February 24, 2026

Titus 2: 14 (NIV)

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.

The duty of the government is to protect us—not provide for us.*

We think of good works as doing things for others but Paul’s words to Titus indicate that doing good also includes providing for our own needs. We live in a society that is becoming more and more dependent on government to meet our needs. I recently read a story that perfectly illustrates the modern mindset: a young woman who was in trouble with the law was asked by a counselor if her mother had ever had trouble with the law also. Yes, she said, her mother had been on welfare while holding down a job as well. When the counselor asked what happened to the mother when she got caught, the woman acted surprised that he even had to ask. “She quit her job,” she said.*

Dependency can come upon us in a sneaky fashion: 

• the price of a school lunch doesn’t begin to cover the cost of the meal; 
• when I worked for county government, for a short time they subsidized the employees’ insurance premiums for family coverage; 
• immunizations are offered for free at county health departments, regardless of your financial status. 

I’m sure you can think of other ways we let our tax dollars work for us.

I don’t have the immediate solution to the mess we’re in but I can offer the ultimate cure: devote ourselves to doing good. (You thought I was going to say, “Get a job,” didn’t you?) Doing good involves submitting every area of our lives to God. According to Paul, a child of God who does good in general receives specific provision: daily necessities and productive lives. But it is a contagious way of life: devotion to doing good will never bless the doer only – it spills over into a world that desperately needs to know the force behind our good deeds – Jesus Christ.

If life on this earth were the end of the story, it would be easy to give up trying to do good.*

February 23, 2026

Job 42: 5, 6 (NIV)

“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

God can turn burning shame into a holy flame.*

When I started high school, “everyone” talked about one teacher and this disgusting thing she did when she thought no one was looking. I honestly didn’t believe it until one day as I was passing by her classroom . . . So now I am a believer. I didn’t despise myself for my unbelief, as Job expresses here, but I did feel a little bad for thinking my friends were just being mean.

Job has had to suffer a lot to get to this “seeing is believing” stage. God hasn’t really revealed any new information to him but Job’s experience has brought him face to face with God.* What he knew about God before was second-hand knowledge. Now, he hasn’t just heard about God - he knows him.

What do you know about God? Have you heard about him? Are you acquainted with him because you have friends in common? Knowing about God isn’t the same as knowing him personally. Like Job, you have to draw near to God for yourself. When your eyes are opened to how incomplete your knowledge has been, you, too, will realize your need for repentance. As you spend time in God’s Word and in prayer, you will begin to know God – to develop a relationship with him – and to see the shallowness of your former understanding of him. Perhaps some dust and ashes will help set the mood!

We expect a deep and transformative relationship with God to come upon us magically, without planning and preparation, without attending to the means of grace, and without attention to formative disciplines like prayer, scripture study, and self-denial.*

Extra equipment:

“Followers in most religions have no personal relationship with their deities.”*

February 22, 2026

II Chronicles 16: 9 

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

I Peter 5: 8 

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

(NIV)

Each of us is as full of the Spirit as we really want to be.*

Do you ever feel like you’re being watched? Perhaps you aren’t just paranoid. According to these two verses, you are attracting a lot of attention from high places and low places. Spiritual warfare rages around us at all times.

We underestimate both God’s desire to rescue us from Satan’s clutches and Satan’s determination to drag us into the pit with him. The devil is clever, sneaky, and deceitful. Though Satan is often referred to in enticing terms, Peter calls him a roaring lion – a creature to strike fear into our hearts. But a hungry lion doesn’t always roar before it pounces!

We are weak and gullible and we forget that we can choose to be on the winning side. God’s strength is available for hearts fully committed to him. He provides a way of escape when we are faced with temptation: an alternate activity; the recollection of an applicable verse of scripture; or a friend to hold you accountable. His Holy Spirit is our comforter and our counselor when we are troubled.

If the image of a hungry, roaring lion doesn’t alarm you, perhaps this will: God’s promise does not apply to an uncommitted heart. Where does that leave you? As fair game.

Most Christians seem to underestimate their ability to cope with suffering but overestimate their ability to cope with temptation.*

February 21, 2026

I Samuel 15: 24 (NIV)

Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I have violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. . .”

Christians are never judged by the confessions they make, or the creed they recite; it is always by their deeds.*

This verse contains Saul’s confession – offered after Samuel had confronted him with his offense. This was not the first time that Saul had demonstrated his weakness under pressure, as well as a willingness to bend the rules.

