Today's reading: Genesis 27:1-46Jacob once again lives up to his name, which literally means "he grasps by the heal" or "supplanter". He had previously deceived his brother Esau and taken his birthright and now, with the help of his mother, he takes the blessing from his father. As the older son, both the birthright and the blessing should have gone to Esau. However, back in Genesis 25, God had re...  Read More

Today's reading: Genesis 26:1-35Today we begin a new section of our reading plan: The promise continued through the patriarchs. We'll be reading about how God fulfills his promise to Abraham by giving him twelve descendants from which the tribes of Israel emerge.In this chapter, God reaffirms the covenant He had made with Abraham and promises to bless Isaac. But just like Abraham had done earlier,...  Read More

Today's reading: Hebrews 7:1-28The author of Hebrews compares Jesus to Melchizedek, the mysterious priest and king we saw back in Genesis 14. The main idea here is that Jesus is a priest who is more like Melchizedek than the Levitical priests who came after him. This is a complex and somewhat confusing chapter that we covered last year in our study of Hebrews. If you'd like to dig into this deeper...  Read More

Today's reading: James 2:1-26I'm going to focus on the last part of this chapter beginning in verse 14. Although many claim that James is contradicting Paul here, that is certainly not the case. To the Hebrew mindset, belief is always associated closely with action. In fact, we could accurately define "faith" as "belief that results in action".James cites the example to demonstrate that idea. Abra...  Read More

Today's reading: Galatians 3:1-29Paul references quite a few of the passages we read in Genesis the last couple of weeks. He goes all the way back to the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12. He then reminds his readers that, as we see in Genesis 15:6, Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith, not by adhering to the law, which didn't come until hundreds of years later. And we're re...  Read More

Hopefully you're all caught up on your reading, but if not, make sure you do that today.Take some time to reflect on how it is faith that makes us righteous before God. Thank God for the gift of faith that makes it possible for you to be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus....  Read More

If you've gotten behind in your reading, use today to catch up. If you're up to date in your reading - congratulations! Take some time to reflect on God's faithfulness in keeping the covenant He made with Abraham and what that means for your life....  Read More

Today's reading: Romans 4:1-25Paul emphasizes that Abraham was made righteous before God the same way that we all are - by faith and not by our works. God declared Abraham righteous before he obeyed God by being circumcised and before obeyed God by being willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac. His obedience flowed from his righteousness, but it did not earn that righteousness.Most religions are based...  Read More

Today's reading: Matthew 1:1-17A lot of times it is tempting to just skim, or even skip over, the genealogies we find in the Bible. But Matthew, who is writing primarily to Jews, begins his gospel with this genealogy because it was important to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham. So his genealogy begins with Abraham rather than going all the way back to Noah ...  Read More

Today's reading: Genesis 22:1-24God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, who God calls his "only son" since he is the son through whom God is going to build the great nation that He promised to Abraham.There are many things in this account that point ahead to Jesus and His sacrifice on our behalf:Abraham is commanded to sacrifice "his only son" just as God sacrificed His One and Only SonI...  Read More

Today's reading: Genesis 17:1-27God reaffirms His covenant once again, just as we saw yesterday in Genesis 15. This time He changes Abram's name from Abram, which means "exalted father" to Abraham, which means "father of a multitude" as a reminder of His promise to make Abraham into a great nation. He also promises that the nation will come not through Ishmael, but to another son to be born to his...  Read More

Today's reading: Genesis 15:1-21There is a lot here that might not make sense unless we understand the ancient method of establishing a covenant. The Hebrew word for “covenant” is  “berîyth” which is derived from a root that means “to cut.”   Ancient covenants were established by the cutting and dividing of animals into two parts. The contracting parties would then pass between the animal parts.  ...  Read More