Empty Water Jars
What is easier to say: Fill the jars with water, or Bring your empty water jars?
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Keeping Christmas Well. . . by Seeing Your Coworkers as People
The birth of Jesus, God in human flesh, reinforces the value of human life. It encourages us to see our co-workers as whole people and to care for them accordingly.
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What if God Was One of Us?
The Incarnation is, ultimately, a mystery. But it is the mystery on which every other mystery of the Christian faith depends.
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Sleepless on Christmas Eve
In this difficult time of history, how good to know that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us.
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Ending 2020 With Hope
The season of Advent and Christmas is an annual, repetitive reminder of God’s love for this world and its inhabitants.
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Pasture, Green Pasture
We lament the loss of the world we used to have. We fear for our jobs, or perhaps we are already dealing with the bureaucratic and financial struggles of having lost them. We grieve the illness and death of loved ones. Into this pain and disruption this scripture speaks assurance.
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Abiding in Love
May you be deeply rooted in the soil of God’s love and may you be held and upheld, sustained by the source. May the soul of your leadership grow a thick and deep root in the soil of God’s own love. My hope is to remind you to stay connected to the soil of God’s own love for you and your community. Abide in this love today. The harvest of this abiding will come tomorrow. There’s nothing more that you need to produce today. The vine invites you to be present today. Be present to yourself, to God, and to others. I am in this struggle with you. You are not alone.
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The Sixth Word:
It is Finished
Because Jesus finished his work of salvation, you and I don’t need to add to it. In fact, we can’t. He accomplished what we never could, taking our sin upon himself and giving us his life in return. Jesus finished that for which he had been sent. We are the beneficiaries of his unique effort. Because of what he finished, you and I are never “finished,” to use this word in a different sense. We have hope for this life and for the next. We know that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
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The Fifth Word:
I am Thirsty
In the account of the crucifixion in the Gospel of John, Jesus said “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). No doubt he experienced extreme thirst while being crucified. He would have lost a substantial quantity of bodily fluid, both blood and sweat, through being crucified and through what he had endured prior to crucifixion. Thus his statement, “I am thirsty” was, on the most obvious level, a report of a physical feeling and a request for something to drink.
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The Third Word:
Woman, Here is Your Son
When we think of the crucifixion of Jesus from the perspective of his mother, our horror increases dramatically. The death of a child is one of the most painful of all parental experiences.
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Life for Leaders: Why We Do This and How You Can Help
I am also very thankful for you, for those who receive Life for Leaders. Each day we email a devotion to over 7,500 people. Of course I don’t know what happens with most of these. But I do hear from many of you over the course of the year. You let me know when a particular devotion has touched your heart, or when you have shared it with your colleagues, or used it in your classes, or emailed it to one of your children. Thanks for your encouragement. It keeps us going, day after day, week after week, year after year.
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The Incarnation and Your Daily Work
The Incarnation made it possible for the divine Son to work in an ordinary way. Now, for sure, Jesus’s work as Messiah was unique. He alone did the crucial work of dying for our sins, something that was made possible by his Incarnation. But we would do well to remember that Jesus spent most of his adult life doing the work of a craftsman or carpenter. He worked in and, in all likelihood, eventually managed his earthly father’s small business. The fact that the Incarnate Word of God invested years in ordinary work shows us beyond a shadow of doubt just how much God values this kind of work, the work we do in this world.
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Witnessing the Glory of God, Part 2
When we consider our desires for the quality of living we will experience at any age—but particularly in what Mark Roberts, our executive director here at the De Pree Center, calls the “Third Third” of life—being mobile, in our own homes, with ability to care for ourselves, still having a zeal for life itself, and the capacity to travel is what we millennials call #goals.
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Witnessing the Glory of God, Part 1
We are four days away from celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The young among us are bursting with inquiry about what gifts this Christmas will bring. Those of us who head households are plowing through to-do lists—insuring that every linen, fork, plate, candle, stocking stuffer, tape roll, butter knife, short rib, string bean, macaroni noodle and so forth are in their proper place and readily accessible for the preparation of the festivities.
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