Devotionals

26 Sep Devotional Thought – An Unparalleled Life Of Purity

"For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens." Hebrews 7:26 I don't think that the writer of Hebrews intends that we understand these three words - holy, harmless, undefiled - to simply be different ways of saying the same thing. I believe that what we have here are the three different stages in the development of personal purity in the life of the Christian.

21 Sep Devotional Thought – The Place Of Penalty’s Pardon

"Esau...found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." Heb.12:16-17 The writer of Hebrews isn't saying what you might think at first glance. He's not saying that Esau found no repentance. He says that Esau found no place of repentance. His repentance was evident, and as a result so was his forgiveness. What this verse teaches us is that his repentance did not restore the position he lost in his community.

19 Sep Devotional Thought – Sins That Stick

"However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Matt. 17:21 There are temptations in the heart of man that are not easily removed, those that are only able to be extinguished through a very painful process. Now, to be sure, there are some sins which disappear in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. Think of Saul of Tarsus. One minute he's walking in darkness, the next he's prostrate in the blinding glory of the Lord and when he rises to his feet the old life is left in the dust of that Damascus Road. Instantly he is a brand new man.

14 Sep Devotional Thought – The Liberty Of The Spirit’s Law

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2 It is only an inward law that has the power to set me free from an outward law. Many times I am as much a descendant of Mt. Sinai as the Jew. I go through this world like a school boy walking through the classroom, remembering  that there are lessons that must be learned and answered that will be recorded. I talk about my accountability and my responsibility and the judgment that is to come.

12 Sep Devotional Thought – Alone With Jesus

"Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst." John 8:9 What a picture of the day of judgment. A single, sinful soul has a face to face encounter with Jesus as her judge. The ones who had condemned slowly left one by one until she is left all alone with the Lord. I believe that is a type of Jesus' judgment of all souls. I think that after death there will be a meeting, a moment of solitude where the spirit of man will stand face to face with Jesus. I believe that it will be a moment of simple reflection and solemn review in which the past will be as present. I will see myself as I really am in the light of the Son of Man.

07 Sep Devotional Thought – The Everlasting Gospel

"Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." Revelation 14:6 It seems rather strange to consider a flying angel holding something that is said to be "everlasting." It seems a paradox, a contradiction, that the words "flying" and "everlasting" should be used in the same context. Yous see, to read of something flying brings to my mind that which is moving, fleeting, passing. It is the opposite of that which is permanent or everlasting. In fact, the very act of flying suggests changes of altitude, direction and environment. Thus, the angel the Revelator sees and describes is not some sedentary, stationary figure. He is in constant movement - "flying." Yet, in the hand of this flying angel is something that John says is not moving. It is something that is constant, changeless, permanent, eternal - "the everlasting gospel."