Monday, June 30, 2025

Be Holy - Leviticus 10-12

Leviticus 11:46-47 (ESV)

This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.


Because God is holy He wants His children to be holy.  He wants them to be separate and clean.   These warnings in Leviticus about eating some types of animals and fish and reptiles and not eating others served to keep the nation clean.  They were to be clean in three ways:


1.  Health.  Because there was no refrigeration, or anything to keep food from becoming spoiled or contaminated, they had to be careful what they ate.  They were always on the move and an outbreak of heath issues in the camp would be a hinderance to their nation. 


2. Separate from the world.  They were to be separate from the nations around them.  They were to make sure they did not take up the habits of eating that the foreign nations did.   This is the reason Daniel did not eat the kings food (Daniel 1). 


3. Example.  Since God is holy and has no unclean thing in His character, they, too, were to be holy.   They were to act different and strive for holiness.   Being obedient to God was an act of holiness.  Since God told them not to eat these things it would be unholy to do so because that would be an act of disobedience.  


God wants us holy today.  We don’t have the same health issues (or, do we?).  But we are to separate from the world and to act different.   That can and should include our eating habits.  


1 Peter 1:13-16 (ESV)

Called to Be Holy

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Jesus Is Lord - Philippians 1-2

Philippians 2:8-11 (ESV)

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


God left heavens splendor for the death on the cross.  Those who identify as Christians recognize the above text as a major confession of our faith.  We admit and confess that Jesus is the Lord.  We admit that Jesus is the One we bow our knees.   The world is always kneeling to worship something.  We worship and bow our knees to Jesus, the Lord of the universe. Others bow their knees to finances, to position, to power, to fame, to anything that shines.   The fact that God sent His Son to die for us as a servant, as a slave, humiliated on a cross, does not make sense for the God of the universe.  We worship the King.  He came as a slave.  He died as a criminal.  He rose as a victor.  

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Be Shrew, Be Wise - Luke 15-16

Luke 16:1-9 (ESV)

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager

He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.


This story in Luke 16 is about a middle-manger who was about to be let go for stealing his master's goods.   Before it happens, however, he takes advantage of his position and re-writes several of his masters contracts.   In the ancient world when you did something good for someone they were obligated to do something good in return.  So, by re-writing the contracts and giving his master's debtors a deal, he may have, once again, swindled his boss, but he assured himself of future good treatment by those he gave this great “deal” (albeit he would be still lose this job).  His master is impressed with his shrewdness.  To better explain the meaning here that Jesus is wanting us to know, here is at what the World Biblical Commentary has to say about this section:


"But what of the master's reaction to this? This last set of actions had not made him any more criminal than he was already, and the reaction to his former squandering was to be dismissal. Nothing more could be done from that angle. What about recovery? If the steward had sought to lay claim to more of his master's goods for himself at this point, the master, now alerted and present, would have made all legal moves necessary for their recovery. The stroke of brilliance was the tranfer to a series of third parties. Here the wealth is out of the master's reach, but on the basis of the reciprocity ethic, it was effectively within the reach of the steward. The master can do nothing more than he had already done. However grudgingly, the master can only acknowledge the cleverness of the now dismissed steward. The whole of the action has taken place in connection with the less than savory nature of what so often goes on in the world of business and high finance. The ethics are at a pretty low level. But what should attract our attention is that the steward has shrewdly appraised the situation in which he found himself, and acted to save himself. The challenge is for us to have the shrewdness to recognize and seize the opportunity that exists in the midst of threat. In the immediate context, the threat and opportunity are those created by the ministry of Jesus. But beyond that the story challenges all Christians to be as successful as the worldly wise in cutting their cloth according to their situation: to act committedly in the light of what we know (in knowing God in Christ) of the larger shape of reality, and its moral texture, and its orientation to the future judgment."


Jesus is not rewarding the actions of the steward, but rather stating that believers tend to fall flat in this world with the knowledge they have in Christ.  We don't use the information we have about God and who he is to our advantage to secure future treatment.   We could spend days and weeks gleaning more meaning from this passage, but suffice it to say for this small devotional that God wants us to be shrewd in this world and to maneuver every benefit we can for the glory of God!!

