Christian Walk

Psalm 127:1 – Vain Life: Your House

Christian Walk, Devotions, Family, Jesus

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1 ESV)

In the previous devotion, we discussed the definition of vain and an overview of our series. You can read it here.

From Ryan:

I n the Bible, the building of a house can often be referred to as your life or family (Genesis 16:2, Ruth 4:11, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4). The most important part when building a house, or any building for that matter, is the foundation. I have a favorite Starbucks where I live because of how big and open it is unlike the other two Starbucks in town. The reason it is so much larger and open is because it was built from scratch. They were able to lay the foundation they wanted for it while the other two Starbucks were built on foundations that were previously used for fast food joints. They were constrained by the size of the foundation they were using.

All of our lives are built on foundations which determine their direction. If our goal in life is to retire early, then we Continue Reading →

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Psalm 127:1-2 – The Vain Life

Christian Walk, Devotions, Jesus, Psalm

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:1-2 ESV)

W e are starting a four part daily devotional series called “The Vain Life”. This series focuses on the first two verses of Psalm 127. This Psalm was written by none other than King Solomon. He is the writer of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs also known as the wisdom books. He was considered to be the wisest man in the world. Not because of how smart he was, but because God said he would make him wise (1 Kings 3:12). He had everything his heart desired, yet never seemed to be happy with all the pleasures of the world. Interestingly, King Solomon had a thing for writing about vanity. He writes about it multiple times in Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and here in Psalm 127. If the wisest man in the world writes about something, we might as well learn what it is.

We often think of the word vain as a person who is full of themselves. But, King Solomon was talking about what Merriam-Webster says is: Continue Reading →

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Genesis 8:10 – Testing the Waters

Christian Walk, Devotions, Prayer

Daily Bible Devotional Verse

He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove our of the ark. Genesis 8:10 ESV

God had spoken to Noah before the flood and given instructions on building the ark(Genesis 6:13; 7:1). God also spoke to Noah after the flood water had receded enough (Genesis 8:16).  There seems to be a period of time while Noah was on the ark and the rains had stopped that God wasn’t giving him instruction. Interestingly enough, we don’t see God telling Noah to send out a bird multiple times to ascertain how far the water had receded, and ensure there was dry land. In essence then, Noah was testing the waters, and was seeing where God was in his workings.

There can be situations in which we are trying to figure out what God is doing in our life or what his purpose is. Continue Reading →

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Mark 1:16-18 – Called In Community

Christian Walk, Church, Devotions, Relationships

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
(Mark 1:16-18 ESV)

The modern media’s portrayal of the “lone wolf” seems to be growing more and more popular. From movies where the hero is mowing down hundreds of bad guys by himself, to books about “maverick” politicians standing against the grain and defying the status quo, it would seem as if we love a stand alone hero. But how realistic a notion is this one man versus the world mentality? And have we tried to adopt this model into our spiritual walk?

Even a cursory examination of Jesus’ first interactions with his disciples should be sufficient for the realization that we were never intended to go it alone. In fact, if we take it way back, Continue Reading →

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Nehemiah 9:17 – Big Faith From Little Blessings

Christian Walk, Devotions, Praise, Thanksgiving

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. (Nehemiah 9:17 ESV)

The Israelites time and time again were saved by God through miracles as they were in and leaving Egypt. But they continually rebelled from God. Reading these accounts in Scripture can easily make us feel competent and prideful. Our minds are filled with the notion that if we had seen the miracles the Israelites saw, we would never have forgotten them. Generally, we could rightly assume that none of us reading this has ever seen a sea part, a river turn to blood or mana from heaven. But, we think that if we did, we would never act faithlessly as the Israelites did toward God.

What if we are looking at this scripture and others similar in the wrong way? Continue Reading →

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Mark 11:25 – Make Sure To Forgive Others

Christian Walk, Devotions, Prayer, Sin

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25 ESV)

In prayer, many of us tend to simply rattle off a list of things we have done wrong for the day or week, and ask God to forgive us for them. This usually constitutes all the forgiveness we believe is needed during our prayer time. This isn’t necessarily wrong, but as this verse points out, there is something we should be doing before we ask God to forgive us of our multitude of sins. Continue Reading →

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