Read 2 Corinthians 10:12–18 It is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. 2 Corinthians 10:18 How does God approve our work? By testing it. The Greek word translated “approved” in verse 18 means “approved by testing.” There is a future...
Read Job 20:1—21:6 Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me. Job 21:2 Listen to Job’s appeal to his friends that they try to understand how he feels. “If you really want to console me, just keep quiet and listen” (v. 2, author’s paraphrase). The...
Read Isaiah 40:2–26 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8 The book of Isaiah can be called “a Bible in miniature.” The thirtynine chapters in the first part of Isaiah may be compared to the Old Testament books, and both...
Read Ecclesiastes 5:8–20 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. Ecclesiastes 5:10 The late Joe Louis, world heavyweight boxing champion, used to say, “I don’t like money, actually, but it quiets my nerves.” But Solomon said that possessing wealth is no...
Read Ecclesiastes 1:9–11 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. Ecclesiastes 1:10 A young man approached me at a conference and asked if he could share some new ideas for youth ministry....
Read Isaiah 57—59 Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Isaiah 59:9 There was a great deal of injustice in the land, with the rich exploiting the poor and the...
Read 1 Corinthians 8 We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 1 Corinthians 8:1 It has well been said, “Knowledge without love is brutality, but love without knowledge is hypocrisy.” Paul’s great concern was that the strong saints help the weaker saints to...
Read Ecclesiastes 1:3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:3 The society that Solomon investigated a millennium before the birth of Christ was not too different from our world today. Solomon saw injustice to the poor, crooked politics, incompetent leaders,...
Read Colossians 3:16–17 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 Psalms were the songs taken from the Old Testament. For...
Read Isaiah 49 I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 49:6 “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus,” wrote Robert Murray McCheyne. “A holy minister [servant] is...