Friday, June 27, 2025

No One Can Stand In For You - But ONE! - Ezekiel 13-18

Ezekiel 14:12-14 (ESV)

And the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.


Israel had a complex.  They often thought that their heritage would save them.  They were the sons of Moses.  They had David.  They had, as above, Noah, Daniel and Job.  There is nothing so dangerous than generational privilege.   There are those who think they are something becuase they were born on third base.  They think they hit a triple but, in reality, they simply were given that base to start for home.   They have done little themselves.   Israel was like this.  God is trying to tell them that He will hold them accountable and even the great patriarchs can’t save them from this judgement.   It is when we think our heritage holds us up that we are most down.   God does not the let the merit of another take our place ... unless that other is Jesus Christ.   He did take our sins.  He did give us the privilege of not being place on third based but being born on home plate.  Jesus paid it all.  That is the point of divine heritage.   Jesus has given us all.  

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Smoot Words Hide Rough Paths - Proverbs 7

Proverbs 7:5 (ESV)

to keep you from the forbidden woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words.


It doesn't take much for us to follow sin.  Like the proverbial fish who swims fast after shinny things, we dart to and fro hoping to bite into the latest flash that darts past our eyes.   Satan really cleans sin up in the beginning when we see it, so that we like what we see and we want it.   Typically that is through our eye-gate.  We like to see things and the “seeing” makes us succumb to sin.   But we are also attracted to sin via the other senses.  Chapter seven of Proverbs is all about how sin attracts us through those six senses.  In the above proverb we see that sin (personified by the adulterous women) uses flattery to get us to follow her.   She likes to tempt us be reassuring us with safe words ... "if we do this we will be safe ... no one will see."  She likes to tempt us by using assuring words ... "if we do this we can be comfortable."   She likes to tempt us by using complimentary words ... "you deserve this ... enjoy."   Flattery is the Devils way of getting us to look past the ugly-under-belly of sin and get us to enjoy something that was forbidden.   Notice the words he said to Eve in thy body of a serpent:


Genesis 3:4-5 (NASBStr)

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”


Satan loves to make us think we are like God and deserve to have the forbidden fruit he puts in front of us.  He diminishes the pain (surely you will not die) and exaggerates the benefits (you will be like God).   Don't let him use your ear gate the same way he uses your eye gate. The above proverb gives us a way to do, just exactly that.  When we adhere to the Word of God, to the Wisdom of God found in the Scripture, we can avoid this “tempter” and avoid the trap she sets for us.  God’s Word in our ears and our eyes focused on God’s plan will keep us from the adulterous woman.   

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

God Hears! Psalms 75-77

Psalms 77:1 (ESV)

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO JEDUTHUN. A PSALM OF ASAPH.


(V.1) I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.


This one, single verse is the essence of the Psalms.   The book of Psalms is a collection of poems, songs and prayers crying out aloud to God.   The assurance each psalm has, no matter the content, is that God hears us when we cry out.  That is not true in life in general.  People all across the world are crying out for help and comfort and many are never heard.  People are so busy we don’t see or hear or pay attention to the one crying out.  The story of the Good Samaritan illustrates this. 


Luke 10:30-31 (ESV)

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.


Jesus would never have told that story if it were not true in general.   The Samaritan (who is hated by the Jews) is a picture of Jesus stooping down to hear and help.   That is the point of the Gospel message.  God stoops down to hear and help.  When we cry out, many will pass by on the other side of the road and ignore.  But it is God who is on the side of the destitute, the hurting, those crying out.   He wants to help them.  He hears them.  He is there to heal them.  That is a blessed truth to hang on to, no matter our own feelings of pain, grief and suffering.   When we call out, He hears!! 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Leaders Are Changed When Challenged By God’s Word - 1 Kings 18-22

1 Kings 22:51-53 (ESV)

Ahaziah Reigns in Israel

Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.


