Alistair Begg Daily Devotional

Jesus Throughout Scripture

Alistair Begg — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“The eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”

Acts 8:34–35

As we journey through the Bible, we recognize that Jesus did not arrive out of nowhere. From start to finish, the Bible is a book about Him. Indeed, even the Old Testament prophets, under the inspiration of the Spirit, wrote about Jesus. If we take our eyes off Christ, then, however well we know Scripture, we will have missed its center, its key, and its hero.

In the Gospels, Jesus pointed people to the Old Testament to help them understand who He was. Early in His ministry, He was once at the synagogue reading from the scroll of Isaiah. As He finished, Luke tells us, He “began to say” to His listeners, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Later, speaking to people who were especially interested and versed in the Old Testament Scriptures, Jesus warned them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). After His death and resurrection, when He encountered some of His dejected followers on the road to Emmaus, Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets … interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

In other words, Jesus clearly taught that every part of the Old Testament finds its focus and fulfillment in Him.

When you read the Scriptures, you meet Jesus, because this book testifies to Him. Even if our studies and understanding of Old Testament passages provide us with good, important ethical truths about life, there’s great danger of us missing the Truth, Jesus. The purpose of every page of your Bible is for you to meet Jesus, to come to know Him, and to proclaim His great name, all for His glory.

In every sermon you hear, every lesson you study, and every passage of God’s word that you read, be asking yourself, “Did it bring me to Christ? Did I discover Jesus in it?” And do not stop listening, studying, and reading until you can answer yes, for it is in Him that the treasures of salvation, truth, wisdom, and comfort are to be found.

Going Deeper: Psalm 119:17–32

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.

Where Are You?

Alistair Begg — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God … But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?””

Genesis 3:8–9

Across ethnic, linguistic, and geographical boundaries, children everywhere enjoy the fun of playing hide-and-seek. It is a universal and innocent game. But the first game of hide-and-seek in this world was neither fun nor innocent. It was something deadly serious.

After Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden, they hid from each other behind fig leaves and from their Creator behind the trees of the garden. They attempted a cover-up—and God came seeking them with a simple question: “Where are you?”

This question turns on its head the common assumption that man is looking for God, who is hiding somewhere in or beyond the universe. Instead, we discover the opposite: we are the ones who are hiding, and God is the one who comes seeking.

The question may seem like a strange one for God to ask these first humans. After all, doesn’t God know everything already? But God asked where Adam and Eve were not so He could gain new information but because He wanted to help them understand their situation. God came to draw them out more than to drive them out.

Imagine the many ways God could have reacted in response to Adam and Eve’s rebellion. If He had responded strictly in judgment, He could have instantaneously brought about the sentence of death that He had warned them of (Genesis 2:16-17). But it is in God’s nature always to have mercy; so He came instead with a single question. This is the first glimpse of God’s grace after humanity turned their backs on Him. God did not immediately give them what they justly deserved; rather, out of His immense kindness, He granted what was not deserved: an opportunity to respond and return.

None of us would feel comfortable if those closest to us could see all of our deepest thoughts and previous actions. We may hide the truth from each other, and perhaps even from ourselves. But to hide from God is futile. There is simply no way to hide and nowhere to shift the blame to.

We must not believe the lie that God won’t see the “little” sins we keep hidden from others. He sees. Ultimately, He sees into our souls and knows exactly what we have done and where we stand. Wonderfully, we do not need to pretend that we can hide. He comes to us in mercy, not in judgment, for “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). Are you burdened by some besetting sin or secret shame? Are you seeking to hide from God what you have been hiding from others? There’s never been a better time to stop hiding from Him. Step into the light. Uncover what cannot remain hidden before Him—so that He might cover it with His blood and so that you might know you are both known and forgiven. He is a kind and saving God who desires a relationship with us.

Going Deeper: 1 John 1:8–2:2

God Is for Us

Alistair Begg — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”

James 1:13

When we come to faith in Jesus Christ and the bonds of sin are broken, a number of things become true of us immediately. We are transferred from death to life and indwelt by God’s Spirit. We’re placed within His family. We are redeemed, changed, and born again. Sin no longer reigns in our lives.

It does, however, remain.

In trusting Christ, we are not living a life of ease whereby we are exempt from attacks from the Evil One or the subtle tendencies of our own hearts. Instead, from the point of conversion through to the point of seeing Christ and being made like Him, the Christian is involved in “a continual and irreconcilable war”[1] against temptation.

