Daily Bible Devotionals

“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 (HCSB)

A friend of mine is very wealthy. When I asked if he grew up rich, he said, “No.” When I asked how he succeeded, he said, “While everyone else was partying, I was studying. Now, I can party.”

Last week, I challenged you to read the New Testament, a chapter each day. I am also personally committed to doing the same so that we can grow in community. So, how’s your first week going? Are you diligent or belligerent? Has it been easy, or has it been a battle?

It seems like there’s never enough time to do everything we want. There is a high-stakes battle for our attention. Advertisers pay millions for 30 seconds of your Super Bowl time. If we never had to sleep, it seems there still would not be enough time to engage in all the activities (offered by so many various entities) begging for our attention.

Why do we often find ourselves too tired for God or His Word at the end of the day? Ask yourself, have you included God in your list of options, or have you committed to making every option subject to spending quality time with God?

Do you find yourself sprinting down the “broad road’, trying to redeem a wasted past?

“In high school, I could throw a football a quarter mile! If Coach had only put me in, we woulda’ took State. I woulda’ gone Pro….” Uncle Rico - Napoleon Dynamite

Matthew warns us that the “broad road” bottlenecks in a multi-car pileup. But it’s not too late to turn around. The Psalms encourage that God establishes the steps (and lights the way) of His children. The “narrow road” will broaden and be leveled beneath your feet as you follow the Lord by faith.

Let’s seek the “narrow way” together, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, faithfully pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God! (Philippians 3:13-14)

Keep reading the Bible together, praying this simple prayer, “Lord, give me something today from Your Word, and give me someone to share it with!” Let’s be among the few who find the way that leads to life and invite a few more folks along the way.

“‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’” Jeremiah 6:16a (NIV)

“‘So don’t worry, saying “What will we eat” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.  Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.’” Matthew 6:31-34 (HCSB)

My family is from Arkansas.  We’re SO Southern that my mom’s name is Dixie!  One time we were asked to leave a Chinese restaurant after my mom wandered into their family shrine and asked my dad to take a photo of her tickling Buddha’s belly while she said, “Koochy-koochy-coo!”

After that episode, whenever I heard a preacher talking about idolatry, the only image I had was of Dixie rubbing Siddhartha’s tummy.  I wondered, “How could those people be so crazy as to believe that an idol carved from wood or stone (or pressed in plastic) has the power to bless or curse them?” I was so glad Americans aren’t idol worshippers.  Well, try telling that to Simon Cowell of American Idol fame.

An idol is anything that you assign power to bless (or curse) you.  An idol is anything (intended or not) that you trust more than God or the Bible.  

How does this look in our culture?  Let’s see.  Are you satisfied with your wardrobe?  Do you feel more powerful or attractive when you wear certain outfits?  What about the clothes that you just sent to Goodwill?  Did they use to make you feel powerful but somehow they lost their “power” last season?

What about cars, electronics, or comfort foods?  Americans are no less idolaters than any other pagan culture.  It’s just that our idolatry is more sophisticated.  We are all guilty to some extent, including me.  Now, there is nothing wrong with owning nice things or being fashionably trendy.  The sin is the power and worship we ascribe to such things.  Power and worship belong to God alone.

To quote the great theologian Mick Jaggar of the Rolling Stones: “You can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need.” Of course, Mick Jaggar was as far from a theologian as a person could be, but the Bible says God knows what we need, so don’t worry about fashion or food.  We should always be keen to focus our worship on the Provider instead of His provision.

“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?” Matthew 5:43-46 (HCSB)

I’ve heard from colleagues that Gospel singer CeCe Winans used to wake up before everyone else on her tour bus. She would be studying her Bible in the front lounge when, one by one, her band members awoke. As soon as they reached for the coffee pot, she would say, “The Lord woke you up today, and He didn’t have to. Now, why do you think that is?”

God has been gracious to me. For 20 years, I chose to ignore the gospel, and I chose the World’s way. Quite honestly, the World seemed more fun! Nothing about the gospel seemed more attractive than the World. I used to laugh at followers of Jesus for so blindly believing in something I felt scientists could easily explain away.

I was pretty much done with “God,” but there was that nagging feeling deep inside that kept drawing me back. I felt empty in my Worldly pursuits and began to wonder if the Lord was right after all. God never stopped calling out to me.

Why did God keep pursuing me, even though I continued to choose the World over Him? He sent messenger after messenger to tell me that Jesus is the Messiah. Finally, one of those messengers connected.

What I connected with was the LOVE of Messiah, even more than the music or the preaching. I met someone who lived as if they knew Jesus personally, and that person loved me enough to persistently try to introduce me to Him. LOVE made that person different from all the others I had met who claimed to be believers. I wanted that kind of relationship with God, where I could receive and share His LOVE. So, I prayed and asked God for His forgiveness. I surrendered control of my life to Jesus, and at that moment, my life was changed for all eternity.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NKJV)

“But God proves His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” Romans 5:8 (NKJV)

It is incredible to me that God LOVES us so much that He would wake us up this morning, design something for us to do, and choose to challenge us to choose Him again.

Why do you think He woke you up today? Perhaps, He wants you to read His Word, so He can, again, reveal the depth of His LOVE for you (and for all who are perishing) so that you can remember the urgency of the gospel and share His LOVE with others.

“Jesus was going all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness among the people.”  Matthew 4:23 (HCSB)

Before moving to California, my family and I lived in suburban Chicago, the #2 least-churched city in America. A person’s success in Chicago seems dependent upon their willingness to get up early and work late. In a word, it’s driven.

Soon after school began, it became apparent that our family needed to have a Bible study before school. We started in Matthew chapter 1, and each day I would teach something from the next chapter. Sound familiar?

