What Home Teaches Us About Living Here

The Bible in a Year

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” — Philippians 3:20 (NIV).

Have you ever recognized where someone grew up by the way they said a single word? A person can live far from home for years, and then one familiar expression gives them away. I think about that when I read Paul’s letter to the Philippians. What might someone notice about me after spending an ordinary afternoon in my company? If they heard the way I spoke to someone who disappointed me, or watched what I did when keeping my word became inconvenient, would they catch any hint of where I belong?

Luke tells us in Acts 16:12 that Philippi was a Roman colony in Macedonia. Paul’s readers understood how belonging to a place could shape daily life even at a distance. The Greek word politeuma, translated “citizenship” in Philippians 3:20, brings that sense of belonging into view. Paul tells the believers that they already belong to heaven and that they are waiting for Jesus to come from there. As Truth For Life puts it in its introduction to Alistair Begg’s sermon on the passage, “our behavior becomes the evidence that we belong.” The people around us can glimpse something of Christ’s kingdom in the way we live among them.

Just before Paul speaks of citizenship, he writes with tears about people who live as enemies of the cross. I’m grateful he lets us hear the grief in his voice. It changes how I read his warning about those whose appetites have come to rule them. I can ask where my own desires are leading me. What happens to my patience when my comfort is disturbed? How readily do I bend the truth when my reputation is at stake? And when someone I love seems indifferent to Christ, do I still make time to listen and pray for them? Paul’s tears show that we can take the danger of turning away from Christ seriously and still speak with tenderness about the people we long to see come home.

Paul’s hope is wonderfully concrete. Jesus will return and transform our frail bodies to be like His glorious body. I think of someone who once walked miles without giving it a thought and now plans a day around the distance from the car to the front door. I think of those who need help getting dressed or who wake up tired after a night of pain. Christ’s promise reaches into that very part of their lives. The body that has carried them through years of work, worship, and trouble is included in His saving work. The Savior we are waiting for has a future for these bodies we live in today.

Where could that hope become visible in your day? You may have a chance to give someone credit for work that would otherwise go unnoticed. You may need to make room beside you for someone who has been left out. You may be able to sit with a person who has heard difficult news and give them time to say what they fear. If someone asks what gives you hope, you can tell them in your own words about the Savior you are waiting for. Peter calls believers to give that answer with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

In Philippians 3:18–21, heavenly citizenship is a present belonging with a future promise. Christians live under Christ’s lordship now while awaiting His return and the resurrection of the body. As you read the passage again, linger over Paul’s tears in verse 18 and his eagerness in verse 20. Both can shape the way you pray for the people you will see today.

As you pray today, would you remember the ministry of Intentional Faith? Ask the Lord to help readers in their own homes and communities find hope in His Word and share that hope gently with someone who needs it.

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The Name That Still Saves

In the Life of Christ

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” — Acts 4:12 (NIV).

I keep coming back to the man standing beside Peter and John. In Acts 3, he had to be carried to the temple gate, where he asked people for money. By the time we meet him in Acts 4, he is standing on his own feet in front of the ruling council. The leaders want to know by what power or name the apostles did this. Peter answers by naming Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the one they crucified and God raised from the dead. Everyone in the room could see the man standing there. Peter wanted them to know who had raised him to his feet.

That scene helps me hear what Peter means by salvation. The Greek noun sōtēria means salvation or deliverance. In verse 9, Luke uses a form of the related verb sōzō when Peter speaks about the man being made well. Then, in verse 12, Peter speaks of the rescue we all need. The man’s restored legs were a visible sign of the power of the risen Christ. The good news Peter announces reaches further, to the forgiveness of sin and the restoration of our relationship with God. The man could stand before the council because Jesus had healed him. We can stand before the Father because Jesus gave Himself for us and rose again.

I hear the same assurance in Jesus’ words to Thomas. On the night before the cross, Jesus was comforting His disciples with the promise that He would prepare a place for them in His Father’s house. Thomas admitted he had no idea how to get there. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, NIV). I’m glad Thomas asked. His question gives me room to bring my own uncertainty to Jesus. And Jesus’ answer gives me someone to trust when I cannot see very far ahead. The One who promises to bring us home is the One who goes to the cross to bring us there.

