Devotional

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear […]

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13–14 Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had likely been on a hillside overlooking […]

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a […]

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7–8 As Christians, we are called to advance the kingdom of God and effect change in […]

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your […]

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:33–34 This call of Jesus to His followers to “seek first the kingdom of God” is in […]

Therefore I say to you, do not do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25–32 Doctors and researchers say that stress is more responsible than […]

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24 I’ve talked to people over the years who, in considering service to God and in some cases even […]

If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Matthew 6:23 Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther stood before a hostile court. He was being accused of heresy. Yet, despite immense pressure, he stood firm. He was convinced […]

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. Matthew 6:22 In the Sermon on the Mount, we have seen that it is God’s intention for the church to be radically distinct from the world. In order for that to happen, we […]