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Gird your mind

  1 Peter 1:13-16 Listen to today’s devotional I've seen demonstrations of how you actually go about girding your loins. It's what you do to get ready for hard work, something that requires focus and freedom to move. I can't remember the last time I was in a literal gird-your-loins situation. At least not in that typical sense. The Bible uses that phrase a few times. The Proverbs 31 woman girds herself with strength. God tells Job to gird his loins like a man so that he can be questioned. 1 Peter also uses the idea, but turns it inward. For Peter, the action happens in your mind. A literal translation of 1 Peter 1:13 goes like this: Gird up the loins of your mind. Physically, it meant pulling up your robe so you wouldn't trip when it was time to move. Spiritually, it means to stop tripping over your loose thinking. Holiness is learned. We begin to recognize it as we learn more about who God is. After all, Peter tells us to be holy because God is holy. Yes, holiness is a...
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He is real

  1 Peter 1:8-12 Listen to today’s devotional As a kid, I had an 8" black and white TV in my room. Because that's what would come through, I watched a lot of news-like programming. I also had a bad habit of waking up extremely early for school. In those days, when I turned on the little TV in the early hours of the day, all that came on were religious shows. Funny enough, I can remember standing in front of the mirror, acting like the preacher I saw. One day, something struck me. Normally, there was a presenter in a studio, but on this day, he was out walking and talking. Understand that I didn’t know what the Holy Land meant. At one point, the speaker stopped, looked over his shoulder, and said something like, "I'm here walking on the same dirt roads that Jesus walked." That didn't sound right. Later in the day, I asked my mom if Jesus was a real person. In my mind, people talked about Jesus. There were stories about him, and all those churches thought he wa...
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Timing and attitude

  Matthew 12:38-42 Listen to today’s devotional Surely, you've asked God for some kind of sign before. Did you feel evil or adulterous when you did? Let's think about when people wanted a sign from Jesus. Remember Doubting Thomas? He wouldn't believe the good news about Jesus unless he could see it for himself. He needed a specific sign. And he got it. A group of scribes and Pharisees approached Jesus once and said, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." In response, he denounced them as part of "an evil and adulterous generation." So, what's the difference? Timing and attitude, I suppose. Thomas had participated in Jesus' ministry and then witnessed the devastation of his crucifixion. He experienced a painful loss that completely challenged his faith. The religious leaders had also seen and heard from Jesus. But they had come up with some strange explanations for it all. Their request for another sign, maybe even a specific sign, wasn’t abou...
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Cupcake volunteers

  Deuteronomy 6:5-7 Listen to today’s devotional This year, my mother-in-law's birthday fell on a Sunday. So, we set up a table of cupcakes for everyone to enjoy after worship. The plan was for our children to serve anyone who wanted a treat. When I finally made it outside, I didn't see my kids serving. Instead, I saw four younger children standing behind the table, with gloves on, carefully handing them out. I thought that was a cute idea to ask them to help. But they weren't asked to help. They asked if they could help. Sure, I bet the proximity to the sweets might have influenced their request. But that didn't take away from how they served. They smiled so much, were fully engaged and attentive to their job. I smiled when I heard them ask several people waiting off to the side if they wanted a cupcake. They wanted to make sure no one was missed. Someone snapped a picture of them in action. Someone else said they looked like the adults who often do the same thing in o...
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A new verse

Don't tell anyone! Yesterday, I snuck in a new verse to "Because He Lives." I don't know if that's some kind of copyright infringement, but I did it.  The verse is based on 1 Peter 1:3-9, which we used as our call to worship. I took the cue from GBOD and had people from the congregation stand to read each verse. I actually forgot who was doing the readings. So, I didn't know everyone who would stand and speak. It was intriguing to wait and see where the next voice came from.  My message was about believing and having life in Jesus' name. Knowing so many people love that song, it felt like a great spot to tie in the 1 Peter passage.  I don't know if anyone noticed that it wasn't the usual second verse. But I can tell you they sang it! Though trials may come and fear would shake us, we still rejoice with precious faith. We may not see the face of Jesus, but we believe and give him all our greatest praise. Stay blessed...john
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He was there

  Psalm 114 Listen to today’s devotional Psalm 114 remembers and celebrates God's deliverance. Through the psalm, Israel looks back on the Exodus. That was a moment when the slaves of Egypt became God's people. Notice how creation is caught up in the storytelling. The sea runs away. The Jordan turns back. Mountains skip like animals. And in the middle of it all comes an almost playful, taunting question:  “Why is it, O sea, that you flee?” I wonder if the psalmist wants us to laugh as we're asking it. What made the sea move like that? Now, the answer is there, but barely. In Hebrew, verse 2 doesn’t name God directly. It uses the pronoun  He.  It's almost as if God’s presence and power are so obvious it doesn’t need explanation. The sea didn’t flee because of wind patterns or some weather event. It fled because  He  was there. But that raises a question for us. When we look back on our own lives, how do we know what was  Him ? Because not every moment i...
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Wherever you go

  1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Listen to today’s devotional Jesus once asked his disciples if they wanted to quit following him. One of them spoke up, saying, "Where would we go?" That's a question we have a lot more answers to today. In a world shaped by competing loyalties and distractions that often pull us away from faithfulness, the question of commitment remains central to our Christian life. The nineteenth-century hymn “ O Jesus, I Have Promised ” captures this tension. It was written by John Ernest Bode for his children's confirmation and expresses a lifelong vow of discipleship as an intentional decision to follow Christ despite the pressures of the world, internal struggles, and external opposition. The hymn frames discipleship not as passive belief but as active, persevering commitment even in the midst of challenge. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, brought that same hope of commitment. He reminds them of what he “received” and what he “passed on.” Specifically, ...
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