The Up Devotional

A beloved New Testament verse is James 4:8: “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” Let’s note a few things. First, it’s a promise. When you come near (or “draw near”) to God, he will come near to you. Not “might,” but “will.” Second, how do we come near to a […]

In yesterday’s devotional I shared a few words about success. More specifically, that success in God’s eyes has to do with humble faithfulness.  James was a wise church leader and a half-brother of Jesus. He brings this into focus as he corrects some people about their behaviour: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will […]

What do you want to be successful at? Perhaps it has to do with your career or schooling. Perhaps it has to do with your relationships or a personal goal that only you know about. If we want to be “successful,” we need to be aware of how we define that term. It’s easy to […]

Proverbs 19:21 is quite well-known: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Ultimately, God’s purpose will prevail. It cannot be thwarted or undone. His victory is past tense and present tense and future tense. It is both glorious and inescapable. When something is that certain, and […]

Edward the Confessor was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.  According to some monks who knew him, he was a gentle man. But after he died, there was chaos and violence. The reason for this was because his throne was contested. Since there was no clear successor, bloodshed flooded the land. Let’s notice that all […]

Short cuts are tempting. Perhaps that’s because we would prefer things to be easy rather than hard. When I was in elementary school we had our annual long-distance run. A friend decided to take a short cut through the woods. But the coach found out. Why? Because his legs were covered in cuts from running […]

Recognition.  I’m not talking about face-recognition software or any other type of modern technology. I’m talking about being recognized, about being noticed, in a wider sense. When a young person dreams about being famous, I wonder if a part of the allure isn’t simply about being recognized and noticed. For adults, why do we like […]

Hello!  After some vacation time, The Up Devotional is back. Before I begin, let me first say welcome to our new subscribers on email, social media and on the podcast!  Let’s start. My family is quite particular about the movies we watch. As you probably already know, there’s a lot of junk out there. But […]

Jesus calls us to live sacrificially. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). But what is sacrifice?  Here’s one way to think about it. Sacrifice is giving up something good for something great. For example, if you are fasting, you sacrifice a good […]

Gary and Mary Jane Chauncey were devoted to their 11-year old daughter, Andrea. She had cerebral palsy and was confined to a wheelchair.  The Chauncey’s were on a train which was travelling over a bridge in Louisiana. A barge hit the bridge. Their train was derailed. Some of the train cars ended up on the […]

One of Jesus’ most frequently quoted sayings about discipleship is from Mark 8:34-35: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Let’s […]

Darryl Dash tells a story about a Puritan who was given a meagre meal of bread and water. You’d think he would be less than excited. After all, a simple meal of bread and water isn’t really anything to write home about. Not very tasty either.  But no. His attitude was much different. “All this, […]

The past few devotionals have been focused on perseverance and playing the long game. With that in mind, let me introduce what I think is a helpful play on words: Pray the long game. Playing the long game (without the ‘r’), is about saying and doing things in the here and now which will help […]

Charles Spurgeon said: “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” Think about how small a snail is. I’m sure it was hard to get to the ark, not only because of his size but because he risked being stepped on! But alas, victory. Perseverance is all the more possible when you know you are headed […]

Have you ever been told to “play the long game”? What does it mean? I looked it up in the Cambridge online dictionary: “to plan and do things that will help you to be successful far into the future, rather than only thinking about the present or near future.” This is hard in a culture […]

From what I’ve seen, many people have a “Bible within a Bible,” meaning that they selectively prioritize certain passages over others. It’s a temptation for all of us, myself included. What I’ve discovered is that you can learn a lot about where you need to grow by being honest about what passages you tend to […]

At one point in the Lord of the Rings movie, two characters, Sam and Frodo, talk about their epic journey. They had set out to defeat the evil master while preserving peace on earth. They speculate about how they might be favorably remembered by future generations.  They guess at the back-and-forth between a father and […]

[New podcast and blog – link below] ~ “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance” (Hebrews 9:7). Bill Leslie described the high and holy reverence that was shown […]

In the previous devotional we discussed how God has constructed reality. I highlighted four categories of beings. (If you missed it, scroll back a day.) Category 2 is heavenly begins. This includes angels and demons (more commonly called ‘unclean spirits’ in the New Testament). But what do they do? First, the good news. Angels are […]

God has constructed reality in a certain way. When we understand how he has done so, we will be better equipped to navigate life successfully. Consider the following four categories.  Category 1 is God. He is above all. Nothing or no one else is like him. Category 2 is heavenly beings. This includes angels (who […]

In the movie Free Guy, Ryan Reynolds’ character discovers he’s in a video game. When he puts on some special sunglasses, he can see things that only certain players can see. He can see threats to his well-being and also opportunities which will help him. But as soon as he takes off the sunglasses, all […]

I’m often curious about the day-to-day spiritual practices of famous, faithful people. Did they shine only when others were watching, or was their devotion to God sincere and consistent? Did Saint Francis ever have dry spells in his prayer life? Was Billy Graham gracious to others when he was off the stage? Did Augustine frequently […]

In Psalm 25 David is in distress. He doesn’t get into the specifics, but he’s very aware of his own sin (verses 7, 11, 18), experiences guilt (verse 11), and is under the threat of enemies (verse 2).  In the midst of this prayer he says: “Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they […]

We’ve been spending some time talking about integrity. This virtue is about living wholeheartedly for God no matter the situation. Not only does your integrity honour God, but it blesses the people around you. Proverbs 11:30 says: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life…” When someone lives in a way that is […]

If you are increasing in spiritual maturity you are going to have an increasingly honest understanding of yourself.  Yes, you will grow in confidence that you are a child of God. But at the same time you will become increasingly aware of your own sin. This is one of the things that makes you more […]