Devotionals

According to Harvard Health a phobia is an anxiety disorder consisting of a “persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation.”  We all fear things and not all of them are unhealthy.  If you’ve encountered a rattlesnake on a hike, stood on the bank of a turbulent, rushing river or changed a tire on the side of a busy freeway, [...]

When we talk about hope it usually has a future context.  “I hope I get the call.”  “We hope to arrive soon.”  “They hope to get the support they need.”  Each of these expresses a future expectation.  A verse that many are fond of quoting is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the lord, plans for welfare and [...]

The opening words of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith read, “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience….”  It continues in a later paragraph, “The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, depends not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is [...]

Do you know what evaporation, smelting, distillation and electrolysis have in common?  They are all methods of purification.  These are only a few in a long list of filtration techniques that impact our lives in ways we take for granted.  Without them we would not be driving cars, have access to medication or enjoy the benefits of clean drinking water.  We take advantage of [...]

The book of Leviticus, sadly, is where many plans to the read the Bible in a year meet their demise.  The book takes five chapters to detail five distinct offerings for the common worshiper before it commits two additional chapters to the five kinds of offerings for priests.  There are 20 more regulatory chapters that follow. Readers may find themselves bogged down in the details, but it is [...]

In the closing remarks of a 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan famously said, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”  While its origin is in politics, it has a legitimate application to the Christian life as well.  The presidential candidate was applying the question to purchasing power, physical security and worldwide respect, but for the Christian it’s about your sanctification. “Sanctification” is not a word you [...]