Daily Bible Verse

With the New Year comes all kinds of planning and resolutions. You might resolve to eat better, do better at school, practice your instrument more for band. The list could go on. This week, we’ll talk about some goals to consider adding to your list.

Goal #1 – Knowing God.

This one might make you think, well, yeah, of course. But seriously look at this one. Do you know God? Have you prioritized developing a relationship with Him? Or have you put the idea of knowing Him on pause for awhile. Perhaps your job, playing sports, and hanging out with friends has distracted you from really getting to know Him.

The truth is, in everything we do, knowing God should be our goal. Why? Success without God isn’t success at all. If we make tons of friends, do well in sports, and at school, but haven’t known God, what will we have to show at the end of our lives?

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, – Philippians 3:10 (NIV)

Knowing God should be our number one goal. God wants to speak into your life. He will show you things to come, help you out on a math test, and bring blessing and peace into your life in such amazing ways. It’s just up to you to spend some time getting to know Him.

You do this through worship, prayer, and reading your Bible. So in all your goal setting this year, take some time to think through how you’ll make room in your life for the things of God. Don’t get so busy with all the “stuff” of life that you forget that any success without God is empty.

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” – Luke 1:45 (NLT)

When God speaks sometimes it seems crazy. He told Noah to build an ark when they hadn’t ever seen rain before. He told Sarah she was going to have a baby when she was too old. Time and time again, we see God give someone a promise that seems impossible. And yet, in the midst of impossibility, God comes through and brings the promise to pass.

Mary was no different. God told her something crazy. She was a virgin and yet God told her that she would give birth to a child. Mary believed what God told her even when it didn’t make any sense. Mary placed her trust in God above what she could see or feel and she saw God do a miracle in her life.

Today’s Truth: Your situation is not too impossible for God!

The same is true for you. You might feel like you’re in an impossible situation. The truth is that God has spoken promises in His word to you. It’s just up to you to believe those promises. When you choose to believe God’s promises and stand in faith,  you’ll see great results.

Have you ever been telling a story to someone and they didn’t get it? And after explaining it several times you ended up frustrated and misunderstood? I hate it when you try to tell someone something, and yet they totally miss the point of what you’re trying to say.

In the same way, many people today are missing the point as well. Many people live their lives for themselves. They attempt to explain the world without God. But any attempt to learn or explain the world without God are empty and totally miss the point.

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. – 1 Corinthians 1:20 (NLT)

Why? Because Jesus is the point of everything. Any learning, any success, anything you do without Jesus will be empty without God’s wisdom included in it. Instead of gaining simply knowledge, decide to gain God’s wisdom. Let the creator of the universe help you understand the things that confuse you. Make knowing Him your number

So today, realize that any attempts you make in learning, sports, or a job will be missing the point if you don’t include Jesus in them.

Today’s Truth: Wisdom Without God is Foolishness

Have you ever watched a movie where it seemed like the bad guys were winning? Regardless of how the good guys tried, it seemed as if they were never going to win. Then at the end of the movie, the good guys end up coming up with a sneaky plan that tricked the bad guys and made it so the good guys won.

Today’s Bible verse reminds me a little of a movie plot like that.

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NLT)

It seemed as if the bad guy (devil/sin) had been winning for a long time. However, God had a plan. To the devil and the world it seemed like foolishness. But God’s plan was amazing. By sending Jesus, He made way for a permanent solution for sin.

The cross was the power of God. It was God’s way to deal with sin and all the things that bound us once and for all. And while it seemed for a moment that the devil had won, God had a plan from the beginning of time. It cost Him everything to send His son, but He did it because we were worth it to Him.

And while serving a God that would do such a thing might seem like foolishness to the people in the world, to believers, the cross is everything. It’s the symbol of our freedom in Christ.

Today’s Truth: We are free in Jesus!

So today, take some time to thank God for sending Jesus. In God’s wisdom, He sent Jesus the solution to our sin problem. Be grateful and thankful that you are free in Him!