Anthony Diaz 4/4/25 Anthony Diaz 4/4/25

Slow To Anger

Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. James 1:19.

Every human being is capable of demonstrating anger. Think of a tiny baby who exhibits fits of temper before they can even talk. A toddler can fly into a fit of anger and upset the entire household. Husbands and wives react out of anger before giving any thought to the issue that triggers such a response. Anger breeds remorse in the heart, discord in the home, bitterness in the community, and confusion in the state. Homes are often destroyed by the swirling tornadoes of heated domestic anger. Business relations are often shattered by fits of violent temper when reason gives way to venomous wrath. Friendships are often broken by the keen knife of indignation. Anger is condemned by the sacred Scriptures. It murders, assaults, and attacks, causing physical and mental harm. Jesus said, “Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:22). Righteous anger is directed at sinful behavior. The Bible teaches us how to handle anger without doing harm. When anger leads to murder, gossip, etc., it is sinful indeed. We must not let anger control us, no matter what others do to cause it. We only become guilty of the same sin that afflicts them, and it solves nothing. Don’t let the acids of bitterness eat away inside. Look to Christ’s example in all things.

Graham, Billy. Truth for Each Day : A 365-Day Devotional, Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=30516542.
Created from liberty on 2025-04-01 04:00:55.

Anthony Diaz 4/3/25 Anthony Diaz 4/3/25

No Bargaining

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” Luke 13:24

Jesus spoke of two roads. Every person will have to choose which way they will go. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13– 14). This word narrow is offensive to many. We live in an age of tolerance, except tolerance for what Jesus commands in Scripture. Society today tells us to “believe anything you want to believe.” Let’s apply that principle and see how it works out. Suppose the astronauts blast off in a rocket and get on the wrong path and in the wrong orbit. Would Houston controllers respond, “Oh, that’s all right; there are a number of pathways to lead them to their destination.” No. The world would never see them again. They must follow precise laws; all nature is governed by them. People have no authority to lower the standards that have been put in place by the God of the universe and the Savior of men’s souls. There is no bargaining with Him. We cannot work our way to Heaven. We cannot buy our way to Heaven. Heaven is the realm of God, and He desires all people to come to Him.

Graham, Billy. Truth for Each Day : A 365-Day Devotional, Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=30516542.
Created from liberty on 2025-04-01 03:58:06..

Anthony Diaz 4/2/25 Anthony Diaz 4/2/25

What Kind Of People Should We Be

If our earthly house [body] . . . is destroyed, we have a building from God . . . eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:1

One of the Bible’s greatest truths is that we were not meant to live only for the here and now. From the beginning, we were meant for Heaven. The Bible doesn’t tell us everything we’d like to know about Heaven, but the Bible does tell us everything we need to know about Heaven while we are here on Earth. We should believe what the Bible says about Heaven and take comfort from its promise that we can spend eternity with Jesus Christ in His heavenly dwelling. This assurance comes from the Lord Himself because He grants eternal life to all those who will humble themselves in repentance and receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. The apostle Peter asked the question in his letters to the Christians of the day: What kind of people should we be now as we prepare for Heaven? The answer is found in Scripture that tells us we should live in “holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:11– 12). If you are ever going to live for Christ, it should be now. Don’t let this life keep you from eternal life with Jesus forever. “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters [God’s] Presence” (Hebrews 6:19).

Graham, Billy. Truth for Each Day : A 365-Day Devotional, Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=30516542.
Created from liberty on 2025-04-01 03:51:07.

