Kerusso Daily Devotional

Contemporary Wisdom

Even though the Bible is world famous, we sometimes hear people say that it was really written for ancient people and that it isn’t relevant for us today. And in a lot of cases, this is totally wrong. It’s true that ancient people compiled the Bible, but God intended it to be for all people in all times and places. Psalm 102:18 says, “Let this be written for a future generation that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.” This is amazing! It means that God is inclusive and both His rules ...

For God So Loved the World

Our No. 1 Relationship

You know, someone may have tried to convince you at some point in your life that we’re alone in the cold void of the universe, but that has never been true. It’s especially false for the believer who understands what God has done for all people everywhere. He, the Creator of the universe, formed us long ago, and His Word tells us clearly that He never takes a second off in His pursuit of us. Consider this: If you’re stuck in a bad relationship, you won’t find your way into the light until you’re...

The Richest Gift

One of the richest gifts God has given us is healthy relationships: a marriage and balance, friends who mutually respect each other—and most of all a strong God connection—can be the ticket to a healthy whole life. The full life that Jesus spoke about. Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “And let us consider how to spur one another to love and to good works. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but let us exhort one another, especially as you see the day approach...

Start with Love

The Bible is famous for speaking in parables and metaphor. One of the most famous is found in one of Paul’s letters, in which he tells us the benefits of a life in Christ. The “Fruit of the Spirit” is a list of nine attributes that a person filled with the Holy Spirit will model for the world. It’s probably no coincidence that Paul starts with…Love. Galatians 5:22–23 says, “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and sel...

Relationships in Harmony

God created humans with a spirit, soul, and body, and in order for each aspect of our being to function in harmony, our relationships should also be in harmony. From the beginning, God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, talking with them and nurturing a personal relationship with them. In fact, throughout the scriptures, God built foundational relationships, whether it was with the reluctant leader Moses, or Hannah—the woman who wanted to be a mother more than anything. Ephesians 4:2–3 says...

True Love

What is true love? The question has been asked forever. Not everyone agrees. There’s a startling answer found in the Bible. The prophet Hosea marries a prostitute named Gomer. She’s predictably unfaithful to him, but God tells him something that’s strange to us. He told Hosea to take his wife back and restore her. 1 Corinthians 13:4–5 says “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily an...

All the Right Reasons

Kyle hurt Jenny emotionally many times, and then he left her because he said he wanted to have more fun. His young wife could barely function at first, but as she got her bearings, she decided to wait before making a final decision about her marriage. And then the day came: a series of circumstances left Kyle broken in spirit and in body. He had burned so many bridges that no one was coming to help him—except Jenny. 1 Corinthians 13:4–5 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it ...

The Jealousy Monster

Have you ever congratulated someone for a huge win in life, and then silently envied them? We all do it, but the problem is that kind of thing can grow into a monster if we’re not careful. All of a sudden, we’re so focused on what the other person has, we lose sight of the wins in our own life. 1 Corinthians 13:4–5 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no ...

Compelled to Be Kind

We’ve all known kindness in our life. Think about someone who’s been kind to you; it might’ve been a Sunday school teacher, or maybe it was mom listening to our bad day. But how often do you actually think about the importance of kindness? Is it an active part of your day? If not, I think you’re missing the point. 1 Corinthians 13:4–5 says, “Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily a...

The Patience of Job

Having the patience of Job is a common saying, even if people don’t really know its origins. Job, of course, was the biblical character that suffered greatly before God restored him. But if you read the Book of Job, it’s not at all clear that he really had much patience because patience is really, really hard. 1 Corinthians 13:4–5 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily anger...

God Stays with Us

Jesus—the greatest teacher who ever lived—spent a lot of time sharing wisdom in the form of stories. Once, He told His disciples a story that illustrated the importance of understanding that God never quits us, and we should not quit Him. Luke 18:1 says, “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” That story was about a woman who didn’t give up in her pursuit of justice. Jesus then said that God hears our pleas for what we need, and He acts ...

Covered and Blessed

It seems that a positive in our culture today is that we can admit our shortcomings. In the past, it was sort of taboo to tell the world you were not exactly all put together. Back in the day, a ‘hot mess’ usually referred to an overturned pot on the stove. But today, we know the phrase ‘hot mess’ has a whole new meaning—and our lives are often exactly that. Thank goodness the outcome is not dependent on us. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is n...

Passing the Torch

One of the things that mark a healthy society is the consistency between generations. In other words, adults who care about the future for their children will invest the time to make sure tomorrow is bright. God the Father is the ultimate parent, and we would do well to model His love for us. Luke 18:1 says, “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” Passing the torch, or training up the next generation, involves taking the time to do it pr...

Under Pressure

Billy Joel says that his hit song, “Pressure” really is about the pressure of daily life: providing for your family, putting food on the table, and career obstacles. Even the way he sings the song—with power and anger—makes the point. It’s quite a statement on life. And we’ve all felt it. 2 Corinthians 1:8 says, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.” But as believers, we can take heart in the fact that Paul then writes that difficul...

Never Give Up

Today, just stop and consider that we’re talking one-on-one. We’re just talking over coffee. Go with me here. You seem like something is really getting to you. Are you about to give up on something important? If so, please listen, just for a couple of minutes. Luke 18:1 says, “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” Let’s think boldly for a second. Whatever your problem is, God can fix it. He can. The Bible is full of these fixes. So is o...

