Today's Reading: Genesis 8:1-22A careful reading of the text indicates that Noah and his family were on the ark for a little over a year (compare Genesis 7:11 and Genesis 8:14).When Noah and his family finally leave the ark the first thing they do is to make an offering to God. But, as we'll see in the next chapter, while God is pleased with that offering, even a righteous man like Noah has a sinf...  Read More

Today's Reading: Genesis 7:1-24This account is the first time in the Bible that we see a couple themes that we're going to see over and over in the Bible:God often takes His people through tribulation rather than rescuing them from that tribulation. What Noah and his family experienced was far different than the cute pictures we often see in childrens' books or painted on the wall of a nursery. Th...  Read More

Use today to catch up on your reading if you got behind this week and/or to reflect on what you've been reading. Think about whether God would consider your life to be "blameless". If not, what do you need to do about that?...  Read More

Use today to catch up on your reading if you got behind this week and/or to reflect on what you've been reading. Think about whether you've followed the example of Adam and Eve and blamed your sin on others rather than taking personal responsibility for it....  Read More

Today's Reading: Genesis 6:1-22If the first four verses of this chapter seem confusing to you, you're not alone. Over the years people have proposed a number of solutions to identify the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men". And none of those explanations are without problems. If you're interested ins studying those verses more, I'd be happy to point you to some good resources.But today I want...  Read More

Today's Reading: Genesis 3:1-24Today we move into the second section of our reading plan. In this section we will be reading about the fall, original sin and judgment.In today's passage we see how sin separates man from God. Not only did Adam and Eve hide from God after they sinned, but their sin brought judgment into the world. Just as God had said, Adam and Eve would now die, although, because o...  Read More

Todays Reading: Hebrews 1:1-14We'll return to the book of Hebrews later this year on Sunday mornings, but hopefully you remember that the purpose of the book is to show the superiority of Jesus over everything and everyone else.Here the author reminds us that Jesus is God's final and most complete revelation of Himself because He is the "exact imprint" of God's nature. Once again we see that Jesus...  Read More

Today's reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-18Once again we see connections back to the creation account in Paul's writings. Paul writes that Jesus is "the image of God", the same phrase he used in Colossians 1, which we read yesterday. The Greek word translated "image" describes an "exact representation". As we talked about last week, He is God's final message who reveals, in His flesh, the nature of God....  Read More

Today's reading: Colossians 1:1-29Paul calls Jesus "the firstborn of all creation" in verse 15. He is not claiming, as some claim, that Jesus is a created being. In the culture of Paul's day the word "firstborn" (Greek word "prototokos") signified priority. The firstborn was not necessarily the oldest child. since the term referred not to birth order but to rank. Therefore, the phrase expresses Ch...  Read More

Use today to catch up on your reading if you got behind this week and/or to reflect on what you've been reading. Think about the significance of the connections between the creation accounts in Genesis and the beginning of John's gospel. ...  Read More

Use today to catch up on your reading if you got behind this week and/or to reflect on what you've been reading. Think about how God's creation demonstrates how much He loves you....  Read More

Today's Reading: John 1:1-51There is so much to cover in this chapter, but I'm mainly going to focus on John's opening words.Just as we saw with the book of Genesis, John's gospel opens with the words "In the beginning..." This is not just a coincidence. John wants us to be reminded of the creation account in Genesis. But John replaces "God" with "the Word". "The Word" is described as being "with ...  Read More