February 14, 2026

I Peter 1: 1 (NIV)

To God’s elect, strangers in the world . . .

The church will always be counter-cultural.*

After my husband’s retirement, we traveled a lot. We loved to explore new places, hike in God’s creation, and eat at Triple-D restaurants (as featured on the Food Network show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives), taking lots of pictures along the way. Strangely, I hate feeling and looking like a tourist, even though that’s what I am and even though I love doing what tourists do.

Even though a Christian is what I am and I love doing what Christians do, I am often uncomfortable when my Christianity causes me to feel like a stranger in the world . . . But why would I want to feel at home here?

Peter’s letter may be addressed to literal strangers – Christians who were scattered throughout the regions listed in his opening remarks – but Christians are by definition temporary residents in a strange land. As Paul reminds us in Philippians 3: 20, our citizenship is in heaven. When I start to feel like I want to fit in among the locals, I need to remind myself that I’m just passing through.

I can handle being a pilgrim as long as I know that I can call home whenever I want.*

February 13, 2026

II Timothy 4: 9, 10 (NIV)

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.

Pilgrims with no vision of the promised land become proprietors of their own land. They set up camp. They exchange hiking boots for loafers and trade in their staff for a new recliner.*

Demas had been one of Paul’s ministry companions but now, when Paul is at a critical and vulnerable stage in his life, Demas has decided to leave him. Paul’s characterization of Demas’ actions as “desertion” tells how Paul feels about it. But Paul isn’t mad at Demas just because he is leaving. It isn’t what Demas did or where he went that caused Paul’s disappointment – it was because of what he loved.

We must be careful not to make judgments about a person’s decisions based on just what we can observe. The only way Paul could know why Demas was abandoning ship was if Demas had told him or if his behavior spoke eloquently about his priorities.

Leaving the ministry or the mission-field is not a sure sign that someone has abandoned God’s purpose for his life. I know a young couple who had committed their lives to Bible translation in an African country only to “abandon” their mission after his illness prevented him from performing the duties for which they had trained and prepared. Another missionary couple returned home from the field, feeling like failures because they were there only two years. They needed to be reminded of two particular lives they touched while serving there – and that those lives may have been their sole purpose for being in that place at that time.

We don’t understand the hows and whys of God’s work in our own lives so we certainly can’t speak with authority on how he is working in another’s life. Read the story about Philip in Acts chapter 8. He was involved in a successful ministry where his miraculous signs were witnessed by crowds of people. Then God sent him to a lonely desert road where he preached to an audience of one. That doesn’t make sense to us, does it?

If you have surrendered your will to God’s, you may be led to preach to someone on a lonely stretch of highway; you may find yourself too sick to preach to anyone; you may question how your present circumstances fit into God’s plan at all. Stay faithful and make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of loving the world like Demas did.

Ultimately, our concern should be for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom by whatever means he deems best.*

February 12, 2026

Matthew 26: 69, 70 (NIV)

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Human limitations need not only be sources of shame; they can also be avenues for grace.*

Perhaps you have never denied Jesus in such a blatant manner as Peter did that night. You have probably never come right out and said the words, “I’m not with him.” We know, though, that our actions speak for themselves. I am sure that there have been times when each of us has felt shame, repented, and prayed for strength to avoid a repeat performance.

There is another way that we can proactively proclaim that we are with Jesus. In I Corinthians chapter 11, Paul tells us that when we partake of the emblems of the Lord’s Supper, we are proclaiming the Lord’s death. In other words, we are announcing our allegiance to him. We are with him - the opposite of Peter’s actions.

In my church, we offer the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Some churches offer it less often, claiming concern that it could become routine; they wish to keep it fresh and special. And it should always be treated with respect – as Paul goes on to say: if we aren’t recognizing it as the body and blood of the Lord, we are bringing judgment on ourselves. It is a private matter between me and God as to whether I participate each week, but I am thankful that I am presented with the weekly opportunity to show that I am with Jesus. Even if in the past six days I have not been so obviously with him, on Sunday I can take a moment to reflect and repent before refreshing my commitment to live for him in the week ahead.

As someone has observed about Peter’s failure that night: he “went out and wept bitterly, but then he came back and lived differently.”* That’s not a bad example for his fellow deniers to follow. 