Anthony Diaz 4/1/25 Anthony Diaz 4/1/25

First Base

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 7:21 Y ears ago in the seventh game of the World Series, the score was tied in the last inning with two outs. The batter came to the plate and hit a home run out park. The crowd went wild. For baseball fans, it is about the most exciting that can happen. But when the hero crossed home plate to score, the umpire yelled, “Out!” The crowd was stunned. The umpire explained that the batter had not touched first base. That is the way with many people. They are Christians outwardly; they go to church and talk about being baptized, but they have missed the most important thing: They have not been born again. They haven’t touched first base. Nicodemus was one such man who came to Jesus. Though he was deeply religious, he was not satisfied. He had missed first base— salvation— and then Jesus told Him what it means to be “born again.” There are many who teach that being baptized, going to church, and doing good works will get us to Heaven, but it simply is not true. We are all born physically, but to get to Heaven, one must be born spiritually. This is the gift of God that only He can give; and He freely gives it when we repent of our sin and come to Him with a humble heart by faith.

Graham, Billy. Truth for Each Day : A 365-Day Devotional, Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=30516542.
Created from liberty on 2025-04-01 04:11:38.

Anthony Diaz 3/31/25 Anthony Diaz 3/31/25

A Remembrance Of The Future

A Remembrance of the Future “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” —Mark 16:6

What if you believe the resurrection is true? You believe that Jesus has died to save you—to redirect your eternal trajectory irrevocably toward God. You believe that God has accepted you, for Jesus’ sake, through an act of supreme grace. You are part of the kingdom of God. What then? Does the resurrection mean anything for your life now? Oh my, yes. [. . .] Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ do people find such enormous hope to live. Only the resurrection promises us not just new minds and hearts, but also new bodies. They are going to be more indissoluble, more perfect, more beautiful. They will be able to be and do and bear the burden of what bodies are supposed to do in a way in which our present bodies cannot. If you can’t dance and you long to dance, in the resurrection you’ll dance perfectly. If you’re lonely, in the resurrection you will have perfect love. If you’re empty, in the resurrection you will be fully satisfied. Ordinary life is what’s going to be redeemed. There is nothing better than ordinary life, except that it’s always going away and always falling apart. Ordinary life is food and work and chairs by the fire and hugs and dancing and mountains—this world. God loves it so much that he gave his only Son so we—and the rest of this ordinary world—could be redeemed and made perfect. And that’s what is in store for us.

Keller, Timothy. Go Forward in Love : A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller, Zondervan, 2024. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=31518558.
Created from liberty on 2025-03-28 22:29:13.

Anthony Diaz 3/30/25 Anthony Diaz 3/30/25

The Shadow Is Only a Small And Passing Thing

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. —1 Peter 3:18

The only time I ever faced death personally was when I had thyroid cancer. From the beginning the doctors told me it was treatable. Still, when I was going under anesthesia for the surgery, I wondered what would happen. You may be curious about what passage from the Bible came to my mind. True confession: What I thought of was a passage from The Lord of the Rings. It comes near the end of the third book, when evil and darkness seem overwhelming. Here is what Tolkien tells us about the thoughts of Sam, one of the heroes: Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate . . . ceased to trouble him. . . . [P]utting away all fear, he cast himself into a deep, untroubled sleep.13 I remember thinking at that moment: It’s really true. Because of Jesus’ death evil is a passing thing—a shadow. There is light and high beauty forever beyond its reach because evil fell into the heart of Jesus. The only darkness that could have destroyed us forever fell into his heart. It didn’t matter what happened in my surgery—it was going to be all right. And it is going to be all right.

Anthony Diaz 3/29/25 Anthony Diaz 3/29/25

The Curtain Torn In Two

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” —Mark 15:37–39

Remember that the curtain in the temple was not a flimsy little veil; it was heavy and thick, almost as substantial as a wall. The curtain separated the holy of holies, where God’s shekinah glory dwelled, from the rest of the temple—it separated the people from the presence of God. And remember that only the holiest man, the high priest, from the holiest nation, the Jews, could enter the holy of holies—and only on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, and he had to bring a blood sacrifice, an atonement for sins. The curtain said loudly and clearly that it is impossible for anyone sinful—anyone in spiritual darkness—to come into God’s presence. At the moment Jesus Christ died, this massive curtain was ripped open. The tear was from top to bottom, just to make clear who did it. This was God’s way of saying, “This is the sacrifice that ends all sacrifices, the way is now open to approach me.” Now that Jesus has died, anybody who believes in him can see God, connect to God. The barrier is gone for good. Our trajectory has been permanently redirected toward God. And that’s only possible because Jesus has just paid the price for our sin. Anybody who believes can go in now.