When we got to Matthew Chapter 4, I asked, “What was the good news of the kingdom that Jesus was teaching and preaching?” My daughter Ruth answered quickly, “That Jesus died for us?” Nope. Jesus preached this message three years before He died.  

So, what was the “good news” Jesus was preaching?  

The good news that Jesus was preaching is straightforward: God can be trusted to fulfill His promises. Four hundred years had passed since Israel’s last prophet. Fourteen generations had passed since their exile to Babylon. Had God forsaken His promises and covenant with Israel? Not in the least.

Messiah was standing before Israel, accompanied by signs & wonders. Jesus came first to the Jew, then to the Gentile, because the promises were given to the Jew first.  The Jews who believed God’s promises of Messiah were looking & praying for the “deliverer.” Jesus came at the time that God appointed, and He didn’t just heal a few sick people. He healed every kind of sickness, including the root of all sickness, sin.

Are you searching for deliverance? Do you feel lonely, forsaken by God? I have GOOD NEWS for you: God CAN be trusted!‍

“For whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13 (NKJV)

God has promised never to leave or forsake His children. Because He was faithful to fulfill His promise concerning the atoning work of Messiah, we know that God’s yet-to-be-fulfilled promises to believers (including spending eternity with Him in Heaven because of our faith in Jesus) can be trusted, as well.

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of Heaven has come near!” For he is the one spoken through the prophet Isaiah, who said: “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way for the Lord; make His paths straight!’” Matthew 3:1-3 (HCSB)

When John came preaching in the desert, there were perilous times for Israel. Both the Roman and Israeli religious leaders were oppressing the people. In terms of a pendulum, Roman culture swung way over to the left. It was Worldly, liberal, and cutthroat. On the other hand, Jewish religious culture had swung too far to the right. Void of grace, it was fanatically religious. Things had not changed much since the days of Isaiah, so a prophet in the “spirit of Isaiah” was needed to preach repentance.

Sadly, not many people heeded Isaiah’s warnings, so in the days of Jeremiah, God sent Babylon to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem. Similarly, in 70 AD, around the end of the apostolic era, the Romans also destroyed the Temple.

Still, the preacher must preach because he is called by the Lord to deliver the gospel. Our job is to be faithful to God’s Word, and God’s job is to produce results. Many people repented and turned back to the Lord in the days of John the Baptist. And while that desire to follow the Lord, in and of itself, did not lead to salvation, it made many people able to see Messiah once He was finally standing in front of them!

John was letting everyone know there was another way. It was not the broad ways of liberalism or religious legalism. It was the narrow path, the true way.

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:6 (HCSB)

The cry of John the Baptist was for the people to turn to the Lord. The “baptism” of John was a baptism of repentance, and it signified a person’s desire to be “immersed” in (re-committed to) the Lord, but how could they seek Him if the national religion had become so corrupt? By seeking God’s Word, perhaps they could distance themselves from the legalistic misinterpretations of both the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Romans’ worldly idolatry and practices. When we seek His Word, He reveals Himself to us.

By repenting and receiving the baptism of John, the people of Israel would not eliminate their need for Messiah. But repentance (turning toward the Lord) would facilitate Jesus’ mission to atone for sin on the cross. Imagine a nation of people who understood Who Messiah would be (God made flesh), when He should come to earth and what His mission was (atone for sin through suffering).

Similar to the days of John the Baptist, the first act of following Jesus today is repenting. We are not saved by repentance but by the desire to turn from our sin is still the act that precedes receiving the Grace of Jesus, by Grace, through Faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“So he (Joseph) got up, took the child and His mother, and entered the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that He will be called a Nazarene.” Matthew 2:21-23 (HCSB)

My father is retired from the oil business. One of the drawbacks of my dad’s job was that we moved around a lot. By the time I entered 6th grade, I had lived in 5 different cities.

I believe the Lord used those re-location experiences to prepare me to serve Him as an adult. Every time we moved meant a whole new set of experiences. I often draw from those experiences whenever I communicate the gospel, as I’m doing right now!

My dad once told me that if he could do it all over again, he would have just stayed in one town and raised his family in a more “sheltered” environment. My dad’s retrospective desire (to have stayed in one town) may have eliminated certain emotional and logistic conflicts, but it would not have prepared me for God’s unique call on my life.

I believe Joseph planned to take young Jesus straight from Egypt to Jerusalem. We can assume this because the Scripture says Joseph was headed straight for Judea. Jerusalem is in Judea, and the angel told Joseph & Mary that Jesus was the Messiah.

Any Jew who knew Israel’s Biblical history (especially a righteous Judean like Joseph) would know that all the great Jewish kings were enthroned in Jerusalem. Little did Joseph know, as Jesus would later say, “It is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem!” In Joseph, we find a similar decision-making dilemma akin to his errant (yet well-intended) plans to divorce Mary quietly. The Lord needed to intervene.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way to death.” Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)

Trying to do something on God’s behalf that He never called you to do is a recipe for disillusionment. No Divine calling means no Divine equipping to complete the task. Had Joseph done what seemed right to him and decided to settle in Jerusalem, Jesus would never have survived all the vicious, exploitative opportunistic self-seekers swarming around the Temple. Can you imagine someone boasting, “I taught the Messiah all He knows; buy my book!”? Did God have a plan for Jesus in Jerusalem? Yes. Did Joseph understand from the Scriptures that Jesus’ ministry would eventually wind up in Jerusalem? Yes. Did Joseph comprehend all that needed to happen between Jesus’ boyhood and His manhood? Nope.

We may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds it. God doesn’t usually unfold His plans to us, and often His wisdom is understood in hindsight. He simply commands us to trust Him, seek Him and His direction daily, and follow His leading, just as we are seeking Him today.

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Matthew 1. Click the links below to watch or listen.