Today Daily Devotional

Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

— 1 Corinthians 13:13

First Corinthians 13 is often called “the love chapter.” It is commonly read at weddings. It contains a list of the many characteristics of love. Here we learn that love is patient and kind; it does not envy or boast; it is not proud, rude, self-seeking, or easily angered; nor does it keep a record of wrongs. “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” Further, it always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. “Love never fails”!

However, if I am honest, I have to admit that I often fail. I fail to do the things that Paul says love does—and the things that love never does, these are the things I find myself doing. Interestingly, in Romans 7:19, Paul confesses to having that same problem.

It is common to make excuses for our failures. We say things like “I’m only human.” Or “If Paul fails, what can I expect of myself?” But it is far better to seek God’s forgiveness for our failures and to recognize, with thanks, that God “delivers [us] through Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 7:25).

With our hearts and our Bibles open, we need to ask God to change us. And as we make this our regular practice, we will be amazed to see that through his Word and Spirit, God produces ever greater quantities of his love in our lives.

Lord, we thank you that you are patient and kind. Forgive us for our lack of love, and produce in us a rich harvest of true love, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

— 1 John 4:10

One of the many joys of being a pastor is to officiate at weddings. Weddings come in all sizes and shapes, but most of them have one thing in common: love.

Before officiating at a wedding, I meet with the engaged couple for premarriage counseling. Part of our discussion centers on the reasons why they are getting married. Love always plays a significant role in these reasons. And yet that little word love can mean many different things. Love is a noun, and love is a verb. We fall in love, and we love being in love. We love people and animals, sports and ice cream, and certain types of weather! Love songs are one of the most popular types of music. So when we consider that love is the fruit of the Spirit, what exactly are we talking about?

John writes, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” True love is sacrificial action. It seeks to bless others. It seeks the best interests of others. The more we value God’s saving love for us, the more the Spirit moves us to share that love with others in both our words and our deeds.

Father God, even as you have shown your love to us through the death of your Son, help us by your Spirit to truly love you and our neighbors. In Jesus, Amen.

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

— James 2:17

“Goldilocks and the Three Bears” is a fairy tale about a girl who got lost in the woods. She stumbled across the house of three bears. She entered their home, ate their porridge, sat in their chairs, and fell asleep on one of their beds. Not only is this a fun story for children and families, but it can help us resolve one of the tensions in the Christian faith.

For centuries Christians have been pondering the relationship between grace, faith, and works and how they relate to salvation. In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul teaches that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. However, James writes, “A person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). Critics of Christianity say these passages show that the Bible is full of contradictions and cannot be trusted.

But the point James is making is that the Bible and Christianity can be like a story that comes alive only in the mind but not in the heart. Like the story of Goldilocks, it has good lessons but lacks the power to truly change lives. Only when God moves from being known in our minds to being embraced in our hearts as Lord does faith become true, living, and saving. When the gift of true faith is present, God’s Spirit changes us, and our lives begin to produce the good works of the fruit of the Spirit!

Lord, fill our minds with your knowledge, but also fill our hearts with your presence and produce in us fruit that is pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

— Galatians 5:22-23

Winter had not yet lost its icy grip on the Canadian prairies when our family flew to southern California for a vacation. Soon after arriving, we stumbled upon a grapefruit tree in a park. We often bought grapefruit at the grocery store, but the thought of picking a grapefruit straight from a tree and eating it right there was a temptation we could not resist!

But all of the low-hanging fruit had already been picked. So one of our daughters, sitting on my shoulders, took a long stick and was able to reach high enough to knock down a juicy, ripe fruit from the tree. Never had a grapefruit tasted so good to us!

Years later that same daughter, now an adult, sat on my shoulders again to reach bananas on a roadside tree in Hawaii. We had an apple tree and a pear tree in our own backyard, but this fruit was different. From our perspective it was . . . well, exotic!

This month our daily devotions will focus on fruit—not fruit that grows on trees but fruit that is produced in us by the Holy Spirit. While traces of love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are present in most everyone’s lives, these traits take on a new and vibrant dimension when we walk in step with the Spirit.

Lord, fill us with your Spirit so that we may produce fruit in keeping with your purpose for our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

“Take and eat; this is my body.”

— Matthew 26:26

Jesus celebrated a ceremonial final meal with his disciples. We call it the Last Supper. At the table with them he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and passed it to the disciples, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

In the church we celebrate this new-covenant meal by breaking bread and drinking wine (or juice) together in remembrance of Jesus. We call it the Lord’s Supper. This meal replaces the Jewish Passover. There is no longer any need to bring a lamb to the altar, because Christ is the Lamb of God, sacrificed once for all, who takes away the sin of the world. There is no longer any need to sprinkle the blood of a lamb on doorposts, for by faith we receive the benefits of the blood of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin.

Christ is our Passover Lamb. To him the patriarchs and prophets pointed. He was the hope of our spiritual fathers and the content of the preaching of the apostles. Christ is the spotless Lamb of God, the living bread that came down from heaven. With his body and his blood, he fulfilled all the requirements of God’s law, delivering us from the slavery and tyranny of sin and death forever!

Lamb of God, in you we find deliverance, salvation to new life, full and free! Be exalted in our lives each day. Amen.

Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

— Romans 5:1

Justification is a legal act of God. It is accomplished in God’s court and applied to our lives, all because of the finished work of Jesus. Justification is complete and final. The newest believer is just as justified as the most seasoned, faithful believer.

Paul teaches us four important truths about justification in Romans 5:1. First, God is the author of justification. We are justified not on the basis of our merits but because of the merits of Christ.

Second, we are justified through faith. In this way faith is the instrument of our justification.

Third, the fruit of justification is that we have peace with God. We are reconciled to God and reborn into the family of God.

Fourth, the agent of justification is our Lord Jesus Christ. All of these spiritual blessings are granted to us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Christ is our righteousness. He is our peace. In him we have abundant redemption.

Lord and God, trusting in the righteousness of Christ for my justification brings peace and comfort to my heart. My salvation depends not on me but on you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. . . .

— Romans 1:16

Paul was preparing to visit Rome, the capital of the empire. He was on his way to Jerusalem to bring the poverty-stricken people there a generous gift. From Corinth he wrote his most robust letter, which we now call the book of Romans—and already here in the prologue, he has made a most audacious statement: “I am not ashamed of the gospel. . . .” Paul felt indebted to the gospel—the good news of Jesus. He was ready to preach the gospel, and he was not ashamed of it.

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel even though he was arrested and flogged and stoned nearly to death because of it. Paul was not ashamed because the gospel is “the power of God that brings salvation to every­one who believes” in Christ as Lord and Savior. The gospel is God’s power for salvation. And this power is available for all who believe. It doesn’t matter what people or nation they come from. What matters is that they believe.

The door of salvation is open in Christ. Behold the power of the gospel!

Lord, thank for giving us the gospel, the good news of Jesus, with its power for all who believe. Thank you for your grace and mercy in sending Jesus so that we can be saved to new life in you. May we live by faith in you, knowing that we never need to be ashamed because of you. In Jesus, Amen.

We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

— 1 Corinthians 1:23

The apostle Paul was writing to his Christian friends in Corinth, a prominent Greek city. Great thinkers disputed their ideas in the public square. Their admirers applauded them. The Greeks (Gentiles) were fond of philosophy. When they heard about Jesus, who was crucified for our salvation, they thought it was madness to believe in and preach about him.

Many Jews, on the other hand, thought their Messiah should be a great warrior-king who would free them from the ­tyranny of Rome. So, to them, it was scandalous to think of this person nailed to a cross.

Paul was not intimidated by these prejudiced and extreme reactions. He continued to preach the message of the cross. There is no other gospel to be preached, he said, but the message of Christ, who was crucified for all who believe in him.

There is no good news for the sinner apart from the message of Christ. Only by the death and resurrection of Jesus do we have life. It is by his blood that we receive forgiveness and redemption. It has pleased God to save sinners by the foolishness of this preaching. The foolishness of God is wiser than the so-called wisdom of the world. The cross of Christ may be rejected by unbelievers, but to us who believe, it is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Father God, the finished work of Jesus reveals your power and your wisdom. Thank you for giving us faith in Jesus, who was crucified so that we may have life. In his name, Amen.

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are.

— 1 Corinthians 5:7

The Jewish Passover was instituted on the night God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12). For each household a lamb without defect was slain, and its blood was sprinkled on the doorframe. In a similar way, Christ, our Passover Lamb, was slain for our redemption, and in this way God delivered all who believe in him from the slavery and tyranny of sin.

For the Passover feast, all yeast was to be removed from every house. This was a sign of sanctification. The yeast that leavens dough was a symbol of sin that infiltrates our lives and contaminates us through and through. It reminded people that they could not participate in the Passover with impure hearts and a defiled life. They had to throw out the old yeast, for they were being reshaped as a new unleavened batch of dough.

As believers in Christ, we have received a new heart, a new mind, a new life. We are part of a new family. We are God’s people, called to be light in the world. We cannot imitate the world or be of the world. We are called to reshape it for the kingdom of God. We are a holy people, remade in Christ. We are saved from sin to live in holiness for Jesus’ sake. So we must walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, depending on the power of the Holy Spirit to live for God.

Dear God, thank you that in Christ we can have a new life. Remake us to be like Jesus, and guide us to live in holiness, following him day by day. In his name, Amen.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

— Philippians 2:8

The incarnation of the Son of God is one of the greatest mysteries in history. There is one God who exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are of the same substance, meaning that the Son is coequal, coeternal, and consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

But to accomplish our redemption, God the Son emptied himself of his glory and became human. In the fullness of time he was born of a woman, under the law, to be our surety and substitute (see Galatians 4:4-5). Being God, he became human; being rich, he became poor; being Lord, he became a servant.

The Son of God entered time and put on human skin. “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Even in the face of the most severe afflictions, he did not waiver from his purpose to save us. Though he was persecuted, spat upon, and crushed by the fury of sinners, he loved them to the end. Though he laid down his life in obedience and gave himself up to death, he triumphed over death in his glorious resurrection.

Through his extreme humiliation, Jesus was exalted to receive the name above all names, opening the way for us to eternal life with God.

Father, to save us, your Son humbled himself and submitted to death on a cross. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, to lay down his life for us, even though we were your enemies. In him we exalt you! Amen.