David Guzik points to the “remarkable transformation” the Holy Spirit worked in Peter. The man who once feared admitting that he knew Jesus now speaks about Him before the council. That encourages me because I recognize something of the old Peter in myself. I know how easy it is to say something pleasant and vague when a conversation turns to faith. Truth For Life’s introduction to Alistair Begg’s sermon puts the emphasis on “His identity as Savior.” Our confidence rests there. I can speak plainly about Jesus because the strength of the gospel rests in who He is and what He has done.

What might that sound like around a kitchen table or on the drive home? If a friend asks how I have carried a regret for so long, I can tell them about the forgiveness I have found in Christ. If someone tells me they see all faiths as paths to the same place, I can listen carefully and then explain why the cross and resurrection matter to me. Peter had a living person beside him whose life had changed. I can speak honestly about the places in my own life where Christ’s mercy has changed how I live. When we remember how much mercy we have received, we can speak about Jesus with both conviction and kindness.

Acts 4:12 teaches that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. In Acts 4:8–12, Peter grounds that claim in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and John 14:6 records Jesus’ own promise that we come to the Father through Him. The name Peter spoke before the council is the name we can speak today when someone asks where we have found hope.

If you’re wondering how to carry this confession into the conversations and choices of an ordinary week, spend some time with The Journey in the PAGES section of Intentional Faith. Start with the part of your daily walk where you most need to trust Jesus today.

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What Will You Make Room for Today?

As the Day Begins

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” — Psalm 90:12 (NIV).

 

Morning Meditation

Imagine waking up to find that someone has deposited $86,400 in your account. Whatever remains at midnight disappears. In an illustration drawn from novelist Marc Levy, that account is time. An ordinary day holds 86,400 seconds. The number sounds generous until I think of how often I reach bedtime and remember the one person I meant to call.

In Psalm 90, Moses asks God for a levav chokmah, a heart of wisdom. He knows our days are brief, and he asks the eternal God to teach us how to live within them. Later in the same prayer, he asks to be satisfied in the morning by God’s unfailing love. I need both requests. Knowing that my time is limited helps me choose what deserves my attention. Knowing that I am loved helps me give that attention freely. Because Christ is risen, I can face the limits of this life with hope. Sometimes the wisest use of my time is to let the dishes wait and listen to the person who is still at the table.

Triune Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the day I have been given and for mercies I may have hurried past yesterday. Teach me to see the people and responsibilities You have placed before me. When I feel the urge to fill every open minute, help me pause and ask what love requires of me right now. Give me patience for work that takes longer than I expected and gratitude for the good I get to do quietly.

Jesus the Son, thank You that Your resurrection gives me hope as I grow older and face the changes I cannot control. I remember how You made time for people who called out to You along the way. Give me that kind of attention today. When someone interrupts my plans, help me hear what they are trying to tell me. Give me courage to make the call or offer the apology I’ve been putting off.

Holy Spirit, guide me when several good things compete for my attention. Help me recognize when to work, when to rest, and when to sit with someone who needs company. If part of the day slips away from me, bring me gently back to the opportunity I still have. As evening comes, help me put the unfinished work into Your hands and thank You for what Your grace made possible. Amen.

Thought for the Day

Choose one person you have been meaning to call, encourage, or thank. Give that person a place in your day before the day fills up. Even a few unhurried minutes can tell someone, “You matter to me.”

Psalm 90:12 connects numbering our days with gaining a heart of wisdom. The surrounding prayer shows what that wisdom looks like. We receive the morning in God’s steadfast love and ask Him to establish the work of our hands. That gives us a way to begin each day with gratitude and decide what deserves our care.

If today’s reflection brings a teenager or young adult to mind, share Keaton Talks on Facebook with them. You might even pick a question to talk through together.

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The Prayer Daniel Prayed Before the Lions

By His Word

“Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” — Daniel 6:10 (NIV).

