Today's Reading What do you value most? In our reading today, we see that people will do anything to acquire that which they consider to be of greatest value. Leah and Rachel value children above all else and because of this they are willing to scheme, allow their husband to commit adultery, give in to jealousy and rationalize a myriad of other sins. The pursuit of children has become their god and the obsession of their lives. Having kids may or may not be what you value above all else but  Read More

Today's Reading I find Leah to be one of the most intriguing figures in the Bible. She was married off to a man who thought he was marrying someone else but then somehow believed she could earn his love by having sons for him. This belief that she could earn Jacob's love would leave her sorely disappointed. It seems from Genesis 29:35 that she had learned her lesson and finally stopped trying to please her husband but instead chose to praise God. Yet as we will see from tomorrow's  Read More

Today's Reading As we saw with the sin of Adam and Eve, the consequences of sin are more than we can imagine. Genesis 27 reminds us once again how severe sin always is. The sin in this chapter starts with the favoritism of Isaac towards Esau and Rebekah towards Jacob. This created disunity in their family and eventually led to Jacob dressing up as Esau in order to steal his blessing. Notice how this sin ripples out into anger, possible murder and greater disunity in their family as Jacob is  Read More

January 11 Today's Reading There are great blessings in following Jesus but there is also a cost. In Matthew 8 we see a series of people claim they want to follow Jesus and each time we see Jesus put the cost in front of them. Are they willing to follow Jesus when it means that they have no place to sleep or call home? Are they willing to put their allegiance to Jesus above any earthly connections? These are not only the questions they had to answer but that we must answer for ourselves. I  Read More

Today's Reading In Genesis 24, we see that Abraham is coming to the end of his life. Abraham has faithfully followed God and obeyed Him with his life. For his faithfulness and belief in God, he has been blessed beyond measure. On his deathbed, Abraham has entrusted his faithful (senior) servant to find a wife for his son, Isaac, from Abraham's people, from his homeland (Gen. 24:1-5). Worried he will fail on his quest; God reassures the servant that his journey will be a success (Gen.   Read More

January 9 Today's Reading Abraham begins our reading by living in a way that reveals no trust or faith in God. He is so concerned that the people he is living among have "no fear of God"; that he lives without a fear or faith in God but rather a fear of the people. This causes him to lie about Sarah being his wife by claiming that she is only his sister. Yet despite Abraham's lack of integrity God continues to bless him and his family. God doesn't ultimately operate in res  Read More

January 8 Today's Reading When we think of God we often amplify certain attributes above others. We may think of him as loving, which is true, but in doing so may not consider that he is also perfectly just. In today's reading we see God as perfectly merciful while also being perfectly just. He is merciful in that he is willing to negotiate with Abraham regarding saving the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is merciful as he saves Lot, Lot's wife and their daughters. He is also   Read More

January 7 Today's Reading Yesterday we challenged ourselves to notice the unseen rather than the seen, and the eternal rather than the temporal. In today's reading, we see the challenge not only of seeing with 'spiritual' eyes but trusting God when life doesn't make sense to us. Abraham and Sarah had been promised a child by God but in their old age this didn't seem like a promise that could possibly be fulfilled. So they trusted in their own creativity rather than God.  Read More

January 6 Today's Reading A theme found throughout the Bible is that we as people tend to focus on the external and superficial, rather than the internal and deeper realities of life. We see that in multiple ways in our reading today. When Lot and Abram decide that is necessary to split up, Lot chooses the land which seems more fertile but this choice will ultimately be the undoing of him and his family. He failed to see accurately that though the land was luscious, sin was more so. Furthe  Read More

January 4 Today's Reading Sometimes life may make us feel like God has abandoned or forgotten us. I would assume that there were days when Noah and his family may have felt that way in the ark. We are told at the end of yesterday’s reading that the “waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.” When I have gone on cruises after a few days I feel like I am ready to get off the ship for good. Yet Noah and his family spent months and months wondering what was going  Read More

January 4 Today's Reading Sometimes life may make us feel like God has abandoned or forgotten us. I would assume that there were days when Noah and his family were in the ark they may have felt that way. We are told at the end of yesterday's reading that the “waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.” When I have gone on cruises after a few days I feel like I am ready to get off the ship for good. Yet Noah and his family spent months and months wondering what  Read More

January 3 Today's Reading The sinful actions of Adam and Eve quickly lead to a world filled with rebellion. As we see from our reading today, this rebellion is encouraged by forces inside and outside of people. Genesis 6:5 speaks of how the inclination of the hearts of the people was to do "only evil all the time." They didn't need a cheerleader encouraging them to sin, it is what they sought to do themselves. Yet the temptation of Jesus describes a different reality since th  Read More