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Topic: The Small Things [Monday April 24, 2017] Read: Psalm 116:1–9, Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 19–20; Luke 18:1–23 Every good and perfect gift is from above.  James 1:17 My friend Gloria called with excitement in her voice. She had not been able to leave her home except for doctors’ appointments. So I understood why she was so happy to tell me, “My son just attached new speakers to my computer, so now I can go to my church!” Now she could hear the live broadcast of her church’s worship service. She raved about God’s goodness and the “best gift my son could have given me!” Gloria teaches me about having a thankful heart. Despite her many limitations, she’s thankful for the smallest of things—sunsets, helpful family and neighbors, quiet moments with God, the ability to remain in her own apartment. She’s had a lifetime of seeing God provide for her, and she talks about Him to anyone who visits or calls. We don’t know what difficulties the author of Psalm 116 was encountering. Some Bi...

Topic: The Shrinking Piano [Sunday April 23, 2017] Read: Philippians 1:1–11, Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 16–18; Luke 17:20–37 He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6 For three consecutive years, my son participated in a piano recital. The last year he played, I watched him mount the steps and set up his music. He played two songs and then sat down next to me and whispered, “Mom, this year the piano was smaller.” I said, “No, it’s the same piano you played last year. You’re bigger! You’ve grown.” Spiritual growth, like physical growth, often happens slowly over time. It is an ongoing process that involves becoming more like Jesus, and it happens as we are transformed through the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2). When the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we may become aware of sin in our lives. Wanting to honor God, we make an effort to change. Sometimes we experience success, but at other times, we try and fail. If...

Topic: The Gift of Giving [Friday April 21, 2017] Read: Luke 3:7–14, Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 12–13; Luke 16 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion.   2 Corinthians 9:7 A pastor breathed life into the phrase “He’d give you the shirt off his back” when he gave this unsettling challenge to his church: “What would happen if we took the coats off our backs and gave them to the needy?” Then he took his own coat and laid it at the front of the church. Dozens of others followed his example. This was during the winter, so the trip home was less comfortable that day. But for dozens of people in need, the season warmed up just a bit. When John the Baptist roamed the Judean wilderness, he had a stern warning for the crowd that came to hear him. “You brood of vipers!” he said. “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:7–8). Startled, they asked him, “What should we do then?” He responded with this advice: “Anyone who h...

Topic: Letting Go [Thursday April 20, 2017] Read: Genesis 12:1–9, Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 9–11; Luke 15:11–32 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go . . . to the land I will show you.”  Genesis 12:1 For our wedding anniversary, my husband borrowed a tandem bike so we could enjoy a romantic adventure together. As we began to pedal on our way, I quickly realized that as the rider on the back my vision of the road ahead was eclipsed by my husband’s broad shoulders. Also, my handlebars were fixed; they didn’t affect the steering of our bike. Only the front handlebars determined our direction; mine served merely as support for my upper body. I had the choice to either be frustrated by my lack of control or to embrace the journey and trust Mike would guide us safely on our route. When God asked Abram to leave his homeland and family, He didn’t offer much information concerning the destination. No geographic coordinates. No description of the new land or its natural resources. Not even an in...

Topic: Sweet Scent [Wednesday April 19, 2017] Read: 2 Corinthians 2:14–16, Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 6–8; Luke 15:1–10 Thanks be to God, who . . . uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.  2 Corinthians 2:14 Author Rita Snowden tells a delightful story about visiting a small village in Dover, England. Sitting outside a café one afternoon enjoying a cup of tea, she became aware of a beautiful scent. Rita asked a waiter where it was coming from, and was told it was the people she could see passing by. Most of the villagers were employed at a nearby perfume factory. As they walked home, they carried the fragrance that permeated their clothes out into the street. What a beautiful image of the Christian life! As the apostle Paul says, we are the aroma of Christ, spreading His fragrance everywhere (2 Cor. 2:15). Paul uses the image of a king returning from battle, his soldiers and captives in tow, wafting the smell of celebratory incense in the air, declaring the k...

Topic: At Home With Jesus [Monday April 17, 2017] Read: John 14:1–4, Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 1–2; Luke 14:1–24 I go and prepare a place for you.  John 14:3 “There’s no place like home.” The phrase reflects a deeply rooted yearning within us to have a place to rest, be, and belong. Jesus addressed this desire for rootedness when, after He and His friends had their last supper together, He spoke about His impending death and resurrection. He promised that although He would go away, He would come back for them. And He would prepare a room for them. A dwelling-place. A home. He made this place for them—and us—through fulfilling the requirements of God’s law when He died on the cross as the sinless man. He assured His disciples that if He went to the trouble of creating this home, that of course He would come back for them and not leave them alone. They didn’t need to fear or be worried about their lives, whether on earth or in heaven. We can take comfort and assurance from Jesus’s wo...

Topic: He Understands and Cares [Sunday April 16, 2017] Read: Isaiah 53:1–8, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 30–31; Luke 13:23–35 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.  Isaiah 53:4 When asked if he thought that ignorance and apathy were problems in modern society, a man joked, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” I suppose many discouraged people feel that way about the world today and the people in it. But when it comes to the perplexities and concerns of our lives, Jesus fully understands, and He deeply cares. Isaiah 53, an Old Testament prophecy of the crucifixion of Jesus, gives us a glimpse of what He went through for us. “He was oppressed and afflicted . . . led like a lamb to the slaughter” (v. 7). “For the transgression of my people he was punished” (v. 8). “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand...

