Devotional

Still Fruitful for God

19 January 2025, 12:00 am

There’s an old folktale about a woman who carried water home every day from a river using two buckets at either end of a long pole—one bucket new and solid, the other much older and cracked. When the woman got home, the new bucket was still full, but the old bucket almost empty. The old bucket felt badly and apologized. The woman turned and pointed back down the road and asked the old bucket, “Do you see all those flowers, growing on your side of the road? Every day you water them, and my walk to and from the river is always filled with beauty.”

We live in a world that worships and rewards youth—the young and solid, unscarred and efficient. Yet God’s Word clearly tells us of a righteous beauty that comes from the older and weaker, maybe even cracked and leaky. “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,” said the old songwriter, “they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon” (Psalm 92:12).

Granted, old is not always synonymous with wise, but the old contribute to our lives in ways the young can’t because they’ve lived a little longer, experienced a little more, and stand a little more rooted, flourishing in faith and trust in God. Such people “will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” (v. 14).

Older adults in our lives continue to bear beautiful fruit. Let’s take the time to care and see it.

Made Right with Jesus

18 January 2025, 12:00 am

“We’re ready to board our flight to Montego Bay,” came the announcement. I was traveling as a speaker for and leader of a high school group on a missions trip to Jamaica. I reached into my backpack for my boarding pass and passport—and panic hit. My passport was gone!

Our group boarded the plane without me, and I faced four days of frantic efforts trying to get a new passport. After hundreds of phone calls, a fruitless trip to Washington DC, a long drive back to Grand Rapids, Michigan, two days in a nearby city, and the help of our local congresswoman’s office—I finally got a new passport and could join my group in Jamaica.

A passport. A simple little book—but my only guarantee to where I wanted to go. As hard as I worked to get that new document, its value pales in comparison to something that will determine our eternal destination: faith in Jesus, which is the only guarantee of receiving salvation from our sins and new life in Him.

Scripture says, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Paul was describing the reality that the dawn of salvation arrived in Christ. By belief in Him, we can experience God’s love and His redemptive, restoring work in all creation. Today, let’s make sure that we truly know what it means to “be made right with God through Christ” (5:21 nlt).

Don’t Lose Heart

17 January 2025, 12:00 am

Weary. That’s how Satya felt after nine months in his new job. As a believer in Jesus, he’d sought to follow God’s principles in the way he solved problems and directed the work. But people-related problems persisted, and little organizational progress seemed to have been made. He felt like throwing in the towel.

Perhaps, like Satya, you’re feeling tired. You know the good that you ought to do, but simply feel too emotionally and physically drained to carry on. Take heart. The apostle Paul encourages us with these words: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). He uses the metaphor of a farmer. And, as any farmer knows, sowing is hard work.

Sowing to “please the Spirit” (v. 8) is hard work too. Believers in Jesus who seek to follow the Spirit’s lead and live a life that honors Him can grow faint and lose heart. But as we hang on to His promise, the harvest will come. We’ll “reap eternal life” (v. 8; see John 17:3)—a bumper crop of God’s blessing when Christ returns, and in this life, we’ll have the confidence and joy that come from knowing Christ. We’ll reap at the proper time, a time determined not by seasons or the weather but by the will of a perfect God. Until the harvest comes, let’s keep sowing in God’s strength.

Easy and Hard

16 January 2025, 12:00 am

Mark was a promising young pastor. Then one morning his son, Owen, collapsed and died while kicking a ball with him. Mark was devastated and still grieves the loss. But through his pain he’s become a more compassionate pastor. I’ve mourned with Mark and wondered if his trial illustrates A. W. Tozer’s insight, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” I fear that’s true.

Then again, perhaps it’s not that simple. We learn about the complexity of God’s ways by observing the exodus of Israel. God led the young nation out of Egypt on an easy road, saying of Israel, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt” (Exodus 13:17). Yet a few verses later God told Moses to double back so Pharaoh would rally his army and come out to fight (14:1-4). Pharaoh took the bait. The Israelites “were terrified and cried out to the Lord” (v. 10). Moses chided them, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (v. 14).

God uses both easy and hard paths to grow His people and bring Him glory. He promised, “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord” (v. 4). So did Israel. So can we. God is building our faith through every test, whether easy or hard. When life is easy, rest in Him. When life is hard, let Him carry you.