the door. The one who is chasing him is close behind. Before the door can be shut, he puts his foot in the door. That’s a “foothold.” As a result, he can then put in an arm, then a shoulder, and then his whole body. Game over. 

In the Bible, anger can be a foothold that the evil one can use to gain influence over us. So can unforgiveness, the occult, or false religion. 

But so can pride. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we are warned against it so much! 

When we become self-centred to an unhealthy degree, what should we do? Let’s be honest, acknowledge what is going on, ask God for forgiveness, and re-centre ourselves on the Lord. 

1 Peter 5:5 says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So let’s yield to God, serve the people around us, and not let the devil gain a foothold in the door of our hearts.

Notes:

–The Up Daily Devotional has a new homebase at TheUpDevo.com! Feel free to check it out by clicking here, and pass it along to friends, family members, or fellow church-goers who might benefit from help, hope, clarity and confidence in the footsteps of Jesus.

-The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on July 6, 2026.

-Bible quotes, ESV.

Have you ever noticed the words that are used to describe the devil? Let me provide three examples.

First, he “prowls.” We find this detail in 1 Peter 5:8: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Second, he is “crafty.” This detail comes up in the Garden of Eden. The serpent, who embodies the devil, was “more crafty” than the other creatures (Genesis 3:1). 

Third, he “schemes.” We find that in Ephesians 6:11. In Greek, the word is “methodeia,” making us think of our English word “method.”

To summarize, he prowls around looking to destroy us. He is crafty. He schemes. Because of these traits it’s safe to say that most of the time he will not be obvious! 

Here is one of the biggest ways he tries to get at you. 

In the Bible, one of the chief sins is idolatry. When we hear that word today, we tend to think about statues, golden calves, the occult, or false religion. And yes, those are all a part of it. But in our modern day, one of the biggest risks for idolatry is staring back at us in the mirror.

The devil doesn’t want you to focus on him only. The devil wants you to focus on you, because the more you are focused on you, the less you are focused on God. 

Let me say that again. The devil doesn’t want you to focus on him only. The devil wants you to focus on you, because the more you are focused on you, the less you are focused on God. 

Sounds crafty to me! 

So, what’s to be done? Be humble and focus on Christ. 

Humility is an antidote to the devil. He loves to sneakily convince you that everything is about you. But when we remember that life is primarily about Jesus and his kingdom (and not just about us), we are better able to neutralize one of our adversary’s most frequently used weapons—pride.
 
The devil doesn’t want you to focus on him only. The devil wants you to focus on you, because the more you are focused on you, the less you are focused on God.

Notes:

–The Up Daily Devotional has a new homebase at TheUpDevo.com! Feel free to check it out by clicking here, and pass it along to friends, family members, or fellow church-goers who might benefit from help, hope, clarity and confidence in the footsteps of Jesus.

-Bible quotes, ESV.

In the Bible, we are often told be humble. We’re often warned to steer clear of pride. So here’s a helpful way to think about the difference between the two. 

It’s the difference between self-forgetfulness and self-infatuation. 

Self-forgetfulness isn’t about being self-deprecating. Nor is it about beating yourself up. It’s about focusing more and more on Jesus. The more this happens, the less we obsess about our looks, our achievements, or how popular we are.

As Paul writes in Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

In contrast, self-infatuation puts you at the centre of everything. If someone spends a disproportionate amount of time on how they look, it can turn into self-infatuation and pride. But the same thing can also happen when someone thinks too much about how poorly they think they look. That, too, is a kind of self-infatuation.

The same goes for someone who focusses too much on their achievements or on how popular they are. For some, they only feel good about their identity and worth if they are “better” than other people. Similarly, some people feel overly bad about their identity and worth because they never measure up to other people. Both of these can be a kind of self-infatuation. 

These are big topics, and all of us are works in progress. But I’ve found these two terms to be helpful as we think it all through. 

Are we moving in the direction of self-forgetfulness, or self-infatuation?

Let’s focus on Christ. In him, our identity and worth are settled. God made us. We belong to him. He is the source of our ultimate joy and purpose. 

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Notes:

Notes:

–The Up Daily Devotional has a new homebase at TheUpDevo.com! Feel free to check it out by clicking here, and pass it along to friends, family members, or fellow church-goers who might benefit from help, hope, clarity and confidence in the footsteps of Jesus.

-“Worry, Humility, and an Antidote to the Devil.” Click here. Sermon.

-Bible quotes, ESV.

Worry. It happens. We don’t like it, but it’s a part of life. 

Here’s what I’ve come to know about worry. Worry loves to make you question the past, fear the future, and doubt God in the present, so that you are forever frantic and mentally somewhere else.

Let’s break that down one idea at a time. 

First, it loves to make you question the past. These are events, decisions or mistakes that are behind you. Since they’re in the past, you can’t change them, even if you wanted to.

Second, worry loves to make you fear the future. We humans tend to fabricate worst-case-scenarios in our minds and then obsess about them—even though they will most likely never happen. 

Third, worry makes us doubt God in the present. Since we don’t always know the reason for why things are happening, we wrongly conclude that God must either be non-existent or incompetent. “Oh no, that means I have to solve all of these issues on my own!” 

Fourth, all of these factors come together to make us forever frantic and mentally somewhere else. Since we are spending so much time questioning the past, fearing the future, and doubting God in the present, we can miss that deep heart-rest that comes with walking alongside our Good Shepherd one day at a time.

In 1 Peter 5:6-7, the apostle writes: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 

The word for “anxieties” is sometimes translated as “cares” or “worries.” The Thayer lexicon here says: “to be drawn in different directions.” The way the Greek is constructed tells us that casting all of our cares or worries on God is a part of what it means to be humble. When we don’t do that, it’s as if we are pretending that we know better, or that we can figure it all out based on our own strength.

Worry loves to make you question the past, fear the future, and doubt God in the present, so that you are forever frantic and mentally somewhere else.

Trust God and walk with him—here, now, today—casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Notes:

-“Worry, Humility, and an Antidote to the Devil.” Click here. Sermon.

-“Why do we say The Apostles’ Creed in church?” Podcast episode and blog. Click here, or find it on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc.)

-Bible quotes, ESV.

In 1 Peter 4, the apostle is instructing his readers about something important. There are times, he says, when we will suffer for our faith. Just as Jesus suffered, we too will suffer. Just as Jesus was insulted, so too will we be insulted.

He then goes on to provide some further clarity: “But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name” (verses 15-16).

Let’s take a closer look at his meaning by using two examples.

First, meet Bob. He’s a Christian. He is humble and clearly shares the truth about Jesus, but does so in a way that is loving. Even if people don’t always agree with him, he plainly wants God’s best for them. 

Second, meet Everett. He’s a Christian. He likes to talk about Jesus, but lacks self-awareness. He struggles with pride, and tends to put down other people when talking with them. He seems more concerned with winning arguments than with helping people grow in their faith.

Although Everett’s issues seem less dramatic than the ones listed by Peter, the same principle applies. (And by the way, if your name is Everett, sorry—I just picked a random name!)

The point is this. Don’t be a jerk and then claim that you are suffering for Jesus when other people call you on it. I’ve seen it happen. There are people who speak or act with insensitivity or even rudeness and then justify their actions by saying something like, “Well, they insulted Jesus too!” 

The word “manners” has come to mean saying please and thank you. And yes, those are manners. But the word itself is about “our manner.” It’s about how we conduct ourselves. 

We can be confident, and still humble. We can be strong, and still self-aware. We can disagree about important things, and still love. 

Don’t let your manner get in the way of your message.

“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian,” Peter writes, “let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

Notes:

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.