Anthony Diaz 3/28/25 Anthony Diaz 3/28/25

The Lamb Of God

The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. . . . He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. —Isaiah 53:6–7, 12

Jesus’ last meal with his disciples departed from the script in another way too. When Jesus stood up to bless the food, he held up bread. All Passover meals had bread. He blessed the wine—all Passover meals had wine. But not one of the Gospels mentions a main course. There is no mention of lamb at this Passover meal. Passover was not a vegetarian meal, of course. What kind of Passover would be celebrated without lamb? There was no lamb on the table because the Lamb of God was at the table. Jesus was the main course. That’s the reason that when John the Baptist saw Jesus for the first time, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). [. . .] In Mark, when Jesus says, “This is my body. . . . This is my blood . . . poured out,” he means: I’m the One that Isaiah and John spoke about. I am the Lamb of God to which all the other lambs pointed, the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. On the cross Jesus got what we deserved: The sin, guilt, and brokenness of the world fell upon him. He loved us so much he took divine justice on himself so that we could be passed over, forever. It bears repeating: All love, all real, life-changing love, is substitutionary sacrifice.
Keller, Timothy. Go Forward in Love : A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller, Zondervan, 2024. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=31518558.
Created from liberty on 2025-03-27 16:40:15.

Anthony Diaz 3/27/25 Anthony Diaz 3/27/25

The Feast

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.” —Mark 14:22–25

Imagine the astonishment of the disciples when, blessing the elements and explaining their symbolism, Jesus departs from the script that has been reenacted by generation after generation. He shows them the bread and says, “This is my body.” What does that mean? Jesus is saying, “This is the bread of my affliction, the bread of my suffering, because I’m going to lead the ultimate exodus and bring you the ultimate deliverance from bondage.” [. . .] Jesus’ words mean that as a result of his substitutionary sacrifice there is now a new covenant between God and us. And the basis of this relationship is Jesus’ own blood: “my blood of the covenant.” When he announces that he will not eat or drink until he meets us in the kingdom of God, Jesus is promising that he is unconditionally committed to us: “I am going to bring you into the Father’s arms. I’m going to bring you to the feast of the King.” Jesus often compares God’s kingdom to sitting at a big feast. In Matthew 8, verse 11, Jesus says, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast . . . in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus promises that we will be at this kingdom feast with him.
Keller, Timothy. Go Forward in Love : A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller, Zondervan, 2024. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=31518558.
Created from liberty on 2025-03-27 16:30:24.

Anthony Diaz 3/24/25 Anthony Diaz 3/24/25

Jesus And The Vulnerable

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”

Matthew 11:4-5

Here is the same care for the vulnerable that characterizes the heart of God. While clearly Jesus was preaching the good news to all, he showed throughout his ministry the particular interest in the poor and the downtrodden that God has always had.

Jesus, in his incarnation, “moved in” with the poor. He lived with, ate with, and associated with the socially ostracized (Matt. 9:13). He raised the son of the poor widow (Luke 7:11–16) and showed the greatest respect to the immoral woman who was a social outcast (Luke 7:36.). Indeed, Jesus spoke with women in public, something that a man with any standing in society would not have done, but Jesus resisted the sexism of his day (John 4:27).1 Jesus also refused to go along with the racism of his culture, making a hated Samaritan the hero of one of his most famous parables (Luke 10:26ff.) and touching off a riot when he claimed that God loved Gentiles like the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian as much as Jews (Luke 4:25–27). Jesus…