When I read the story of Daniel, I’m tempted to hurry to the lions’ den. I want to hear the king call down into the darkness and Daniel answer that God has kept him safe. But this time, I want to linger in the upstairs room. Before the king spent a sleepless night and before Daniel heard a lion breathe in the darkness, there was a man at home on his knees. He had been there the day before, and the day before that. I wonder how many of those prayers felt ordinary to Daniel. Scripture gives us no record of what he felt when he rose from his knees each day. It gives us something I find more encouraging. It tells us he kept returning.

Daniel 6 begins with a man whose work could stand up to scrutiny. Darius planned to give Daniel greater responsibility, and the other officials searched for something they could use against him. His conduct gave them no grounds for a charge. His devotion to God, however, gave them something they could count on. They persuaded Darius to sign a decree making it unlawful for thirty days to petition any god or person except the king. The penalty was the lions’ den. Daniel learned the decree had been published, went home, and prayed. Alistair Begg observes that “disciplined consistency” is harder to sustain than a brief commitment. Daniel’s colleagues were so sure of that consistency that they built their whole scheme around it.

Daniel’s upstairs windows opened toward Jerusalem. That detail carries the memory of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple. Solomon had asked God to hear His people if they were taken captive and turned back to Him in prayer toward their land and city (1 Kings 8:46–50). Daniel, an exile from Judah, lived far from Jerusalem, yet he could still turn to the God who heard His people. The Aramaic expression min qadmat den, meaning “before this,” puts the emphasis on a practice already underway. Daniel knew exactly what the decree could cost him, and he kept his usual appointment with God. The courage we see in the crisis grew out of a relationship Daniel tended on ordinary days.

I’m especially moved that Daniel gave thanks. The next verse says he also asked God for help. Both belonged in the same prayer. I can imagine how easily a threat like that could fill every sentence, and there are days when my own worries come close to doing the same. Daniel shows me that I can tell God what frightens me and thank Him for a mercy I have already received. I can ask for help with a decision and thank Him for the friend who listened while I tried to put it into words. Thanksgiving gives us somewhere to stand while we ask God for help with what we still cannot see.

By morning, God had shut the mouths of the lions, and Darius publicly acknowledged the living God. Centuries later, on the night of His arrest, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, where Luke says He went “as usual.” There He also knelt and prayed. He asked His Father to take the cup from Him, then yielded Himself to the Father’s will. Daniel was brought safely out of the den. Jesus rose from His knees and went on to the cross. When I read those passages together, I hear an invitation to bring my real desires to the Father and trust Him with what comes next. Sometimes the answer brings relief. Sometimes I rise from prayer with the same hard thing ahead of me and enough strength to take the next step.

If you want to begin a steadier life of prayer, choose one moment you can return to tomorrow. It may be when you sit down with your first cup of coffee, when you park outside work, or when the house finally grows quiet. Read Daniel 6:10 slowly. Thank God for one specific kindness. Tell Him plainly where you need help. Ask Him to show you one faithful thing you can do today. When you miss a day, come back at the next opportunity. The Father you meant to speak to yesterday is ready to hear you today.

Daniel 6:10 shows how daily prayer prepares believers to trust God under pressure. Daniel brought both gratitude and need before God, and he kept doing so when obedience became costly. His example gives us a way to begin wherever we are. Make room for prayer in the ordinary course of the day, so that turning to God becomes familiar before trouble comes.

If Daniel’s upstairs room has made you want to linger a little longer in Scripture, consider exploring PAGES on Intentional Faith. The Journey offers help for the daily walk with Christ, and The Battle invites you to think about what it takes to stay faithful when that walk gets difficult.

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Today’s Spiritual Disciplines

May the Lord bless your Christian walk today. Whether you’ve followed Jesus for years or are just beginning to ask about Him, may these daily devotions give you room to listen and pray. The Lord who began a good work in you will carry it to completion.

Today’s Spiritual Discipline Theme

Receive what God gives and let His grace shape how you live today.

By His Word — The Prayer Daniel Prayed Before the Lions
Daniel’s habit of bringing both need and gratitude to God prepares him for a costly choice. His example invites us to make room for prayer before trouble comes.

As the Day Begins — What Will You Make Room for Today?
Psalm 90 asks God to teach us how to use the time we receive. A heart of wisdom may lead us to set aside an ordinary task long enough to listen to someone.