Some people say it’s possible to have the Lord’s Supper too often. They say it will become meaningless and ritualistic if we overdo it. Doesn’t that sound suspiciously like something the one who hates Communion would want us to believe?*

February 11, 2026

II Chronicles 7: 14 (NIV)

“If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

He could have chosen to evangelize the world and demonstrate His power through many means. But instead He chose to do most of His work when and only when His people pray.*

Contrary to popular belief, this verse is not an anthem for the restoration of America’s greatness. The Israelites, not Americans, were God’s chosen people. It is a promise to them at a particular time in history; however, as with other specific promises in scripture, we can mine this one for some nuggets of gold for those who are called by God’s name today.

Notice that God’s promise is conditional. If we are going to claim it, we have certain responsibilities:

    1.       Humble ourselves

    2.       Pray

    3.       Seek his face

    4.       Repent

There are no shortcuts. Someone has described this list as “four facets of one attitude.”* If you leave out one step, you void the whole contract.

So how do we know that God’s part of the bargain can also apply to us?

1. I John 5: 14, 15 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 
2. Acts 13: 38 “‘Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.’” 
3. I Peter 2: 24 “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’”

No, this is not a promise that God will restore our land to its former greatness, but who knows what can be accomplished when God’s people humble themselves, pray, seek his face, and repent?

How can we save our nation? By bringing salvation to its people.*

February 10, 2026

Proverbs 16: 9  (NIV)

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

He promises to direct our steps, but not to dictate them.*

I have a friend who is very organized. One time she showed me the proposed itinerary for her family’s vacation in which she had an activity planned for every moment of the trip. I asked her if she was planning to be spontaneous at any time. I’m pretty sure my little joke went right over her very organized head!

I am not so organized myself, but in my career, I had to learn to be. There were statutory deadlines that I had to meet so I had to get my ducks in a row. Having everything organized and ready helped keep me out of court, but being able to think on my feet was also an important skill because not everything goes according to plan.

Life is like that. Our plans often go awry. Solomon and I are not suggesting that you shouldn’t make plans, but it is always prudent to ask for God’s guidance before formulating any plan.  And no matter how prepared you think you are, you had better have a contingency plan. 

Having God’s blessings on your plan minimizes the chances of having to employ a Plan B, but don't be surprised if all your planning is for nothing. Trust God to determine your next step.

Have we not often made the mistake in some emergency of taking certain steps that to us seemed reasonable and prudent, and then praying afterwards that God would bless what we have done. In His mercy He may so bless but we should have done better if we had prayed first.*

February 9, 2026

Leviticus 18: 24 (NIV)

“Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.”

Evil . . . has damaged our relationships with God, self, each other and the earth.*

Leviticus chapter 18 contains a long list of forbidden sexual practices. These sins – and any other sinful lifestyle – corrupt individuals and eventually the nation; incur the wrath of God; and seal our doom. With his prohibitions and warnings, God gave the children of Israel the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of their new neighbors in the land of Canaan. He was teaching them to be reflections of his uniqueness and holiness.

As someone has observed, “Some things are immoral and unclean in themselves for all persons at all times.”* The laws addressed in this chapter are of a moral nature rather than ceremonial and we can find them restated and updated in the New Testament. As Christians we are called to distinguish ourselves from the world, just as the Israelites were to stand out from the people around them.

For several decades, we in America have been sliding inexorably down that slippery slope of depravity. Could it be that we have become the modern equivalent of Canaan? Is God even now preparing a tribe to invade us and cleanse our land? It may be too late for our nation to be spared from God’s judgment but there is still time for individuals to repent and walk in holiness.

We cannot treat as acceptable what God has prohibited.*

February 8, 2026

II Corinthians 4: 8, 9 (NIV)

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

A Christian never loses anything by suffering and affliction.*

Being a Christian is not always easy. In some parts of the world it is a daily walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. In these verses, Paul shares some of the inward and outward afflictions that he and his fellow ministers were enduring. It is characteristic of Paul that he would choose to look at the bright side of his challenges. These are bad things, he says, but not the worst things.

Paul’s life was hard – not just because of circumstances beyond his control but because of his faith. It was the life he chose. If you are a Christian, you have chosen a perilous path. Some of us make it to the end of the trail with a minimum of actual danger and, to us, Paul’s words are mere theory, not real life experience. Perhaps those of us who have never suffered for our faith are missing out on the blessed secret that Paul knew. He knew "the power and victory of Jesus in his life because he was continually in situations where only the power and victory of Jesus could meet his need!”*

Isn't that what we should know, too?

Faith faces the brutal facts, but it never gives up hope.*