Month: July 2023

For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. . . . What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:18,19,24,25

Delivered Through Christ

Daily Devotion – July 14, 2023

Devotion based on Romans 7:18,19,24,25

See series: Devotions

Maybe you’ve heard some people describe the Christian life as “victorious.” But when the apostle Paul describes the Christian life here, it doesn’t sound victorious. It sounds like a struggle. And what Paul says here about himself applies to every Christian.

Living for Christ means being in a war. Every morning when you put your feet on the ground, you step onto the battlefield of temptation. This battle rages inside of you.

Within every Christian lives the sinful nature. Your sinful nature is why you question God”s Word and struggle with its teachings. Your sinful nature wants you to be in charge, not God. This is why you can continue to do the evil you do not want to do.

On this battlefield, we have all been battered and defeated. It makes you want to scream with Paul, “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”

Jesus, that’s who. The Bible tells us that Jesus “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). So when you are troubled by your sins and by how often you have been defeated, know this: you have been delivered by the Savior who took your place in this battle and was perfect every day of his life. More than that, he died on the cross and gave his perfect life as the once and for-all sacrifice for all your sins. So even though you are not always victorious in your battle against sin, you are always delivered through Christ.

Prayer:
Jesus Christ my Lord, deliver me when the battle against temptation rages within. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Exodus 33:18-20

Glory Concealed and Revealed

Daily Devotion – July 13, 2023

Devotion based on Exodus 33:18-20

See series: Devotions

The prophet Moses had seen many glorious things: the burning bush, the ten plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea, to name a few—but there was one thing that Moses had not seen—so he said to God, “Now show me your glory.” As if all those other things weren’t glorious enough! But Moses had something specific in mind with his request; he wanted to see God’s glorious presence in a special way.

Can you blame him? We are born with a God-shaped hole inside us and want a special connection with God. Even Christians might want to say, “Now show me your glory.”

But don’t miss God’s answer: “No one may see me and live.” Sinful people and God’s glory do not mix.

Yet God wants to show us his glory, so he reveals it by concealing it. The Lord may not have been able to show Moses his glorious face, but he did explain his glory to him. He called himself merciful and compassionate, and God is at his most glorious when his mercy and compassion prompt him to forgive us.

In the person of Jesus Christ, God became a man to do just that. He hid his glory in human flesh that was pierced and crucified for our sins.

Why? Because he doesn’t want you to melt in his glory, he wants you to see it! And that, by the way, is what heaven is: seeing God’s glory. In heaven, “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Prayer:
Merciful and compassionate Lord, forgive my sins and bring me one day to your glorious presence in heaven. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

[Jesus said] “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:29,30

An Easy Yoke

Daily Devotion – July 12, 2023

Devotion based on Matthew 11:29,30

See series: Devotions

In today’s Bible verse, Jesus tells you that finding rest for your soul involves taking his yoke upon yourself. If you think that sounds counterintuitive, he reassures you that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

And that, of course, makes no sense. If something is easy, it cannot be a yoke—a collar for doing hard labor. And if something is light, by definition, it is not a burden.

But this is what Jesus does: he turns things on their heads. With Christ, yokes become easy, burdens become light, death becomes life, despair becomes hope, and fear becomes faith.

So how is this not nonsense? Because Jesus does not say, “Take my yoke upon you and pull with me.” Instead, he says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”

Come to Jesus in his Word, and listen to what he tells you. He teaches you that faith is what yokes you to him. In your walk of faith, you are not alone because Jesus walks with you. This makes the burden light because Jesus bears the weight, not you. Just walk along with him; Jesus does the heavy lifting so that you will find rest for your souls.

Those who are yoked to Christ can pray—anywhere, anytime, about anything. Why wouldn’t you? He knows you better than anyone else. No worry is too small for him to snuff out or too large for him to solve. So you can rest when you prayerfully pour it all on him.

Because that is Jesus’ invitation. He knows what’s good for your soul, and in Christ alone, there is rest that cannot be found anywhere else. What’s easier than that?

