The Up Devotional

In Ecclesiastes 1:3 the teacher asks a question: “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”  Let’s note a few things.  First, when he says ‘man,’ he means ‘humankind.’ He’s not just talking about himself. He’s asking a question of all of us. Second, when he says ‘toil,’ […]

The start of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes is not what I would call “positive.”  “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). In case it’s not obvious, he’s thinks everything is vanity.  His keyword in Hebrew is “hevel.” It’s hard to translate because there isn’t an exact English […]

Proverbs 4:26 says: “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.” In the Bible, various writers speak about a level path. Picture a hiker on a trail making her way up a mountain. If the path is level, that’s good. If it’s rocky, she could roll over […]

Summer schedules can become unpredictable. When that happens, it’s easy to let certain practices slip, like having meals together, like regular exercise… And like going to church.  Consider this. The average educator spends five thousand hours studying child development before they teach a class. The average paediatrician spends ten years and $500,000 to practice medicine […]

Matthew 19:26 includes one of Jesus’ most famous sayings: “…with God all things are possible.” We often appeal to that verse when praying for a something super-big, like a miracle. When we want a dramatic healing, or when we want people who absolutely hate each other to reconcile, or when we want a hurricane to […]

Like many others, I grew up thinking Obi-Wan Kenobi was pretty cool. He was one of the good guys on Star Wars. In a recent spin-off series, he said: “Only when the eyes are closed can you truly see.”* If you think that sounds decidedly biblical, you’re right. It’s very reminiscent of what the apostle […]

A story is told by Mitch Albom. ‘A farmer wakes up to find that his horse has run off. The neighbours come by and say, “Too bad, such awful luck.” The farmer says, “Maybe.”  The next day, the horse returns with a few other horses. The neighbours congratulate the farmer for his reversal of fortune. […]

We’re back!  After some heavenly vacation time, The Up Daily Devotional is back to your email inboxes, social media feeds, and podcast platforms five mornings a week. There’s a book by Daniel J. Brown called The Boys in the Boat. It’s about Americans who went to the Berlin Olympics for rowing. I haven’t read it […]

[PAUSE ALERT – After today, The Up Daily Devotional will go on pause for 2 weeks, resuming on September 7, 2026.] ~ Let’s begin with three verses from John 15. As we go through them, let’s look for what Jesus says about joy. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide […]

In the previous devotional we talked about prayer. There is more than one way to pray, of course. I included some suggestions of short, biblical statements that you can put on a mental “loop” as you go about your day. Here’s some additional motivation to pray, no matter how you do it.  It comes to […]

Have you ever heard of “The Jesus Prayer”?  It’s an ancient prayer that goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s common for people to repeat it—as if on a loop—as they go about their day.  It comes from a variety of different statements in the Bible […]

Today I’m going to say something that might sound a bit jarring. But I think it’s for your own good. Please hear me out.  Do you find it difficult to find time to pray, even though you don’t find it difficult to do other less important things?  Do you find it hard to focus your […]

In the world of business, companies can outsource all sorts of things. They can outsource administrative tasks, or even their payroll or legal services. As people, however, we can’t outsource intimacy.  John Ortberg tells the unfortunate story of a man who became attracted to a certain woman and wanted to ask her out on a […]

This week we have been spending some time thinking about the forgiveness that God gives to his children.  Today, let’s flip that coin and talk about the forgiveness that we can extend to others. First, it’s important to remember that our approach to forgiveness is grounded in what we have first received in Christ. Paul […]

We have been spending some time with Psalm 32. It is one of seven “penitential” psalms. That word is connected to repentance. If it sounds like “penitentiary,” you’re right. Prisons are intended to be houses of repentance, where inmates gather in cells (notice that a ‘cell’ is also where a monk lives as a place […]

Several years ago, I was watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie. There was a girl in a wheelchair. She was upset about how much her life had changed.  Her mom, wanting the best for her, knew she needed to change her perspective. She said: “Live your life as it is, not as […]

In Psalm 32:1, David wrote: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” According to the psalm, if you have received God’s forgiveness, you are “blessed.” That’s a popular phrase to use these days. “Blessed.” It’s even used as a hashtag by people who would not otherwise call themselves “religious.”  When […]

In John’s Gospel, Jesus makes a series of well-known statements that begin with the words, “I am.” Here they are: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35)“I am the light of the world” (John 8:12)“I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7)“I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11)“I am the resurrection and the […]

“Abide in me, and I in you.” That’s what Jesus says in John 15:4.  The idea of “abiding” with Jesus presumes closeness and time. In other words, it presumes that we are drawing near to him, and that we are prioritizing him in our schedules. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the phrase ‘Slowing down in […]

[Alert: New article for summer, link below.] ~ Recently, we have been spending time with John 15:4. That’s where Jesus said: “Abide in me, and I in you.” In the previous devotional, we talked about taking our time with Jesus’ words instead of rushing past them. This is one of the ways we can “abide” […]

In John 15:4 Jesus says something that is easy to skip over, even though it takes a lifetime to digest: “Abide in me, and I in you.” Various translation teams have tried to capture this enigmatic phrase. The NET Bible says: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” In the footnotes they also […]

Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder of Meta and Facebook. In his early days, he had a motto: “Move fast and break things.”  At first, it seems appealing. ‘Let’s innovate, move forward, and not get held back by the consequences!’ It certainly captures something about the sentiment of our times.  However, let’s not kid ourselves. Our […]

The Star Wars movies have spawned a series of spin-off TV shows. One of them is called Andor.  In it, rebels (who are actually the good guys) are plotting against the evil Empire who keeps trying to expand its grip. It’s appetite for darkness and control seem insatiable. In Season 2, there is a moving […]

“God is love.” That’s exactly what the apostle John says in 1 John 4:8. He is also “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 145:8). At the same time, he is holy and just. He punishes sin. There are times when he also exercises his wrath. And that, my friends, […]

I recently spent a lot of time studying 2 Peter. At the end of the letter, he said: “…take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability” (2 Peter 3:17). This was a topic that was clearly important to him. Since he had already spent […]