Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: MATTHEW 27; ROMANS 10:9-13; 1 JOHN 1:7–2:2 "His blood is on us and on our children!” the people shouted. This quote comes from Matthew 27:25. The people are gathered around the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. They are begging him to have Jesus crucified. At this point Pilate has already reluctantly agreed, literally washing his hands to show he does not condone this punishment. He d...

READ: MATTHEW 26:14-56; 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-25; HEBREWS 4:14-16 Have you ever been betrayed? From large betrayals to small disappointments, betrayal is a hard thing to bear. And yet, it is so common. There probably is not a person in the world who hasn’t felt that sense of astonishment when a trusted person lets them down. As the hurt settles into our hearts, we learn to guard ourselves against fu...

READ: 1 PETER 2:22-25 It seems so unfair, how Jesus was taken to the cross. He is perfect. He never did anything wrong, much less anything deserving of death. It seems so confusing that He would allow it to happen. Jesus had all the power. He is God the Son—He could have gotten away at any point. But He didn’t. Instead, Jesus fulfilled God the Father’s plan for Him. He was to be the Savior of the...

READ: ROMANS 8:1; GALATIANS 6:14; HEBREWS 12:1-3; 1 PETER 2:23-25 When I see a cross, I don’t think much of it. People use the shape of a cross on jewelry, t-shirts, tattoos, logos, books, and church buildings. But back in the New Testament times, crosses were a symbol of condemnation and shame. Crucifixion was the most brutal, humiliating death the Roman Empire could come up with, and it was sham...

READ: ISAIAH 53:3-5; 1 PETER 2:24; REVELATION 21:4 Throughout human history, a wide variety of cultures have had rites of passage where individuals had to endure something painful to be seen as an adult. Having a high pain tolerance has often brought respect. For instance, a while ago someone close to me had surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. After that type of procedure, the doctor generally pre...

READ: JOB 40:15-24; PSALMS 57; 142 The young man leaned heavily against the cave’s wall. He gasped for breath, clutching a wound at his side where blood seeped through his shirt and stained his fingers red. “You promised,” he spat into the empty cave to the God he once trusted. “You told me it was mine, but then you let them take it from me. Now I have nothing.” He slid down the side of the cave,...

READ: PSALM 10:11-18; EPHESIANS 6:18; HEBREWS 4:14-16 I accidentally tapped “emergency call” on my phone today. Immediately, I felt my heartbeat speed up. I had never done that before, and I wasn’t sure what it would do. Thankfully, I was able to cancel the call before it did anything, but it got me thinking… There are people out there who are available to help us in emergency situations but who s...

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-28, 54-57; REVELATION 1:17-18 Today, we’re going to revisit yesterday’s poem. Not only does Jesus’s death and resurrection give us victory over sin, but it also gives us victory over death! In 1 Corinthians 15, we see how our personal hope of resurrection is tied directly to Christ’s own resurrection—and His coming reign over every evil force in this world. Paul explains...

READ: EPHESIANS 6:10-18; 1 PETER 5:6-10; REVELATION 12:10-11 One year in college, I struggled with an onslaught of repeated failures in my walk with Jesus. Although I confessed these failures, I was plagued with relentless guilt. Most mornings I woke with a foreboding sense of dread. Life just seemed to keep coming at me too fast to regroup. I felt like a boxer down in the ring with my opponent pu...

READ: PSALM 119:9-16, 97-104; MATTHEW 5:13-16 Have you ever been told you were too young to do something or go somewhere or hang out with certain people? Maybe nobody told you with words, but their body language, tone, and actions conveyed the message clear enough. I’ve had many people tell me that over the years, and even recently there have been people who’ve expressed that I’m too young for the...

READ: JOHN 10:1-18; 14:26; 1 JOHN 4:1-21 Have you ever heard someone talk about what God is “telling them” and felt frustrated, wondering, “Why isn’t God talking to me?” I remember feeling that way. But let me encourage you! It takes time to learn someone’s voice. If I met you for twenty minutes today, and tomorrow you shouted to me in a crowd, I probably wouldn’t turn around. I wouldn’t recognize...

READ: ROMANS 12:1-21; GALATIANS 2:19-20; COLOSSIANS 3:1-4, 16-17 The life of Macrina the Younger shows the profound influence we can have on others by faithfully following Jesus. Born around 330 AD, Macrina was the oldest of ten children, and she became a pillar of strength and faith for her family after her father’s death when she was only twelve. A few years later, Macrina decided to forego marr...

READ: MATTHEW 28:16-20; 1 CORINTHIANS 3:3-11; 12:4–13:8 I was in a discipleship class, and I felt confused. How was I supposed to be a disciple-maker, to teach and support other Christians in their faith? I’m an introvert with few close friends, and making conversation is difficult for me. Was I really a disciple myself? I was comforted when I went back to the Bible after class and was reminded of...

