Daily Bible Verse

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Genesis 1:25 KJV
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.


God’s Good Glue

Scientists from Penn State University recently engineered a new kind of glue that’s both extremely strong and also removable. Their design is inspired by a snail whose slime hardens in dry conditions and loosens again when wet. The reversible nature of the snail’s slime allows it to move freely in more humid conditions—safer for the snail—while keeping it securely planted in its environment when movement would be hazardous.

The researchers’ approach of mimicking an adhesive found in nature calls to mind scientist Johannes Kepler’s description of his discoveries. He said he was “merely thinking God’s thoughts after him.” The Bible tells us that God created the earth and all that’s in it: the vegetation on the land (Genesis 1:12); the “creatures of the sea” and “every winged bird” (v. 21); “the creatures that move along the ground” (v. 25); and “mankind in his own image” (v. 27). When humankind discovers or identifies a special attribute of a plant or animal, we’re simply following in God’s creative footsteps, having our eyes opened to the way He designed them.

At the end of each day in the creation account, God surveyed the fruit of His work and described it as “good.” As we learn and discover more about God’s creation, may we too recognize His magnificent work, care for it well, and proclaim how very good it is!


Reflect & Pray
How do you see God’s handiwork in the creation around you? How can you respond in praise to Him?

Creator God, thank You for the unique and perfect way You created the world and all that’s in it. Your works are wondrous!


Insight
Genesis 1:1–19 tells us that in the first four days, God created the physical infrastructures of His creation—the galaxies and the earth with its sky, land, and seas. On days five and six, He created the living creatures—birds, fish, land animals, and humankind (vv. 20–31) to inhabit the three realms on the earth. Scientists have estimated that our natural world contains some 8.7 million species, out of which only 1.6 million (20 percent) have been officially identified. The phrase “and God said” dominates the creation account, pointing to our creative and powerful God, who literally spoke these mind-boggling natural diversities into existence. The psalmist celebrates God saying, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made. . . . Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be” (Psalm 33:6, 8–9).
 

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I apologize for the inconsistency of the Daily Bible Verse the past week or two as things have been a little hectic here. No emergencies just alot more busy. God bless you all and I hope you all have a great day.

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James 2:1 KJV
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

And Seven Others

Tragedy struck near Los Angeles in January 2020 when nine people died in a helicopter crash. Most news stories began something like this, “NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna (“Gigi”), and seven others lost their lives in the accident.”

It’s natural and understandable to focus on the well-known people involved in a horrible situation like this—and the deaths of Kobe and his precious teenager Gigi are heartbreaking beyond description. But we must keep in mind that in life’s big picture there’s no dividing line that makes the “seven others” (Payton, Sarah, Christina, Alyssa, John, Keri, and Ara) any less significant.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that each human is important in God’s eyes. Society shines bright lights on the rich and famous. Yet fame doesn’t make a person any more important than your next-door neighbor, the noisy kids who play in your street, the down-on-his-luck guy at the city mission, or you.

Every person on earth is created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), whether rich or poor (Proverbs 22:2). No one is favored more than another in His eyes (Romans 2:11), and each is in need of a Savior (3:23).

We glorify our great God when we refuse to show favoritism—whether in the church (James 2:1–4) or in society at large.


Reflect & Pray
What can you do to show love for all mankind—rich or poor, famous or obscure? How did Jesus reveal this kind of love?

Heavenly Father, help me to show love and kindness to all, regardless of their station in life.


Insight
When James accuses believers who show favoritism of being “judges with evil thoughts” (2:4), he’s likely alluding to the common tendency for courts to favor the rich. Judges were of higher social status and often didn’t hold persons of lower economic class in high esteem. Legal preference for the rich was even often written into the laws. Biblical law condemned such preferential treatment (Leviticus 19:15), however, and even Greek philosophers called out bias against the poor as immoral. But James pointed to the common tendency of people to instinctively show favoritism toward persons of elevated social status, perhaps out of a desire to benefit from their wealth. He suggested that trying to curry favor with the wealthy and powerful makes people no better than blatantly biased judges. Instead, he called believers to align with God’s high regard for society’s poor and marginalized (James 2:5).

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Jeremiah 29:13  KJV
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.


Where’s God?

In Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo? books, a series of children’s puzzle books first created in 1987, the elusive character wears a red and white striped shirt and socks with a matching hat, blue jeans, brown boots, and glasses. Handford has cleverly hidden Waldo in plain sight within the busy illustrations filled with crowds of characters at various locations around the world. Waldo isn’t always easy to see, but the creator promises readers will always be able to find him. Though looking for God isn’t really like looking for Waldo in a puzzle book, our Creator promises we can find Him, too.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God instructed His people on how to live as foreigners in exile (Jeremiah 29:4–9). He promised to protect them until He restored them according to His perfect plan (vv. 10–11). God assured the Israelites that the fulfillment of His promise would deepen their commitment to call on Him in prayer (v. 12).

Today, even though God has revealed Himself in the story and Spirit of Jesus, it can be easy to get distracted by the busyness of this world. We may even be tempted to ask, “Where’s God?” However, the Creator and Sustainer of all things declares that those who belong to Him will always find Him if they seek Him with all their hearts (vv. 13–14).


Reflect & Pray
What distractions prevent you from spending time seeking God through Bible reading and prayer? How has God helped you focus on Him when busyness tugs you away from Him?

Loving Creator and Sustainer of all, please help me seek You daily with all my heart and trust You will keep the promises You’ve made.


Insight
God used the Assyrians and Babylonians to discipline His people for their unfaithfulness (Jeremiah 1:15–16; 5:15–17). Israel was completely destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 bc, but God wouldn’t allow the Babylonians to destroy Judah completely (5:18–19; 2 Kings 17:18–20). Though Judah would be in Babylon for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11), God promised He would “watch over them for their good, and . . . bring them back to this land” (24:6). Jeremiah reiterated that God would bring them back after the seventy years were completed (29:10). In the meantime, they were to settle down in Babylon (vv. 4–9).
 

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Proverbs 11:3 KJV
The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.


A Life of Integrity

Abel Mutai, a Kenyan runner competing in a grueling international cross-country race, was mere yards from victory—his lead secure. Confused by the course’s signage and thinking he’d already crossed the finish line, however, Mutai stopped short. The Spanish runner in second place, Ivan Fernandez Anaya, saw Mutai’s mistake. Rather than take advantage and bolt past for the win, however, he caught up to Mutai, put out his arm and guided Mutai forward to a gold-medal win. When reporters asked Anaya why he purposefully lost the race, he insisted that Mutai deserved the win, not him. “What would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of that medal? What would my mom think of that?” As one report put it: “Anaya chose honesty over victory.”

Proverbs says that those who desire to live honestly, who want their lives to display faithfulness and authenticity, make choices based on what’s true rather than what’s expedient. “The integrity of the upright guides them” (11:3). This commitment to integrity isn’t only the right way to live, but it also offers a better life. The proverb continues: “But the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” (v. 3). In the long run, dishonesty never pays.

If we abandon our integrity, short term “wins” actually yield defeat. But when fidelity and truthfulness shape us in God’s power, we slowly become people of deep character who lead genuinely good lives.


Reflect & Pray
Where’s your integrity being tested right now? What are the choices before you—and how do they increase (or decrease) your integrity?

God of integrity, You’re honest and faithful. Make me more like You. Teach me how to live uprightly.


Insight
The word integrity in Proverbs 11:3 comes from the root word tamam, meaning “to be complete, be finished, be at an end.” It denotes moral wholeness and innocence. These qualities are reflected in Job’s life: “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason’ ” (Job 2:3). Another form of this Hebrew word appears in Psalm 15:2, where it’s translated “blameless.” Who is it that will enjoy fellowship with God? The person of integrity, “the one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.”
 

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1 Peter 5:7
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.


The Essence of Prayer


When Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States, he was tasked with leading a fractured nation. Lincoln is viewed as a wise leader and a man of high moral character, but another element to his makeup, perhaps, was the foundation for everything else. He understood that he was inadequate for the task at hand. His response to that inadequacy? Lincoln said, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”

When we come to grips with the massive nature of life’s challenges and the severe limitations of our own wisdom, knowledge, or strength, we find, like Lincoln, that we are utterly dependent on Jesus—the One who has no limitations. Peter reminded us of this dependency when he wrote, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

God’s love for His children, paired with His absolute power, make Him the perfect Person to approach with our frailties—and that’s the essence of prayer. We go to Jesus acknowledging to Him (and ourselves) that we’re inadequate and He’s eternally sufficient. Lincoln said he felt he “had nowhere else to go.” But when we begin to comprehend God’s great care for us, that’s wonderfully good news. We can go to Him!


