Daily Bible Verse

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Hebrews 2:17 KJV
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.


Like Us, for Us    

Derek noticed his son didn’t want to take off his shirt to swim and realized it was because he was self-conscious about a birthmark that covers parts of his chest, belly, and left arm. Determined to help his son, Derek underwent a lengthy and painful tattooing process to create an identical mark on his own body.

Derek’s love for his son reflects God’s love for His sons and daughters. Because we, His children, “have flesh and blood” (Hebrews 2:14), Jesus became like us and took on a human form and “shared in [our] humanity” to free us from the power of death (v. 14). “He had to be made like [us], fully human in every way” (v. 17) to make things right with God for us.

Derek wanted to help his son overcome his self-consciousness and so made himself “like” him. Jesus helped us overcome our far greater problem—slavery to death. He overcame it for us by making Himself like us, bearing the consequence of our sin by dying in our place.

Jesus’ willingness to share in our humanity not only secured our right relationship with God but enables us to trust Him in our moments of struggle. When we face temptation and hardship, we can lean on Him for strength and support because “he is able to help” (v. 18). Like a loving father, He understands and cares.


Reflect & Pray
How might Jesus relate to the struggle you’re facing right now? What keeps you from leaning on Him in this moment?

Thank You, Jesus, for taking on a human form to relate to me in my struggles and pay for my wrongdoings. I want to trust You more.


Insight
In Hebrews 2, the writer points to the “pioneer” of salvation—Jesus Himself (v. 10). Hebrews 12:2 uses the same word (archēgos) to speak of Him as the pioneer of our faith. Other translations render the term as “author,” “originator,” “founder,” or “captain.” The term connotes one who initiates. In Romans 8:29, the apostle Paul calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Integral to His pioneering work is the fact that “both the one who makes people holy [Christ] and those who are made holy [those who believe in Him] are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:11). Not only are we brothers and sisters with each other, but also with Christ Himself.
 

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Isaiah 46:4 KJV
And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.


Carried by Love

My four-year-old grandson sat on my lap and patted my bald head, studying it intently. “Papa,” he asked, “What happened to your hair?” “Oh,” I laughed, “I lost it over the years.” His face turned thoughtful: “That’s too bad,” he responded. “I’ll have to give you some of mine.”

I smiled at his compassion and pulled him close for a hug. Reflecting later on his love for me in that cherished moment also caused me to ponder God’s selfless, generous love.

G. K. Chesterton wrote: “We have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” By this he meant that the “Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:9) is untainted by sin’s decay—God is ageless and loves us exuberantly with a love that never falters or fades. He’s fully willing and able to fulfill the promise He made to His people in Isaiah 46: “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you” (v. 4).

Five verses later He explains, “I am God, and there is none like me” (v. 9). The great “I am” (Exodus 3:14) loves us so deeply that He went to the extreme of dying on the cross to bear the full weight of our sin, so that we might turn to Him and be free of our burden and gratefully worship Him forever!


Reflect & Pray   
In what ways does God carry you through each day? How can you draw new strength from Him in this moment?

Beautiful Savior, I’m so thankful Your love for me never grows old! Help my love for You to grow ever deeper.


Insight   
Through the words of Isaiah, God compares the strength of Babylonian gods to Himself. The specific gods mentioned are Bel and Nebo (Isaiah 46:1–2). Bel, also known as Marduk (Jeremiah 50:2), was the chief god of the city of Babylon and the national god of Babylonia. He was considered to be the god of order and destiny. Nabu was believed to be the son of Marduk and the one who knows all and sees all. With a twist of irony, God says that He does what these two gods can’t do—rescue His people (Isaiah 46:3–7).
 

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John 13:30 KJV
He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.


“And It Was Night”

Elie Wiesel’s book Night starkly confronts us with the horrors of the Holocaust. Based on his own experiences in Nazi death camps, Wiesel’s account flips the biblical story of the Exodus. While Moses and the Israelites escaped slavery at the first Passover (Exodus 12), Wiesel tells of the Nazis arresting Jewish leaders following Passover.