Anthony Diaz 3/23/25 Anthony Diaz 3/23/25

We Begin The Quest

Genesis 1:1-3; Matthew 28:20; John 1:1-5

Life can never be abundant unless it has abundant resources. It is obvious that no organism can expend more in energy than it takes in from without. Just what does “the without” consist of: physical nature and human society only? Or is there a third dimension in addition to “the within” and “the around”? Is there an “Above”? Many have decided that there is no “Above.” At least, there is none they can contact; so they have short-circuited life to “the within” and “the around.” But, to their dismay, they find that “the within” and “the around,” instead of offering resources to abundant living, offer resistances to it. “The within” is clashing, and “the without” is contradictory. The resources are in reverse, pulling the other way.

Someone has said, “If we haven’t that within us which is above us, we will soon yield to that which is around us.” We become circumstance-conditioned and circumstance-fed, and grow weak and anemic on the fare. And if we turn within for our resources, we find the well is dry. Harvard professor William Ernest Hocking, speaking as a philosopher, says: “Man comes up to a certain point and then finds he hasn’t resources in himself to complete himself, so he remains incomplete and frustrated.”*

There ensues what an able and earnest man described as “a sense of cosmic loneliness. I am not sure,” he continued, “whether my doings have anything cosmic back of them, whether I am working with anything significant, or just working meaninglessly, alone with no one to back my work or care.”An atheist has been described as “a man who has no invisible means of support.”

“A sense of cosmic loneliness”—that is the frigid thought that lays its cold hand on our hopes and our endeavors. Can it be lifted and the sense of a warm, living, cosmic Presence—who is with us and for us—take its place? If so, then that would hit the spot: the central spot. For if the central spot is empty and meaningless, then all of life turns empty and meaningless with it. But if that central spot is full and meaningful, then all of life turns meaningful with it

MLA 9th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.)

E. Stanley Jones. Abundant Living : 364 Daily Devotions. Abingdon Press, 2014.

APA 7th Edition (American Psychological Assoc.)

E. Stanley Jones. (2014). Abundant Living : 364 Daily Devotions. Abingdon Press.

Anthony Diaz 3/22/25 Anthony Diaz 3/22/25

Supernatural Life

“For the natural realm can only give birth to things that are natural, but the spiritual realm gives birth to supernatural life!”

John 3:6

You are more than what you see. Though you live and interact within the natural realm, your spirit is alive and active at all times within the unseen realm around you. You’re a triune being—spirit, soul, and body; created to experience the fullness of life in the spirit. As you seek to remain aware of His presence, the movement of the Spirit will become a compass that guides your life.

Reach past the veil of this world and grasp the hands of the One who created you. His touch will strengthen you, enabling you to live each day with courage, hope, and healing. To live a supernatural life means embracing the power of His Spirit, allowing it to affect the way you see every situation, because you see it from heaven’s perspective. By faith, you pull the promises and reality of God’s kingdom into every aspect of your life.

Anthony Diaz 3/20/25 Anthony Diaz 3/20/25

Justice Is Right Relationsships

I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them. The one who was dying blessed me; I made the widow’s heart sing. I put on righteousness [tzadeqah] as my clothing; justice [mishpat] was my robe and my turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger [immigrant]. I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth.

Job 29:12–17

We must have a strong concern for the poor, but there is more to the biblical idea of justice than that. We get more insight when we consider a second Hebrew word that can be translated as “being just,” though it usually translated as “being righteous.” The word is tzadeqah, and it refers to a life of right relationships. Bible scholar Alec Motyer defines “righteous” as those “right with God and therefore committed to putting right all other relationships in life.”8

This means, then, that biblical righteousness is inevitably “social,” because it is about relationships. When most modern people see the word “righteousness” in the Bible, they tend to think of it in terms of private morality, such as sexual chastity or diligence in prayer and Bible study. But in the Bible tzadeqah refers to day-to-day living in which a person conducts all relationships in family and society with fairness, generosity, and equity. It is not surprising, then, to discover that tzadeqah and mishpat are brought together scores of times in the Bible. […] When these two words, tzadeqah and mishpat, are tied together, as they are over three dozen times, the English expression that best conveys the meaning is “social justice.”