Topic: The Price of Love [Saturday April 15, 2017] Read: Isaiah 53:9–12, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 27–29; Luke 13:1–22 He poured out his life unto death.   Isaiah 53:12 Our daughter burst into tears as we waved goodbye to my parents. After visiting us in England, they were starting their long journey back to their home in the US. “I don’t want them to go,” she said. As I comforted her, my husband remarked, “I’m afraid that’s the price of love.” We might feel the pain of being separated from loved ones, but Jesus felt the ultimate separation when He paid the price of love on the cross. He, who was both human and God, fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy 700 years after Isaiah gave it when He “bore the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). In this chapter we see rich pointers to Jesus being the suffering Servant, such as when He was “pierced for our transgressions” (v. 5), which happened when He was nailed to the cross and when one of the soldiers pierced His side (John 19:34), and that “by his wounds...

Topic: Remember the Cross [Friday April 14, 2017] Read: Mark 15:19–20, 33–39, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 25–26; Luke 12:32–59 “Surely this man was the Son of God!”  Mark 15:39 In the church I attend, a large cross stands at the front of the sanctuary. It represents the original cross where Jesus died—the place where our sin intersected with His holiness. There God allowed His perfect Son to die for the sake of every wrong thing we have ever done, said, or thought. On the cross, Jesus finished the work that was required to save us from the death we deserve (Rom. 6:23). The sight of a cross causes me to consider what Jesus endured for us. Before being crucified, He was flogged and spit on. The soldiers hit Him in the head with sticks and got down on their knees in mock worship. They tried to make Him carry His own cross to the place where He would die, but He was too weak from the brutal flogging. At Golgotha, they hammered nails through His flesh to keep Him on the cross when they tu...

Topic: Forsaken for Our Sake [Thursday April 13, 2017] Read: Matthew 26:36–46, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 22–24; Luke 12:1–31 God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”   Hebrews 13:5 Does having a friend nearby make pain more bearable? Researchers at the University of Virginia conducted a fascinating study to answer that question. They wanted to see how the brain reacted to the prospect of pain, and whether it behaved differently if a person faced the threat of pain alone, holding a stranger’s hand, or holding the hand of a close friend. Researchers ran the test on dozens of pairs, and found consistent results. When a person was alone or holding a stranger's hand while anticipating a shock, the regions of the brain that process danger lit up. But when holding the hand of a trusted person, the brain relaxed. The comfort of a friend’s presence made the pain seem more bearable. Jesus needed comfort as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew what He was...

Topic: Let Down Your Hair [Wednesday April 12, 2017] Read: John 12:1–8, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 19–21; Luke 11:29–54 Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.   John 12:3 Shortly before Jesus was crucified, a woman named Mary poured a bottle of expensive perfume on His feet. Then, in what may have been an even more daring act, she wiped His feet with her hair (John 12:3). Not only did Mary sacrifice what may have been her life’s savings, she also sacrificed her reputation. In first-century Middle Eastern culture, respectable women never let down their hair in public. But true worship is not concerned about what others think of us (2 Sam. 6:21–22). To worship Jesus, Mary was willing to be thought of as immodest, perhaps even immoral. Some of us may feel pressured to be perfect when we go to church so that people will think well of us. Metaphorically speaking, we work hard to make sure we have every hai...

Topic: Why Forgive? [Tuesday April 11, 2017] Read: Luke 23:32–34, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 17–18; Luke 11:1–28 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.   Luke 23:34 When a friend betrayed me, I knew I would need to forgive her, but I wasn’t sure that I could. Her words pierced deeply inside me, and I felt stunned with pain and anger. Although we talked about it and I told her I forgave her, for a long time whenever I’d see her I felt tinges of hurt, so I knew I still clung to some resentment. One day, however, God answered my prayers and gave me the ability to let go completely. I was finally free. Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith, with our Savior extending forgiveness even when He was dying on the cross. Jesus loved those who had nailed Him there, uttering a prayer asking His Father to forgive them. He didn’t hang on to bitterness or anger, but showed grace and love to those ...

Topic: Our Best Friend [Monday April 10, 2017] Read: Hebrews 10:19–23, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 15–16; Luke 10:25–42 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.   John 1:12 When I was twelve years old our family moved to a town in the desert. After gym classes in the hot air at my new school, we rushed for the drinking fountain. Being skinny and young for my grade, I sometimes got pushed out of the way while waiting in line. One day my friend Jose, who was big and strong for his age, saw this happening. He stepped in and stuck out a strong arm to clear my way. “Hey!” he exclaimed, “You let Banks get a drink first!” I never had trouble at the drinking fountain again. Jesus understood what it was like to face the ultimate unkindness of others. The Bible tells us, “He was despised and rejected by mankind” (Isa. 53:3). But Jesus was not just a victim of suffering, He also became our advocate. By giving His life, Jesus...