Prayer:
Gentle Savior, thank you for hearing and answering my prayers. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

[Jesus said] “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28

Burned Out

Daily Devotion – July 11, 2023

Devotion based on Matthew 11:28

See series: Devotions

Have you ever been burned out? Burnout is when the fires of stress char you emotionally and mentally. Maybe your job fries you to a crisp. You work hard all the time, but it seems like nothing you do makes a difference. Maybe you’ve been burned out on life in general and couldn’t seem to get excited about anything.

Sometimes people get burned out spiritually. They start out on fire for the Lord, but then that fire ebbs and eventually burns out. Religious burnout happens when you minimize or forget everything Jesus has done for you.

This leads to a conscience that screams at you for every poorly chosen word, to the regret that smothers you every time you lose your temper, and to the guilt that burdens you for the things that you’ve done wrong and the right things you’ve left undone.

This is why Jesus gives the beautiful invitation in today’s Bible verse. “Come to me,” he says, but he does not mean, “Work hard, fight your way to me, and I will reward you with rest.” No, to understand what Jesus means, think instead of the father who scoops up his toddler and says, “Come here!” Jesus wants to carry you, along with all your burdens and sorrows.

Because he has already carried the burden of your sin, how absurd is it for you to continue to be weighed down by it? What can you do with it that he hasn’t already done? All of that was already nailed to the cross with him. So when you feel burned out, know with absolute certainty that Jesus will give you the rest you need.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, take my burdens and grant me true rest in you. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”
Matthew 11:25,26

Childlike Faith

Daily Devotion – July 10, 2023

Devotion based on Matthew 11:25,26

See series: Devotions

If you were to die and stand before God, and he were to ask you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” how would you answer him?

That is an important question, and over the millennia, humanity’s best and brightest have come up with many different answers. According to the Bible, however, there is only one correct answer: “Because Jesus lived a perfect life for me, died on the cross for me, and rose from the dead for me.”

The Bible calls that answer the gospel, which is the exact opposite of what the wise and learned expect it to be. They expect an answer that puts them at an advantage, one that gets them into heaven by their own intellectual endeavors, religious effort, or good works—anything but total reliance on Jesus as their Savior.

That’s why Jesus says the gospel is hidden from the wise and learned. It’s not that God makes it obscure. It’s just that they are too self-focused to see what God wants to reveal to them.

The fact of the matter is that no one can come up with the correct answer on their own. The gospel does not involve arrogantly assuming that you can enter heaven under your own power. Rather, it involves humbly recognizing that you can’t.

You don’t need to be wise and learned; you need to be like a child. Children know how to trust because they are dependent on their parents. So when you say to a Christian child, “Jesus loves me this I know,” they reply, “For the Bible tells me so.” That is childlike faith that trusts completely.

Praise God that adults can be spiritual children, believers who simply trust that Jesus has already done it all.

Prayer:
Father, give me faith that trusts your Son and his gospel completely. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

[Jesus said] “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:29,30

Yoked Together With Jesus

Daily Devotion – July 9, 2023

Devotion based on Matthew 11:29,30

See series: Devotions

Jesus’ words remind us that once we were yoked to eternal death, bearing the full load of our sin. But Jesus shattered that burdensome yoke; he lifted and pulled away from us the entire burden of sin’s guilt, so that by faith in him, we have rest for our souls.

Now Jesus says that he has given us another yoke, an easier and lighter one. He is keeping with the illustration of a yoke that joined two animals to pull a load together. Often the two draft animals did not have the same strength. One was usually stronger than the other. A piece of equipment called an evener worked along with the yoke to balance the load. The evener could be adjusted so that the stronger animal bore the heavier portion of the load.

Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” The yoke that Jesus asks us to take is life as his follower. As we strive to live according to God’s will in glad response to his love for us, we may strain under burdens of suffering and have to push against the yoke of problems. But we are not alone. By faith, we are linked together with Jesus. Being yoked together with him means that when this life becomes weighed down with burdens, Jesus is pulling alongside us. In fact, he pulls most of the weight for us. We are not aware of how much of the load he is carrying. Only if he were to slack off—which he promises never to do—would we discover how utterly dependent we are on his strength.

