-
Christian Devotional – September 6, 2023
The Savior Comes, Day 5 Be the light. Read Matthew chapter 5. This chapter in Matthew begins what is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus uses this opportunity to teach and instruct his disciples and also the group of people who have gathered around him. While we could truly pick out each and every individual verse of this chapter with something phenomenal, verse 14 is what stuck out to me today. We are to be the light. In today’s time when we have artificial lights everywhere, I think we lose some of the significance of this verse. When the only thing that gives light is the…
-
Christian Devotional – September 5, 2023
The Savior Comes, Day 4 Follow the Savior. Read Matthew chapter 4. We see Jesus began his ministry after a time of testing. Jesus calls his disciples to follow him. What stuck out to me today as I was reading this chapter was the reminder of how quickly and how absolutely these people followed a man they had never met and knew nothing about. They felt God’s calling in their life and they answered it. When we feel God leading us in a certain direction or giving us guidance, how quickly do we follow what he has told us to do? How absolutely do we leave everything else behind to…
-
Christian Devotional – September 4, 2023
The Savior Comes, Day 3 Words and actions. Read Matthew chapter 3. Today we see the story where Jesus goes down to be baptized by John the Baptist. Also, we also see the message preached by John the Baptist to his people. John wanted the people to understand that his baptism alone wasn’t all that was necessary. When the Pharisees come and John is challenging them, he tells them that they are to produce fruit that is in keeping with their repentance. In other words, their actions should match their words. No matter what we say about our relationship with Christ, the way we live should match the words we…
-
Christian Devotional – September 3, 2023
The Savior Comes, Day 2 Heed the warning. Read Matthew chapter 2. During this chapter in Matthew, we see a lot of dreams being had by people. God uses a variety of methods to be able to communicate with his people and during that time dreams were common. God used these as a way to help the people to follow his will. However, the people had to actually follow through on the warnings that they were given in the dreams. While we may not always receive dreams from God with warnings, God does provide warnings for us as we go through life. The question becomes, are we heeding those warnings?…
-
Christian Devotional – September 2, 2023
The Savior Comes, Day 1 The wait is over. Read Matthew chapter 1. After finishing our time in Exodus, it seemed only fitting that we move straight over to the time when Christ comes. Matthew, the Jewish tax collector who met Jesus which changed his life, gives the story of Jesus from the perspective of the Jew. As we read through Matthew, we’ll see all of the laws, with emphasis on how Jesus fulfilled those laws, many of which we just studied through the book of Exodus. The savior has indeed come! Reading this passage today, we see that God is explaining that Jesus coming is truly God with us.…
-
Christian Devotional – September 1, 2023
The Coming Savior, Day 40 The Lord comes. Read Exodus chapter 40. The work is finally completed. Moses puts everything together. Now, the glory of the Lord comes. That which we have waiting been waiting for through the entire book of Exodus, we finally see happen. God comes down in the midst of the people of Israel. This is a picture of what ultimately came with Jesus when he came and lived among us. This is also a picture of what will ultimately happen when Christ comes again in victory to unite those who follow him with his glory forever. The people made all of the preparations and followed all…
-
Christian Devotional – August 31, 2023
The Coming Savior, Day 39 Completion. Read Exodus chapter 39. All the work that the israelites had done under the Lord’s direction in order to create the place of worship and meeting with the lord, the tabernacle, was complete. God had given direction through every step of the process and the people had followed his direction. God provided those with special talents and gifts to be able to use those in order to create what he wanted created. God is no stranger to creation. After all, he had created the entire universe in just 6 days. However, this time God chose to use people as part of the creation process.…
-
Christian Devotional – August 30, 2023
The Coming Savior, Day 38 No gift is too small. Read Exodus chapter 38. When those women brought those mirrors as an offering, I imagine they probably didn’t think that was a huge thing. Maybe they did; we can’t be sure. But with all the gifts of gold and silver and precious stones that are mentioned throughout the last several chapters, one wouldn’t typically assume a mirror to be a huge gift. However, these mirrors are one of the only mentions that we see of scripture calling out who gave what specifically to help with the tabernacle project. God saw their gift and he considered it important and worthy of…
-
Christian Devotional – August 29, 2023
The Coming Savior, Day 37 The work continues. Read Exodus chapter 37. As work continues on the tabernacle, we see some of the key components being crafted. The ark of the covenant and the altar are both taking shape under the hands and direction of a master craftsman. At the very end of the chapter, we read about the perfume and incense that is being created. All of these wonderful pieces that are wholly intent on celebrating and worshiping God. As we read through these, and even knowing that we do not worship with the ark of the covenant, we still worship the same God. Jesus Christ became the means…
-
Christian Devotional – August 28, 2023
The Coming Savior, Day 36 The Coming Savior, Day 36 Are we being obedient with what we bring to the Lord? Today we see the work continuing on the tavernacle. We read through this chapter and we realize that the people were bringing their offerings to support the work. In fact, they were being so obedient that they had more than enough supplies to build what God had asked them to build. The workers even came back to Moses and said, “Tell the people to stop bringing offerings.” God has more than enough available to him to be able to do absolutely everything that he wants or needs to do.…