Often we are sorry we got caught more than we are sorry for what we did. But sometimes getting caught is the first step toward repentance. Isn't it often the case that it's the fear of consequences that causes us to put a halt to our sinful actions?

The proof of the genuineness of our repentance will be found in how we live our lives from that moment on. Saul’s confession sounded good, but as someone has observed, “his direction of life did not correspond with his words.”* As John the Baptist preached, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3: 8) And don’t be sorry you got caught – be glad you got caught in time!

True repentance is not satisfied with resolutions, its sincerity must be proved by actions.*

February 20, 2026

Ephesians 6: 18 (NIV)

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

When a man is through with praying, that man is through with any life that matters.*

Anyone who spent time with Jesus knew that he was a “pray-er.” He modeled a life of prayer and taught his disciples a model prayer. Paul’s letters are rich with references to prayer – whether mentioning others in his prayers, begging for prayers on his own behalf, or urging us to pray for each other and even for those in authority over us. This verse in Ephesians is all-encompassing: all occasions; all kinds of prayer requests.

Our Savior believed in the power (and necessity) of prayer, therefore so do I. I believe that the most important purpose of prayer is to get to know God, but scripture spells out some specific things we should pray for. And I wonder: what if I don’t pray for “all the saints”? What if there’s a missionary out there for whom no one has remembered to pray? What happens to him? Will God abandon him because we have? Why does God want us to pray for each other?

My husband and I were far from home (we were in South Dakota – we lived in Florida), when I got word that the marriage of one of my sons was in trouble. He insisted that he didn’t need me to come home and I was managing to hold myself together until, after another offer to return home to be with him, he said that he was fine because his twin brother had made the eight-hour trip from Georgia to be with him. That was when I broke down and cried for my hurting child, and that was when I knew what it must be like for God when his children care enough about each other to pray for one another and to help a hurting brother or sister. He wants us to pray for each other because he wants us to love each other.

Make the Father’s heart swell with emotion and make it your habit to pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The prayers of one saint are to God melody, but the intercessions of many are harmony.*

February 19, 2026

Revelation 21: 21 (NIV)

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

We toss around the word awesome pretty freely; but it’s too small a word to describe Heaven.*

We have been programmed to think of heaven in terms of “pearly gates” and “streets of gold” and while that is beautiful imagery I think we might be missing the point. Jewels and precious metals may be valuable on earth, but in eternity they are just building material. In heaven, gold is as common as concrete blocks. 

There is much speculation among Bible scholars as to the symbolism of the gems used to decorate the walls of the heavenly city, but at the least, as one of them points out, “it seems important that the very thing people worship on earth should at last have found its place under foot instead of upon the throne.”*

Remember the question posed by Jesus: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” And if that isn’t thought-provoking enough, he adds, “Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”  (Mark 8: 36, 37) What do you place the highest value on in this life? Can you take it with you when you die? Is it worth holding onto and allowing it to come between you and the Lord?  Looking at life through a heavenly lens helps us to determine what is truly valuable.

What is the real value of a thing, but the price it will bear in eternity?*

February 18, 2026

II Corinthians 2: 15, 16 (NIV)
For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death, to the other, the fragrance of life.

Those who preach the gospel are pleasing to God regardless of the response of those who hear it.*

It is not unusual for people to have different ideas about what tastes good. I can’t stand the taste, smell, or texture of bananas while others find them quite – er – appealing. It is not quite so common for our appreciation of certain odors to differ widely.  I have never met anyone who did not like the smell of vanilla, cinnamon, or freshly baked bread. Who doesn’t love that new car smell or the scent of meat cooking on a grill? Of course, there are differences of opinion when it comes to fragrances – I don’t like the smell of most perfumes or incense, while I have a cousin who claims to like the way skunks smell.

Paul tells us that, to God, we Christians smell like Christ and we can be sure that he is pleased with our fragrance, but whether the world perceives us as a good smell or a bad one is determined by the associations of each individual. To those who are in the process of being saved, we are the fragrance of life. (I’m thinking of a walk in the woods with the scent of evergreens, grass, flowers, and fresh air.) To those who are on the path of death, Christ smells like death - and I doubt if anyone who has ever gotten a whiff of something dead and decaying stopped to sniff some more.

If the sense of smell is so evocative, perhaps we Christians could do more to improve our odor among the lost. We could lead lives that emit more pleasant aromas – the fruit of the Spirit comes to mind: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Don’t those sound like sweet-smelling qualities that could trigger a more positive response when others get a whiff of us?

In spreading the fragrance of Christ the preacher himself becomes fragrant.*