Shake Things Up

Think of what Jesus was asking of His followers. He had just risen from the dead. That doesn’t happen every day. His ministry had been destroyed, so they thought. He wasn’t coming back. But then He did. Only days after being killed on a brutal Roman cross, Jesus was standing in front of His friends, looking very much alive. And He was telling them their futures were dicey. Mark 16:15 says, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Jerusalem at the time was ...

Speak Up

Many times over the centuries, earnest Christians have run out into the world to aggressively and passionately share Jesus, and the world doesn’t always want to hear it. John 15:19 says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own and as it is you don’t belong to the world. But I have chosen you out of the world, and that is why the world hates you.” And this is a hard truth. It’s discouraging to missionaries at home and in other countries who want nothing more than to see everyo...

On the Back Burner

Have you ever had the pleasure of waking up in a cozy cabin…after you’ve let the fire go out from the night before? If you don’t get out of bed and put more wood in that furnace, the squirrels or raccoons aren’t going to do it for you! Much more serious is the tendency to get lazy about the fire inside us to share the love of Christ. After so many years of being a Christian—especially living in a free country—sharing the Gospel can be put on the back burner. Romans 12:11–12 says, “Never let the ...

Be Bold

If you’ve ever wondered what the best way is to share your faith and defend it in the modern world, it might help to look at past examples: In the Bible, the husband-and-wife team of Priscilla and Aquila shared Christ with Apollos, who would become a famous early evangelist. In colonial England, the abolitionist, William Wilberforce, shamed his own government into freeing slaves. Jude 1:3 says, “Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I...

The Great Commission

The Great Commission…have you heard that term before? Christianity is great at using terms the general public isn’t familiar with, and sometimes we use terms even we aren’t familiar with as believers. A recent study shows that more than 50% of U.S. churchgoers don’t know what that term, ‘Great Commission,’ means. And when asked if they had heard of the Great Commission, half of U.S. churchgoers say they don’t know that term. Maybe our priorities need tweaking. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go and make di...

An All-The-Time Faith

As humans, we compartmentalize, don’t we? By that we mean, it is in our nature to rank priorities, then even lose sight of some of them. This can often lead us to confusion about which direction we’re supposed to go. This confusion even can extend to faith itself. We wonder, When am I supposed to pray, and when am I supposed to act on faith? Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” When we get the Word deep in our hearts, we always have ...

Filling the Void

In all the world, there are almost countless ways people try to find God. Some are drawn to the mystical, while others chase after the practical. Does it work? God knew we would all look to fill the void in our spirits, the one put there when man first sinned. He also already knew what our escape route would be, the path back to Him. Romans 10:9–10 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is wit...

Sticking With It

Emma used her hand to brush her husband Edgar’s white hair from his forehead…he was near death. Their marriage had been happy, and now she was saying goodbye. The nursing staff talked about the love between the two. Only three days after Edgar went into eternity, Emma joined him. The Bible often uses marriage as a backdrop for what God has done for us. We know that in earthly marriages, it’s important to persevere. When we think of the Fruit of the Spirit, patience is very closely linked to fait...

Faith Is a Choice

Because there’s so much easy access to information and ideas today, we can take in a huge amount of stuff. The downside is that much of it is just noise, and a lot of it simply isn’t true. What we hear, even if it sounds good, is not always good for us, especially when we’re talking about spiritual doubt. There are many opinions floating around out there on the subject. For instance, some will say that doubt is really something to wrestle with continually never finding a satisfying answer; while...

Faithful

When you’re having a bad day, a run-in with an immensely cheerful person doesn’t always turn that frown upside down. Does it? Commiserating with someone else though—a word literally defined by two or more people wallowing in misery together—that can be a balm to an anxious and worried mind. Sometimes. The relief though, is temporary. Romans 12:12 says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” The apostle Paul was talking about more than mere cheerfulness in his letter to t...

The True Secret of Life

There is a movement in our society for a return to simple living. We might not want to give up all our technology—much of it is wonderful and helpful. But it is true that we want to quiet our minds and find some peace. This week we are talking about the simplest, sweetest truth around: Jesus Saves. With that knowledge in hand, we can all find peace that the Bible says is from another world. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” It seems at times we are m...

The Ultimate Truth

Humans have limited understanding of our world and the world beyond; not that we’re unintelligent—far from it. The Bible makes it clear that God gave man a sound mind, and from the beginning, people were capable of accomplishing amazing things. The construction of the great pyramids, modern scientific advances, and our knowledge of the cosmos is a testament to how much humans can know and achieve. We’re even capable of presenting truth in various ways through art, teaching, and moral agendas, bu...

Infinite Perspective

Part of God’s unchanging nature is that He is sovereign and does things His way. In Isaiah 55, we read that God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. In other words, He’s infinitely more powerful than we are, especially when it comes to perspective. We read in the Old Testament that sometimes other nations mocked the Israelites when they were exiled from their homeland. Really, they were mocking God because it was said that maybe He couldn’t keep His promises. After all...

The Truth Will Set You Free

Tribes usually think a lot of themselves, exclusive groups are sometimes arrogant. Even whole nations can be this way. In the 19th century, several European countries felt they were the descendants of the first people in the world. With religion, this can be infinitely worse with Christianity. Critics often say the exclusive nature of it is just unfair. They cite the Christian view that the only way to be reconciled to God is through Jesus Christ, and say that’s degrading to people of other fait...