Do you have a favorite devotional? It might be a classic of Christian literature or a fresh-from-the-printer modern work, but many Christians have a favorite devotional that they turn to each day to complement their prayer and Bible reading.
Do you have a favorite? What is it, and why do you like it?
Sunday’s Words of Hope Radio Program walked through the book of Jonah, asking a question: do we care about people like God does?
Here are a few excerpts from the transcript of Jonah and the Whale:
You probably can remember Jonah’s story. God called him to be a prophet, to proclaim his word and call people to repentance. But unlike the other biblical prophets, the Lord didn’t send Jonah to preach to the people of Israel. He sent him to Nineveh. Now there were two very large reasons why Jonah didn’t want to go there at all. One was that the people of Nineveh were foreigners, gentiles, pagans. Why should they listen to the word of Israel’s God? The other reason was that those people were the enemy. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and Assyria was the big bad bully living on Israel’s block. [...]
God’s heart of love is moved with pity for people who don’t really know what they are doing, who, like those Ninevites, “do not know their right hand from their left.” God cares about the countless people in the world who live from day to day without a thought about eternity, or the state of their souls, or even about God himself; people who live like dumb beasts, with never a concern about anything higher than their own physical comfort or pleasure; people who don’t even know that they don’t know the only one in whom there is life and hope — the Lord Jesus Christ. God has compassion for all such. He pities them. And he wants to break through to them, to reach them with the message of his love and mercy.
The June/July issues of Uplook magazine is out, and available for free online! The new issue features over a dozen new essays and articles which cover topics ranging from the creation/evolution debate to the importance of focusing on the right things in life. There’s also a provocative article by by Donald Norbie asking a question Americans generally prefer to sidestep: is obesity and overeating a sin?
Grab the new issue in PDF (and browse through the archive of past issues) at the Uplook magazine downloads page.
Ravi Zacharias’ Slice of Infinity daily devotional is always a worthwhile read—it’s a short daily devotional that nevertheless manages to dig a little deeper into its topics than most such devotionals.
But even if you aren’t already a reader, I recommend paying Slice of Infinity a visit each day during Lent. They’ve published some excellent reflections on Lent and Easter and why this is such a powerful part of the church year. Here’s a bit from today’s entry, on how Lent challenges us:
The time leading up to the promise of Easter and the hope of resurrection is something like the early signs of spring. Indications of new life spring forth all around us, each with the shocking call that we must prepare ourselves for what is coming, reflect on the place of hope via the road of suffering, and face the forces and temptations that come at us along the way. It is not always easy to prepare our hearts for the Cross of Christ, but the changing of seasons is upon us, and God beckons us forward. Henri Nouwen describes the tension eloquently: “The season of Lent, during which winter and spring struggle with each other for dominance, helps us in a special way to cry out for God’s mercy.” For forty contemplative days, the season of Lent calls us to the wakeful awareness that we are human, we are dust, and we are falling short, but that there is a story reaching beyond our lifetimes, our deaths, and our shortcomings, speaking new life where death stings and tears flow.
The latest reading is always available here, and you can browse back through the archives here. If you want to start with their Lent reflections, here’s the Ash Wednesday Slice that kicks it off.
How are you commemorating Lent? There’s no Scriptural requirement to mark the season of Lent, of course. But many Christians find it helpful to mark the period of time before Easter with some sort of deliberate spiritual activity, whether it’s giving up a specific habit, denying yourself something, or engaging in a regular practice like devotions or Scripture reading.
Several writers from the IVPress community are engaging in Lent journeys and are sharing them online—and they invite anyone to participate along with them. The Strangely Dim blog has a good roundup of these; here’s a quick look at what these writers are doing for Lent:
These are three solid ways of journeying through Lent—and there are certainly many more good Lent resources out there. We’ll share them here as we come across them in the weeks to come!
Do you have any Bible passages memorized? If you were brought up in a church community like mine, Scripture memorization was a staple of the Sunday school experience. Every Sunday morning, on the car ride to church, I’d find myself hastily memorizing that week’s Bible (or catechism) passage, knowing that my Sunday school teacher would show no mercy if I mangled Romans 8:28 or stammered my way through Heidelberg Catechism question and answer #1.
Over at the Addenda and Errata blog, Dan Reid admits to living through a similarly demanding Scripture-memorization routine as a child. But as an adult, he’s developed a new perspective toward memorization. Memorizing Scripture needn’t be just an onerous Sunday school routine: it can be a wonderful way to internalize and reflect on passages of the Bible.