Scripture is full of warnings about temptation: that enticement to sin and evil that we all experience. Temptation is not simply the lure of things which are wild and unthinkable, but the impulse to take good things which God has given us and use (or misuse) them in a way that sins against God. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis alludes to this subtlety of sin when Screwtape urges his apprentice devil to “encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy [namely, God] has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden.”[2]

Scripture is clear that God is never and cannot be the source of temptation. When James says that “God … tempts no one,” he has built his statement on God’s character. God is incapable of tempting others to evil because He Himself is insusceptible to it. Tempting others to evil would require a delight in evil which God does not possess.

The word translated “tempt” can also be rendered “test.” So what our fallen nature might turn into a temptation to sin is also a test that can strengthen our faith. When we face a time of testing, which God allows, we should remember that His purpose is not our failure but our benefit. The devil longs for us to fail, but God longs for us to succeed. He is for us, and He is working all things, even trials and temptations, for our good.

So what temptations are you regularly doing battle with (or giving in to)? Learn to see those as temptations but also as opportunities—as moments to choose obedience, to please your Father, to grow to be more like Christ—to gain a victory in your ongoing war. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Going Deeper: 1 Peter 1:13–21

Footnotes:

[1] The Westminster Confession of Faith 8.2.
[2] The Screwtape Letters (1942; HarperCollins, 2001), p 44.

Forgiven and Forgiving

Alistair Begg — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?”

Matthew 18:33

A forgiven person should be a forgiving person—and, since forgiveness does not come naturally to us, we need to hear this again and again.

In other words, we forgive because God, through Jesus, forgives us. The Bible makes it perfectly clear that forgiveness doesn’t spring from any human merit and isn’t the result of our own endeavors to be gracious and forgiving towards others; rather it comes from the grace of God.

One of the chief evidences that someone has truly repented of their sins, therefore, is a forgiving spirit. Conversely, if we continually harbor enmity, grudges, and bitterness in our hearts, we not only harm our own lives and jeopardize our relationships, but frankly we also call into question whether we’ve ever truly discovered the nature of God’s forgiveness at all.

It’s impossible to extend genuine forgiveness unless we’ve experienced it ourselves, and impossible not to do so if we have. It will only flow from our hearts once we have been changed by God’s grace and have considered the enormity of our offense against Him. When such a transformation takes place, the sin of others against us will carry less weight as God enables us to forgive as we’ve been forgiven.

This is the principle behind Jesus’ parable of the servant in Matthew 18, who, having been forgiven a debt that was the first-century equivalent of $8 billion, then refused to forgive a debt of $20,000. Jesus wants us to see the unreasonableness of the servant who had been forgiven an enormous debt in refusing to forgive the debt that was owed to him. Viewed on its own, that debt was substantial; set against the amount he himself had been forgiven, it was tiny. Likewise, it is inconceivable that we, who have been forgiven such a vast debt of offense against God, should ever fail to forgive others.

If we have experienced God’s mercy, then we must certainly not neglect the exercise of forgiveness. In forgiving others, we enjoy the fullness of God’s pardon. Give up the records of sins that you’re tempted to hold on to. When this is hard because the wrong you’re being called to forgive was serious, look at the debt for which God has forgiven you, and look at what He gave up to do so—and that will enable you to extend mercy in your turn. Surely, if God has forgiven you, He will pour out His grace and mercy to help you walk in harmony with others.

Going Deeper: Mark 11:20–25

Soul Rest

Alistair Begg — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“While the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”

Hebrews 4:1–2

Too often Christians are terrific at leisure but lousy at resting. Why? One reason may be because Western culture places a high premium on the relentless pursuit of higher and higher levels of success and prosperity. Even our leisure is full of “pursuits” and a desire to improve and achieve. And underneath this lies the affliction of every culture: our alienation from the God who created us and made us both to work and to rest.

When sin entered the world, rest eluded mankind. Whatever else you might say about humanity, it is undeniable that we are not marked by tranquility or restfulness. Leisure is not rest if you have worked so hard to achieve only a few moments of peace or if you fill your leisure time with things to do. Surely there is something more God desires.