Reflect & Pray
In what ways do your inadequacies reveal themselves? How do you normally respond in those moments?

All-sufficient God, I know that without You I can do nothing. Thank You for always being with me, for perfectly knowing me, and for being my true Helper in times of need.


Insight
Writing to believers experiencing persecution, Peter focuses on the need for humility as they rely on God to deliver them. Most scholars believe 1 Peter 5:6–11 represents an early Christian tradition of encouraging humility because of the presence of Satan. This idea is underscored by the fact that verses 6–9 show a striking similarity to James 4:6–7, 10. When the end of 1 Peter 5:5 is read along with verse 6, the similarities are even more evident. This shows that the idea of being humble and submitting to God when we’re confronted by our enemy was common in early Christianity. Verses 8–9 go on to describe how to effectively combat the devil through resistance, firm faith, and encouragement from the community of believers. James simply says to “resist the devil” (James 4:7). Peter and James call for both passive faith (submitting to God) and active faith (resisting the devil) from their readers.
 
 

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2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.


Past the Boundaries of Knowing

It was a hard day when my husband found out that, like so many others, he too would soon be furloughed from employment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believed that God would meet our basic needs, but the uncertainty of how that would happen was still terrifying.

As I processed my jumbled emotions, I found myself revisiting a favorite poem by sixteenth-century reformer John of the Cross. Entitled “I Went In, I Knew Not Where,” the poem depicts the wonder to be found in a journey of surrender, when, going “past the boundaries of knowing,” we learn to “discern the Divine in all its guises.” And so that’s what my husband and I tried to do during this season: to turn our focus from what we could control and understand to the unexpected, mysterious, and beautiful ways God can be found all around us.

The apostle Paul invited believers to a journey from the seen to the unseen, from outward to inward realities, and from temporary struggles to the “eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Paul didn’t urge this because he lacked compassion for their struggles. He knew it would be through letting go of what they could understand that they could experience the comfort, joy, and hope they so desperately needed (vv. 10, 15–16). They could know the wonder of Christ’s life making all things new.


Reflect & Pray
When have you experienced God’s glory in ways you couldn’t understand? In what areas of your life might you experience God beyond the “boundaries of knowing”?

Loving God, there’s so much heartbreak and uncertainty in our world. Help me to learn to follow You past what I can understand to the wonder of Your life breathing new life all around me.


Insight
In fulfilling his call to preach the gospel, Paul endured great dangers, persecutions, and hardships (1 Corinthians 4:9–13; 2 Corinthians 1:8–9; 6:4–10; 11:23–29). He chose to see these as “light and momentary troubles” achieving “an eternal glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Paul persevered, energized by God’s mercy (v. 1), the greatness of the gospel (vv. 2–6), and the power of Christ’s resurrected life (vv. 7–14). His confident refrain is, “We do not lose heart” (vv. 1, 16). Such confidence isn’t rooted in himself, but in God’s “all-surpassing power” (v. 7) and all-sufficient grace (12:9).
 

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Isaiah 1:18 KJV
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.


God Cleans the Stains

What if our clothes were more functional, having the ability to clean themselves after we dropped ketchup or mustard or spilled a drink on them? Well, according to the BBC, engineers in China have developed a special “coating which causes cotton to clean itself of stains and odors when exposed to ultraviolet lights.” Can you imagine the implications of having self-cleaning clothes?

A self-cleaning coating might work for stained clothes, but only God can clean a stained soul. In ancient Judah, God was angry with His people because they had “turned their backs on” Him, given themselves to corruption and evil, and were worshiping false gods (Isaiah 1:2–4). But to make matters worse, they tried to clean themselves by offering sacrifices, burning incense, saying many prayers, and gathering together in solemn assemblies. Yet their hypocritical and sinful hearts remained (vv. 12–13). The remedy was for them to come to their senses and with a repentant heart bring the stains on their souls to a holy and loving God. His grace would cleanse them and make them spiritually “white as snow” (v. 18).

When we sin, there’s no self-cleaning solution. With a humble and repentant heart, we must acknowledge our sins and place them under the cleansing light of God’s holiness. We must turn from them and return to Him. And He, the only One who cleans the stains of the soul, will offer us complete forgiveness and renewed fellowship.


Reflect & Pray
When the Holy Spirit reveals your sins to you, what’s your response? How does John describe the process of bringing your sin to God and repenting of it (see 1 John 1:9)?

