Devotionals

Enjoy our daily devotionals written by Pastor Randy Dubois. These devotionals can be used as another way to grow in your walk with Jesus and to grow in your understanding of God and His Word.


 

 

Love is the Greatest (Day 19)

Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
 
    In chapter 12 Paul gave evidence of the Corinthian’s lack of love in the utilization of spiritual gifts; chapter 13 defines real love; and chapter 14 shows how love works. Love is more important than all the spiritual gifts exercised in the church body. Great faith, acts of dedication or sacrifice, and miracle working power have little effect without love. Love makes our actions and gifts useful. Although people have different gifts, love is available to everyone. 

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God’s Anger At Sin (Day 3)

Read Romans 1:18-32
 
   Why is God angry at sinful people? Because they have substituted the truth about Him with a fantasy of their own imagination. They have stifled the truth God naturally reveals to all people in order to believe anything that supports their own self-centered life-styles. God cannot tolerate sin because His nature is morally perfect. He cannot ignore or condone willful rebellion. God wants to remove the sin and restore the sinner: and He is able to, as long as the sinner does not stubbornly reject the truth. But God shows His anger against those who persist in sinning. Make sure you are not pursuing a fantasy rather than the true God. Don’t surpass the truth about Him merely to protect your own life-style. 

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Mark: A Walk With Our Savior (Day 39)

Read Mark 9:42-50
JESUS WARNS AGAINST TEMPTATION
   This caution against harming little ones in the faith applies both to what we do individually as teachers and examples and to what we allow to fester in our Christian fellowship. Our thoughts and actions must be motivated by love (1 Corinthians 13), and we must be careful about judging others (Matthew 7; Romans 14). However, we also have a responsibility to confront flagrant sin within the church (1 Corinthians 5). 
Luke 9:48 states, “Whosoever is the least among you is the greatest.” In Jesus’ eyes, whoever welcomes a child welcomes
 
   Jesus; giving a cup of cold water to a person in need is the same as giving an offering to God. By contrast, harming others or failing to care for them is a sin, even if they are unimportant people in the world’s eyes. It is possible for thoughtless, selfish people to gain a measure of worldly greatness, but lasting greatness is measured by God’s standards. What do you use as your measure: personal achievement or unselfish service? 
 
   Jesus used startling language to stress the importance of cutting sin out of our life. Painful self-discipline is required of His true followers. Giving up a relationship, job, or habit that is against God’s will may seem just as painful as cutting off a hand. Our high goal, however, is worth any sacrifice; Christ is worth any possible loss. Nothing should stand in the way of faith. We must be ruthless in removing sin from our life now in order to avoid suffering for eternity. Make your choices from an eternal perspective. With these strange words, Jesus pictured the serious and eternal consequences of sin. To the Jews, worms and fire represented both internal and external pain. Nothing could be worse. 
 
   Jesus used salt to illustrate three qualities that should be found in His people: 1) We should remember God’s faithfulness, just as salt when used with a sacrifice recalled God’s covenant with His people (Leviticus 2). 2) We should make a difference in the flavor of the world we live in, just as salt changes meat’s flavor (Matthew 5). 3) We should counteract the moral decay in society, just as salt preserves food from decay. When we lose this desire to salt the earth with the love and message of God, we become useless to Him.