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
Sep 2, 2025, 7:29 AM
Passage Read: Luke 17-18
Meditation Verses: 17:1-6
Thought
How often have I read these two verses and heard the doom of the one who causes a little one to sin. And of course I think of truly wicked people who have no hope of repentance. But then it is immediately followed by Jesus' command to "watch yourselves." And the latter is tied to the former by a "so." In other words, the required response to the deserved judgment of one who causes little ones to sin is to rebuke the one who sinned, not to write off such a sinner!
Sep 1, 2025, 8:20 AM
Passage Read: Luke 15-16
Meditation Verses: 16:9-12
Thought
Worldly wealth is ultimately for one purpose: To make friends who will welcome us into heaven, or in other words, for the purpose of helping others be saved. It is not primarily for my comfort or even my provision, though providing for my basic needs is fine--yet the widow was praised for giving all she had to live on to the Lord. All I possess and all I earn are best spent on advancing Christ's kingdom and even better, personally helping others believe in Him.
Aug 31, 2025, 7:51 AM
Passage Read: Luke 13-14
Meditation Verses: 13:1-5
Thought
Jesus' response to these tragedies suggests that the people all held the idea that when someone dies unnaturally or even cruelly, it must have been because they did evil. In fact, they must have done more evil than the average person, to have their life cut short. That would fit with the teaching of Scripture, because God promises a long and peaceful life to those who walk in His ways.
Aug 30, 2025, 10:24 AM
Passage Read: Luke 11-12
Meditation Verses: 11:27-28
Thought
This is such an interesting statement from a modern perspective. This woman sounds like an ancient times feminist! It doesn't have to be read that way, of course, she can just be saying how proud Jesus' mother must be to see her son speaking such wisdom and proclaiming God's truth and performing great miracles! But wouldn't his father also be proud? Why no mention of him? It is also a backhanded compliment to Jesus.
Aug 29, 2025, 8:32 AM
Passage Read: Luke 9-10
Meditation Verses: 10:8-12
Thought
Jesus references Sodom first as comparison to the judgment the rejecting town will receive. Does He also have in mind the same reception/rejection that the angels received in Sodom? Is He telling his disciples that when they come to a town, first sit in the town square and see if there's anyone who will welcome them into their home and give them a place to stay? Or should they go into town preaching and see if there's still someone willing to receive them into their home?
Aug 28, 2025, 12:15 PM
Passage Read: Luke 7-8
Meditation Verses: 7:29-30
Thought
John came to prepare a people for the Lord. He did so by preaching and warning the people to repent; he even gave specific examples of how their repentance should look. Tax collectors, soldiers and many other sinners came to him to be baptized in repentance. That's why there were so many tax collectors and sinners ready to believe in Jesus, to spend time with Him and learn from Him. They had already come to repentance under John's preaching!
Aug 27, 2025, 7:59 AM
Passage Read: Luke 5-6
Meditation Verses: 5:30-32
Thought
The Pharisees are upset that Jesus is dining at the feast Levi throws for Him. Levi has come to faith and is delighted that Jesus has called him to follow Him. He wants to share the joy of what he has found with his friends, all of whom are sinners and tax collectors, many who would like salvation but perhaps feel there's no hope for them. Jesus, of course, goes because that is why He came into the world, to preach the gospel to those who need it and call the unrighteous to repentance!
Aug 26, 2025, 8:16 AM
Passage Read: Luke 3-4
Meditation Verses: 3:7-10
Thought
John evidently preached of the wrath to come, because then he asks the crowd, "Who warned you to flee?" John did! He calls them a brood of vipers and warns them to repent if they want to be saved. He's doing everything wrong, as far as many in the Church today think. Surely there were many who were insulted and provoked to anger, Herod being the most powerful of them. But the crowd responds in humility, the kind God is seeking, the kind that saves.
Aug 25, 2025, 7:53 AM
Passage Read: Luke 1-2
Meditation Verses: 2:49-50
Thought
Did Mary and Joseph forget that Jesus was the Son of God? Surely by this time, they had other children and Jesus fit in like all the rest of them. Did He lead His young brothers and sisters in good behavior, so that they weren't continually reminded of His holiness? We're they so devout that they led their family well in God's ways, so that they lost sight of Jesus' uniqueness? How could they not understand Jesus' statement that He had to be in His Father's house?
Aug 26, 2024, 2:19 AM
Passage Read: Luke 23-24
Meditation Verse: 24:47
Thought
"Repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations:" this is the Gospel. Not simply believe in Jesus for forgiveness of sins, but repentance for forgiveness, forgiveness which is only possible because of Jesus, His death and resurrection. Forgiveness isn't granted because we believe there is a man accredited from God by miracles and great teachings, by death and resurrection.