Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Oct 31, 2023, 2:34 AM
Passage Read: 2 Peter 2-3
Meditation Verses: 3:10-12
Thought
The right response to the coming of the Lord and the destruction of this earth is to live holy and godly lives, looking forward to the destruction of this place and the creation of a new heavens and new earth. There should be no love of this place, but a dislike of it and the sin that so thoroughly corrupts it! There should be no love of the people, but a desire to see them repent! There should be a separation, a commitment to live in such a way as to be found spotless and blameless and at peace with God, not men.
Oct 29, 2023, 2:35 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 5 - 2 Peter 1
Meditation Verses: 2 Peter 1:10-11
Thought
We should be continually growing in these areas that Peter points out, so that we can make our calling and election sure, to make sure we will never fail, and to ensure that we receive a rich welcome into Jesus's eternal kingdom. There are many who join the church and grow some in their knowledge of Christ and even their obedience to Him, but they fade out, they give up, they stop growing. Eventually they fall away.
Oct 27, 2023, 2:37 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 3-4
Meditation Verse: 4:7
Thought
The end of all things is near. Every generation since Peter is supposed to think that, so that they will adjust their priorities and live for the kingdom rather than for the world. Peter makes immediate application: Be clear minded and self-controlled, so that you can pray. Recognizing the nearness of the end of all things should drive me to be clear minded, to recognize what is truly important, and to be self-controlled, to direct my energies and efforts into doing what matters, which includes prayer in a significant place.
Oct 26, 2023, 2:38 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 1-2
Meditation Verses: 2:18-23
Thought
What Christ did applies to everyone, not just slaves. What Christ did, enduring the unjust persecution and murder at the hands of authorities, He did as an example for all of us who follow Him. We are called to follow in His footsteps, enduring even unjust treatment because we are conscious of God, and because we entrust ourselves to His perfect and just judgment. We have trouble accepting this truth because we make so much of this life and our rights to a happy one this side of eternity.
Oct 25, 2023, 2:56 AM
Passage Read: James 4-5
Meditation Verses: 4:7-10
Thought
Living for my own pleasures is friendship with the world; James links these two things. The only solution is to purify my heart and mind, to stop loving the world and being its friend. Either I love the Lord by humbling myself before Him, weeping and mourning over my sin and the world's sin, or I seek my own pleasures, just as everyone in the world does. I live for this life and the things of this world, or I humble myself before God, resist the devil, wash my hands and purify my heart.
Oct 24, 2023, 2:57 AM
Passage Read: James 2-3
Meditation Verses: 2:1-5
Thought
How easy it is to fall into this trap, seeking the favor of rich men and ignoring or belittling the poor, especially when we are involved in an endeavor that depends on money. A church, a mission agency, a business, everyone wants a rich patron, so everyone curries the favor of rich men, hoping that one might adopt our cause. Who cares about the poor man? He has no money for himself, let alone for our cause! He's going to cost money, not contribute.
Oct 23, 2023, 1:44 AM
Passage Read: Hebrews 13 - James 1
Meditation Verses: Hebrews 13:5-6
Thought
Keeping my life free from the love of money requires being content with what I have. If I'm not content, I will need more money. If I am content with what I have, I won't need any more money. I actually have enough not only to live on but also to gradually pay back my debt. The only drawback is I have so little time to serve the kingdom, and I think that is what God has in mind with such instructions. Paul says godliness with contentment is great gain.
Oct 22, 2023, 1:45 AM
Passage Read: Hebrews 11-12
Meditation Verses: 11:13-16
Thought
Just a few verses earlier, the author mentions that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were living in tents, like strangers, in the land promised to them. They didn't build houses or settle down as if they owned the place. Not until Joshua brought the Israelites in did any of them live in houses. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived like strangers in the land because they recognized that it was not yet theirs to own.
Oct 21, 2023, 1:47 AM
Passage Read: Hebrews 9-10
Meditation Verses: 10:26-29
Thought
The author makes the case at the beginning of this chapter that we have been made perfect through Jesus' death and resurrection. Here he makes it clear that if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving instruction and knowledge about that wrong behavior, then we are trampling the Son of God underfoot, we are treating as unholy His blood that washed us, and we are insulting the Spirit of grace. That's not good!
Oct 20, 2023, 1:48 AM
Passage Read: Hebrews 7-8
Meditation Verses: 8:10-12
Thought
The New Covenant is that the Lord forgives our sins and remembers our wickedness no more, which allows us to know the Lord because He puts His laws in our minds and writes them on our hearts. He becomes our God and we become His people. The New Covenant is not just that our sins are forgiven, but that we are changed, we are made aware of His laws; they are written into our hearts and minds so that we are able to remember them and keep them.