READ: ROMANS 8:28-39; EPHESIANS 2:1-10; PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11; 2:13 Have you ever watched a carpenter at work? My grandfather is a skilled woodcarver, and as a young child I thought it was so cool to see him take an ordinary block of wood and turn it into an amazing work of art. Often, it was difficult for me to tell exactly what he was making, but he knew what he was doing and never lost sight of th...

READ: PSALMS 8:3-4; 19:1-4; 90:1-2; 139:5-12 "Do you ever get tired of it?” Clara asked her best friend Harriett as they watched the acrobats flip through the night sky. Fire cascaded in fountains of blue and orange from the mouths of fire-breathers. Parrots squawked, lions prowled, and dancers spun in dizzying circles. When Clara was a little girl, she loved the color and noise of her people. She...

READ: MATTHEW 11:28-30; ROMANS 3:23-24; GALATIANS 2:11-21 Youth group camp had just finished, and as we all settled in with pillows for the long bus ride home, my friend (who I’ll call Samantha ) solemnly shared a tidbit from her college-age counselor (who I’ll call Brynn ): “Brynn told me she’d never written ‘I love so-and-so’ about any boy. Brynn also said she’d never worn a two-piece bathing su...

READ: MATTHEW 4:1-11; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13; HEBREWS 4:14-16 It’s happened again. You promised yourself you wouldn’t sin in that way, but you have. For weeks you’ve been struggling with combating this temptation, but you keep falling for it. At times like these, it’s easy to think that God is furious with us. After all, He’s a just and holy God. Isn’t He sick and tired of this? While it’s true God i...

READ: PSALM 16:11; PHILIPPIANS 4:4; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18 April Fools’ Day is biblical. Many would stare at me or raise an eyebrow if I said that, but it’s true. April Fools’ Day is a day when practical (not harmful) jokes are encouraged, and people spring them on each other left and right. While pranks can go too far, if done in the right spirit a good joke can cause a lot of laughter and fun....

This is a special episode of Unlocked featuring not only Dylan and Natalie together (sort of ) but hosted by Josh, who produces each podcast episode! Since Josh began editing the podcast, he has ever-so-kindly taken the initiative to save a large variety of verbal missteps, mess-ups, repeats, and mistakes from Natalie and Dylan, and beautifully arranged them into a lovely bloopers episode made esp...

READ: ROMANS 12:6-8; 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-12; 1 TIMOTHY 4:12-14 Have you ever had a teacher, mentor, or parent speak into your life in a way that you will always remember? When I was a junior in high school, I was struggling with anxiety following an event that happened at school. It was a dark time in my life. I was feeling lonely, scared, and overwhelmed. Worst of all, I was feeling distant from G...

READ: PSALM 139:13-16; EPHESIANS 3:17-19 Lately I have had one skin issue right after another. Just when one blemish starts to fade and I start to feel better about my appearance, another appears on my face. As I was thinking about how imperfect I feel and how I can never seem to have flawless skin, I started thinking about how God accepts us, with all of our imperfections, and loves us fully. Acn...

READ: MATTHEW 4:1-11; HEBREWS 4:14-16 "We need to start cleaning out and organizing.” I groan when I hear my mom say those words. Digging through stuff, sorting, and deciding what to keep, give away, or throw away are some of my least favorite activities. It’s not that I mind getting rid of what I don’t need; I just don’t care for the actual process. It requires me to rifle through drawers, organi...

READ: GENESIS 33:1-11; LUKE 15:11-24 When I think of Esau, I picture a smelly, hairy, revenge-seeking man (Genesis 27). As the firstborn twin of Isaac and Rebekah, he is tricked and mistreated by his younger brother Jacob. One day, Esau is very hungry after going on a long hunting trip and getting nothing. Jacob sees how hungry Esau is and offers to trade him his inheritance for a bowl of soup. Es...

READ: PSALMS 46:1-3; 102:25-27; MALACHI 3:6; JAMES 1:17 The world changed for everyone in 2020. I know my family experienced some big changes in that year. Then 2021 brought even more changes for us, and in 2022 I lost a family member. Looking back to 2019 now, I had no idea what was to come. I never could have guessed the ways that my life would change between then and now. Change is constant. Ne...

READ: ECCLESIASTES 2:11; MATTHEW 6:19–7:12; COLOSSIANS 3:17 When someone talks about their achievements in a video game, people who share their passion for gaming will often celebrate with them! But other people’s reaction might just be to shrug and dismiss it based on the assumption that: “Those types of accomplishments don’t really matter.” Often, the people who feel this way prefer to spend the...