Lest we criticize Wiesel and his dark irony, consider that the Bible contains a similar plot twist. On the night of Passover, Jesus, expected to free God’s people from suffering, instead permits Himself to be arrested by those who would kill Him.

John ushers us into the holy scene before Jesus’ arrest. “Troubled in spirit” over what awaited Him, at the Last Supper Jesus predicted His betrayal (John 13:21). Then, in an act we can scarcely comprehend, Christ served His betrayer bread. The account reads: “As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night” (v. 30). History’s greatest injustice was underway, yet Jesus declared, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him” (v. 31). In a few hours, the disciples would experience panic, defeat, and dejection. But Jesus saw God’s plan unfolding as it should.

When it seems as though the darkness is winning, we can recall that God faced His dark night and defeated it. He walks with us. It won’t always be night.


Reflect & Pray
When have you experienced panic, loss of hope, and despair? How would you describe how you felt after you came through that dark experience?

Thank You, Jesus, for keeping Your Father’s plan in view when You went through the steps to the cross. Thank You for conquering death for us.


Insight
John is the only gospel writer who tells us that Jesus washed the feet of His disciples on the eve of His crucifixion (13:1–5). John is also the only one who tells us that Jesus knew from the beginning which of His disciples would betray Him (v. 11). Yet Judas was so trusted by the group that they allowed him to be the keeper of their money. In fact, even when Jesus identified Judas as the one who would betray Him, the group may have trusted him so much that they didn’t even understand what Jesus was saying (v. 29).
 

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Mark 15:21 KJV
And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.


His Cross of Peace

Somber eyes peer out from the painting Simon of Cyrene by contemporary Dutch artist Egbert Modderman. Simon’s eyes reveal the immense physical and emotional burden of his responsibility. In the biblical account from Mark 15, we learn that Simon was pulled from the watching crowd and forced to carry Jesus’ cross.

Mark tells us that Simon was from Cyrene, a big city in North Africa with a large population of Jews during Jesus’ time. Most likely Simon had journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. There he found himself in the middle of this unjust execution but was able to perform a small but meaningful act of assistance to Jesus (Mark 15:21).

Earlier in the gospel of Mark, Jesus tells His followers, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (8:34). On the road to Golgotha, Simon literally did what Jesus figuratively asks His disciples to do: he took up the cross given to him and carried it for Jesus’ sake.

We too have “crosses” to bear: perhaps an illness, a challenging ministry assignment, the loss of a loved one, or persecution for our faith. As we carry these sufferings by faith, we point people to the sufferings of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. It was His cross that gave us peace with God and strength for our own journey.


Reflect & Pray
What “cross” have you been asked to carry? How can you use this struggle to point others to Jesus?

Jesus, thank You that You understand and sympathize with the pain I experience as I take up my cross and follow You. Give me courage and strength even when the journey is difficult.


Insight
Though Simon of Cyrene is mentioned in each of the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26), we know very little about him. Aside from his hometown being in Cyrene, all we know of Simon is that he had two sons, Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21). This small piece of information, however, takes on possible significance when considered in the light of the belief of many that Rome was Mark’s primary audience for his gospel record. Why? First, it seems unlikely that Mark would’ve mentioned the sons’ names unless they were somewhat known to the early Christian community. Second, Paul mentioned a person named Rufus in his letter to Rome: “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too” (Romans 16:13). It may be that the Rufus of the church at Rome was one of the sons of the man who carried Jesus’ cross.
 

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Luke 23:49 KJV
And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.


Not So

“I wanted somehow to make it not so,” lamented the man, eulogizing a friend who died young. His words gave poignancy to humanity’s ageless heart-cry. Death stuns and scars us all. We ache to undo what can’t be undone.

The longing to “make it not so” might well describe how Jesus’ followers felt after His death. The Gospels say little about those awful hours, but they do record the actions of a few faithful friends.

