Devotions

what good is the Bible?

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 3:1-4

¹ So, what advantage is there to being a Jew, or what is the value of being circumcised?²There are many advantages in many ways. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the sayings of God.³ What if some did not believe those sayings, does their unbelief cancel out the faithfulness of God?⁴ Absolutely not! God is proven true, even when every human being is disgraced as a liar, just as it is written: “so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”

what good is the Bible?

Paul has just affirmed that God can save a Gentile purely on the basis of faith, even if that Gentile has never been shaped by Jewish tradition or exposed to the rituals and teachings of Israel. That truth naturally raises a question in the minds of Jewish believers: If God saves apart from the law, what value is there in coming to God through Judaism at all? Paul anticipates this concern and answers it with care.

There is an advantage, he says, and it is a profound one. God entrusted his self‑revelation to Israel. The Jewish people received the very words of God—his promises, his commands, his warnings, his covenant story. The Scriptures were not given as a replacement for faith, nor as a mechanism for earning righteousness. They were given as a light pointing toward the One in whom faith should rest. The law and the prophets were never intended to be the destination; they were the road signs leading to Christ.

This means that those who grew up within Judaism possessed a remarkable privilege. They had access to the truth long before others did. They heard God’s voice in the sacred writings. They were shaped by the stories of Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. They were taught to expect a Messiah and to recognize the righteousness that comes from God. All of this was an advantage—not because it guaranteed salvation, but because it prepared the heart to receive salvation when Christ appeared.

Paul’s point is not to elevate one group over another, but to show that God’s revelation in Scripture is a gift. The Bible does not save, but it leads to the Savior. It does not create faith, but it nourishes and directs faith. It does not replace the gospel, but it reveals the gospel in advance. Those who come to Christ through the Scriptures come by a path illuminated by God’s own speech.

And now, through Christ, that same revelation is offered to all. Jew and Gentile alike are invited to hear the voice of God in the Scriptures and to respond with the obedience of faith.

Lord, thank you for revealing yourself and your gospel in the holy Scriptures.

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inward Judaism

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 2:25-29

²⁵ Because circumcision has its value if you are obedient to the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become non-circumcision.²⁶ For this reason, if the non-circumcised man obeys the righteous requirements of the law, would not his non-circumcision be regarded as circumcision?²⁷ And will not the physically non-circumcised man who keeps the law condemn you who, despite the written code and circumcision, transgress the law?²⁸ Because a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh,²⁹ but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the written code. This person’s praise is not from people but from God.

inward Judaism

Paul directs his attention in Romans 2 to believers in Rome who took great pride in the outward marks of their Jewish identity. They possessed the law, bore the sign of circumcision, and belonged to a long and honored tradition. These were good gifts from God, but pride had twisted them into badges of superiority. Before the gospel could take deep root in their lives, that pride had to be dismantled. Paul therefore reminds them that true Judaism—true covenant identity—was never about external performance. The works of the law were always meant to be a response to grace, not a ladder by which grace could be earned.

To make this point vivid, Paul turns to the meaning of the name Judah, which comes from the verb “to praise.” The true Jew, he argues, is not the one who praises himself for possessing the law, but the one whom God praises for responding to his grace. The direction of the praise matters. It flows from God to the believer, not from the believer to himself. This reframes everything. If God sees a Gentile walking in obedience to the truth revealed to him, God can bestow the same praise on that Gentile. Such a person, Paul says, possesses “inward Judaism”—the reality to which the outward signs were always pointing.

This inward Judaism is nothing less than faith in the gospel. It is the heart transformed by grace, the life shaped by trust in Christ rather than confidence in heritage or performance. Paul longs for all the believers in Rome—Jew and Gentile alike—to experience this inward reality. The gospel creates a new people whose identity is grounded not in ancestry or ritual but in God’s gracious approval of those who believe.

This is the Judaism that counts: the praise that comes from God, given freely to all who trust in Christ. It is the fulfillment of what the law and the prophets anticipated—a people formed by grace, marked by faith, and sustained by the Spirit.

Lord, thank you for blessing all believers with your grace. Thank you for the inward Judaism that matters—the praise you give to all who believe your gospel.

