August 7, 2026

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Everything else is up for grabs.*

I graduated from high school more than 50 years ago, but even though I live far away from my hometown, I am still in touch with many of my classmates. Besides our big class reunion every five years, we have mini-reunions throughout every year. I attend as many of those as I can because it’s such fun to catch up with old friends.

You expect people to be different after that many years. We gain weight, we lose hair, we brag about our grandkids more than about our own accomplishments; but with some people, there are changes in their very essence that make them almost unrecognizable. It is disconcerting to talk to someone who is nothing like the person you remember. I wonder, Have I changed that much? Am I still recognizable to my old friends?

Whether Jesus is your long-time friend or a new acquaintance, you can count on him to remain the same. He will always be available; he will never reject you because you aren’t one of the cool kids; he is always willing to forgive you. He won’t remind you of the stupid things you have done and he will never look at you and say, “Well, you’ve put on a few pounds.” He looks at us through eyes of love so he sees our essence instead of our imperfections. In a world that changes too fast for us to keep up with, we are secure in his never-changing character.

Yesterday – he has cleaned the slate for us. Today – he walks beside us. He never changes but our relationship with him will change us forever.

What a glorious paradox that He who never changes is also the one who is ever new!*

August 6, 2026

I Corinthians 15: 3-6 (NIV)

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time . . .

The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are the very essence of the gospel. They are matters of fact and matters of faith.*

In case you didn’t know exactly what the gospel is, here is the Apostle Paul’s condensed version. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul provides a succinct outline we can employ to increase our own knowledge of the gospel and be better prepared to share it with others. 

  I.  Who is Christ? 

       A. “According to scriptures” – prophecies 

       B. His birth and life 

 II.  He died for your sins 

       A. “According to scriptures” – prophecies 

       B. Death, burial and resurrection 

III.  He lives 

       A. Witnesses 

       B. Your testimony 

Use Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to fill in the details. Read the eye-witness testimonies in the Book of Acts. Refer to the prophecies in the Old Testament. Seek the Lord’s will for your life and begin to live it. Now you have a testimony to share. You are a witness.

The gospel message cannot stop with reflections on the historical Jesus but must bear witness to the current reality of Christ.*

August 5, 2026

Ephesians 5: 25-27 (NIV)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy . . . and to present her to himself as a radiant church . . . holy and blameless.

There is no trace of a pure Church anywhere on earth.*

If you had to go away and leave your fiancée for awhile, you would want her to be faithful, wouldn’t you? Even though you aren’t married yet, you have a right to expect her to maintain her commitment to you. And if you were that bride-to-be, you would take measures to arm yourself against the attentions of other men, right? 

The church is like that bride-to-be, awaiting the return of her fiancé. While she waits, she is exposed to temptations presented by the world. As the church, we need a strategy to help us remain pure in the bridegroom’s absence so that we may be presented to him as his radiant, holy, and blameless bride. Here are some scriptural behaviors and attitudes the church should adopt to protect herself from temptation and to demonstrate her faithfulness: 

1. Love one another. (John 13: 35) This is how the world will know that we love the bride groom. 
2. Don’t love the world. (I John 2: 15) You can’t love your fiancé and other men at the same time! 
3. Don’t conform to the world. (Romans 12: 2; Philippians 1: 27) Your behavior shouldn’t leave someone wondering who you belong to. 
4. Be united in mind and thought. (I Corinthians 1: 10) A united front helps keep us strong against temptation. 
5. Behave as a faithful bride should. (James 1: 27) A faithful church looks after the defenseless and keeps herself from being polluted by the world. 
6. Be devoted to the gospel. (II Timothy 2: 15; Titus 2: 1) A faithful church is faithful to the word of God. 

As a church, we should remain pure and we should behave in a manner that clearly demonstrates our faithfulness to the Lord. While the church is made up of many members over whom we have no control, each of us as individuals is responsible for choosing to remain pure in a polluted world. As Jesus said, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Matthew 26: 41)

Jesus demanded total commitment to God, not outward appearance of religion.*

August 4, 2026

Leviticus 19: 9, 10  (NIV)

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.’”

The intended, beneficial consequences of social policies are routinely overwhelmed by the unintended, harmful consequences they trigger.*

God made provisions for the poor and the foreigner: the farmer was commanded to be a little lax in harvesting his crops so that the needy could come along and glean for themselves. He did not tell the farmer to harvest his crops and then give some of it to the poor. We have forgotten this practice, instituted by God, of helping the needy by allowing them to help themselves. Somewhere in history, those who have the means and the heart for charity seem to have come to the conclusion that people in need must be taken care of. We have done a disservice to those we are trying to help by allowing them to become dependent on us.