God offers a rest that soothes our souls. Soul-rest flows from a life surrendered to Him in faith. When the dust of death, which came from sin, settled upon humanity, we could no longer enjoy the deeper rest God intended. We need a new creation—and this is exactly what God has provided! “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). In creation God established the principle of physical rest, and in redemption He established the possibility of perfect spiritual rest. Yet even so, people of all walks of life—even some professing Christians—insist on living their lives with a disregard for God. They spurn His invitation to rest their souls, remaining only hearers of the word but not doers (James 1:22), and then they hope to enter into their rest when they die. The Bible holds out no hope for such an approach to life. Just as the Israelites in the wilderness found God’s promises of no benefit because they failed to believe them, we similarly can’t expect to know God’s gift of soul-rest, in this life or in the one to come, if we continue in our own faithless striving.

Thankfully, everything resolves in Jesus. He cuts through the facade of empty religious pretense and desperate worldly striving and offers us a gracious invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). This is a rest that we enjoy even as we work, a rest that enables us truly to rest from our work, and a rest that we will one day enjoy fully, finally, and eternally in His presence.

Is your soul at rest today? Or are you anxious about what tomorrow may bring or exhausted by what you feel you must achieve today? The work that satisfies your greatest desire and solves your greatest need—the work of salvation—was finished by Jesus on your behalf at Calvary. He invites you to come to Him: to know that He has taken care of your eternal future and that the tasks that He purposes for you today will all be done—no more and no less. So believe Him, and let your soul truly rest.

Going Deeper: Hebrews 4:1–10

Nothing in My Hand

Alistair Begg — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Galatians 3:13–14

As believers in Jesus, we have been delivered from the great curse of sin. The wonder of this deliverance grips us the moment we understand that this curse, which means we are guilty before God and deserve to die, has been lifted from us by Christ.

Having been saved, though, it is easy for the wonder to wear off and the grip to slacken. We can so easily live pleasant, comfortable lives that make it hard to see sin’s hold on us. We are so easily prone to believe that if we only try a little harder at our marriages, our jobs, our relationships, and our achievements, we’ll be good people, deserving of blessing. We want to be achievers, not believers. We’re constantly lured back to the false religion of self-effort.

Such was the temptation for the Galatian church. And so Paul wrote to them and essentially said, That is not the Christian message. In fact, it is its opposite! If the gospel is that Jesus came only to add something to our lives that was lacking, the curse of the law would either be of no concern or be beyond remedy. But the curse is real, and it must be dealt with. Why would we be interested in someone who died to take our place unless we first understand that we deserve the curse He bore?

We need only look at the law of Moses to see the effect of its curse (see, for instance, Exodus 20:1-17). The law reveals how we haven’t loved God with all our heart. We haven’t obeyed Him. We haven’t loved others as ourselves. We haven’t always told the truth. We’re guilty of coveting. The list goes on. When God’s Spirit convicts us and we see our shortcomings, though, we sing with the hymn writer, “Not the labor of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands.”[1] We see the weight of the curse that once rested upon us and should still rest on us, and then we are able to see Christ in all His glory as our Savior, who came to lift its burden.

This is the very heart of our faith. When we look upon the cross and see how Jesus hung there, we see what He did as something both necessary and voluntary. He took His place where we ought to be. That’s grace.

If we were able to put ourselves in the right with God by our own endeavors, there would be no wonder in redemption and no beauty in the prospect of adoption. When we are tempted to look to ourselves and our works, we must remember that Christ has broken the curse. And in that wonder, we can glory. No matter how many days or years it is since you were first gripped by grace, sing anew to yourself right now:

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling.

Going Deeper: Galatians 2:15–3:9

Footnotes:

[1] Augustus Toplady, “Rock of Ages” (1776).

A Bastion for Our Souls

Alistair Begg — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 1:3–5

God has loved you for a long, long time.

Paul’s striking outpouring of praise at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians announces to us the wonder of all that God has done for us in Christ. One of the features that makes it so striking is that it begins with God, reminding us that before we ever existed, He took the initiative to draw people to Himself. We may be tempted to believe we need to search for God through human effort; indeed, many world religions teach just that. But from its very beginning, the Bible teaches that it is actually God who reaches out to us.

Our election in Christ is not some kind of historical afterthought; it goes all the way back into eternity past, before creation. Yes, we do decide to follow Christ—but it is so humbling to recognize that we could never have chosen God if He had not chosen us before the creation of the world. You would not be capable of deciding to follow Him if He had not first decided to make you His child.