In the Life of Christ — The Name That Still Saves
The man standing beside Peter and John gives visible testimony to the power of the risen Jesus. His story helps us speak with conviction and kindness about the Savior in whom we have found hope.

The Bible in a Year — What Home Teaches Us About Living Here
Paul reminds us that we belong to heaven and await the Savior who will transform our bodies. That future hope gives us reason to practice honesty and compassion where we live today.

On Second Thought — When Jesus Seems Asleep
The disciples bring their fear to Jesus while the boat is still taking on water. Their cry gives us permission to pray honestly and receive help while we wait.

Did You Know — Whose Name Is on Your Work?
Colossians 3:17 brings our everyday words and work under the name of Jesus. A welcome, a visit, or a quiet kindness can become a way to serve Him.

As the Day Ends — What We Give Back at Day’s End
David’s prayer teaches us to recognize God’s hand in what we have received. We can give thanks for one kindness and entrust our unfinished work to Him before we sleep.

Pastor Hogg

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今日属灵操练主题

领受主的恩典，让祂改变我们今天的生活。

藉着祂的话语｜但以理面对狮子之前的祷告
但以理照常跪下祷告，把所求的和感谢一同带到神面前。让我们也在平常的日子里养成祷告的习惯，好在压力来临时懂得转向神。

一天开始时｜今天，你愿意为什么留出时间？
诗篇90篇教我们数算自己的日子，求神赐下智慧的心。让我们想一想，今天可以为谁留出一点时间，耐心听他说话。

在基督的生命里｜那至今仍能拯救的名
彼得指着站在众人面前那位得医治的人，见证耶稣已经复活。我们也能带着温柔和确信，说出自己在基督里所领受的盼望。

一年读经｜天上的家如何教我们活在当下
我们是天上的子民，等候基督再来，使我们软弱的身体得着更新。这份盼望能改变我们今天待人的方式，使我们更诚实、更有怜悯。

再想一想｜当耶稣仿佛睡着了
当风浪打进船里，门徒把心中的惧怕告诉耶稣。我们也可以向主说出最难开口的话，在等候中接受祂的平安和身边人的陪伴。

你知道吗｜你的工作奉谁的名而做？
歌罗西书3:17邀请我们奉主耶稣的名说话、做事。招待一位初来的人，或为邻舍做一件小事，都是今天可以献给主的服事。

一天结束时｜夜幕降临时，我们把什么献回给神？
大卫记得， 百姓献给神的， 原是从神手里领受的。今晚 ，让我们为今天领受的一份恩惠感谢神， 并把未完成的事交托给祂。

霍格牧师

 

When the House Grows Quiet

As the Day Ends

“For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14 NIV)

Grief can catch up with us when the house grows quiet. I think of how naturally a person might reach for the phone to share something funny, then remember whose voice they were expecting to hear. The Thessalonians had a question beneath that familiar ache. What would become of those who had died before Jesus returned? Paul speaks of them as koimōmenōn (κοιμωμένων), those who have fallen asleep. His image points toward an awakening. When the Lord comes, the dead in Christ will rise. The people the Thessalonians missed would share in the life Christ had promised. Paul gives grieving people a reason to look forward while they are still learning to live with an empty place.

Alistair Begg’s reflection on this passage makes me think about what we say at a Christian funeral. We tell stories because someone’s life mattered to us. We weep because their absence will be felt in a hundred ordinary ways. And we speak of resurrection because Jesus has already come through death alive. Paul goes on to say that we will be with the Lord together. I find comfort in that word together. Tonight, if a memory brings tears, you can let it have its moment. Thank God for the person you remember and let Christ’s promise sit beside the memory.

Triune Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the people whose lives have become part of mine. You know the memories I can share with a smile and the ones I can hardly speak about. Receive my gratitude for ordinary things that have become precious to me, for familiar voices, shared meals, and kindness I understood more fully with time. I give You the questions that return when the day is over. Help me lay down what I have been trying to carry through these last hours, and give me rest.

Jesus the Son, thank You for dying and rising again. When I stand beside a grave or miss someone in the middle of an ordinary day, bring me back to what You have done. Teach me to trust Your promise that those who have died in You will rise. Give me patience when grief surprises me and tenderness when it surprises someone else. If tomorrow brings a difficult conversation, help me listen with care and speak of Your hope as gently as I would wish to hear it.

