When To-Do Lists Fail
Read: Romans 9:30-10:4 They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (10:2) I love my daily to-do list. It keeps me focused on activities that will help accomplish my goals. I take pleasure in checking the boxes at the end of the day. And, if I do something that wasn’t on my […]
A Place to Belong
Read: Romans 9:19-29 Those who were not my people I will call “my people.” (v. 25) In today’s passage, Paul deals with a challenging question about God’s mercy: why are some saved and others are not? It’s a question that Paul argues is essentially unanswerable in human terms. It’s like a piece of clay asking […]
Children of Promise
Read: Romans 9:1-18 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (v. 16) Having older sisters who excelled in the high school and college I would attend brought an unexpected advantage. Professors who taught them assumed that I was just as smart. More often than not, I […]
The New Jerusalem
Read: Revelation 22:1-14 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (v. 4) Think about the great nations of the world, and you will probably think of their capital cities: London, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, and Washington, DC. These capitals represent more than places of power. They are also cultural centers, […]
New Heaven and New Earth
Read: Revelation 21:1-14 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. (v. 1) Any fan of TV home makeover shows will tell you that there is a certain “formula” that every episode follows. They begin with a tour of the “before” condition […]
A New Body
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:48-58 This mortal body must put on immortality. (v. 53) Eventually, everything will wear itself out. Cars, refrigerators, your smartphone and your favorite pair of jeans—they will either break or wear out or become obsolete. The same is true of these fragile bodies in which we live. It’s true that nowadays you […]
A New Future
Read: Isaiah 25:1-9 He will swallow up death forever. (v. 8) We have looked at what God has done for us to make us new creations in Christ, and what he is doing to conform us to the image of his Son. But the most glorious renewals are still in our future! God is making […]
A New Hope
Read: 1 Peter 1:1-9 He has caused us to be born again to a living hope. (v. 3) In his 1986 memoir, Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea, Steven Callahan recounts his desperate journey in a small inflatable life raft in the Atlantic Ocean. With little water and food, Callahan barely survived; he struggled daily […]
A New Lifestyle
Read: Ephesians 4:17-32 To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life . . . (v. 22) Last year my youngest daughter, Meredith, adopted a dog that had spent a long time in the animal shelter. The grateful dog was enthusiastic in her love for both Meredith and her new […]