The above brief set of verses is not only an epitaph on King Ahaziah, it is for the book of 1 Kings.  These last verses of 1 Kings gives us the message of the entire book. This is the story of 1 Kings.   The book is about those kings who served God vs those who did not.   Some of the kings of Judah served God and some did not.  All of the kings of Israel did not serve God.  Ahaziah was the son of Ahab.   Ahab was a wicked king of Israel and was controlled by his wicked wife, Jezebel.   The Baal priest that Elijah destroyed were once again reinstated under Ahaziah.   The evil practices that Ahab had started continued to be honored.   The son was the same as the father.   There were times God intervened in these things, but more often than not the son was like the father.   When the prophets showed up and spoke into the lives of the leaders, God could move in the leader’s hearts to have them change and follow Him.  The theme of the book is Go’s intervention through the spoken Word to change the direction of the leadership.  That formula is true today.   The spoken Word of God can change leadership.  But God needs someone to speak it.  What is missing from the formula today is the speaker, not the Word.   God chooses us to speak the truth of His Word.  When we don’t, the cycle of bad leadership continues.   It is the intervention of God’s Word that can change a leader’s heart.   We are that intervention.  

Monday, June 23, 2025

Jesus Was Our Atonement - Leviticus 7-9

Leviticus 9:1-2 (ESV)

The LORD Accepts Aaron’s Offering

On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, and he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the LORD.


To understand the above from Leviticus, we should read this below, from Hebrews:


Hebrews 7:26-28 (ESV)

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.


It was necessary for Aaron and his sons to offer sacrifices before they worshipped and became then intermediate for the sins of Israel to represent them before God.   Moses made a sacrifice by the command of God to purify Aaron and his sons, so that they could come before God to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people.   But Jesus became the final sacrifice to God, not by offering bulls and goats, but by offering His own body.  That is the gospel.  Most of the laws and rules and sacrifices in the book of Leviticus are just a shadow of what Jesus did on the cross for us.  These laws and rules were pictures for the nation (and us) to know that there must be sacrifice for sin and a pure sacrifice was necessary.  Jesus was our pure sacrifice for sin.  

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Significant, But Unnoticed - Ephesians 4-6

Ephesians 6:21-22 (ESV)

So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.


How many Tychicus’ are there in the Bible?  This is someone we know almost nothing about, but what we know about him says everything we need to know about him.  He is mentioned there other times in the Bible, besides here.   He is in this list of men who went with Paul, when there was a plot to kill him:


Acts 20:4 (ESV)

Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.


When Paul was telling Timothy about some men who deserted him but others who didn’t, Tychicus was mentioned as one who didn’t and became a messenger for Paul and the church: 


2 Timothy 4:12 (ESV)

Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.


He is mentioned the same way to young preacher, Titus, as being that same type of messenger for Paul:


Titus 3:12 (ESV)

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.


Tychicus seems to be the Everyman image of a typical Christian man in the church.  Here, in Ephesians, and in 2 Timothy and Titus, he is mentioned at the close of the letter.  He is significant to Paul and the Church to be mentioned, but he is probably unnoticed by the typical readers of these letters, today.  I want to be Tychicus.   I want to have his reputation for faithfulness.  I want to be beloved by those who know me, for simply being a messenger of God and an asset to the church.   That is the reputation to strive for.  Today, in our world, preachers, teachers of the Bible and church leaders want bigger, fame and to be known.   Tychicus didn’t have any of that, but was simply faithful.  Strive for that.   



Saturday, June 21, 2025

Show Mercy and Grace - Luke 13-14

Luke 14:1-6 (ESV)

One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.


The things we do should be based upon truth. Truth always reflects common sense. When you do things that don’t pass the common sense test, you are probably lacking truth. In the above passage we see Jesus presenting common sense to both the Jewish leaders and the people gathered at the Temple, that was based upon His truth.  Notice how this same truth played out earlier in the proceeding chapter.  


Luke 13:14-15 (ESV)

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?


You always know when leadership is bad when they fail to even make the common sense bar of competency, much less pass the bar of truth test.    These religious leaders didn’t reach either.   Jesus wants us to obey the laws and principle of His truth.    He also wants us to not get so caught up into our interpretation of those laws that miss the real meaning behind them:


Micah 6:8 (ESV)

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the LORD require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?


