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 16, 2025, 10:34 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 14-15
Meditation Verses: 15:12-14
Thought
It seems the Sadducees are promoting their philosophy. Some in Corinth have decided that Christ's resurrection does not mean that we all will rise from the dead. Some have decided that there is no resurrection for the rest of us. Paul won't have it: If there is no resurrection for us, then there is no resurrection for Jesus either!
Oct 15, 2025, 7:31 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 12-13
Meditation Verses: 13:1-3
Thought
Tongues without love is just noise. I may have vision and wisdom and a powerful faith, but without love, I'm nothing. I may give away all my wealth to the poor and die as a martyr, but if I didn't do it from love, if I don't have true godly love, it's of no benefit to me. But if I have love, that will guide my use of these gifts and make me very careful how I use them, for the good of others and not for drawing attention to myself or puffing up myself.
Oct 14, 2025, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 10-11
Meditation Verses: 11:31-32
Thought
Judgment is an expression of mercy and wisdom. The goal is salvation, protection against eternal condemnation with the world. We do well to judge ourselves, individually, as carefully and strictly as possible according to the Word of God, not the ideas of men. If I judge myself carefully, no one else should need to, including God.
Oct 13, 2025, 9:13 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 8-9
Meditation Verses: 9:24-27
Thought
In a race or any other sporting event there is only one winner. Paul wants us to think in terms of only one winner in the race of life in Christ. But we know all who believe in Jesus gain eternity with God, so where's the urgency? We're in, right? Not if that thinking leads us to such laziness in terms of personal righteousness.
Oct 12, 2025, 9:31 AM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verse: 7:19
Thought
Knowing that there are commands and instructions about circumcision in the Law makes this seem like a paradoxical statement. If I desire to keep God's commands, shouldn't I be circumcised? Circumcision is a sign of the righteousness Abraham received by faith that produced obedience to God. But that sign became corrupted and distorted, such that circumcision came to be treated as the thing that makes you part of a saved community.
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 5, 2024, 1:04 PM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 14-15
Meditation Verses: 14:36-38
Thought
This is so true, not just in regard to Paul's teaching on the role of women in the church, but in every matter about which he taught. The Word of God did not originate with me or my generation, so what business do we have to change anything written in it? What business do we have to argue with anything recorded in the Scriptures?
Oct 4, 2024, 1:06 PM
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 12-13
Meditation Verse: 13:8
Thought
Love, agape love in this passage, is not a spiritual gift, but a spiritual discipline. It is learning and choosing to care for the needs, especially the spiritual needs, of others. Spiritual gifts can certainly be a part of helping others, but Paul says here that when true agape love comes, the spiritual gifts will take a back seat and even be laid aside. Spiritual gifts are exciting, but they can be used more to exalt self rather than seek the good of others.