There is a delicate tension in reconciling the responsibility of man with the sovereignty of God. Many people believe they must choose between the two when, in fact, both ideas are biblical and connected. They are two truths that sit side by side, seemingly irreconcilable in our finite human minds yet both entirely true. We don’t need to worry away at them as an intellectual exercise. Instead, we are free to respond by bowing down in wonder over the kindness of Almighty God on our behalf.

The doctrine of election is not a banner under which we march but a bastion for our souls.[1] It makes all the difference to our security and our joy. Once you humbly recognize that your identity in Christ was established the moment He first set His affection upon you, even before the dawn of time, you find freedom and you have confidence. You don’t need to seek to come up with some reason in yourself to understand why you have received His amazing grace; you can simply enjoy knowing that He chose you because He loves you. You don’t need to live burdened by your sin or crushed because you feel you are making little progress in your Christian life, for His love was never based on your performance or on your promise of doing better. You can walk through the peaks and valleys of this life with the assurance that you are loved by the one who made all things and directs all things—and that because you never had to win His love, you can never lose it.

Going Deeper: John 6:35–51

Footnotes:

[1] Eric J. Alexander, “The Basis of Christian Salvation” (sermon, 1984).

Committed and Consistent

Alistair Begg — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, “Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.””

Joshua 14:8–9

Many people get off to a flying start in life only to later lose whatever it was that once made them successful. Perhaps they were well known as a young man or woman. At the age of 40, their life was one of prominence, influence, and status. In the church, we can see such individuals—indeed, we can see ourselves—as supremely useful to God. But too often we are then tempted to become masters of yesterday, frequently looking back to the “good years” and grumbling about the way things have become.

Although it’s true of so many, this was not at all true of Caleb, who fled from potential apathy and kept on in faith. He spent his middle years in a less than desirable environment. From the age of 40, he was stuck wandering around the wilderness for four decades because the people around him had failed to have faith in God. Yet during this time of frustration and wanderings, Caleb remained free of embitterment and disgruntlement.

In fact, things eventually got so bad that the people began to look for a leader to take them back to the good old days (Numbers 14:4). Yet no one really needs a leader to go backward; you can just go back! We need leaders to push us forward. There is a tomorrow. There are generations yet to come. There are purposes yet to be unfolded in God’s plan for our world.

Caleb reveals this spirit. The apparent commitment of his early life was matched by his consistency in the middle years. He was committed and consistent not only at 40 but also at 50 and 60 and 70. Throughout the decades, he “wholly followed the LORD.”

For many, marriage, the establishment of a home, business concerns, health issues, and so on are often accompanied by a loss of spiritual ardor and effectiveness. Many are those who have great resources, energy, and wisdom to offer but who decide instead to chill out, leaving the work of ministry to the next generation. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, they settle for disinterest, criticism, and cynicism, failing to see the disintegration in their own spiritual lives.

What about your commitment, your conversations, and your spiritual edge? Are they the same as they once were? There is a great need in the church today, as there was in Israel’s wilderness generation, for experienced men and women of faith who live lives marked by consistent commitment, in good times and bad, in season and out, as through the years they walk toward the inheritance that the Lord has promised His faithful followers. What will that look like for you today—and in ten years?

Going Deeper: Judges 1:1–20

Words That Help

Alistair Begg — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.”

James 3:10–12

In the course of our lives we are confronted by unfairness, by unkindness, by disagreeable circumstances, and often by disagreeable people. Before offering a verbal response in these situations, we would do well to recall this truth learned from our Lord: our words reflect our hearts (Matthew 12:34). If our words are not Christlike, we must look first not to our mouths but to our hearts. Equally, it is an indication of our Lord’s work within us when we respond to conflict and challenge with words that help rather than those that harm.

Our tongues contain immense power, and we may leverage them to help, to encourage, to affirm, to enrich, to reconcile, to forgive, to unite, to smooth, and to bless. It is not by accident that so many of the Old Testament proverbs address the words we speak. According to Solomon, “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life” (Proverbs 10:11). He compares this use of words to lovely earrings that adorn the beauty of the wearer and to beautiful ornaments that enhance the loveliness of a home (25:12). Perhaps his most classic statement about the power of speech is his observation that “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (v 11).

What is it that makes for such life-giving language? How can our mouths be those that bring blessing to others? Words of blessing are marked by honesty, by “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). They are thoughtful, spoken by one who “ponders how to answer” (Proverbs 15:28). They are often few and marked by reason: “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding” (17:27).