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the burden of light bearing

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 2:17-24

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and depend upon the law and are proud of your relationship to God¹⁸ and you know his will and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law,¹⁹ and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,²⁰ an educator of the stupid ones, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the totality of knowledge and of the truth–²¹ I ask you this: you who teach someone else, are you not teaching yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?²² You who are telling others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?²³ You who are proud of your knowledge of the law dishonor God by transgressing the law!²⁴ Because just as it says in Scripture, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”^[1]

the burden of light bearing

Paul understood the burden of being a bearer of the law’s light. His entire early life had been shaped by zeal for the Torah, yet that zeal had driven him into violence, cruelty, and the destruction of innocent lives. He had believed he was defending God’s truth, but in reality he was wounding the very people God was calling. That history gave him a unique insight into the danger of relying on law‑keeping as a source of righteousness. He knew how easily the law—good and holy as it is—can become twisted by the human heart. It can turn sincere devotion into pride, and pride into sin.

Because of this, Paul urges the Jewish believers in Rome to look inward. Their heritage, their knowledge of Scripture, and their moral training were not the solution to their deepest problem. They had come to Christ the same way the Gentiles had: by admitting their failure and trusting in the righteousness of Another. Knowing the truth is not the same as living it. Even those who possess the law do not keep it consistently. The law exposes sin, but it cannot cure it. Good people need the gospel just as desperately as openly sinful people do, because goodness itself can become a trap. It can inflate the ego, blind the conscience, and produce the very sins it condemns.

Paul goes further. When believers fall into pride, the world sees it. When those who claim to know God act in ways that contradict his character, unbelievers mock the faith and blaspheme the name of God. This is why Paul insists that the gospel levels the ground. It reduces every person—religious or irreligious, moral or immoral—to the same status: sinner in need of grace. And it lifts every person to the same hope: salvation through the atoning death and perfect obedience of Christ.

Only the gospel frees from the crushing burden of trying to be the light‑bearer. Christ is the true Light. His obedience, not ours, is the foundation of our standing before God. His righteousness, not our performance, is our hope. In him, the burden is lifted, and the freedom of grace becomes the atmosphere in which believers learn to walk.

Lord, thank you for the freedom given through your atoning death. Thank you that the path we walk is sustained not by our obedience, but by yours.

[1] Isaiah 52:5.

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the law of conscience

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 2:12-16

¹² Because all who have sinned not knowing the law will also perish not knowing the law, and all who have sinned understanding the law will be judged by the law.¹³ Because it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.¹⁴ Because whenever the Gentiles, who do not know the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not know the law are a law to themselves.¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts first accuse and then defend them,¹⁶ on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, as I proclaim in my gospel through Christ Jesus.

the law of conscience

Paul teaches that God has placed within every human being an inner witness—a moral compass that testifies to right and wrong. This conscience is not a full substitute for Scripture, but it is a genuine gift of God, a fragment of his law written on the heart. Even those who have never held a scroll of the Torah still possess this inward awareness. It quietly affirms what is good and quietly warns when the path is drifting toward evil.

Yet conscience can be resisted. It can be muffled, ignored, or overridden. Human beings are remarkably skilled at constructing elaborate justifications for their choices. Entire systems of thought can be built to defend what the heart wants, even when the heart knows better. But suppressing conscience does not erase it. It only deepens the responsibility. Paul’s warning is that judgment day is coming, and on that day God will judge not only outward actions but the hidden secrets of the heart. Nothing will remain concealed. Motives, desires, rationalizations, and the quiet protests of conscience will all be brought into the light.

In that moment, God’s justice will be vindicated. No one will be able to claim ignorance. The inner law will testify that every person knew more than they admitted. The truth is that rebellion is never accidental. It is chosen. The conscience God placed within each person will confirm that the path of sin was walked willingly.

This is not meant to crush hope but to prepare the heart for grace. Conscience, when listened to honestly, exposes the need for a Savior. It reveals the gap between what is known and what is done. It awakens the longing for forgiveness and the desire for cleansing. In this way, conscience becomes a gracious guide leading toward Christ. It is not the source of salvation, but it is often the first nudge toward the One who saves.

Lord, thank you for the law of conscience that awakened the awareness of sin and drove us to seek Christ, our Savior.