Holy Spirit, stay near me in the quiet tonight. When my thoughts run ahead to all the days I still have to face, help me receive the rest You offer in this one evening. Bring a sentence of Scripture to mind when I wake and find it hard to settle again. Give me the humility to ask for company when I need it. Keep my heart open to the people who are here now, and help me notice the one who could use a call from me tomorrow. Amen.

Thought for the Evening

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:14 slowly before bed. If someone comes to mind, thank God for one specific memory and rest for a moment in the promise of resurrection.

Pastor Hogg

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Grace Under the Broom Tree

DID YOU KNOW

“Get up and eat.” (1 Kings 19:5 NIV)

Did you know Elijah’s lowest moment came just after Mount Carmel? (1 Kings 18–19)

On Mount Carmel, Elijah had seen the Lord answer with fire. In the next chapter, a messenger from Jezebel brings a threat against his life, and Elijah runs. He leaves his servant at Beersheba, goes a day farther into the wilderness, and sits down under a broom bush. There he tells the Lord that he has had enough and asks to die. I’m grateful that Scripture lets us hear those words from the same man who stood before the people on Carmel. We are often tempted to make one day the measure of a whole life. We remember the courage we had yesterday and wonder how we can feel so frightened today. Or we look at how hard this morning has been and assume it tells us what tomorrow will be like. Elijah’s story gives us a fuller view. His courage on the mountain was real. So was his distress in the wilderness. The Lord knew him fully in both places.

There is a kind of loneliness that comes from being the person others usually lean on. A parent may keep the household going through a hard week and then sit in the driveway for a few extra minutes because walking inside feels like one demand too many. A young person may spend the day encouraging friends and wonder that evening whom they can call. I hear an invitation in Elijah’s honesty. We can bring our actual words to God, even when all we can say is that we have reached the end of our strength. We can also say those words to someone who can sit beside us and help us get care. If Elijah’s wish to die sounds like what you are feeling today, tell someone you trust now and reach out for professional help. If you feel unable to keep yourself safe, contact your local emergency services now. Let someone come alongside you in this.

Did you know the angel brought food and water twice? (1 Kings 19:5–8)

The angel touches Elijah, and the prophet wakes to find bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water near his head. He eats, drinks, and lies down again. I might have passed quickly over that last detail if the narrator had left it there. But the angel comes back. The second visit makes clear that the Lord understands how demanding the journey will be. Elijah receives more food before he sets out for Horeb. Alistair Begg draws attention to the refreshment God provides before giving Elijah further work. I find myself lingering over the bread and the jar. Someone who could scarcely imagine going any farther was given something he could receive right where he was. The Lord knew the road ahead and cared for Elijah at the pace he could bear that day. There would be a time for walking and a time for listening. In that moment, there was bread within reach.

I think of how this changes the way we show up for someone after a difficult week. We sometimes say, “Let me know if you need anything,” and leave a tired person with another decision to make. A more useful question might be, “Could I bring supper on Thursday?” A ride, a grocery bag, or an hour of sitting with someone while a caregiver takes a break can meet a real need. And if I am the one receiving help, I can practice saying yes to a specific offer. That can feel harder than making the offer myself. I may be used to deciding how things will be done, or I may be afraid of owing someone a favor. Elijah’s second meal gives me room to consider how grace feels from the receiving end. Some days the next faithful thing is to accept what is offered, say thank you, and let somebody come back tomorrow.

Did you know Elijah heard a gentle whisper after the fire? (1 Kings 19:9–13)

Horeb, also known as Sinai, was the mountain associated with Moses and the giving of the covenant. When Elijah reaches it, the Lord asks him what he is doing there. Elijah answers by telling God what he has been carrying. Then come the wind, the earthquake, and the fire. The story pauses after each of these, and then comes what the NIV calls “a gentle whisper.” The Hebrew phrase qôl demāmâ daqqâ (קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה) brings together the ideas of sound and stillness. When Elijah hears it, he draws his cloak over his face and goes to the mouth of the cave. The God who answered by fire on Carmel meets him in quiet at Horeb. I wonder how long it took Elijah to adjust his attention after all that noise. I know how slowly my own thoughts settle when a difficult conversation or a piece of bad news is still echoing in my mind.

