Loving Jesus Style

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 (NIV) For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Devotion: When Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers that God has not destined His people for wrath but for salvation, he is offering more than theological clarity—he is offering comfort for weary hearts. These early Christians lived with pressure, uncertainty, and the constant temptation to lose courage. Yet Paul lifts their eyes to the steady purposes of God and calls them to strengthen one another with this truth. We are not wandering through life hoping for mercy; we are held by a God who has already secured it. And because this is true, we can encourage, build up, and walk beside one another with confidence and hope. These verses make it clear that our redempti...

Scripture: Luke 6:31 (NIV) Do to others as you would have them do to you. Devotion: The Golden Rule stands as one of Jesus’ most beautifully simple yet deeply challenging commands. It is easy to admire these words, harder to embody them, and essential for anyone who desires to walk faithfully with Christ. In a world marked by impatience, division, and self‑protection, Jesus calls His people to a different way—a way shaped by empathy, humility, and intentional kindness. The Golden Rule is not merely a moral guideline; it is a reflection of God’s heart, inviting us to treat others with the same grace we ourselves depend on every day. Many other religious systems express something like the Golden Rule as Jesus did here. Jesus is the only one who expresses it as a positive command. It is rooted in the Father's goodness and expresses what a good God desires for His people. The command is not complicated, yet we find it difficult to live out in our daily lives. The rule causes ...

Scripture: Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Devotion: This verse meets us in the places we would rather avoid—the valleys, the shadows, the moments when fear feels close enough to touch. David does not pretend the valley isn’t real; he refuses to walk it alone. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” God’s comfort is not theoretical. It is His steady presence, His guiding hand, His rod and staff assuring us that darkness does not have the final word. In every valley, God draws near. We must all acknowledge the reality of the dark valley spoken of in this verse. Every one of us has lived with disappointment, sickness, and even the death of someone close to us. Anxiety and fear are all around us as we walk through life. I recently had a health scare, and it turned out to be nothing serious. I still experie...

Scripture: Matthew 22:18-23(NIV) But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So, they left him and went away. Devotion: In these verses, Jesus exposes the trap set by those who hoped to force Him into a political corner. Instead, He reminds them—and us—that true allegiance belongs to God alone. Coins may bear Caesar’s image, but our lives bear the image of our Creator. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” is not just a clever escape; it is a summons to examine what we are withholding from the God who made us. Why did the Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus with this dilemma? The answer is for their own political...

  Father, I come before You with a grateful heart, overwhelmed by Your kindness and humbled by the way You have used this small corner of the internet for Your glory. When I first began writing, I could not have imagined that these reflections, prayers, and devotions would reach so many people. Yet here we stand — half a million views — each one representing a person You love, a heart You are pursuing, a life You are shaping. Thank You for every reader who has paused long enough to consider Your Word, to seek Your comfort, or to find encouragement in Your truth. Lord, I know that numbers themselves do not measure faithfulness, but they do remind me of Your ability to take simple offerings and multiply them far beyond what I could ever accomplish alone. Thank You for sustaining this work, for giving me words when I felt empty, and for guiding me when I wasn’t sure what to write next. Thank You for the quiet moments when You whispered clarity, and for the busy days when You still...

Matthew 5:17-20 stands as the hinge of the Sermon on the Mount, governing everything Jesus says in the six antitheses that follow (5:21-48). Having just described the character of kingdom citizens in the Beatitudes and their calling as salt and light, Jesus turns to a live question: does his kingdom teaching set aside the Law and the Prophets, the whole of Old Testament revelation? His answer is emphatic. He has not come to abolish ( kataluo , to tear down or annul) but to fulfill ( pleroo , to fill up, bring to completion) them. That word "fulfill" carries several senses at once, and Reformed interpreters have generally read them together rather than choosing among them. Jesus fulfills the Law and the Prophets by bringing their predictive and typological trajectory to its intended goal—the sacrifices, priesthood, feasts, and covenant promises all find their substance in him. He fulfills the moral law by rendering the perfect obedience Israel, and Adam before her, failed ...

  Scripture: Joel 2:12-13 (NIV) “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Devotion: This passage is one of the most gracious invitations in all of Scripture. God calls His people to return to Him, not with polished words or outward displays, but with hearts laid bare. He knows our wandering, our sin, and our half‑heartedness — yet He still says, “Return to Me.” These verses remind us that repentance is not met with anger but with compassion, because the God who calls us back is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Here, we rediscover the mercy that makes true returning possible. The invitation to return we find here in the prophet Joel’s writing may be what Jesus had in mind when He told the parab...