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a true case

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 2:1-11

¹Consequently, you are without defense, whoever you are, when you criticize someone else. For on whatever grounds you criticize another, you criticize yourself, because you who are accusing practice similar things.² Now we know that God’s condemnation is based on a true case against those who practice such things.³ So do you think, whoever you are, when you criticize those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s condemnation?⁴ Or do you have disdain for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?⁵ But because of your obstinacy and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous condemnation is going to be revealed!⁶ He will repay each one according to his works:⁷ eternal life to those who by consistently doing good works seek glory and honor and immortality,⁸ but wrath and fury to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness.⁹ There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek,¹⁰ but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek.¹¹ Because there is no partiality with God.

a true case

Paul turns in Romans 2 to those believers in Rome who had grown up with the privileges of a Jewish heritage—Scripture, covenant identity, and a long tradition of moral instruction. These were Christians who could easily feel spiritually superior because they had been raised with access to God’s law. Yet Paul gently dismantles that confidence. He reminds them that they entered the kingdom of God the same way their Gentile brothers and sisters did: through repentance and faith in Christ. Heritage did not save them. Knowledge did not save them. The law did not save them. Only Christ did.

Paul’s point is sharp but pastoral. Possessing the truth is not the same as obeying it. Even those who know God’s word fail to keep it consistently. The law exposes sin; it does not erase it. Therefore, those who grew up with Scripture stand under the same judgment as those who never held a scroll in their hands. God’s judgment day will not grant a passing grade to those who merely had access to the truth. It will judge according to deeds, and by that standard all fall short. God has a legitimate case against every human being, religious or irreligious, Jew or Gentile, moral or immoral.

This is why the gospel is such good news. The law reveals the problem, but Christ provides the remedy. The law condemns, but Christ justifies. The law exposes guilt, but Christ offers righteousness. Paul levels the ground so that grace may be seen for what it is: God’s undeserved rescue of sinners who had no hope of saving themselves. The Roman Christians—whether raised in the synagogue or raised among idols—stood together as people who needed the atoning death of Christ. And so do all believers today.

The gospel does not flatter human achievement. It announces divine mercy. It declares that God has made a way where none existed, that he has acted on behalf of those who rejected his law, and that righteousness is now given freely through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the hope Paul wants every believer to cling to.

Lord, thank you for making a way for us when we had already rejected your law. Thank you for the gospel of grace that rescues, restores, and makes us your own.

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a depraved mind

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 1:26-32

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to shameful passions. Because their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,²⁷ and likewise the men also abandoned normal relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.²⁸ And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.²⁹ They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, disrespectful, arrogant, boastful, dreamers of all kinds of evil, disobedient to parents,³¹ senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, coldblooded.³² Although they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also commend those who practice them.

a depraved mind

Here is a clarified, expanded, theologically careful version that preserves Paul’s argument in Romans 1–2 without demeaning any group of people, while still honoring the biblical convictions you hold and the pastoral tone you prefer. It keeps Paul’s logic intact: exposing sin, leveling the ground, and pointing all to Christ.

What many cultures today celebrate as an acceptable expression of personal identity, Paul describes as the tragic result of God allowing unbelievers to follow the path they insist on choosing. When people repeatedly suppress the truth about God—truth written into creation and conscience—God’s present judgment takes the form of “giving them over” to a mind no longer shaped by his truth. This is not arbitrary punishment but the natural consequence of pushing God out of the center of life. A mind emptied of God becomes vulnerable to confusion, distortion, and desires that lead away from life.

Paul names same‑sex behavior as one of the symptoms of this spiritual disorder, not to single out one group for special condemnation, but to illustrate what happens when humanity exchanges the Creator for created things. Yet Paul’s real target is not those who practice such things. He is preparing to confront those in Rome who looked at the moral collapse around them and responded with judgment rather than humility. In chapter 2 he will insist that those who condemn others are guilty of the same rebellion in different forms. The point is not that one sin is harmless and another is monstrous. The point is that all stand under sin, and all require the righteousness God provides through Christ.

This does not mean God is indifferent to human choices, including sexual choices. Scripture consistently teaches that all sexual expression outside God’s design leads away from wholeness and toward brokenness. But Paul’s emphasis is not on ranking sins. His emphasis is on the deeper spiritual reality: when the knowledge of God is pushed aside, the human heart becomes disordered, and disordered desires lead to disordered living. The behaviors Paul names are symptoms of a deeper spiritual emptiness.

Yet Paul’s message is profoundly hopeful. The way of escape is the same for every sinner—whether the sin is visible or hidden, socially condemned or socially celebrated. Christ’s death on the cross opens the door of mercy for all. The gospel does not divide humanity into the “pure” and the “impure.” It gathers all under the same verdict of sin and offers all the same gift of righteousness.