Joseph, a religious leader who secretly believed in Jesus (see John 19:38), suddenly found the courage to ask Pilate for Jesus’ body (Luke 23:52). Ponder for a moment what it would take to remove a body from a grisly crucifixion and tenderly prepare it for burial (v. 53). Consider too the devotion and bravery of the women who stayed with Jesus every step of the way, even to the tomb (v. 55).

These followers weren’t anticipating a resurrection; they were coming to terms with grief. The chapter ends without hope, merely a somber, “Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes [to embalm Jesus’ body]. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment” (v. 56).

Little did they know the Sabbath intermission was setting the stage for history’s most dramatic scene. Jesus was about to do the unimaginable. He would make death itself “not so.”


Reflect & Pray
Where do you turn for comfort when the worst happens? How do you live as though the resurrection is real?

Today, Father, I pause to remember how it must have been that day between Your Son’s crucifixion and His resurrection. I’m so grateful that He’s reversed sin’s curse for me.


Insight
The Romans normally left the decaying bodies of crucified criminals, especially those convicted of treason, on their crosses for birds to devour as a warning that this same fate awaited those who dared to rebel against Rome. Because it was a “special Sabbath” in that it was also the day of Passover/Unleavened Bread, the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have the crucified bodies taken down (John 19:31). Corpses left hanging overnight would desecrate the land (Deuteronomy 21:22–23). Family members weren’t permitted to give their deceased a decent burial. Instead, the bodies were unceremoniously and unbecomingly dumped in a graveyard outside the city. Corpses left unburied as food for carrion birds and wild animals was the severest form of contempt and humiliation (Psalm 79:2–4). Because Joseph of Arimathea intervened and asked Pilate for Jesus’ body, He was buried in Joseph’s “own new tomb” (Matthew 27:60), an unused rich man’s tomb, fulfilling Isaiah 53:9.
 

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1 Corinthians 15:20 KJV
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.


This Changes Everything

Jaroslav Pelikan, longtime Yale professor considered one of “his generation’s preeminent authorities on Christian history,” was renowned for his extensive academic career. He published more than thirty books and won the esteemed Kluge Prize as a lifetime award for his voluminous writing. One of his students, however, recounted what he considered his teacher’s most important words, spoken from his deathbed: “If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not—nothing else matters.”


Pelikan echoed Paul’s conviction: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14). The apostle made such a bold statement because he knew that the resurrection was not merely a one-off miracle but rather the pinnacle of God’s redeeming work in human history. The promise of resurrection wasn’t only His assurance that Jesus would rise from the dead but His bold affirmation that other dead and ruined things (lives, neighborhoods, relationships) would also one day be brought back to life through Christ. If there’s no resurrection, however, Paul knew that we’re in deep trouble. If there’s no resurrection, then death and destruction win.

But, of course, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (v. 20). Destroyed by the Victor, death loses. And Jesus is the “firstfruits” of all the life that will follow. He conquered evil and death so that we could live bold and free. This changes everything.


Reflect & Pray
What difference does it make to understand the expansive hope of Jesus’ resurrection? Where do you need resurrection in your life?

Dear God, allow me to see how Jesus’ resurrection changes everything about my life now and forever.


Insight
For Paul, the reality of the resurrection was paramount (1 Corinthians 15), and he seized every opportunity to tell others about it. We see this when he stood in chains before King Agrippa in Acts 26. As Paul made the case for the resurrection, Festus, the governor who’d sent him to Agrippa, interrupted and said, “You are out of your mind, Paul!” (v. 24). The apostle immediately appealed to direct evidence. “The king [Agrippa himself] is familiar with these things,” he said. “I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner” (v. 26).
 

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1 Peter 2:20 KJV
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.


