Fulfilling Life Daily Devotional

David makes a claim that raises an obvious question. I keep the LORD in mind always. And the question is: how? The answer comes in the second half of the verse — and it changes what keeping him in mind actually means. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

An ambassador doesn't speak for themselves. They carry the words of the one who sent them. Paul uses this image to describe something that is true of every person who has been reconciled to God. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Luke tells us the purpose of the parable before he tells us the parable. It is about prayer. But more specifically it is about something that happens to everyone who prays the temptation to stop. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Paul has spent chapters describing the access we now have to God through Christ. And then he draws the practical conclusion from all of it. It is not about private devotion. It is about what we do with one another. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Israel is about to go into exile. Fire and water lie ahead. And before any of it arrives, God makes three declarations. Together they are the reason a fourth thing becomes possible. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Paul gives the church a two-word phrase that holds the whole vision of Christian community together. Truth and love. But they're not two things to be balanced against each other. They're one thing, inseparable. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

The psalm doesn't begin with theology. It begins with testimony. Something happened, and the happening produced a love for God that the psalmist then spends the whole psalm trying to respond to. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

This verse is one of the most quoted in the Bible. And one of the most misunderstood. Paul is not writing about achievement. He is writing from prison. And he is writing about something else entirely. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

The Hebrew behind "I waited patiently" is a doubled verb. Waiting, I waited. It suggests the waiting was not brief or easy. And then something happens that David spends the rest of the psalm describing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

It may be the shortest verse in John's first letter. But it answers a question that most people who try to love others eventually ask. Where is the love supposed to come from? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Moses writes this psalm having watched an entire generation die in the wilderness. He has seen the brevity of life up close. And the prayer it produces in him is not what you might expect. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Paul describes the human condition before grace in three brutal lines. Dead. Following the world. By nature deserving of wrath. And then comes two of the most important words in the New Testament. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Paul spends eleven chapters on the theology of grace. And then chapter 12 opens with therefore. Everything that follows is the response to everything that came before. And what he asks for is not what you'd expect. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Jeremiah is in prison. The city is surrounded. Everything is falling apart. And in that moment God issues an invitation that the circumstances make almost inexplicable. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

The writer of Hebrews describes a high priest who has been tempted in every way we have. And then, on the strength of that, issues an invitation most people never fully take up. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Paul is writing to Timothy who is exhausted, facing opposition and false teaching. And the thing he points him to isn't a strategy. It's the scriptures Timothy has known since childhood. And what he says about them changes everything. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Paul spends the first half of 1 Corinthians 15 showing exactly what would collapse if the resurrection weren't true. And then he turns with one of the great buts of the New Testament. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Paul doesn't say that grace has been announced or described. He says it has appeared. That one word changes everything about what grace actually is. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

James opens his letter with something that sounds almost offensive. Consider it a great joy whenever you experience various trials. And then he gives the reason. And the reason changes everything. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Jesus makes one of the most clarifying claims of his ministry on the last night before the cross. You can do nothing without me. Nothing. That sounds like bad news. It isn't. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

David is looking at the night sky. The moon and the stars. And the question the sky produces in him is not one of insignificance. It is one of astonishment. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Peter is writing to people who have never seen Jesus. He himself walked with him, ate with him, saw the resurrection. But the people he is writing to have only heard. And yet he says this about them. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Joseph's brothers are terrified. Their father has died, and they're certain Joseph has just been waiting for this moment for revenge. What Joseph says back to them contains one of the most theologically significant sentences in all of Scripture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Elijah has just watched God defeat the prophets of Baal with fire falling from heaven. Now he's exhausted, afraid, and hiding in a cave. And what happens next is one of the most theologically important scenes in the Old Testament. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe

Naomi has lost her husband and both her sons. She has nothing to offer. And Ruth makes a declaration of loyalty that has become one of the most quoted in all of literature to a situation with no visible promise attached. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monoingles.substack.com/subscribe