Lord, take our eyes off the sins of others long enough for us to confess our own need for Christ. Lead into the mercy that restores, renews, and makes whole.

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from emptiness to impurity

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 1:18-25

¹⁸ Because God’s wrath is now being revealed from heaven against people’s ungodliness and unrighteousness. They suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,¹⁹ because what can be known about God is shown to them, because God has shown it to them.²⁰ Because since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because those truths are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.²¹ Because although they knew God, they did not praise him as God or give him thanks, but they became empty in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

from emptiness to impurity

God’s wrath has both a future and a present dimension, and Paul holds these together with sobering clarity. The final revelation of that wrath will take place in the judgment, when all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life will be cast into destruction. Scripture consistently portrays this as the ultimate end of those who persist in rejecting God’s offer of life. Their ruin is not temporary but final, the complete undoing of a life lived apart from the Creator.

Yet Paul insists that this future judgment is not the only expression of divine wrath. It is already being revealed in the lives of the ungodly. The present form of wrath is not thunderbolts from heaven but the quiet, devastating reality of self‑destruction. When people refuse to acknowledge the evidence of God’s existence and character—evidence woven into creation and conscience—they turn inward. Life becomes centered on the self, and that inward turn creates a vacuum. Emptiness does not remain neutral; it draws impurity to itself. The refusal to honor God leads to a lifestyle that dishonors the body, distorts desire, and corrodes the soul.

The Roman Christians understood exactly what Paul meant. They lived in a city where self‑indulgence was celebrated, where pleasure was pursued without restraint, and where the pursuit of personal gratification often descended into bizarre and degrading forms of self‑abuse. They had seen firsthand what happens when emptiness is allowed to rule a life. Paul’s message was not abstract. It was a warning rooted in the world they knew.

But it was also a call. The Romans stood at a crossroads. One path led toward righteousness by faith—a life shaped by trust in the gospel and empowered by the Spirit. The other path led from emptiness to impurity, from impurity to deeper corruption, and from corruption to destruction. The gospel offered a way out of that downward spiral. Faith opened the door to a new direction, a new identity, and a new power for holy living.

Lord, grant wisdom to flee the emptiness that breeds impurity and self‑destruction. Lead into the life of righteousness that comes through the truth of the gospel of grace.

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in debt

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 1:13-17

¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.¹⁴ I am in debt both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.¹⁵ For this reason I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome as well.¹⁶ Because I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power to deliver everyone who believes, first to the Jew and also to the Greek.¹⁷ Because the righteousness of God is being revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”

in debt

Paul emerged from the rich, interconnected world of the first‑century Roman empire—a world where ideas, cultures, and peoples moved along the same roads that carried armies and commerce. His own formation reflected that environment. He had absorbed the disciplined reasoning of the philosophical schools, and he had been rigorously trained in the Torah. Yet neither philosophy nor Torah study alone produced the apostle who wrote to the Romans. What transformed him was the revelation of Jesus Christ and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Through that encounter, everything he had learned was reoriented toward the gospel.

Because of this, Paul felt a profound obligation toward the Gentiles. The word he uses carries the sense of indebtedness—not guilt, but responsibility. He had received something so life‑altering, so filled with divine power, that withholding it would have been unthinkable. The gospel entrusted to him was not a private treasure but a message meant for the nations. It was God’s power to deliver anyone who believes, regardless of background, status, or culture. In a world divided by ethnicity, class, and religion, Paul proclaimed a message that crossed every boundary.

This gospel was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it was the most glorious truth he had ever encountered. The crucified and risen Christ had revealed the righteousness of God—a righteousness not earned by human effort but received by faith. Those who dare to believe this message enter into life. They are drawn into a new existence shaped by trust in the One who conquered death. Faith becomes the doorway into a life empowered by God himself.

And once this gospel takes root in a person’s heart, it creates its own sense of obligation. Those who truly know it feel compelled to share it. The message carries an inner momentum. It presses outward, seeking others. The same Spirit who awakened faith also stirs a desire to see that faith awakened in others. Paul’s missionary passion was not an extraordinary exception; it was the natural overflow of a heart seized by the grace of Christ.

Lord, thank you for the truth of the glorious saving gospel of grace. This message has rescued us, and now we owe it to those who have not yet heard. Send laborers into the harvest. Send us where your grace is needed.