As a church, what can we do to help break the cycle of dependency? Most of us aren’t farmers so we can’t take these directions literally, but certainly we can find ways to apply the principles. The church I attend offers assistance through a variety of programs: Celebrate Recovery for those struggling with habits and addictions; Financial Peace University, which provides Bible-based strategies for getting out of debt and staying out; and a community outreach program in which those “in transition” are provided a hot meal and a sermon every Sunday – because above all, those we help need to hear about the hope they can find in Jesus.

As individuals, we also have opportunities to help change lives. Programs cost money, so don’t neglect the offering plate. And charity doesn’t have to be mass-produced to be effective. Jesus ministered to people in large groups, in small groups, and one at a time. Never underestimate the value of the one-on-one encounter, whether in witnessing or in good works.

And amid all our efforts, we should never forget that programs help but Jesus saves!

The harassed and helpless are all around us – and not easily identified.*

August 3, 2026

Genesis 9: 12, 13 (NIV)

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

The Creator who sternly imposed sin’s penalty became the God of the covenant.*

God made lots of covenants with people in the Old Testament. Some covenants were with individuals, some were specific to the Hebrew nation. There are a few that we like to hijack for our own personal application – II Chronicles 7: 14 and Jeremiah 29: 11-14 come to mind most readily.

Three elements of this particular covenant in Genesis set it apart from others:

1. It is unconditional. God made a promise but he didn’t require anything from the other parties involved. 
2. It applies to all living creatures – human and animal. 
3. God created a sign as a permanent reminder of the covenant.

The rainbow reminds us that God keeps his promises. Circumcision was a reminder of his covenant with Abraham. And the cross is a reminder of the new covenant he has entered into with us – a covenant that was not unconditional but which has been ratified by the blood of Jesus. When we see the cross, we are prompted to recall that though the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life through his Son (Romans 6:23). The cross is the symbol of God’s promise that he will be our God and we will be his people (Hebrews 8: 10), and that his will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life (John 6: 40).

The rainbow and the cross are reminders that though God has the power to destroy us, he has chosen to love us and to save us.

The relationship we have with God is not an agreement between equals.*

August 2, 2026

Genesis 2: 15 (NIV)

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Work was mankind’s lot before the fall.*

You have heard that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It is also true that one man’s work is another man’s recreation. There are tasks that I did while at work that never seemed like work, while others were total drudgery. I was thrilled when I became a supervisor and found that I had a staff who didn’t mind when I delegated some of those dreaded chores to them. 

Work is not a curse. God placed his newly created staff in a garden to “work it and take care of it,” not because he wanted Adam to suffer, but to keep him occupied. God could have created a maintenance-free environment for man to live in but he purposely provided a place of employment. There are clues in the story that indicate that the work that Adam did in the Garden of Eden was a far cry from his labor following his banishment: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3: 17) 

Whatever we do to provide for ourselves and our families, I believe that each of us is also called to tend God’s garden. We may have to get up every day and go to a job but we have more important work to do in the garden of the Lord. Such work is not to secure our own salvation but for the sake of those who are still lost. The work we do for the Kingdom should never seem like the drudgery of the curse for “there is true pleasure in the business God calls us to.”*

We were none of us sent into the world to be idle.*

August 1, 2026

John 6: 38 (NIV)

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”

If everyone could live as though they were in jeopardy of shortly dying . . . the world would be a much better place.*

I have never been on a short-term mission trip but I admire those who make the sacrifice of time and money – and often, modern conveniences – to share the gospel. Personally, time and money would not be the big sacrifice. I am very partial to AC, indoor plumbing, and privacy. Two factors would make the hardships more tolerable for me: 1) knowing that the conditions are temporary; 2) knowing that I am serving the Lord.

Jesus’ time on earth was similar to a short-term mission trip. It was a temporary assignment – he knew he would be returning home soon - and he was performing his Father’s will. These conditions had to appeal to him as a human. Perhaps reminding himself of these things helped him deal with the discomforts of his life on the road, the incompetence of his followers, and the bitterness of rejection.

Life on earth is the same for us. We are pilgrims – on temporary assignment for the Lord. We are not here to do our own will but the will of the one who sent us. We may become weary and discouraged but there are eternal consequences for the work that we do. How satisfying is that?

When we realize that the universe is moving toward God’s intended end, and that in history’s great culmination all of His good purposes will be fully realized, we are strengthened to live for Jesus now.*