Father, forgive me for ignoring or trying to get rid of my own sin. I know only You can clean the stains of my soul. I acknowledge and repent of my self-sufficiency and turn to You.


Insight
The book of Isaiah is a vision the prophet received from God addressed to Israel, a people in rebellion (1:1–2). God was incensed at their wickedness and sin (v. 4). As commentator Barry Webb writes: Their “worship had been divorced from justice, and the fatherless and the widow had become the chief victims” (see v. 17). Their sacrifices were merely a means to an end. The prophet Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, states what God requires: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Yet despite His righteous anger, God extended this loving invitation: “Turn to me and be saved” (Isaiah 45:22).
 

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Luke 14:13-14 KJV

13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.


God’s Embassy

Ludmilla, a widow aged eighty-two, has declared her home in the Czech Republic an “Embassy of the Kingdom of Heaven,” saying, “My home is an extension of Christ’s kingdom.” She welcomes strangers and friends who are hurting and in need with loving hospitality, sometimes providing food and a place to sleep—always with a compassionate and prayerful spirit. Relying on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to help her care for her visitors, she delights in the ways God answers their prayers.

Ludmilla serves Jesus through opening her home and heart, in contrast to the prominent religious leader at whose home Jesus ate one Sabbath. Jesus told this teacher of the law that he should welcome “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” to his home—and not those who could repay him (Luke 14:13). While Jesus’ remarks imply that the Pharisee hosted Jesus out of pride (v. 12), Ludmilla, so many years later, invites people to her home so she can be “an instrument of God’s love and His wisdom.”

Serving others with humility is one way we can be “representatives of the kingdom of heaven,” as Ludmilla says. Whether or not we can provide a bed for strangers, we can put the needs of others before our own in different and creative ways. How will we extend God’s kingdom in our part of the world today?


Reflect & Pray
How do you think the Pharisee reacted when Jesus told him to act differently? How do you like to make people feel welcome?

Jesus, thank You for looking out for those in need. Help me to be more like You, that I would care for others, showing them Your love.


Insight
In his gospel, Luke often highlights the event behind Jesus’ telling of a parable (see Luke 12:13; 15:1–2; 18:9; 19:11). In chapter 14, we read that “[Jesus] noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table” (v. 7). Ancient dining protocol dictated that the two places of highest honor were on the right and left of the host (Matthew 20:21). This parable teaches us that it’s better to humble oneself than to be humiliated by others, which is Jesus’ constant warning (Matthew 23:12; Luke 18:14). Pointing to Christ as our model, Paul teaches us to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5) who—though He was God—became a human servant.
 

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Romans 15:2 KJV
Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.


Witness Marks

“See that?” The clock repairman pointed his flashlight beam on a small, fine mark roughly engraved inside the old grandfather clock he was working on in our home. “Another repairman could have put that there almost a century ago,” he said. “It’s called a ‘witness mark,’ and it helps me know how to set the mechanism.”

Before the age of technical bulletins and repair manuals, “witness marks” were used to help the person making a future repair align moving parts with precision. They were more than just time-saving reminders; they were often left as a simple kindness to the next person doing the work.

The Bible encourages us to leave our own “witness marks” as we work for God by serving others in our broken world. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome: “Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up” (Romans 15:2). This is the example of our God, “who gives endurance and encouragement” (v. 5). It’s about being a good citizen of both earth and heaven.

Our “witness marks” may seem like small things, but they can make a vital difference in someone’s life. An uplifting word, a financial gift to someone in need, and a listening ear—all are kindnesses that can have a lasting impact. May God help you make a mark for Him in someone’s life today!


Reflect & Pray
What “witness marks” have others left in your life to encourage you? What simple kindness can you do for another believer today?

Almighty Father, thank You for the loving-kindness You’ve shown me through Your Son, Jesus. Please help me to reflect Your love in even the smallest things I do today.


Insight
In the midst of its rich theological teaching and solid practical application, one of the sometimes-overlooked themes in the letter to the Romans is hope. The word hope appears multiple times, including five times in chapter 15. These references remind us that hope comes from endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures (v. 4) and that even the gentiles have been included in this hope (v. 12). Paul goes on to remind the Romans—and us—that God is the God of hope who longs for us to experience it as the Spirit works in us (v. 13). In fact, verse 13 reminds us that this hope is directly connected to the joy and peace we have from God as we trust Him.