AnotherJohn.Com

  Genesis 35:16-21 Click here to listen to today’s devotional My family used to call me Turkey because my birthday was close to Thanksgiving. Once, I met a man named Texas who was from New York City; his family was traveling in Texas when he was born. Then there was the kid nicknamed Piojo because he once had lice. Slim, Lefty, Lucky, Red, Moose, and so many more are all examples of how we name people based on some feature of who they are. Have you ever met someone named Ben-Oni? Rachel's death is a heartbreaking and agonizing scene in Genesis 35. As she dies giving birth, she names her son Ben-Oni. That name means "son of my sorrow" or "son of my affliction." But Jacob renamed the child Benjamin, which means "son of the right hand." That was a name associated with strength, honor, and favor. Some scholars suggest that Jacob changed the name because he couldn't bear the constant reminder of Rachel's suffering and death. That's certainly pos...

  Romans 8:14-17 Listen to today’s devotional My kids should thank me. I’m not leaving them anything after I’m gone for them to fight about as an inheritance. All I’m leaving are the memories of a great dad 🙂 Of course, most of us probably think of inheritance as stuff we can divide up and argue over. But the apostle Paul describes inheritance as something more meaningful than possessions. We are children of God, and how awesome is that, but we are also heirs with Christ, especially as we suffer alongside him. To understand Paul’s thought, think of inheritance as more than a heavenly reward waiting beyond the clouds. So much of faith gets pushed into the sweet by and by that we miss the shape of life with God today. This inheritance is about belonging. It is about identity, participation, and even responsibility right now. Because an heir carries a family name, a family story, and often even a family resemblance. You can see it in the way people speak. They carry themselves a cert...

  Isaiah 50:7-9 Click here to listen to today's devotional Shame is a heavy thing that doesn’t just simply lie over your life. Shame settles deep in your spirit. It will make you rethink every choice you have ever made, even convince you that you are too far away from God. Let me assure you. If you ever hear that, it's not God's voice. Shame doesn't say you did something wrong. It says you  are  something wrong. Thankfully, that is not what God tells us in scripture. The prophet Isaiah once affirmed to God's people that the Lord would not let them be put to shame because God was their help. Now, notice the prophet didn't say their wouldn't be appropriate criticisms or even difficulties that come from living in a broken world. Faith promises us that our deepest identity is not found within our weakest or worst moments. Your greatest failures do not define you. God won’t shame you because God has already redeemed you and has no desire to humiliate you. To be r...