One way I have found to make room for Scripture on a noisy day is to stay with a short passage long enough to hear what it actually says. I can read Elijah’s exchange with God and pause over the question God asks him. What would I say if I answered it honestly? Perhaps I have been replaying a conversation because I am hurt. Perhaps I have been thinking about giving something up because I feel alone in carrying it. Once I have put that into words, I can return to the passage and notice what the Lord says to Elijah after hearing him. There is space here for an honest answer before there is an assignment. That gives me a way to pray when my thoughts are scattered. I can speak plainly about where I am and give God’s Word time to challenge the story I have been telling myself all day.

Did you know God had kept seven thousand faithful people Elijah couldn’t see? (1 Kings 19:14–18 and Romans 11:2–5)

Elijah tells the Lord he is the only one left. The Lord sends him back with work to do, tells him to appoint Elisha as his successor, and reveals that seven thousand in Israel have remained faithful to Him. The prophet had good reason to feel isolated. His view of what God was doing was still smaller than the work God had actually been doing. Paul returns to this scene in Romans 11:2–5 as he considers God’s faithfulness to Israel. He uses the Greek word leimma (λεῖμμα), “remnant,” and says that this people has been preserved by grace. Elijah had been looking around from the vantage point of one exhausted servant. The Lord could see the whole people He had kept. Even when Elijah could count only himself, God knew every one of the seven thousand. There is comfort in knowing how much faithfulness the Lord sees that never comes to our attention.

I think of the people who pray for a congregation long after they can attend regularly, or the teenager who quietly makes room for someone at lunch. Their faithfulness may be easy to miss from the front of a room. Elijah’s story makes me want to notice and thank people who have been quietly carrying part of the work. It also makes me willing to ask someone else to share in it. There is a difference between believing in the importance of a task and assuming I have to carry it by myself. God gave Elijah more work, and He also gave him a successor. When I read that, I think of the person who may be ready to learn something I have always done on my own. I can invite them to come along, show them what I know, and ask what they see that I have missed. Their presence may be one of the ways God refreshes me for the work ahead.

Read 1 Kings 19:4–18 today and notice where Elijah receives help before he takes his next step. Then name one kind of help you could receive or offer. If someone comes to mind, make the call while you are thinking of them.

Pastor Hogg

Before you press on, pause with The Journey and ask what the Lord may be giving you strength to do next.

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When the News and the Gospel Seem to Disagree

On Second Thought

“Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 1:5 NIV)

I know how easy it is to say, “Jesus reigns,” when I am singing alongside people who believe it. The words can feel harder to say when I am alone at the kitchen table, reading a message I wish had never come. The news may be true. Something has gone wrong, and it will have to be faced. What troubles me is how quickly I can begin to hear a second message underneath the first. If Christ is Lord, why does this situation seem so far from His care? Alistair Begg takes up that tension in his devotional on Revelation 1:4–5. It helps to remember that Revelation begins with a blessing for those who hear its words and take them to heart. I picture a congregation listening as the letter is read aloud. Before they hear about seals or trumpets, they hear a greeting of grace and peace. The first thing John wants them to receive is something they can carry home.

John writes from Patmos to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. He calls himself their companion in suffering and patient endurance (Revelation 1:9). The churches faced different troubles. In Smyrna, believers knew poverty and slander, and some were warned that they would face prison (Revelation 2:8–10). Imagine hearing that warning read among people whose faces you knew. You might look across the room at someone who had already paid a price for following Christ. John introduces Jesus as ho martys ho pistos (ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός), “the faithful witness.” Jesus has Himself borne faithful witness at great cost. His people can trust His account of their lives because He knows what suffering is and has gone through death ahead of them. His words to Smyrna carry that tenderness. He knows their affliction and can see riches in their life together that their neighbors might easily miss.

