One Year Bible Devotions

January 7, 2018

When my children were young and took too long to obey, I would say to them, “Slow obedience is no obedience.” Certainly, Abraham could not be accused of this. He was quick to obey God, as the Scripture says, “On that very day…” When Abraham believed, he obeyed. There was no disconnect between his faith and his obedience. Not only was he quick to obey, he obeyed fully. As the Scripture also says, “Just as God had told him.”

It is good to teach our children to obey us just as Abraham obeyed the Lord. Three attributes of obedience should be taught. In teaching, you might ask, “Johnny, how do you obey?” And his learned response should be, “Immediately, sweetly and completely.” This is good training for our children, but also good instruction for how we should obey the Lord.

January 6, 2018

What did Abram do to be considered righteous? It was not “what” he did, but “Who” he believed. For it was by believing the Lord that he was “counted as righteous.” The apostle Paul wrote of this saying, “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Rom. 4:23-24). When the crowds following Jesus asked, “‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:28-29).

Neither the Old, nor the New Testaments, teach that righteousness comes through law-keeping. Righteousness is credited to those who have put their faith in Jesus. As the Scripture says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

January 5, 2018

Abram began a pattern of going “down to Egypt” when famine hit the land of Canaan that his descendants also followed. Although it may not always have been the case, “going down to Egypt” often represented Israel’s dependence on the world rather than on God. Abram, whose name was later changed by God to Abraham, was a man of great faith, but he was also a man with all the shortcomings of humanity.

January 4, 2018

The Noahic (Rainbow) Covenant

Whether this was the first appearance of a rainbow or not, the rainbow was now a sign of God’s covenant with Noah and “all the earth.” (Some speculate that it was the first rainbow because the post-flood atmosphere of the earth was changed from its pre-flood condition – This is called the “canopy theory.” ) This covenant had three important features:
1) It’s an unconditional covenant. This covenant is based on God’s faithfulness, not man’s (Gen. 9:9).
2) It’s a universal covenant. It’s for “all the earth.” No one is excluded.
3) It’s an everlasting covenant. God said, “Never again will a flood destroy the earth” (Gen. 9:11).

The covenant God made with Noah and “all the earth” is still active today. The next time you see a rainbow, think of God’s faithfulness.

January 3, 2018

The Lord warned Noah about the coming worldwide deluge. He gave Noah specific instructions on how to build the ark, so that he, his family, and representatives from each animal kind would be saved from the flood.

Do you believe this account? Jesus did. He often referred to Noah and the flood when He spoke of the last days and His second coming:

“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37-39).

January 2, 2018

Genesis 3 tells the story of what the poet, John Milton called, “Paradise Lost.” For Adam and Eve gave in to the three-fold temptation of eating the forbidden fruit. Notice the three observations that Eve makes of the forbidden fruit: 1) It was “beautiful” to the eyes, 2) it looked like it would taste “delicious,” and 3) the serpent had promised it would make her wise “like God.” At the very “moment” of eating the fruit, humanity’s innocence was lost and so was paradise.

The apostle John recognized this three-fold weakness of humanity. He wrote, “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:16).

Yet, Jesus Christ, as the “second Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45-49), has overcome this three-fold temptation (see Matt. 4:1-11). So, that when we are found in Christ, we are overcomers too (1 John 5:5).