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 11, 2025, 12:06 PM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verses: 4:2-5
Thought
"Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time." What a strange thing to write, when he had already asked the Corinthians to judge what he writes and he will shortly warn them that he is coming to discipline them and that they should judge the immoral man in their fellowship! In his instructions about communion, he tells us to judge ourselves so that we will not come under judgment!
Oct 10, 2025, 3:29 PM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 2-3
Meditation Verses: 3:3-4
Thought
Boasting about men, boasting about who we follow, there should be none of this among mature Christians, wise Christians. Mature Christians recognize that all honorable teachers are each given by God. There is no need to divide ourselves by whom we claim to follow, because each of those teachers should recognize that they all serve one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oct 9, 2025, 11:55 AM
Passage Read: Romans 16 - 1 Corinthians 1
Meditation Verses: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Thought
Ouch! This is a brutal truth, but a vital one, to help us keep all things in perspective, to help us keep Christ as the center and most valuable thing in our life. It is hard to think about who I really am, that I am a nobody, not the smartest guy in the room, insignificant and unimportant. I am a lowly and despised thing, chosen by God out of His mercy as a rebuke to those who think they are all that!
Oct 8, 2025, 7:33 AM
Passage Read: Romans 14-15
Meditation Verses: 15:15-16
Thought
Paul is writing to a group of believers that clearly contains both Jews and Gentiles, and he has written strong words and specific instructions to each group. There is a great temptation for some with personal convictions to insist that others also walk by their convictions. One of the hardest things about being a mixed group is discerning between God's instruction for all and things I have chosen to do in response to God's instruction.
Oct 7, 2025, 7:17 AM
Passage Read: Romans 12-13
Meditation Verse: 12:6
Thought
This sounds like permission to do little, if that's all the faith that I have. If I have just a little faith then only need to exercise my gift a little. Then I'm free to busy myself with other things, worldly things that have no eternal significance, because that's how much faith I have. Surely God will not be pleased with those who think this way, who take advantage of His instructions to do as little as they can for His Kingdom, to seek and serve Him with just the bare minimum effort.
Oct 6, 2025, 7:22 AM
Passage Read: Romans 10-11
Meditation Verse: 11:32
Thought
God has hardened all men, handing them all over in bondage to disobedience, so that He may display His mercy to all men. All have been given over to disobedience, so I should not be surprised that anyone walks in disobedience to God! They know nothing else and can do nothing else! God's intent is that all men are offered mercy, and those whom He chooses are granted mercy.
Oct 5, 2025, 9:06 AM
Passage Read: Romans 8-9
Meditation Verse: 9:18
Thought
God chooses to whom He will grant mercy, and He chooses who's hearts He will harden. That's the biggest reason that salvation is not by our works. There may be those who faithfully perform all the rituals, yet they are not saved. And there may be those who do not do all the things "righteous people" think they're supposed to do, yet they are saved.
Oct 4, 2025, 8:44 AM
Passage Read: Romans 6-7
Meditation Verse: 6:19
Thought
Whatever we were before believing in Jesus Christ, we now have both the power and the responsibility to choose to walk in righteousness. We have no excuse to sin. Paul uses the human concept of slavery to describe our past condition and our current duty: We formerly were slaves to sin and readily did what sin required of us.
Oct 3, 2025, 4:43 PM
Passage Read: Romans 4-5
Meditation Verses: 4:23-25
Thought
The righteousness that saves and assures a believe of salvation is an absolute gift given to those who believe and trust in Jesus' death as payment for our sins and in His resurrection, which justifies us before God. Salvation is not a gift to those who obey the Law, as if they had made themselves righteous and worthy of eternal life, because no one keeps the Law perfectly.
Oct 2, 2025, 7:19 AM
Passage Read: Romans 2-3
Meditation Verses: 2:3-6
Thought
Paul just condemned the world, all the unrighteous for their suppression of God's truth by their evil deeds. He pointed out that God gave them over to unnatural sexual desires as a demonstration of His wrath upon them. But their evil is not limited to these perverted lusts, but also all kinds of evil and rebellion and disobedience to parents and all kinds of other wrong behavior.
- ← Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3 (current)
- 4
- Next →