Scripture: Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV) Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time; make them known; in wrath remember mercy. Devotion: There are moments in the life of faith when we look at the world around us and feel the weight of its brokenness. We see sin gaining ground, hearts growing cold, and the people of God weary from the long struggle of obedience. Habakkuk knew that feeling well. In Habakkuk 3:2, he lifts a prayer that is both trembling and hopeful: “Lord, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds. Renew them in our day.” It is the cry of someone who remembers what God has done and longs to see Him move again with that same power and mercy. Habakkuk does not pretend that everything is fine. He does not minimize the fear he feels or the judgment that is coming. Instead, he brings his trembling heart honestly before God. He remembers the mighty works of the Lord — the deliverance from Egypt, the vict...

  Scripture: 62:1-2 (NIV) Truly, my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly, he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Devotion: There are seasons when the soul feels pulled in too many directions, stretched thin by pressures we never asked for and burdens we never expected. Psalm 62:1–2 calls us back to a quieter center, reminding us that true rest doesn’t come from circumstances easing but from God Himself. David speaks of a stillness rooted in trust — a confidence that God alone is our rock, our salvation, and our unshakable refuge. These verses invite us to breathe again and remember where our security truly rests. David knew what it meant to be overwhelmed. He lived through betrayal, danger, personal failure, and the consequences of his own sin. Yet even in his darkest moments, he returned to God as his refuge. David’s rest was not found in his own strength or righteousness but in the character of the God who held him...

Scripture: Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Devotion: Fear has a way of shrinking our world, tightening our chest, and convincing us we’re standing alone. Isaiah 41:10 breaks through that heaviness with a promise strong enough to steady any trembling heart. God doesn’t simply tell us not to fear—He anchors that command in His own presence, His own strength, and His own faithful help. This verse invites us to lift our eyes from what overwhelms us and remember the One who holds us, upholds us, and walks beside us in every uncertain moment. No matter how discouraging the circumstances we may face, God is there with us. Our God is always bigger than our problems. This can be hard to remember. We, humans, have a way of making our problems turn into anxiety until they seem unbearable. Indeed, they would be unbearable if not for Jesus, who c...

  Salt and Light: The Vocation of Kingdom Citizens (Matthew 5:13–16)* Having described the character of kingdom citizens in the Beatitudes, Jesus now turns to their function in the world. The move from verse 12 to verse 13 is a direct address—"You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.” Of all the people and institutions that might have claimed this identity, Jesus assigns it to this unlikely company: the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, the persecuted. This is not a summons to become salt and light through effort; it is a declarative statement of what grace has already made them. You are the salt of the earth (v. 13). In the ancient world, salt served two chief purposes: it preserved food from decay, and it gave flavor to what was otherwise bland. Both senses likely stand behind Jesus' metaphor. The disciple community, scattered through a fallen world, functions as a restraining and preserving presence against corruption—not unlike Abraham...

  Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:14-16 (NIV) This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. Devotion: Paul, in today’s passage, calls attention to the fact that Jesus is the only way of salvation for humankind. In today’s world, this is a very controversial position to hold. Yet, hold it we must. What God has decreed in His word must be true regardless of whether it is fashionable or liberal enough for the non-Christian world. Jesus, Himself, said in the gospel of John, that He “was the way, the truth, and the life.” No other person has made that claim, let alone been raised from the dead to verify it. God wants all people to be saved. God knows that some will, because He wants to be loved freely, ultimately reject His love and perish...

  Scripture: Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV) Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Devotion: The writer of Hebrews here gives us encouragement to live by. First, we are encouraged because we are reminded that Jesus is our great high priest. He has offered himself as a sacrifice to completely atone for our sins, so that we are free to live as children of the living God. Jesus, as our high priest, has suffered temptation but has never sinned. In Him we can approach God without hesitation or fear. Finding God to be ready to assist us when we need it. Because Jesus stands in this role fo...

Scripture: Romans 8:18-21 (NIV) I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Devotion: This passage opens a window into a hope so vast that Paul struggles to compare it with anything we experience now. Truly, we await a future hope that is beyond description. God will not only save humans who believe and follow Him, but He will also set all nature in order. No more floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornadoes will plague the world. No more will humans spoil God’s creation. We cannot even begin to imagine what is in store for us in a creation put right by its Creator. This passage i...

  Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Devotion: This scripture opens with a statement that immediately brings up a question. Who is in this great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us? Are they those Christians who have gone before us? Can those who have passed on see us? The text seems to say yes to both questions. What kind of exemplary lives should we then live if this is the case? We must then, as the next section of the passage states, rid ourselves of anything that would hinder us. A...

Jesus ascends the mountain and, like Moses before him, delivers words that will define a covenant people—but he speaks not as a mediator relaying another's law, he speaks with the authority of the Lawgiver himself. The crowds are present, but Matthew is careful to note that "his disciples came to him" (v. 1); this sermon is first and foremost catechesis for those who already belong to him, even as it invites the crowd to consider what such belonging costs and offers. The Beatitudes are not eight independent virtues to be pursued piecemeal, nor a ladder of achievement by which one climbs into divine favor. They form a single, cumulative portrait of the same person—the regenerate citizen of the kingdom—viewed from eight angles. The order is not accidental. It begins on the inside, with the soul's posture before God, and moves outward into relationships and finally into suffering. Read as gospel rather than law, the Beatitudes describe what grace produces in a life, ...

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3 (NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. Devotion: Peter, in this verse, proclaims the source of our hope in this life. That Jesus not only died to take the guilt and stain of our sin away, but that He was raised to new and everlasting life in heaven with the Father. Here, Peter, the apostle, lifts our eyes to the very heart of the Christian faith. He blesses God not out of habit or ritual, but because something has happened—something so decisive, so world‑altering, that nothing can ever be the same again. God, in His great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter wants us to understand that our hope is not built on sentiment or wishful thinking. It is anchored in an event th...

  Scripture: Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV) Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Devotion: How counter-cultural these words of Jesus must have seemed to the first disciples. They lived in a time when there was no thought of equality among persons. Even today, in our culture, we still have vestiges of the notion that some people are better than others. Think of what it would mean if the President of the United States were to think of themselves as a servant of all the people. In my opinion, we have had very few presidents who have thought of themselves in this way. We see throughout the gospels, Jesus serving others. From the ...

Scripture: 1 John 4:9-10 (NIV) This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Devotion: These words from the Apostle John show us the depth of God’s love for us. In His grace, He sent Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. We do well to ponder that statement. God shows us love in a way that we, for the most part, are unable to show to others in any self-sacrificial way. We are always selfish, loving others for our own purposes. God’s love is selfless, always giving Himself away for sinners. This scripture before us today clearly states that we have a relationship with God, not through any merit of our own, but through the self-giving love of the Father. The Father loved the Son so much that He could part with the Son only for our salvation. We are truly in debt to God because He paid a ...

  Scripture: Isaiah 53:6 (NIV) We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Devotion: These words of Isaiah are part of what is known as the servant songs. These are verses whose immediate application in Isaiah’s time is unknown. However, the Christian church has claimed them, or parts of them, as prophecies of Christ’s passion. They certainly seem to fit this application. We, as Christians, marvel at these words written centuries in advance of our Lord’s death, which seem to describe the scene in great detail. As we approach our text for today, we are reminded that we are not like proud lions or other strong animals. We, in fact, are told that we are like the lowly, and somewhat stupid, sheep who constantly wander from our shepherd. The Spirit was speaking through the prophet to us today. Our society has wandered far from God. We no longer seek to know what God thinks about a controversy;...

How Not to Read This Book Revelation has suffered more at the hands of speculative interpreters than almost any other book of Scripture. Newsstand prophecy charts have taught us to read it as a coded newspaper, a puzzle to be solved by matching beasts and bowls to this week's headlines. But that is not how the book announces itself. Revelation calls itself an apokalypsis — an unveiling — given to strengthen suffering churches by showing them that the slain Lamb, not Caesar, sits on the throne. It is a pastoral book before it is a predictive one. Reading It as Symbol, Not Timetable I read Revelation as what scholars call an idealist, or symbolic. That means the visions are not chiefly a forecast of specific future events, nor merely a record of first-century persecution, nor a code for successive centuries of church history. Rather, John's symbols depict recurring realities that mark the entire age between Christ's first and second comings: the church's sufferin...