Verse from Isaiah

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31

In our faith journey, we may feel tempted to quit when the path seems too long or difficult. Yet in these moments, we can find solace in the words the prophet Isaiah spoke to comfort the Israelites. He told them God would eventually redeem them from their decades of captivity in Babylon, and He reminded them that God wasn’t like powerless idols (Isaiah 40:18-20).  Almighty God, who created the heavens and earth, “will not grow tired or weary,” and He strengthens the weak (vv. 28-29). “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (v. 31).

Isaiah’s words encouraged the Israelites, and we can receive strength from the same “everlasting God” (vv. 28-29) they were trusting. Let’s walk by faith day by day and one step at a time. As we continue to hope in the one true God, He will help us walk, run, and soar for His glory.

Verse from Ecclesiastes

Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Ecclesiastes 4:10

Ecclesiastes may seem like little more than a string of musings from an embittered sage. Any coherent message we do find is steeped in futility. Chapter 4 is typical as the philosopher surveys “toil and all achievement” (v. 4) through a bleak, earthbound lens. “There was a man all alone,” he says. “There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth” (v. 8). When we live for ourselves, contentment eludes us. 

The writer provides hope, however: “Two are better than one” (v. 9), and “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (v. 12). Left to ourselves, our human pursuits are truly in vain. God intended for us to live in community, interdependent on each other. Most of all, He wants us to live with Him at the center of our lives (see 12:1, 13-14). In Him, toil becomes teamwork as He helps us accomplish what He wants us to do.

Verse from Proverbs

“Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, But any fool will quarrel.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭20:3‬ ‭

One morning in Perth, Australia, Fionn Mulholland discovered his car was missing. That’s when he realized he had mistakenly parked in a restricted zone and his car had been towed away. After considering the situation—even the $600 towing and parking fine—Mulholland was frustrated, but he decided not to be angry with the person he would work with to retrieve his car. Instead of venting his feelings, Mulholland wrote a humorous poem about the situation and read it to the worker he met at the tow yard. The worker liked the poem, and a possible ugly confrontation never took place.

The book of Proverbs teaches, “It is to one’s honor to avoid strife” (20:3). Strife is that friction that either simmers under the surface or explodes in the open between people who disagree about something.

God has given us the resources to live peacefully with other people. His Word assures us that it’s possible to feel anger without letting it boil over into rage (Eph. 4:26). His Spirit enables us to override the sparks of fury that prompt us to do and say things to strike out at people who upset us. And God has given us His example to follow when we feel provoked (1 Peter 2:23). He is compassionate, gracious, and slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Ps. 86:15).

Verse from 1 Corinthians

Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God. 1 Corinthians 3:7

After Lam Wai Chan moved from his native Singapore to pastor a church in Japan, he panicked. The church had barely twenty members. In a nation known as a “missionary graveyard,” where about one percent of the nation’s people are Christian and many churches sit empty, Lam felt “like I was taking over a sinking ship.” Crying out to God, he sensed the answer: Offer the church back to Me.

Rather than “update” worship or music, Wai Chan asked members to pray—for their needs, family members, and friends who didn’t know Jesus. Slowly, the church doubled in size.

Their faithful praying is a living, biblical model of how to build a community in Jesus. First, pray. “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,” Paul wrote, “present your requests to God,” and do all of this without worry about anything (Philippians 4:6). In this way, we offer our ministries, churches, and programs back to God. We may plant seeds and water them, but as the apostle said, “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:7). He was imploring believers at Corinth to stop quarrelling about which church leader they followed (vv. 3-6).

As Paul said, “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (v. 11). Let’s prayerfully give our churches back to Him. Then, watch them grow.

Verse from Hebrews

We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10

As the writer of Hebrews explains the thorough effectiveness of the sacrifice Christ made for us, he makes it clear that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4). So what was the point of the sacrificial system the Hebrew people practiced for centuries? It was “only a shadow of the good things that are coming” (10:1). 

This is why John the Baptist declared of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). What the slaughter of animals couldn’t do, Christ did. As a result, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

Verse from Psalm

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

The psalmist’s delight is expressed in verse 97, where he summarizes his sentiments: “Oh, how I love your law!” The psalm highlights several advantages of engagement with the Bible: “Your commands . . . make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers . . . . I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts” (vv. 98-100). 

Not only are the words of Scripture sweet to the taste, they strengthen and enrich our lives and help us to honor God.

Verse from Colossians

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17

Trees in cold climates prepare for winter through a process called “hardening.” Water drains from cells so they won’t freeze, expand, and burst the tree. The water that remains between the cells is too pure for ice crystals to attach. Its temperature may now drop to forty degrees below zero without cracking the tree. Trees harden at the same time each year because they take their cues from the fixed calendar of shortening days. They don't stake their lives on the weather, which may be unseasonably mild. They trust the sun, their one sure thing.

The Son who made the sun is surer yet. He is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created,” and “in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17). Who tells trees when to harden each year? The same Son who makes the sun rise each morning and puts it to bed each night, pulls tides with the moon, whirls electrons in every cell, pumps your heart and inflates your lungs, and holds you when your heart is broken.

What holds the world together isn’t a force within nature but a person outside it. A person who entered the world He’d made so he could “reconcile to himself all things,” including you (v. 20). In this unpredictable world, you’ve got one sure thing. Jesus will “present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (v. 22).