Generous Justice

King’s Cross

Anthony Diaz 3/19/25 Anthony Diaz 3/19/25

A Merciful Smackdown

Psalm 19:1–14

Sometimes, we’d rather not be teachable. When it comes to taking advice from people in my church community, it’s easier to keep an emotional distance than it is to listen. If I tread lightly on their sin, maybe they’ll tread lightly on mine. If we keep our problems to ourselves, we can maintain a certain understanding. This type of tolerance has deadly results.

Unrestrained sin and pride doesn’t just hurt the one who is sinning—its waves affect everyone (1 Cor 5:6). This is why Paul takes such a strong stance against it in 1 Cor 5:1–13. In Corinth, believers were using their freedom to commit all sorts of sordid sins. And instead of being broken about their sin, they were filled with pride—they were boasting about their freedom.

Paul knew he had to do something drastic to break through such thought patterns. His statement is startling for those who might practice tolerance for sin: “I have decided to hand over such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in order that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:5). This type of judging is not seen as casting someone to the depths of hell; rather, it is casting someone out of the Christian community with the purpose of helping them see their sin for what it is. (For Paul, the realm of Satan was everything outside of Christ; thus, everything outside of the Church was the realm of Satan.)

We aren’t called to judge people who have no claim to following Jesus. Rather, we’re called to hold accountable those who, like us, believe the good news (1 Cor 5:11). Within the bounds of authentic Christian community and trust, we need to be ready to call each other out when sin and pride creep in—and we need to do it with loving intolerance.

How are you reaching out to others who are struggling with sin? How are you making yourself approachable and teachable?

REBECCA VAN NOORD

John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

Anthony Diaz 3/18/25 Anthony Diaz 3/18/25

Is This “Bad” From God?

Numbers 20–21; 1 Corinthians 3:1–4:21; Psalm 18:31–50

God has granted us incredible grace in the salvation that Jesus’ death and resurrection offers, but that very grace is often used as a theological excuse. It’s dangerous to say that bad things come from God, but there are times when they actually do. What makes them good is how He uses them to help us grow. The great grace God offers doesn’t mean our sins go unpunished.

We see God directly issue what seems “bad” in Num 21:5–7. First we’re told: “The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in the desert? There is no food and no water, and our hearts detest this miserable food’ ” (Num 21:5). Then, Yahweh sends poisonous snakes that bite the people, causing them to die (Num 21:6). Why would a good God do such a horrific thing?

In Numbers 21:1–4, the people had experienced a miraculous victory against the Canaanites living in Arad—a people they were losing to, and should have lost to, until Yahweh intervened. Yahweh showed Himself to be loyal and true; yet, the people still rebelled.

When Yahweh punishes the people with the snakes, it’s not because He wants to; it’s because He needs to. And the result is worth it. The people say to Moses, “We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh and let him remove the snakes from among us” (Num 21:7). In their response, they show faith in Yahweh and His ability to change the situation. They also show faith in the leader He appointed to them: Moses.

God sent this “bad” thing because He knew it would be a good thing (compare 1 Cor 11:30–32). This knowledge should make us boldly proclaim, as the psalmist does, “For who is God apart from Yahweh and who is a rock except our God?” (Psa 18:31).

What currently seems “bad” that is really a result of God responding to your disobedience?

JOHN D. BARRY

John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

Anthony Diaz 3/17/25 Anthony Diaz 3/17/25

Letting Evil Burn

Numbers 19:1–20:13; 1 Corinthians 2:1–16; Psalm 18:13–30

“And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying … ‘let them take to you a red heifer without a physical defect …. And you will give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will … be slaughtered in his presence. Then Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood on his finger and spatter it toward the mouth of the tent of assembly seven times. The heifer will be burned in his sight; its skin, its meat, and its blood, in addition to its offal, will burn’ ” (Num 19:1–4).

