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  Listen to today’s devotional James 4:11-12 “Do not speak evil against one another” is hard when they give us so many good reasons. Some people make it very easy to remember and rehearse what they did wrong. Have you ever replayed a conversation over and over, thinking about what you should have said? Then you tell somebody else what happened, and somehow the story gets a little better every time you tell it. At least, your part does. James knows we will have problems with one another. He is writing to people who share a faith and still struggle to share a life. So he does not say, “Never talk about it.” He says, “Do not speak evil against one another.” There is a difference. I may need to tell someone that I was hurt, or speak the truth. I may need help deciding what to do next. But as I do, I can also frame things the way I want because I want someone else to think less of the other person. I can choose the details that make them look their worst. I can say their name with a cer...

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional Maybe I Was Wrong August 28, 2026 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 I don’t look at every war, earthquake, election, or new technology and connect the dots to the end times. If it’s the end, it’s the end. Which is probably why I struggle with passages like 2 Thessalonians 2. There’s a “lawless one,” Satan, deception, signs and wonders, all the stuff that can send some of us to the Mystery Machine to start looking for clues. But there is one part of the imagery I love. Paul says Jesus will destroy the lawless one “with the breath of his mouth.” Isaiah 11 tells of a promised ruler who beats wickedness with the breath of his lips. In 2 Thessalonians, after a whole buildup of the rebellion to come, Jesus breathes. Evil tries to put on a show. Jesus barely has to exhale. Then there's the part that really steers me away from worrying about end times. The writer describes people who perish because they “refused to love the truth.” Not people who refused t...

  Acts 6:8-15 Listen to today’s devotional You can imagine the kind of things the Freedmen would post on their social media. We don't know who was in this group. They may have been enslaved people taken by the Romans, or descendants of enslaved people. What is certain is that they did not align with Stephen. He had a reputation of being "full of grace and power" and for doing "great wonders and signs among the people." And when the Freedmen argued with him, they couldn't match his wisdom. They couldn't out-argue him. So what did they do? They didn't dig deeper or refine their thinking. They certainly didn't change their minds. Instead, Acts 6 says they "secretly instigated" others against Stephen. You can see their pattern play out. It begins as a disagreement. Moves with some agitation. Then finishes with conspiracy. The Freedmen bear false witness against Stephen. They did not misunderstand what he was saying. Rather, they chose to ma...

You're not watching news. You're watching a machine. Stay blessed...john

  Ephesians 4:14-16 Listen to today's devotional Somehow, we got to a point where we started acting like truth and love were enemies. As if you had to pick one. To be "loving" means to stay quiet and to be "truthful" means to leave a line of wounded egos. There is something more deeper scripture calls us to. In Ephesians 4, the call is to do something more difficult, more Christlike. Speak the truth in love. Truth without love can become a weapon. While you may be technically right, you can be spiritually careless. Is it worth winning arguments by humiliating and harming someone in the process? Truth used to crush people isn't not truth shaped by Christ. At the same time, love without truth is a shallow comfort. Real love is courageous. It does not seek to avoid hard conversations or leave people stuck just to avoid a bit of discomfort. Truth in love is a matter of growth and maturity. Speaking the truth in love is how the body of Christ grows up. The vision...

  Psalm 12 Listen to today's devotional How desperate the times must've been for the psalmist to say, “There is no longer anyone who is godly.” It’s an exaggeration, yes, but it reveals a deep concern that people had abandoned what is right. For the psalmist, the problem wasn’t abstract. It was the lies swirling all around him, spoken with flattering lips and deceitful hearts. And this wasn’t just a personal grievance. It carried weight for the whole community. In the psalm, God responds: “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now rise up.” Lies and deceit always bring a social cost. And when truth disappears in the streets (and on our screens), it is the poor who suffer first and suffer most. That is why God speaks for them. That reminds me of a political cartoon I once saw. An average voter sits on a bench between an elephant and a donkey. The animals hurl insults at one another in front of him while, behind his back, they’re holding hands. Their att...

  Daniel 7:19-27 It took me a while to understand the difference between going to school and learning. I was an adult before I learned that lesson. As a mere student, I found out what I needed to know to get through. When I was kid, I hated the questions at the bottom of a page. Those were the put-into-practice-what-you've-learned scenarios. All I had learned was how to get by. And, truth be told, I got by with good grades. I could pass a test. But something changed when I finally wanted to learn. To sound a bit cliché, a new world opened up to me. That applied to school work in college and in life. Even faith and ministry took on new meanings. It's possible to get through school and church, after all. Daniel 7 introduces one of Daniel's dreams. The prophet not only interprets dreams, he has them. If there were a movie about Daniel, this would be his wake-up-in-a-cold-sweat, terrified scene (Daniel 7:28). I've woken from a dream I've wanted to remember plenty of tim...

  So much information Proverbs 15:1-17 A daily edition of  The Wall Street Journal  includes more information than the average person had available to them one hundred years ago. That surprised me when I read or heard that some time ago. Having read the paper, though, I can believe it. It speaks to the bombardment of information into our regular lives. One of the consequences of our information age is the bidirectionality of it. That is, we aren't just reading information. We're contributing to it. Everyone has access to distribution. We can all share our voice life never before. I, for example, easily self published a book of devotionals a few years ago. And I've written over a thousand more since. Over two hundred people receive a text message I produce every day. That's not to mention that I video and audio publish my weekly sermons. I also host a podcast. Who knows how many church newsletter articles I've written? Oh, and I update a personal website. You see, I...

This was the Sunday I baptized five children. I love preaching, but I was ready to get this sermon over with In a world where dishonesty seems prevalent, how can Christians stand out as beacons of truth and trustworthiness? And I couldn't help but think of Will Smith's "Tell the truth" clip.   Stay blessed...john