Words of Hope Daily Devotional

START EVERY DAY WITH HOPE

Get the Words of Hope Devotional and get daily encouragement to love God, read His Word, and meet with Him in prayer. Available in print and email.

START EVERY DAY WITH HOPE

Get the Words of Hope Devotional and get daily encouragement to love God, read His Word, and meet with Him in prayer. Available in print and email.

THE DEVOTIONAL IS AVAILABLE IN YOUR EMAIL AND IN PRINT.

The Words of Hope Devotional is a non-profit, donor-supported publication whose goal is to encourage readers to grow in faith through the practice of daily Bible reading and prayer.

DINNER WITH JESUS

Breakfast on the Beach

April 2, 2025
Michael Jones

Honesty before God

Tim Brown July 7, 2025

Read: Acts 5:1-16

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. (v. 12)

Today’s Bible reading clearly shows us the best and worst of the early days of the church. The followers of Jesus experienced together the Holy Spirit fire released from heaven, astounding great numbers of people converted at a single time, and a sweet, generous communion that left no one in need. What a time to be alive. But there was a flipside that cannot be ignored. Acts 5 shows this in grim detail. Ananias and Sapphira profited from sale of property and told no one about it. But God knew because he can see in the dark, even into the murky darkness of the human heart.

This sad scene is a kind of living commentary on a conviction that the apostle Paul later makes crystal clear: “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Rom. 7:19 NIV). Honesty demands that we admit we are no better. So what do we do?

For centuries believers in Jesus have had the courage to be honest enough before God and one another to confess their sins. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, shows us the way: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:8-9).

As you pray, ask God to give you courage to be honest, and then confess any sin that you have been holding back.

Tim Brown

Dr. Timothy Brown is the Henry Bast Professor of Preaching and President Emeritus at Western Theological Seminary where he served from 1995-2021. Tim continues to actively coach and encourage former students and pastors who seek help in their preaching life and he has become a certified public school substitute teacher so that he can continue investing in the lives of young people. He is married to Nancy and together they have three children and ten grandchildren.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rev. First Last

David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.

Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including Why Doesn’t God Act More Like God, Christ in the Psalms, and A Gospel for the World.

Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.