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  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...

  Nehemiah 9:1-3 Listen to today’s devotional As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, it's fitting to celebrate our achievements, remember our heroes, and tell stories of courage and sacrifice. But Nehemiah also reminds us that honest reflection requires more than celebration. After returning from exile, the people of Israel gathered to fast, mourn, and listen to the Word of God. Then they did something surprising. They confessed not only their own sins but also “the iniquities of their ancestors” (Nehemiah 9:2). They seem to have understood that faithfulness requires telling the whole story. Before they could move forward, they had to acknowledge where they, and those who came before them, had fallen short of God’s purposes. It's worth asking why we so often see this kind of honesty as a weakness or inappropriate. In truth, there is deep wisdom and faithfulness in naming where we have not lived up to God’s ideals. What is true for individuals is also true for nations, ...

  Ezekiel 39:25-29 Listen to today’s devotional The Jackals are a group of superfans at Spurs games. If you get a chance to meet them, they hand you a paper before the game starts. It has chants, responses, traditions, and moments when everyone stands together. It teaches you to participate in the game's experience instead of just watching it. I thought about that when I read from Ezekiel this morning. God says through the prophet, "I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel." Notice what God promises. Yes, the people will have renewal and forgiveness. But they'll also have communion with God. The Spirit of God is drawing people back into a shared life with God. Too many of us treat faith as sitting quietly in the stands while heaven performs on the court, so to speak. But the Spirit does something deeper. The Spirit teaches us the rhythms of communion with God. The Spirit shows us when and how to stand in courage, to c...

  Proverbs 3:13-18 Listen to today’s devotional I remarked to a men's group recently that the point of the book of Proverbs is simple: Don't be stupid. Well, that's not technically incorrect. But the better way to say it is that the desire of Proverbs is for us to obtain the wisdom of God. Same difference. Proverbs 3 says that wisdom is "a tree of life to those who lay hold of her." I imagine the writer wanted us to think back to the tree of life in the garden depicted in Genesis. That tree is a symbol of life as God intended it to be. Rooted and sustained by God. Sin disrupted that life when the created couple traded walking in step with God for pursuing their own desire. And we continue that story when we try to build life on our own terms, reaching for what looks good and feels right to us. More often than not, we end up wondering why we're so exhausted and disconnected. It's like we're always searching for something deeper. That's why Proverbs ...

  Exodus 14:10-14 Listen to today’s devotional The Hebrews weren’t crazy. When Exodus 14 tells the story, the people looked back and saw Pharaoh’s army bearing down on them. They said, “It would’ve been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die out here.” And… they weren’t exactly wrong. At least in Egypt, they knew how to survive. Oh, there were brutal moments, for sure. But at least it was familiar and predictable. They woke up every morning knowing just about what the day would throw at them. But in the wilderness, there's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Death feels more certain than some promise. And the reality is that we sometimes do that too. We look at the life God is calling us into and tremble at the unknown. There's a stretching of faith and trust that makes us uncomfortable or unsure. We might even start romanticizing the thing God promises to deliver us from. Not because it was so good… but because at least we knew what to expect. “Better that than this....

  John 12:20-25 Listen to today’s devotional I was in junior high when the phone rang. This was back in the days of landlines, when phones were still attached to walls, and you didn’t screen your calls. When I picked up, a nurse from the nursing home where my great-grandmother lived was on the other end. She asked for my mom. I told her she wasn’t home. There was a pause. Then she asked if I could take a message. I said yes. She replied, “Tell your mom that Byrd has expired.” I always wondered if that nurse felt strange leaving that message with me. Byrd was my mom's grandma who I always remembered as sweet and kind. That day she was  expired . I remember standing there a little confused. That was the word they used for milk or coupons. I wondered if I had misunderstood the message. That was a word used for something that had passed its usefulness. And it felt strange to think of a family member that way. In John 12, some Greeks come looking for Jesus. And Jesus responds in a ...