This passage is so strange and gruesome, it is clearly symbolic. The heifer represents the perfect, unblemished sacrifice—which takes care of some (not all) of the purification associated with things Yahweh deemed unclean for the purpose of teaching His people obedience, and some of the results of sin (Num 19:9).

Also, the heifer is burned because it has to be made into ashes. This beautiful creature becomes ashes. That’s the cost of an impure life: good has to become worthless. The only way to purge impurities is to burn them away. Then what has been purified through fire (and then water) can be used (Num 19:9–10). The passage goes on to describe several uses associated with this practice (e.g., Num 19:11–13).

All of our lives include things that go against God’s will, and these things must burn. We must let the Spirit work in us to empower us to remove them. And there’s good news for this: Jesus has already done the great work of conquering sin in the world. There is no more need for the red heifer because Jesus’ sacrifice (His death) paid for our problems. He wasn’t the symbol of the sacrifice, like the heifer; He was the sacrifice itself.

God calls us to the great race of running toward Him—for Him—in honor of what Christ has done among us. So let’s let the evil burn.

What is God calling you to burn?

JOHN D. BARRY

John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

Anthony Diaz 3/16/25 Anthony Diaz 3/16/25

It Will Seem Simple in Retrospect

Numbers 17:1–18:32; 1 Corinthians 1:1–31; Psalm 18:1–12

We’re all faced with difficult tasks. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was forced to confront their spiritual problems, which were slowly destroying God’s work among them. Paul was thankful for them (1 Cor 1:4–8), but he was also called to a high purpose as an apostle. His calling meant saying what people didn’t want to hear (1 Cor 1:1).

There were divisions among the Corinthians that were going to rip their fledgling church apart, and Paul implored them to make some difficult changes: “Now I exhort you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that … there not be divisions among you, and that you be made complete in the same mind and with the same purpose. For … there are quarrels among you” (1 Cor 1:10–11). And here’s where something amazing happens that we often overlook. Paul, a confident man and a former Law-abiding Pharisee, could have stated why he was right and moved on, but he does something else:

“Each of you is saying, ‘I am with Paul,’ and ‘I am with Apollos,’ and ‘I am with Cephas,’ and ‘I am with Christ.’ Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I give thanks that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that you were baptized in my name” (1 Cor 1:12–15). Paul sticks it to them, and he reminds them that Christ deserves all the credit.

We all have moments like this, where we have the opportunity to take credit for someone else’s work—or even worse, for Jesus’ work. Paul had the strength and character that we should all desire.

How are you currently taking credit for others’ people work or for Jesus’?

JOHN D. BARRY

John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

Anthony Diaz 3/15/25 Anthony Diaz 3/15/25

The Power Struggle

Numbers 16:1–50; John 21:1–25; Psalm 17:1–15

Every leader faces power struggles—from those who follow the leader and from those the leader follows. If there isn’t some sort of struggle, the leader probably isn’t doing his or her job well. It’s simple: those who make everyone happy probably aren’t pushing people to be better, and pushing will—at times—frustrate both the leaders and the followers.

Moses regularly experienced leadership struggles. In Numbers 16, Korah—accompanied by 250 men who were leaders in Israel—calls Moses and Aaron’s leadership into question, saying, “You take too much upon yourselves! All of the community is holy, every one of them, and Yahweh is in their midst, so why do you raise yourselves over the assembly of Yahweh?” (Num 16:3). They’re using Moses’ words, spoken on behalf of Yahweh, against him here: “you will belong to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). But they made one faulty assumption in doing so. Yahweh had prefaced these words by saying, “if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you will be a treasured possession for me out of all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, but …” and then He continued with the line Korah quoted (Exod 19:5–6).