And, of course, helpful words will be gentle words. Though it may be hard to remember in the throes of difficult circumstances, it remains true that “a soft answer turns away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1). Indeed, a gentle response wells up from moral strength; it takes far more self-control to respond in gentleness than to give way to unbridled passion and anger.

What will mark your words? Will you commit yourself to using your tongue—that small but immensely powerful member of your body—to bless rather than curse, to give life rather than tear it down, and to help rather than harm?

Resolve today to use your words for the good of those with whom you interact, honoring Christ in your heart and letting His sweet aroma fill your speech. Then humbly acknowledge that you cannot do this yourself (James 3:8), and ask Him to fill you with His Spirit—the Spirit who grows peace, gentleness, and self-control both in your heart and in your speech (Galatians 5:22-23).

Going Deeper: Galatians 5:16–25

Words That Harm

Alistair Begg — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell … No human being can tame the tongue.”

James 3:6, James 3:8

Three things never come back: the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity. What we say cannot be unsaid. What’s more, we will be called to account for every word we have spoken—even our careless ones—at the day of reckoning (see Matthew 12:36). As King Solomon put it, “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin” (Proverbs 13:3); and “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (18:21). Our words can serve to encourage, to nourish, and to heal. But they can also cause strife, create dissension, and do harm. Solomon gives us a multifaceted picture of what characterizes such harmful words. He describes words that harm as those that are reckless, as being “like sword thrusts” (12:18). Our words so often spill forth unguardedly, and we become someone who “gives an answer before he hears” (18:13). “When words are many, transgression is not lacking” (10:19).

You will likely have heard the saying that sticks and stones can break our bones, but words can never harm us—but that is dead wrong. Bruises may fade and the marks they made be forgotten. But hurtful words that have been said to us and about us tend to remain with us for a long time. Truer are these lines:

A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life,
A bitter word may hate instill,
A brutal word may smite and kill.

It would be difficult to estimate how many friendships are broken, how many reputations are ruined, or the peace of how many homes is destroyed through harmful words. The very source of all such animosity and abusive language, according to James, is none other than hell itself. Yes, our tongue is “a fire,” and “no human being can tame the tongue” without the work of God’s Holy Spirit.

Stop and think of how many words you have used in the last 24 hours, and how they were used. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”—so did any of your words cause harm, tearing someone else down in some way? That is a sin to be repented of and turned from. Is that something you need to do, both before God and to the person to whom those words were spoken?

Then think of the words you may speak over the next 24 hours. How might they be used to bring life? How might you reflect the one who “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth”? Rather, “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return … He himself bore our sins … that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:22-24).

Going Deeper: James 3:2–12

Run Hard

Alistair Begg — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly.”

1 Corinthians 9:24–26

Athletic competitions mattered in the Greek culture that permeated the eastern Roman Empire at the time of the New Testament. One commentator sums up Corinth as a city whose masses demanded only two things: bread and games.[1]

Smaller, local contests awarded a number of prizes, but in major events there was only one prize—often a laurel or pine crown. Competitors spent months and months of their lives setting themselves apart from all they might otherwise enjoy—all of the relationships, all of the food, all of the leisurely pursuits that would undermine their ability to win—in order to fix their gaze upon a laurel crown. Paul uses this picture to encourage believers to live with eyes set on the eternal prize of glorifying Christ and being united with Him.

In school cross-country races, what begins as one large company often quickly becomes three groups: a small group goes for gold, the great mass of runners in the middle go for “just ok,” and the ones that hang behind are typically the cynical, disruptive, disillusioned, sorry souls. The word for “run” that Paul uses in this verse describes running not as a straggler, not as a wanderer, not as a half-hearted participant but as a prizewinner. As Christians, we must say no to running aimlessly. We must go for gold.

To live with a focus on the prize requires sacrifice—specifically, the sacrifice of any desires contrary to God’s will. The word “athlete” in verse 25 translates the word agonizomenos, from which we get the word “agony.” To be an athlete is to choose not to be comfortable. To be a Christian is to choose the same thing. Are we prepared to agonize and sacrifice for Christ, knowing that only then will we experience the joy of winning the prize of a life well-lived for Him?