Yoked together with Jesus, we pull only the share of life’s burdens for which he has given us strength. When the going gets tough, Christ pulls harder, making the yoke easy and the burden light for us.

Prayer:
Jesus, when I am weighed down by the concerns and difficulties of my life remind me that you are walking right alongside of me. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Matthew 14:34-36

Our Savior

Daily Devotion – July 8, 2023

Devotion based on Matthew 14:34-36

See series: Devotions

Imagine the group of people that came from near and far for the chance to be healed by Jesus. Some hobbling, some bent over in pain, and some even carried. For every one of them, Jesus loved and used his almighty power to heal them. The touching of his cloak was not the key to their healing. This was just the way that the Lord chose to accomplish these miracles. It was all by the will and the ability of Jesus that these people were made whole and healthy.

These things are recorded for us in the Bible to convince us that Jesus is the Son of God. He stands alone as a unique individual in all of history. Jesus is truly a man and also God. He is human and divine in one person. For our salvation from sin and death, it was necessary for us to have a Savior who is both man and God. It was necessary for Jesus to be both true man and true God in one person so that he could live perfectly under God’s holy will for all of us. It was necessary for Jesus to be both true man and true God in one person to take our curse of sin on himself and free us from eternal damnation by his innocent death for us.

Jesus is the world’s Savior. There are no others qualified. The miracles that Jesus did “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

Prayer:
Thank you, Jesus, for demonstrating your power so that I can know you are the one, true God. Thank you for becoming a human being so that you could save me from my sins and win eternal life. May all I do this day bring you praise. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

[Jesus said] “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Matthew 10:40

All About Him

Daily Devotion – July 7, 2023

Devotion based on Matthew 10:40

See series: Devotions

One of the benefits of my advanced age is realizing that when people are crabby, it’s often not about me. It’s often about them. They will be crabby with whomever they meet, and if they’re crabby with me, it’s not because of anything I have done or not done, even if they try to make it about me. I admit that sometimes I almost believe that it is something about me, but then, upon further reflection, I realize that it’s all about them.

But I still like to think that when people are nice to me, it’s all about me. It takes this special word of Jesus to make me realize that when people are nice to me, it’s a special blessing from a loving Lord who put those nice people into the path of my life.

Those nice people may not even realize how they are the instruments of God, but Jesus makes it clear. When someone welcomes me, they are actually welcoming Jesus himself. And when they welcome both me and Jesus, they are welcoming God the Father, the one who sent Jesus into the world to be my Savior and theirs.

In this life, I might not realize all the opportunities I have to thank God for arranging everything for my good, but this word of Jesus helps me to see that I can thank him by being nice to the people around me. It’s all about him!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, keep me focused on reflecting your peace to everyone in my life. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

[Jesus said] “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:39

Find Yourself

Daily Devotion – July 6, 2023

Devotion based on Matthew 10:39

See series: Devotions

Do you know someone who was on a conventional path in life but then departed for something completely different? Maybe you tried to describe them to someone else by saying that they were “taking some time to find themselves.”

The expression refers to looking for a purpose in life that makes sense to you. You aren’t feeling it on a conventional path, so you look for a vibe that resonates with you. When you take time to find yourself, you are looking for something that makes you feel satisfied.

Jesus warns against finding yourself without him. Without Jesus as your Savior, it doesn’t matter how good you feel or how sweet the scene looks. All satisfactions are temporary, and eventually, you will lose the life you thought you found.

But when you lose a selfish life and find Jesus, you will be amazed to find a full and satisfying life that has been there for you all along. Your identity will be clear as a dear child of the only true God. Your future, eternal life in heaven, will be secure. There will be reasons for things you like, for the things that resonate with you, and in discovering those reasons, you will discover why God placed you where you are right now in life.

It might seem cryptic, even mysterious, but it makes sense in view of Jesus. Whoever loses their life for his sake will find it.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, my heart is restless until I find my rest in you. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.