His memorization strategy is more ambitious than most Christians’ (he does some of his memorization in the original Greek!), but there’s no reason anyone couldn’t get a lot out of memorizing Bible verses in good old English. Here’s some encouragement from Dan for anyone considering embarking on Scripture memorization:
First, I learned that memorizing doesn’t come as easily at age 59 as it did at age 9 or 20. Though I’m sure there are many other folks my age who can memorize with much less effort than I! But it’s possible. Just don’t set your expectations too high. Don’t beat yourself up when it doesn’t seem to be “taking” fast enough. If you keep at it, the text will work its way into the cranium, laying down its patterns and crystallizing in words, sentences and paragraphs. Keep inching forward and keep reviewing. Nothing is lost and much is gained by taking more time. Think of it as meditation. [...]
And here is another benefit: walk the dog, go on a drive or a run, and lines and paragraphs of the Greek text come to mind unbidden. Not bad.
If you’re looking to dive into the teachings of the Bible in a new way this year, I can think of few better ways to do so. So grab a Bible, pick a passage or two (start with some short and easy ones), and see if you can’t commit some Scripture to memory!
We just announced a major overhaul of our Bible reading plans over at The Bible Gateway, head over there to check them out.
There are few things more spiritually rewarding than reading through Scripture in its entirety. We’ve added new tools to help you read through the entire Bible in a year: our new Bible reading plans. Starting on January 1, 2009, you can start reading through the Bible, one short daily reading at a time. You can read your daily reading online here at the Bible Gateway, or receive the daily readings via RSS or iCal.
There are four different ways you can read through the Bible—choose the one that works best for you! These plans are graciously provided by BibleYear.com:
To get your daily reading, visit the daily reading page each day starting on New Year’s Day, where your Bible reading for the day will be displayed. You might want to bookmark that page for easy reference (right click on this link and choose “Add to favorites/bookmarks”). You can also receive your reading via RSS or iCal.
We hope you find the new reading plans useful—and we hope you’ll use them to make your way through the Bible in 2009, whether you’ve read through it many times before or have never done so!
There are thousands of different topics here at Gospel.com, but one of the things people seem most interested in is the vast collection of devotionals—short, easy-to-read reflections on the Christian faith to help us start the day on the right foot. Here’s a review of some of our favorites:
All of these and more are listed at the Devotionals page—so have fun exploring around until you find the devotional that’s just right for you.
Looking for a way to start out each day on the right foot? Sports Spectrum has a devotional that will help you keep grounded—it’s called Training Table (formerly Power Up), and it provides a short devotional message by a different author each day, each with a sports-focused theme. You can download the September edition (PDF) at the Sports Spectrum website.
In addition to Training Table, Sports Spectrum has a number of changes and new additions coming up later this month, when their magazine switches to a quarterly format. A more interactive The Daily blog and an online version of their magazine are among the promised features—so check their site on September 15 to see all the improvements!
Even if you aren’t a student of church history, you may have heard of the preacher and author Charles Spurgeon—his Morning and Evening daily devotionals have stood the test of time and remain extremely popular today.
While Spurgeon was quite serious about the Gospel message he preached, he was also known for his wit and sense of humor. While browsing through the article archives at the Evangelical Press Association website, I came across an interesting article about the great value that Spurgeon placed on humor in his life and ministry:
Spurgeon laughed as often as he could. He laughed at the ironies of life, he laughed at comical incidents, he laughed at the amusing elements of nature. He sometimes laughed at his critics. He loved to share wholesome jokes with his friends and colleagues in ministry. He was known to tell humorous stories from the pulpit. [...]
Spurgeon considered humor such an integral part of his ministry that a whole chapter in his autobiography is devoted to it. Humor permeates his sermons and writings, often woven into the fabric of his messages. It’s one reason among many why he is still so readable today.
You can get a feel for Spurgeon’s wit by reading some of the many sermons and devotionals he wrote. There’s the Morning and Evening devotional mentioned above, and if you really want to get to know your Spurgeon, there are over 700 sermons by Spurgeon awaiting your perusal over at SermonIndex.
Each day we highlight the newest and best resources here at the Gospel.com blog, so check back regularly to see what's happening!
About Gospel.com What is the Gospel? Terms of Use Privacy Policy Support
Contact Us: info@gospel.com
Copyright © 2009.