Witness in the Workplace

“Are you still upset that I want to reduce the size of your favorite department?” Evelyn’s manager asked. “No.” She tightened her jaw. She was more frustrated that he seemed to be teasing her about it. She’d been trying to help the company by finding ways to draw in different interest groups, but limited space made this nearly impossible. Evelyn fought back tears, but she made the decision to do whatever her manager asked. Maybe she couldn’t bring about the changes she’d hoped, but she could still do her job to the best of her ability.

In the apostle Peter’s first letter, he urged first-century believers in Jesus to submit “to every human authority” (1 Peter 2:13). Maintaining integrity in a tough work situation isn’t easy. But Peter gives us a reason to continue doing good: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (v. 12). Additionally, this helps us set a godly example for other believers who are watching.

If we’re in a truly abusive work situation, it may be best to leave if at all possible (1 Corinthians 7:21). But in a safe environment, with the Spirit’s help we can continue to do good in our work remembering “this is commendable before God” (1 Peter 2:20). When we submit to authority, we have an opportunity to give others reason to follow and glorify God.


Reflect & Pray
What do you typically do when you’re in a difficult situation under someone else’s authority? How might God be trying to work in you through this?

Heavenly Father, help me to continue to honor You in my response to those in authority despite the difficult situations I may face. Help me to live each day in a way that glorifies You.


Insight
Encouraging believers in Jesus living in an unbelieving and hostile world, Peter exhorted them to live godly lives—to submit to authorities, respect everyone, love fellow believers, fear God, do good works, and persevere when unjustly treated. We’re called to do good and to follow Christ’s example in enduring suffering. Paul made similar calls to live such God-honoring lives in a pagan world in Romans 13:12–14; Philippians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:9–12; and Titus 2:7–8; 3:8, 14. His instructions for the slave-master relationship in Ephesians 6:5–8; Colossians 3:22–24; 1 Timothy 6:1–3; and Titus 2:9–10 would have resonated with Peter’s audience (1 Peter 2:18–21).
 

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Deuteronomy 31:12 KJV
Gather the people together, men and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:


Come and Worship

As they sang praise songs together in the multi-generational worship service, many experienced joy and peace. But not a frazzled mother. As she jiggled her baby, who was on the verge of crying, she held the songbook for her five-year-old while trying to stop her toddler from running off. Then an older gentleman sitting behind her offered to walk the toddler around the church and a young woman motioned that she could hold the songbook for the eldest child. Within two minutes, the mother’s experience was transformed and she could exhale, close her eyes, and worship God.

God has always intended that all His people worship Him—men and women, old and young, longtime believers, and newcomers. As Moses blessed the tribes of Israel before they entered the promised land, he urged them all to meet together, “men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns,” so that they could “listen and learn to fear the Lord your God” and to follow His commands (Deuteronomy 31:12). It honors God when we make it possible for His people to worship Him together, no matter our stage of life.

That morning in church, the mother, the older gentleman, and the young woman each experienced God’s love through giving and receiving. Perhaps the next time you’re at church, you too could either extend God’s love through an offer of help or you could be the one accepting the act of grace.


Reflect & Pray
How have you experienced the body of Christ as encompassing many generations and people groups? How have you given and received God’s love while at church?

Loving Jesus, You long that all people would feel welcomed when they come to worship You. Help us to be those who notice others and reach out in love.  


Insight
The hopeful picture that Moses paints in Deuteronomy 31:9–13 of Israel gathered to hear the law of God foreshadows sadness. Throughout the Old Testament, it’s disheartening to notice that Israel never followed this command that Moses gave the people until after the exile.    

We get reports of the abject failure of the priesthood (1 Samuel 2:22–36; 8:1–3), but nowhere until the time of Ezra do we find the priests teaching the people to follow God (Nehemiah 8:1–3). This is the first recorded time Israel obeyed Moses’ directions after nearly a millennium.    

Then the zeal of Ezra eventually led to the increasingly legalistic approach of the Pharisees. Israel always struggled with the law—first ignoring it and then making it more than it should be. The true task of following God’s law, as Jesus said, is summed up in loving God first and others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37–39).
 

