- Today's Devotional
Growing in Holiness
Be holy, as Jesus is holy. Is Peter serious? He includes this weighty command in his letter to a young and persecuted church. Peter knows what holiness is because he observed it firsthand. He was one of Jesus’s closest disciples and friends, and he watched Jesus in public moments and private spaces. He knows that true holiness is only possible for Jesus. And yet, Peter tells them to imitate the Holy One who called them. He does this with confidence, reminding them of two things. First, growing in holiness begins with putting their hope in the right place. One day Jesus will return and make them holy (1 Peter 1:13). Second, they can pursue holiness now because they are God’s children (1 Peter 1:14). As his children, they have God’s Spirit inside them. A holy life is possible because of their identity in Christ...
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For every step of your journey.
- Devotional
Growing in Holiness
Be holy, as Jesus is holy. Is Peter serious? He includes this weighty command in his letter to a young and persecuted church. Peter knows what holiness is because he observed it firsthand. He was one of Jesus’s closest disciples and friends, and he watched Jesus in public moments and private spaces. He knows that true holiness is only possible for Jesus. And yet, Peter tells them to imitate the Holy One who called them. He does this with confidence, reminding them of two things. First, growing in holiness begins with putting their hope in the right place. One day Jesus will return and make them holy ( 1 Peter 1:13 ). Second, they can pursue holiness now because they are God’s children ( 1 Peter 1:14 ). As his children, they have God’s Spirit inside them. A holy life is possible because of their identity in Christ...
- Devotional
The Body as a Temple
Paul has his work cut out for him as he writes to the early church in Corinth. The Corinthian believers grow up in a thriving city that values materialism, status, and sexual freedom. Paul points to their culture’s slogan, “I have the right to do anything” ( 1 Corinthians 6:12 ), to show the difference between Corinth’s understanding of freedom and the freedom found in Christ. Freedom in Jesus is not a license to sin; it is a claim God has made on their lives. Paul uses temple language to explain the importance of God’s Spirit living in them. Their bodies are sacred, and they should use them to honor God. Paul urges them not to dishonor God with their bodies. They need to flee from sexual immorality...
- Devotional
The Living Stones
With deep care and sensitivity, Peter writes a letter to the scattered and persecuted church. He knows his words bring encouragement. These believers face deep persecution for their faith in Jesus, and hearing from one of Jesus’s closest friends means so much. In this letter, Peter reveals how Jesus gives new meaning to the temple. Because of what Jesus has done through his death, resurrection, and ascension, he is building a new spiritual house for God to dwell in. Jesus is the cornerstone. They are stones placed in God’s house. Together they form a spiritual community, and God now dwells with them. Through sacrificial lives, they can find hope in the nearness of God and his promises...
- Devotional
God’s Dwelling Place
Try as they might, the priests cannot enter the building. As soon as Solomon finishes praying, fire consumes the sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord fills the temple. The gathered nation of Israel watches in awe. God is dwelling in their midst! Years earlier, God promised this would happen. David’s son, King Solomon, would build the dwelling place of God. If Solomon followed God’s ways, God would live among his people ( 1 Kings 6:11–13 ). Now, as the people gather, they see God’s great glory! In response, they bow down and worship. They proclaim his goodness and never-ending love...
- Devotional
Abraham Surrenders on Mount Moriah
God tests Abraham with the hardest request possible: to sacrifice his only son, the son he had waited decades to receive. Abraham obeys without argument. He rises early, gathers wood, and climbs Mount Moriah with Isaac at his side. When Isaac asks about the lamb, Abraham answers in faith, trusting God will provide. He believes God could even raise Isaac from the dead ( Hebrews 11:19 ). At the altar, Abraham raises the knife, fully surrendered—and God stops him. A ram appears, caught in a thicket, provided in the exact moment of need.
- Devotional
Growing in Trust
Jesus walks a familiar path. After the Passover meal, he leaves Jerusalem and climbs the Mount of Olives “as usual” ( Luke 22:39 ). Moonlight shines through olive branches, and the night air carries a chill. Jesus withdraws just a stone’s throw from his disciples, kneels on the rocky ground, and prays. He knows what awaits him: betrayal, beatings, and a cross. The cup holds the full weight of God’s judgment against sin, and Jesus, fully God and fully man, feels its crushing heaviness. Yet a lifetime of prayer has shaped this moment. He asks honestly, then surrenders completely to his Father’s will. This is the heart of true trust.
- Devotional
Jesus’s Power Over Sickness and Death
A crowd waits on the shore. Jesus returns from Gentile territory, and people press in from every side. Jairus, a respected synagogue leader, falls at Jesus’s feet and begs him to heal his dying twelve-year-old daughter. On the way, a woman reaches through the crowd and touches the edge of Jesus’s cloak. Twelve years of constant bleeding have left her unclean, unable to worship, and cut off from human touch. Jesus stops, finds her, and calls her “daughter.” Then devastating news reaches Jairus: his daughter has died. Jesus unhurriedly walks to the house, takes her by the hand, and raises her to life. The respected leader and the overlooked outcast receive the same compassion from the same King.
- Devotional
Jesus’s Power Over Spiritual Forces
The boat barely touches shore before the next battle begins. Jesus and his disciples land in the region of the Gerasenes, Gentile territory across the lake from Galilee. A naked man stumbles out from the tombs. No chain has ever held him for long. So many demons possess him that they call themselves Legion ( Luke 8:30 ). Nearby, a large herd of pigs, animals Jewish law considered unclean, feeds on the hillside. The demons beg Jesus not to send them into the Abyss, so he lets them enter the pigs. The herd stampedes down the bank and drowns in the very lake Jesus just calmed. Wind, waves, and now demons obey him.