John also calls Jesus the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Those titles belong together. In Psalm 89:27, God promises to appoint David His bekhôr (בְּכוֹר), “firstborn,” giving him the place of highest honor among earthly kings. John echoes that royal language and places resurrection at its heart. The King over all other rulers is the One who has already passed through death into life. That gives me a way to pray when a situation feels too large for me. I can name exactly what has happened, admit how much I wish it were different, and then read those three titles slowly. I may still have a difficult phone call to make or a long wait ahead of me. The titles remind me whose word I can trust as I go through it. My circumstances can tell me what hurts. The risen Christ tells me what will last.

On Second Thought

When I ask Jesus to show me His power, I usually have a fairly clear idea of what I want to see. I want the door to open, the wrong to be put right, or the person I love to come home. Then I come to Revelation 5:5–6. John hears that the Lion of Judah has triumphed. When he looks, he sees a Lamb standing at the center of the throne, bearing the marks of slaughter. I can understand the instinct to look for a lion. I might have expected the marks of suffering to disappear once the victory was won. Yet John sees them at the very center of heaven’s worship. The wounds of the Lamb show us what His victory cost and how far His love was willing to go.

That changes the kind of answer I am prepared to recognize. I can still pray for the door to open. While I wait, the reign of Christ may become visible in someone who keeps a promise when breaking it would be easier, or in a congregation that remembers a family long after their trouble has stopped making news. Those acts can seem small from the outside. They take on a different weight when we see whose way of life they follow. If your circumstances have been doing most of the talking lately, read Revelation 1:4–5 aloud. Then ask the faithful Witness to help you keep one promise, make one honest confession, or show one kindness that will cost you something today. Someone near you may hear an echo of His peace through that act.

Pastor Hogg

When discouragement starts to sound convincing, bring one of its claims with you to The Battle and weigh it in the light of Christ’s words.

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Who Gets the Best Seat?

The Bible in a Year

“Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35 NIV)

On the road to Capernaum, Jesus told His disciples that He would be handed over, killed, and raised after three days. Mark says they were afraid to ask Him what He meant. They found another subject to talk about among themselves. By the time they reached the house, they had been arguing over which of them was the greatest. I can almost hear how quickly that conversation went quiet when Jesus asked what they had been discussing. I recognize something of myself in that silence. It is easy to call my concern a matter of fairness until I realize how much of it comes down to who got thanked, who was consulted, or whose name was mentioned first.

Jesus sat down, called the Twelve, and told them to become servants of all. The Greek phrase pantōn diakonos (πάντων διάκονος) puts the emphasis on the breadth of that service. I may be glad to help the people I know well or the people whose good opinion matters to me. The word all makes me think of the person I rarely talk to or the one whose need will interrupt my plans. Then Jesus made His point visible. He brought a child into the middle of the group and took the child in His arms. The disciples had been deciding which of them deserved the most attention. Jesus gave His attention to someone they could easily have overlooked. The child in Jesus’ arms shows us where a servant begins to look.

Theologian David Wells describes humility as a “freedom from our self.” I think of what happens when several people work hard on a project and someone else gets most of the credit. It can sting. And sometimes the work does need to be acknowledged, especially when others are overlooked. But I can ask myself a more searching question. How much of my joy in doing good depends on being seen doing it? When I can name someone else’s contribution with gladness, or finish a small task that will make tomorrow easier for someone who may never know I did it, I get a taste of the freedom Wells is describing.

A chapter later, James and John ask Jesus for the places at His right and left in glory. The old rivalry has surfaced again, and Jesus patiently brings the disciples back to His own example. He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). That word ransom takes us from the house in Capernaum to the cross. The Lord who asks us to put another person’s good ahead of our standing has already given Himself for us. We learn to serve by remembering how generously Christ has served us. His grace gives us room to face our rivalry honestly and begin again when it shows up.

Mark 9:33–37 shows what greatness means in the kingdom of God. Jesus calls His disciples to serve all and counts a welcome offered to a child in His name as a welcome offered to Him. As you read the passage today, picture the people you expect to see. Who is most likely to be passed over in that room, at that table, or in that conversation? Make room for that person. You might pull up a chair, ask what they think, or stay long enough to learn their name. Jesus gives us good reason to take that small welcome seriously.

Pastor Hogg

Take this question into The Journey today. Whom has Christ placed close enough for you to serve?

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