Surely Moses knows this, and he is well aware of their folly. But rather than answering the fool according to his folly, he responds by prostrating himself—an act of worship toward God and humility toward those he serves: the people of Israel. He then says, “Tomorrow morning Yahweh will make known who is his and who is holy, and he will bring him near to him, whomever he chooses he will bring near to him” (Num 16:5). It appears that in that moment of prostration, Moses prayed and was immediately given an answer. He insists on bringing the matter before God Himself.

Moses could have defended himself by insisting upon the special nature by which God had revealed Himself to him. Or he could have noted to Korah that he is only out of Egypt—and thus able to call Moses into question—because Moses was obedient to God. He even could have noted that Korah was only in leadership at all because Moses listened to God and appointed him. But instead, he insisted on bringing it before God. He did, though, follow up by telling Korah that he had plenty of authority and shouldn’t be so greedy (Num 16:8–11).

This event demonstrates the kind of faith that we should all have in what God asks us to do.

How do you respond when people question what God has asked you to do? How can your response in the future be more like Moses’?

JOHN D. BARRY

John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

Anthony Diaz 3/14/25 Anthony Diaz 3/14/25

A Psalm Of Confidence

Numbers 15:1–41; John 20:1–31; Psalm 16:1–11

“You are my Lord,” the psalmist acknowledges. “I have no good apart from you” (Psa 16:2).

We know that God is everything we need, but somehow the details still get in the way. We want to alleviate our troubles through other means—that vacation, the position that will bring recognition, or the spouse who will complete us. The psalmist says that anyone who places their desire in anything other than God will only increase in sorrow (Psa 16:4).

It seems radical and difficult to live out the psalmist’s simple confession. The ancient practice of idol worship is alive and well in our modern-day culture and in our own hearts. (Just look at the magazine rack or TV shows if you think I’m wrong: what is worshiped there?) We are just like the Israelites—unfaithful and prone to “hurry after another god” (Psa 16:4).

For the psalmist, however, “Yahweh is the portion which is my share and my cup” (Psa 16:5). He is all the psalmist ever needs: “I have set Yahweh before me always. Because he is at my right hand I will not be shaken” (Psa 16:8). God brings the psalmist hope, and He can do the same for us. We just need to turn to Him.

Today, pray the words of Psalm 16: “You are my Lord. I have no good apart from you.” How can we remind ourselves that He is all we will ever need?

REBECCA VAN NOORD

John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

Anthony Diaz 3/13/25 Anthony Diaz 3/13/25

Nostalgia: My Old Friend

Numbers 14:1–45; John 19:17–42; Psalm 14:1–15:5

Regret and nostalgia can destroy lives. They are mirrored ideas with the same pitfalls: neither can change the past, and both keep us from living in the present. When we live wishfully rather than interacting with the present, we’re bound to miss out and hurt others. Since other people don’t necessarily share our feelings about the past, they feel less important to us here and now. And indeed, we’re making them less important. We’re concerned instead with how things could have been or used to be.

This is precisely what happens after the Israelites flee Egypt: “Then all the community lifted up their voices, and the people wept during that night. And all the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and all the community said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt or in this desert!’ ” (Num 14:1–2).

As usual with regret and nostalgia, these words were said in frustration but born out of fear: “Why did Yahweh bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little children will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt” (Num 14:3).

And their fear even takes them to the next level of disobedience against God’s will—they will overthrow Moses’ leadership: “They said to each other, ‘Let us appoint a leader, and we will return to Egypt’ ” (Num 14:4). Nostalgia is dangerous: it causes us to forget the wretchedness of the past and exchange it for fond memories. We begin to focus on the good things and drift away from obedience in the process. Regret, too, is dangerous, as we wish we had never ended the good times but kept on living the life that was never good for us to begin with.

This scene in Numbers illustrates a profound point: collective memory enables regret and nostalgia to create mob rule instead of God rule.

What memories are you holding too dearly? How are they holding you back from the life God has for you now?

JOHN D. BARRY

John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).