But how are we to offer such a sacrifice or run with such a focus? It will not be the result of our own strength or self-righteousness. All of that is the soul and substance of false religion. No, only our union with Christ provides the power and the potential for this change. Jesus set the example of willing sacrifice with the eternal prize in mind (Hebrews 12:2). When He underpins our hearts and lives, there is no limit to the extent we will joyfully go to as we run our race for Him and follow on behind Him.

When asked about the race plan that had seen him win gold in the 1924 Olympic 400 meters, the famous Scottish Olympian and missionary Eric Liddell is reputed to have answered, “I run the first 200 meters as hard as I can. Then, for the second 200 meters, with God’s help, I run even harder.” Today, then, do not run aimlessly or slowly, but with God’s help run even harder after the gold, for His sake and His glory.

Going Deeper: Hebrews 12:1–3

Footnotes:

[1] Erich Sauer, In the Arena of Faith: A Call to the Consecrated Life (Eerdmans, 1966), p 30.

Hope Through the Silence

Alistair Begg — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”

Malachi 3:1

God’s people are a waiting people.

After God’s people returned from their exile in Babylon, the “minor prophets” Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi brought God’s word to them. Their message was similar to what their predecessors had said before the people went into captivity: You Israelites are ridiculous! You keep breaking the covenant. And if you keep breaking the covenant, God is going to come in judgment.

But the minor prophets’ message was not only one of judgment. There was also hope.

They may have physically returned to the land, but spiritually the people were still in exile. Judah—all that remained of Israel—held on to the hope that God was going to fulfill His promise so that His people might enjoy His blessings. But God’s kingdom still had not come in the way that the previous prophets had declared it would—because God’s King had not yet come. So the people were waiting for the Lord to return and fulfill all the promises of salvation.

The last of the Old Testament prophets, Malachi, insisted that this King would still appear—but 400 years of silence followed. People were born, went about their business, worked, and died, and on the cycle went. They probably asked one another, “What about those words, ‘I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me’? It’s been centuries since that promise.”

Eventually, a few of those people may have been walking down to the market when a funny-looking character wearing a strange outfit and eating a strange diet appeared in the streets, quoting the Old Testament: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’” (Mark 1:2-3). With those words, John the Baptist ended generations of silence. After many long years of waiting, God was faithful in keeping His promises, just as He always is. He sent both His messenger and His King so that all people could experience His blessing—namely, the fulfillment of salvation through Jesus Christ.

In our day, God’s people are still looking forward. We know Jesus has come; we also know He is coming. God’s kingdom has not yet arrived in all its glorious fullness. So we are a waiting people in a world of instant gratification, an expectant people in a world of rapid disillusionment.

When it seems that God is taking too long to fulfill His promises in your life, do not lose hope. Generation after generation, He has proven to be faithful—and in sending Jesus, He introduced the fulfiller of every promise. You can rest in His constancy. “Surely,” says Jesus, “I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20). He will do what He has said.

Going Deeper: 2 Peter 3:1–13

Conformed to His Image

Alistair Begg — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Romans 8:29

It’s not uncommon for couples who have been married for a long time to be asked if they are brother and sister because they have taken on so many of each other’s characteristics. To some extent, this makes sense, doesn’t it? We become like the company we keep.

The same should be true for us in our walk with Christ.

God’s purpose for your life is to conform you to the likeness of His Son. Think about that: consider Jesus’ human perfections, and realize that you get to become like Him! God is deeply committed to this; it is a work He promises to bring “to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). What is God doing today? We can summarize it simply as this: He is making us more like Christ.

Many of us are familiar with the guarantee of Romans 8:28 that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” But the verse that follows tells us what the “good” is that our almighty God is working towards in all facets of our lives: “to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

God is far more concerned with your Christlikeness than your comfort. Often, more spiritual progress is made through disappointment and failure than through success and laughter. While we shouldn’t seek out hardship, we can recognize that our Father knows best and that nothing takes Him by surprise. When we experience “unanswered” prayer or when our challenges and pain linger far longer than we wish, we find hope in seeing that God’s eternal purpose is at work in and through the lives of His children.

You and I are not the only ones who have experienced significant spells of quiet desperation or ongoing disappointment when we are tempted to ask, “What is God doing?” What was He doing when Stephen’s persecutors took their jackets off and threw rocks at him (Acts 7:58)? What was He doing when Paul was run out of Damascus, lowered down from the wall in a basket (9:25)? What was He doing when Peter was imprisoned by King Agrippa (12:3)? Hard as it may be to see, He was accomplishing His eternal plan: to make His followers more like Jesus as they walked home towards Jesus.

