Remnant: A Daily Verse-by-Verse Devotional

Paul quotes a song of David in today's verse. We talk about how David's love of God caused him to sing in praise (and sometimes in embarrassing ways), and how David accepted God's forgiveness.

We are not called to be served but to serve.

Paul concludes a big section on peace within the church by a simple instruction: welcome (or accept) each other, as Jesus welcomed (or accepted) you.

Paul finishes his prayer for the church that he started in verse five with a hope that we may glorify God with one voice. We talk about the peace of the early church and how we can get that peace back.

Paul stops teaching in this verse and instead breaks out into a prayer for harmony. We talk about both harmony and prayer.

Paul tells us the scripture exist so that we might have hope. We explore what hope truly means.

Paul loops in the life of Jesus to his illustration of the strong shouldering the burdens of the weak, citing both Jesus's temptation by the Devil and Psalm 69:9 to prove his point.

Paul tells us to act in our neighbor's best interest when it comes to their faith, and to build up their faith. We explore that through the parable of the good samaritan.

Paul starts chapter 15 by instructing the strong to bear the weaknesses of the weak. We talk about how Jesus bore the cross on the way to being crucified, and how we follow Jesus by bearing others' weaknesses too, and letting stronger followers bear our burdens when we need help as well.

Paul finishes chapter 14 by pointing out that those stumbling blocks--things that make others doubt their faith--are big problems. We talk about doubt and how we can encourage others' faith rather than making them doubt.

Paul gives us two sentences in verse 22 that help drive home the point that we're called to lift each other up rather than tear each other down.

In verse 20, Paul said everything was clean. So why is he now in verse 21 telling us that it is good to not eat meat? Because our job is to not cause each other to stumble. We unpack that.

Paul counsels to not destroy the work of God for the sake of something as trivial as food. We explore how we can display the work of God in our lives and in our churches.

Paul concludes that our job is to work towards peace with each other and mutual upbuilding. We talk about what it means to build someone up, as opposed to tearing them down.

Paul says that whoever lives in the Holy Spirit (and through the Holy Spirit has righteousness, peace, and joy) is serving Christ in a way that is acceptable to God. We dig into the root of the Holy Spirit.

My seven-year-old joins us to tell us how we celebrate what verse 16 calls good: by living with great joy.

Our new years devotional tells us to protect what we believe to be good. We explore this concept of good through the parable of the talents.

Paul says that as we minister to our brothers and sisters in Christ, the last thing we should be doing is to cause them grief. We explore how Jesus ministered to others in love.

Paul ties his big lesson for this section--do not be a stumbling block on another's walk with Jesus--to the specific problem in the church in Rome of maintaining kosher eating.

Paul starts a new section directed at the "strong," the Gentile Christians in the church in Rome, by telling them not to be stumbling blocks in the way of other believers.

Paul ends this section by telling us that every one of us will give an account of themselves before God. We talk about what that account looks like to God.

Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23 to make his point that people within the church in Rome were essentially making idols of their positions, and that judgment will come on them the same way that judgment will come on all.

Paul circles back to a concept from several verses ago: that we aren't here to pass judgment on each other.

My five-year-old joins us for our Christmas devotional that shares that Christmas is not just about Jesus's birth, but about the start of a process that gives us new life.

Our verse for this Christmas Eve reminds us that no matter what we do in this life, we are the Lord's. We reflect back on how God makes clear in Genesis that we were put here as a special creature. As special creatures, we should live our lives remembering that we are the Lord's.