People in power often become legalistic to maintain their power.  They must follow their made up law, instead of showing mercy and grace.   Show mercy and grace. 

Friday, June 20, 2025

Be Faithful To The Task God Gave You - Ezekiel 7-12

Ezekiel 7:23-27 (ESV)

“Forge a chain! For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned. When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none. Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”


Some preachers, pastors, priests and teachers of Sunday messages have a pretty easy task as compared to Ezekiel.   He was chosen by God to deliver a turn or burn message to the leadership of Judah.  Judah was about to fall into the hands of the Babylonians.   Israel, the northern tribes, had already fallen.   Ezekiel was sent to tell Judah why they would soon be taken captive, as well.  His ministry would last for 20+ years.   In the above passage we read the main message he had to deliver.  He does, later in the book, deliver a more positive message to encourage those who fall into captivity.   But in the above text we see the raw, unfiltered message he was asked to deliver.  The man of God, the person who is called by God to deliver God’s Word doe not get to choose the message God gives them.  They are to simply be faithful to the end to demonstrate their love and honor of God.   Ezekiel is just a plan man.  He was asked to deliver a tough message of truth to those who had turned their back upon God.   That message was not easy to deliver.  But Ezekiel was faithful to deliver it.  That is our call, as well.  We are to faithfully complete the message gave us to deliver.  

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Just A Little More Sleep - Proverbs 5-6

Proverbs 6:10-11 (ESV)

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.


I feel like I am always sleepy. I try to go to bed early and get a good nights sleep but, yet, when I awake in the morning I almost always quote in my head the above proverb.    At least I quote verse ten.   My conscience, however, always says, "I think your forgetting the next verse ... verse eleven."  These two verses can't really be handled separately.  Solomon is not warning us about waking up tired, actually.  He is warning us about waking up "lazy." Proverbs has a lot to say about "laziness" (often referred to as "slothfulness").  In this verse he is mocking those who say, "I think I'm just going to take a little nap" when, in reality, they ought to be planting fields, or securing their safety.  Yet, because they decided to lay instead of labor they won't have something to eat in times of harvest, or won't be ready when the robber comes to thieve.   Laziness is a sin in God's book.  We don't think of it that way, but God does.  Those, today, who refuse to work and just want to lay around may get around our government assistance checks and balances, but they won't slip by God's notice.   God rewards hard work and integrity.   God disciplines laziness and slack.   Lay on the couch and you won't have sustenance and/or protection.   You will eventually be in want and jeopardy.

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

God Leaders Need Prayer For Our Good - Psalms 72-74

Psalms 72:15-17 (ESV)

Long may he live;

may gold of Sheba be given to him!

May prayer be made for him continually,

and blessings invoked for him all the day!

May there be abundance of grain in the land;

on the tops of the mountains may it wave;

may its fruit be like Lebanon;

and may people blossom in the cities

like the grass of the field!

May his name endure forever,

his fame continue as long as the sun!

May people be blessed in him,

all nations call him blessed!


Psalm 72 is either a prayer by David for his young son who is to be king, Solomon.  Or a prayer of Solomon, David’s son, the king.  We don’t know.   But the point of the psalm is to ask God to bless the king.  But not simply for the king’s benefit, but that also the followers of the king would also benefit.   The life law here is that when leaders rule in a way that honors God the people of the land are blessed. Solomon would say it this way in Proverbs:


Proverbs 29:2 (ESV)

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,

but when the wicked rule, the people groan.


Good leaders foster great people.   Bad leaders foster people who complain and groan.   It is a simple principle of life but one often ignored.   Our prayer, like this psalm-prayer, ought to be for God to put leaders in place who will bring about praise for Him and blessings for His people.   Paul said it this way:


Romans 13:3a (ESV)

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.


As we pray for rulers we need to remember that their leadership is for our good:


1 Timothy 2:1-2 (ESV)

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.


Our prayer for leaders is that they walk with God and therefore be blessed by God and therefore we are bless through them by God.  



Betrayal! Luke 21-22

Luke 22:47-53 (ESV) Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twe...