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John 14:15 KJV
If ye love me, keep my commandments.


Love Is Worth the Risk

After a friend ended our decade-long friendship without explanation, I began slipping back into my old habit of keeping people at arms’ length. While processing my grief, I pulled a tattered copy of The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis off my shelf. Lewis makes a powerful observation about love requiring vulnerability. He states there’s “no safe investment” when a person risks loving. He suggests that loving “anything [will lead to] your heart being wrung and possibly broken.” Reading those words changed how I read the account of the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection (John 21:1–14), after Peter had betrayed Him not once but three times (18:15–27).

Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (21:15).

After experiencing the sting of betrayal and rejection, Jesus spoke to Peter with courage not fear, strength not weakness, selflessness not desperation. He displayed mercy not wrath by confirming His willingness to love.

Scripture reveals that “Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ ” (v. 17). But when Jesus asked Peter to prove his love by loving others (vv. 15–17) and following Him (v. 19), He invited all His disciples to risk loving unconditionally. Each of us will have to answer when Jesus asks, “Do you love me?” Our answer will impact how we love others.


Reflect & Pray
Why would a loving God ask His beloved children to risk being hurt for the sake of loving others like Jesus did? How can an intimate relationship with God help you feel safe enough to risk loving?

Loving God, please break down every wall that keeps me from being vulnerable so I can love You and others with Spirit-empowered courage, compassion, and consistency.


Insight
The two verbs translated “love” in the Greek New Testament are phileō (“to be a friend of” [person or object] or to “have tender affection for”) and agapaō (“love founded in admiration, veneration, esteem”).

Both words are used in John 21:15–16. Jesus uses agapaō while Peter uses phileō. In verse 17, however, both Jesus and Peter use phileō. Some scholars find significance in the use of these two different words in John 21 while others don’t. Commentator Craig Keener notes: “The two Greek words for ‘love’ here are used interchangeably elsewhere in John.”

Peter had denied Christ three times (see John 18:15–18, 25–27). How gracious of Jesus to prompt him to affirm his love three times. Was Peter’s love authentic? Yes, authentic enough for him to live a life and die a death by which he would glorify God (see 21:18–19).
 

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Revelation 21:4 KJV
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.


Really Alive

Since it was the week after Easter, our five-year-old son, Wyatt, had heard plenty of resurrection talk. He always had questions—usually real stumpers. I was driving, and he was buckled into his seat behind me. Wyatt peered out the window, deep in thought. “Daddy,” he said, pausing and preparing to ask me a tough one. “When Jesus brings us back to life, are we going to be really alive—or just alive in our heads?”

This is the question so many of us carry, whether or not we have the courage to speak it aloud. Is God really going to heal us? Is He really going to raise us from the dead? Is He really going to keep all His promises?

The apostle John describes our certain future as “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). In that holy city, “God himself will be with [us] and be [our] God” (v. 3). Because of Christ’s victory, we’re promised a future where there’s no more tears, no evil arrayed against God and His people. In this good future, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (v. 4).

In other words, in the future God promises, we’ll be really alive. We’ll be so alive that our life now will seem a mere shadow.


Reflect & Pray
Where do you experience death in your life? If God promises that death is doomed and we’re going to really live, how does this renew your hope?

God, You said death will meet its end and You promise me genuine life. Thank You.


Insight
Today’s passage gives us a glimpse of heaven, describing it as a physical place (Revelation 21:1–2). Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us (John 14:2–3), and this promise is fulfilled in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, (Revelation 21:2). While it’s a great comfort that heaven is a perfect place (v. 4), the most important thing is that it’s the dwelling place of God (v. 3).

In this final vision of the beginning of eternity (21:1–22:9), John hears Christ declaring, “It is done” (21:6). The New Living Translation renders it, “It is finished!” echoing Christ’s victorious cry from the cross (John 19:30). Sin’s curse will one day be completely removed and reversed (Revelation 21:4–5; see Genesis 3:16–19).