Kerusso Daily Devotional

A lot of us like action movies. And if they have a faith theme or element, even better. The iconic film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” comes to mind. In fact, the wild ride taken by Indiana Jones really typifies what we’re talking about this week: finding the grit to move beyond failure. As he pursues the famous Ark of the Covenant, Jones chases and fights Nazis, and his own doubts. Along the way, his...

Have you ever recorded minutes for a meeting? Whether you were taking notes at work or for a volunteer organization, such as the PTA at your child’s school, taking minutes and reporting on them at a follow-up meeting is an important responsibility. What ideas were discussed? How were those ideas followed up on? Who, including yourself, agreed to complete certain tasks before the next meeting? And...

Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ means that we don’t just sit in our houses and shut away the world. Scripture is an action item. Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” If the Bible is true—if God’s story intersects with our story—then a hurting world is in need of a Savior. The pain many are enduring will have no end until they me...

We “love” all sorts of things. We love a friend’s new hairdo. We love pistachio ice cream and travel to exotic places. Many times, the word itself loses all real meaning. It’s like homemade chicken soup without the chicken…and without the soup.  1 John 3:16–18 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If an...

As humans, we compartmentalize things. It’s in our nature to make lists, and rank priorities, and really box certain things in. We’ve got our work-life over here, and our family life over there, and our faith...somewhere else. And this can often lead us to confusion about which direction we’re supposed to go. This confusion even extends to our faith. We wonder: when am I supposed to pray, and when...

The action of sharing the Good News—the Great Commission—means that we don’t just sit in our houses and shut away the world. Scripture is an action item. Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” If the Bible is true—if God’s story intersects with our story—then a hurting world is in need of a Savior. The pain many are enduring will have n...

If you’ve ever wondered what the best way might be to share your faith and defend it in the modern world, it might help to look at past examples. In the Bible, the husband-and-wife team of Priscilla and Aquila shared Christ with Apollos, who would become a famous early evangelist. In colonial England, the abolitionist William Wilberforce shamed his own government into freeing slaves. Jude 1:3 says...

Defending your faith can sometimes be a subjective thing. As examples of extremes, we’ve seen the Crusades, and at the other end of the spectrum, it’s perhaps an aggressive “pitch” to someone who isn’t a believer. The thing is, it’s great to be zealous for our faith, but let’s also be disciplined. We don’t want to alienate a person who might otherwise listen. To put it simply: an angry Christian i...

In every generation, it falls to believers to spend time in defending our worldview as Christians. And honestly, it’s not the nicest part of the gig—but it is part of the gig. Usually, it involves simply explaining what your faith is all about.  Followers of other religions do the same thing, but for us, we’re sharing the person of Christ with someone who may not know Him. That makes it a big deal...

Most of us feel a deep respect in our hearts for those who have sacrificed so that we can remain free. Loving those who have paid the ultimate price is just something we do as people. We pause to remember each year. Isaiah 56:5 says, “To them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure foreve...

Today we’re in part five of five, the final chapter of our series on doubt.  If you’re working your way toward belief and away from doubt, by now you must assume that God exists. 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering or extraordinarily patient toward you, not desiring t...

Today we’re continuing our series on doubt. We’re in part four of five.  A political science major at a major university was having coffee with a campus pastor. The pastor knew that the student was wrestling with doubt about the existence of God and said to him, “John, you know all of us wonder at some point if it’s all real or not. For example, there are quite a few stories in the Bible that are...

Today we’re continuing our series on doubt. We’re in part three of five.  Because there’s so much easy access to information and ideas today, we can take in a huge amount of stuff. The downside is that much of it is just noise, and a lot of it simply isn’t true. What we hear, even if it sounds good, is not always good for us, especially when we’re talking about spiritual doubt.  There are many opi...

Have you ever wondered about how convinced well-known Christians are of their faith? We all know they never doubt, right? Wrong. Today, we’re continuing our series on doubt, we are in part two of five. We’re talking about doubt all week. A well-known preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once said of doubt, “I think when a man says, ‘I never doubt,’ it is quite time for us to doubt him.” Doubt is a fact of...

Some of the most important conversations we have can be the most uncomfortable, and when it comes to faith, doubt is near the top of that list. Today, we’re launching a five-part series on the topic of doubt. Many Christians wrestle with doubt, but who wants to admit that their foundational beliefs are not so firm? Not long ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, openly admitted that he’s...

Today we wrap up our series on finding contentment by discussing the source of true peace and happiness.  John MacArthur once wrote a book called Our Sufficiency in Christ. In it, he revealed the path to finding true peace and contentment, and he says there’s a single word that encompasses all the riches we find in Christ: Grace. What a magnificent word it is. It’s used more than 150 times in the...

Today’s message is really about taking the long view.  The human attention span is short, like really, really short. Between the world wars, Winston Churchill warned Europe that Hitler was a threat to the continent at least, but people ignored him. And then, when the Nazis turned violent, the people turned to Churchill as their prime minister.  Having led the country through another costly war to...

The big question for today is, can we find contentment in things?  Have you ever listened to a very successful person complain about the fact that his wealth doesn’t make him happy? How the success of life has left him or her empty? Of course, you have. We’ve all heard stories like that, but pay attention to that—because it’s really important.  Watch people roll their eyes when they hear those sto...

Today, our big question is: Can we find contentment in relationships?  How many times has this scene been repeated? A guy sees a girl he can’t live without. He thinks she will bring him happiness—and for a while, that’s how it plays out. But then one day he’s melancholy just like he used to be. Or how about the woman who believes marriage will fulfill her heart’s desires, but then over time, her h...

The diversity of life on this planet is astonishing, good, bad, beautiful, painful. Our world is a place of blessing, and it’s also a struggle for a lot of people. Each of us has a whole batch of issues to deal with every day, ranging from physical challenges to emotional needs. And a fascinating element in all this is how we see contentment.  What is it? Where is it found?  Is it lasting? Matthew...

Hers is the greatest motherhood story of all time. You know who she is. Magnificent Mary! Her story has been told many times, but how grateful we are that it’s recorded in Scripture. Whatever God’s reasons for choosing this particular woman to give birth to Jesus, we know that she must have loved the Lord with all her heart. And just think how her head and heart must have been spinning when the an...

Are you a woman blessed with the gift of a wonderful mother-in-law? We can hardly think of a more important relationship. Through the ages, this mentoring friendship has sealed families and nurtured them. Likewise, we easily see the pain inflicted when this relationship isn’t good. In the Old Testament, we read of a really remarkable mother-in-law. She showed great kindness to a young woman at jus...

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be close to Jesus when He was on the earth? It would have been amazing to be in His inner circle. We know of a remarkable woman, a family member, who would have been able to be around to watch the most amazing life unfold. Her name was Elizabeth. An aunt of Jesus. We read in Luke that everyone thought that the time for Elizabeth to become a mo...

We think of her as a genteel Southern lady, and she was that, for sure. But Ruth Bell Graham was so much more. While her husband was away so much, preaching to the masses, she was preaching to her own little flock. The result was children who became adults, and in turn shared the Good News of Jesus with others. Anne Graham Lotz and Franklin Graham didn’t just fall out of the sky! Proverbs 27:17 sa...

If you’ve been fortunate to hold a newborn, you know what it’s like to be thunderstruck by the delicate features. Everything is miniature. And then the eyes open. You’re in love. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” A baby is a blessing and a gift from the Lord. All life is precious; it doesn’t matter if the parents are famous or completely obscure. In that warm bundle...