  Ephesians 2:1-10 Listen to today’s devotional It doesn't take long to see where people really walk. I've seen plenty of new or redone public paths that you can tell people put a lot of work into. Still, the concrete and foliage don't keep pedestrians from creating their own worn paths that go where they really want to be. Yes, developers should look at those paths first to establish more useful walkways. But doesn't that show us something about who we are? We want to go where we want to go. The thing about those worn paths, though, is that not everyone who walks them created them. Sometimes, you just step into what's already there. Someone else cut through the grass first. Enough people followed, and now it feels like the obvious way to go. The apostle Paul says something similar about our lives. We were "dead in our transgressions," following the ways of the world just like everyone else. Not always because we were choosing disobedience, but because we ...

  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...

  James 4:1-3 Click here to listen to today's devotional Your prayer life is an expression of what’s in your heart. That’s something I see in the book of James. Prayer is not supposed to be performative spiritual language for God or your trying to impress heaven with carefully-stitched sentences. Prayer is the honest breathing of a soul that knows it belongs to God. You don’t have to hide what is inside you when you pray. If your heart is tired, say so. If your anger is righteous but restless, bring it. If your joy feels weak, like it might break if someone looks at it too long, offer it anyway. God is not surprised by who you are or what you're facing. We often treat prayer like it is primarily about getting something from God. But prayer is more about becoming someone with God. When you speak to God, you are training your heart to want what God wants, to see what God sees, and to love what God loves. That is holy work. Slow work, but holy just the same. Prayer is a form of sa...

  Honestly, WWJD always felt corny to me. But the older I get, the more I pastor, the more I see people on social media, and the more I watch how we talk to and about each other, the more I wish we would reconsider WWJD. Not as slogan faith, of course, but as a way to slow down and think about the world we are creating. What if you're more responsible for this world being the way it is than you admit? WWJP? What would Jesus post? We are so sure our reactions are so righteous. Would Jesus post to win a pointless online debate, or to share the kingdom of God? WWJSAOP? Would would Jesus say about other people? Or, more striking, what would he say about what we say about other people? How many times did Jesus try to humiliate other people? Oh, he exposed hypocrisy, but it was usually aimed at those who protected power at others' expense. And there was always an invitation tucked in there. WWJJA? What would Jesus joke about? Jesus is not humorless. But he never laughed at vulnerabl...

  Micah 7:18-20 Click here to listen The prophet Micah ends his prophecy in a way I hope we allow our faith to end. He doesn't land on an answer. He's astonished at the thought of the God he knows. "Who is a God like you...?" he asks. Of all the things he could say about the Lord, the prophet is astonished by God's mercy and compassion. That's a bit of a surprise ending. It turns out to be a doxology we can emulate. Micah has spent chapters calling out the corruption of God's people. Leaders have exploited those they were supposed to serve. Prophets put on religious performances while ignoring social injustices. He has given some harsh prophetic judgment. After naming these kinds of realities, it would be easy to grow cynical, easy to assume things will never change. But Micah doesn't end that way. He lifts his eyes. Who is a God like this? Let's call this the shock of mercy. Of course, God judges, but God also forgives. God sees sin and still give...

  2 Timothy 1:3-7 Click here to listen Billy Joel’s “We Didn't Start the Fire” is basically a rapid-fire history lesson. It's filled with famous headlines. Wars. Scandals. Cultural upheaval. And everyone I know in my generation has heard that chorus before: "We didn’t start the fire." The world was already burning when we got here. That's always true when it comes to politics and world events. But it's also true when it comes to faith. Paul tells Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you.” Notice that he didn't say that Timothy should start a fire. He says, "Fan it." It was already there. Of course, neither Paul nor Timothy started the fire. God did. Timothy's faith had already been lit by the Spirit, by the laying on of hands, and by the quiet faith of his grandmother and mother. The spark was handed to him. His responsibility wasn’t to ignite it, but to steward it faithfully. The same is true for us. You didn’t invent the gosp...