Here is the source of your hope when you get up in the morning. Come rain or shine, come delight or disappointment, God will definitely accomplish His purposes in your life through the day. Your heavenly Father has a plan and purpose for each one He calls His own. You may be able to see how He is doing it in real time, or a few months afterwards, or perhaps not until you stand with Christ in eternity. But know this: today is another day when your Father will be making you more like His Son.

Going Deeper: Romans 8:26–39

Knowing God

Alistair Begg — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah 31:34

In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, God refused to break the covenant He had made with His people. Despite His steadfast love, though, God’s people continued to sin. This presented a problem: how could God fulfill the promises He had made to bless His people when they continually demonstrated their unfaithfulness to Him?

As a part of His great plan, God pledged a new covenant—a work of inner re-creation. As the theologian Alec Motyer writes, “When his people could not rise to the height of his standards, the Lord does not lower his standards to match their ability; he transforms his people.”[1]

This new covenant is the purpose and promise of God to regenerate hearts through the blood of the Lord Jesus. He takes our hearts and He makes them the perfect shape—like fitting a piece in a jigsaw puzzle—so that His law becomes a delight to us.

In God’s declaration of this new covenant, the verb “know” is key. In the original Hebrew, its meaning is clear from the very beginning in Genesis: the straightforward statement that Adam “knew” his wife and they bore children (Genesis 4:1) demonstrates the level of intimacy it conveys. God is saying that when His people come to an understanding of His love, they won’t simply be doing Bible studies at arm’s length; they’ll be people who truly know Him.

What Jeremiah spoke of in the future tense, we are able to enjoy in the present; for in between his prophecy and our time, the Lord Jesus held up a cup of wine the night before He died and announced, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). By God’s grace, you and I may know the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Not only this, but He also knows each of our names, individually; and He knows our needs and is committed to our well-being. Jesus bears our names before the Father—and because of all He is and all He’s done, those names are written in the Book of Life.

What kind of King is this? The answer is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Someday, we will see Him face-to-face and understand far more than we do today. But still, today you can go about with the confidence that comes from knowing that you know the God who redeemed you through His Son, who dwells in and works in you by His Spirit, and in whose throne room you will one day stand.

Going Deeper: Jeremiah 31:31–40

Footnotes:

[1] Look to the Rock: An Old Testament Background to Our Understanding of Christ (Kregel, 1996), p 58-59.

Not So Among You

Alistair Begg — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 06:00:00 -0456

“Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you.”

Mark 10:42–43

One of the great lies in almost every generation is that God’s people will reach their unbelieving neighbors better if they look, sound, act, and live as much like them as possible. The New Testament doesn’t support that, nor does church history. Instead, history bears out what the Bible teaches—namely, that God’s people are always most effective in an alien culture when, both by their life and lifestyle, they are clearly counter-cultural (1 Peter 2:11-12).

Just prior to these words of Jesus, James and John, the “Sons of Thunder,” went to Jesus to ask a favor: they wanted places of honor in His kingdom (Mark 10:35-45). This desire, however, was not born of loyalty but of raw ambition, similar to that of the Roman rulers during that time, who sought self-promotion.

Jesus didn’t pull any punches in His response. His language was radical. The disciples were His followers, and they were to be different. They needed to understand that in God’s kingdom, the way up is actually down. Honor is found in giving it, not in receiving it. Greatness is displayed in serving, not in being served. The greatest example of this principle is Jesus Himself, who “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

This is challenging, because we live in a culture that is preoccupied with self-esteem, self-aggrandizement, and self-made status. Yet if we profess to be Jesus’ followers, His words here remind us that we are not to be marked by the culture but by Him.

We tend to have an unhealthy preoccupation with being regarded as significant, intellectually sensible, and socially acceptable. When has that ever been an effective strategy for the work of the gospel? The choice is clear: either we’re going to do what Jesus says or we’re going to do what the culture says.

We must not diminish the force of Jesus’ words nor the scale of His challenge. But neither do we need to despair, for we can find encouragement in the fact that John eventually got it right. Near the end of his life, he wrote, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16). Hear this word of uncomfortable grace—“it shall not be so among you”—and be conformed to the image of Jesus, willing to lay down your rights and your reputation in service and love.

Going Deeper: Philippians 2:1–11