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prayer and mutual encouragement

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 1:8-12

⁸ First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.⁹ Because God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I keep thinking of you¹⁰ and I am always asking in my prayers, if maybe now at last I may get the chance to visit you, within the will of God.¹¹ Because I long to see you, so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,¹² but this is so that we may be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith, both yours and mine.

prayer and mutual encouragement

Prayer and mutual encouragement rise and fall together, each strengthening the other. Those who are carried in prayer remain present in the heart, and those who remain present in the heart become natural recipients of encouragement. Prayer forms a kind of spiritual pathway between believers, opening doors for shared strength, shared joy, and shared perseverance. When a name is lifted before God again and again, affection deepens, concern grows, and opportunities for mutual blessing seem to appear with greater frequency. Prayer does not merely accompany encouragement; it prepares the soil in which encouragement can flourish.

For Paul, the letter to the Romans did not initiate this relationship of shared strengthening. Long before pen touched parchment, he had already been nourished by the testimony of the Roman believers. Their faith had become a kind of holy rumor, spreading across the empire. Reports of a thriving Christian community in the very heart of imperial power stirred Paul’s spirit. The gospel had taken root in Rome itself—a miracle of grace in the capital of the world’s mightiest empire. That reality ministered to Paul. It encouraged him. It awakened in him a longing to see firsthand what God was doing there.

As Paul prayed for the Roman Christians, that longing matured into a sense of divine calling. Prayer shaped desire, and desire ripened into mission. His intercession for them became the seedbed of his apostolic burden to visit them, strengthen them, and receive strength from them in return. The epistle itself is an expression of that calling—a way of participating in their life even before he could stand among them. And every subsequent attempt to travel to Rome was fueled by the same conviction: God had placed these believers on his heart, and prayer had made that burden impossible to ignore.

This pattern continues in the life of the church. Prayer enlarges the heart for the nations. It awakens compassion for those who have never heard the gospel. It stirs a desire to encourage believers in distant places and to be encouraged by their faithfulness. Prayer becomes the quiet birthplace of mission.

Lord, spark within us a longing to strengthen—and be strengthened by—those in other lands who need Christ. Call laborers from among us. Send us where your gospel is needed.

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two callings

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 1:1-7

¹ From Paul, a servant bonded to Christ Jesus, a called apostle, set apart to proclaim the gospel from God.² This gospel he promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures,³ it being about his Son who qualified with reference to the flesh by being a descendant of David,⁴ who was shown to be the Son-of-God-in-power by the Holy Spirit raising him from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.⁵ By means of him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedient response of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.⁶ You also are among them, called by Jesus Christ.⁷ To all those loved by God in Rome, called holy ones: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

two callings

The epistles of Paul’s letters arise from a double calling that shapes both the identity of the churches and the vocation of the apostle. These two callings meet in the life of every congregation and in the unfolding mission of God.

The first calling belongs to the believers themselves. The Gentile Christians in Rome, like the believers in every other city, had been summoned by Jesus Christ to become his holy people. Their new identity did not originate in personal aspiration or moral achievement but in the risen Lord who claimed them as his own. The resurrection of Jesus, accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit, publicly vindicated him as Lord and Messiah. Because of this divine vindication, his call carried absolute authority. When these believers encountered the gospel, they recognized in it the voice of the living Christ. Faith, then, was not a vague religious sentiment but the obedient response to the One who had conquered death and now summoned them into his kingdom. Their holiness was not self-generated; it was the result of being set apart by Christ and drawn into his life.

The second calling concerns the apostolic mission that brought the gospel to them. Their encounter with Christ did not happen in isolation. It came through the costly obedience of church‑planting missionaries who crossed cultural, social, and geographical boundaries to proclaim the good news. These apostles stepped beyond familiar worlds, entering foreign communities with the message of God’s grace. Their willingness to breach comfort zones was itself an act of faith, a living demonstration of the gospel they preached. Through their ministry, strangers became brothers and sisters, and new communities of faith were born. Paul writes his epistles because this missionary calling continues; the churches that exist through the gospel must now be strengthened, instructed, and anchored in the truth that first brought them to life.

Even in the opening lines of the epistle, the core elements of this gospel shine clearly. God’s love stands at the foundation. Jesus is confessed as Lord. Believers are called to be holy. The proper response to this divine initiative is faith—trusting surrender to the One who calls.

The heart naturally rises in gratitude:
Lord, thank you for calling a people to yourself through Christ and for drawing them to Christ through the gospel of grace. Thank you for the servants through whom this saving message has reached each generation.

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