Month: March 2026

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What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:3

The Same

It’s about thirty years after Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. His followers have eagerly shared the Good News of what Jesus has done. As a result, many have come to faith in Jesus as their Savior from sin. New congregations are forming. There is even a gathering of Christians in the capital city of the Roman Empire.

Moved by the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul sits down to write a letter to these Roman believers. What Paul writes is a letter that outlines some fundamentals of the Christian faith. As he does so, he quickly takes on one of the oldest assumptions people make about their relationship with God.

That old assumption is this: I assume that, somehow, some way, I have it in me to set things right with God. Sure, I know I’m not the person I should be or could be. But if I keep improving myself, if I make up for the bad in my life by doing good, if I can live a life that’s a little better and more spiritual than most, then I’ll be in a proper position to receive blessings from God.

It’s an old assumption that never dies. If Paul were to have a chance to tour our twenty-first century society, nothing would shock him. Even secularists are using the same old tools: Trying to find peace, meaning, fulfillment, identity in what I do.

As old as this assumption is, Paul asserts that it is wrong. The answer to “ultimate meaning” lies not in me. It lies only in Jesus Christ. And all he has won for me—forgiveness, peace, meaning, identity, fulfillment—all this is mine through Spirit-created faith in my Savior. Faith alone.

To prove it, Paul points back 2,000 years. He points back to Abraham. After God gave Abraham a cluster of promises, at the heart of which was the promise of the coming Savior, the Bible records that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

For Abraham. For Paul. For us. The answer is the same. The answer is Jesus.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when the temptation comes to look inward, move me to look to you. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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[Abram] … pitched his tent there, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Genesis 12:8

Proclamation

“I can worship God at home. I can read the Bible at home. I can pray at home. And so, I really don’t get what the difference is between my worship at home and my worship at church. Isn’t it all the same thing?”

Yes. And no.

Can I praise my Lord in the privacy of my home? Yes. By myself, can I let the Word of my Lord speak to me? Yes. When I am all alone, can I talk to my Lord in prayer? Absolutely. And thank God for the privilege.

But if I then conclude that there is no need for me to gather with others to do what I can more conveniently do at home, then I have overlooked something; something big. Then I need to sit down for a moment and watch Abram.

Abram had just completed a journey. In this journey, he left his homeland far behind. Throughout this journey, he did not know where he was going. But now God has made it clear where Abram is to live. He is to pitch his tent in the land of Canaan; a land, God says, he will give to Abram’s descendants.

And so, Abram pitches his tent. He, his family, along with the families of his shepherds, herdsmen, and laborers—they all set up camp. But the episode does not end there. Surrounding Abram’s household is a Canaanite culture that is calloused and often shocking in its ungodliness.

And so, what does Abram do next? He builds an altar and proclaims the name of the Lord.

He proclaims the Lord. Publicly. Openly. He does not just have a quiet devotion in the privacy of his tent. He does not just meditate on God’s Word by himself. He does not just pray to the Lord when he is all alone. He builds an altar and proclaims. For all to see. For all to hear.

He publicly proclaims the only Savior from sin the world is ever going to have.

Like Abram, let’s take advantage of every opportunity to publicly proclaim the name of the Lord.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you’re the only Savior there is. Move me to proclaim you with my fellow believers. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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The LORD had said to Abram, “…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:1,3

A Promise

Let’s imagine the life of Abram—this famous figure from the Bible. In our imagination, it’s easy to presume God is coming down every other day to perform a dramatic miracle. It’s easy to picture Abram living a life bursting with high drama, a John Williams soundtrack swelling in the background. And because you and I already know how everything turns out, it’s easy to suppose that, somehow, Abram does too.

These presumptions, of course, are wrong. Ninety-nine percent of Abram’s life had no high drama at all. It was mundane, ordinary, filled with problems, filled with headaches—those made by others and those of his own making—filled with the logistics of finding food and water for his flocks and herds, filled with the complications of caring for his not-always-happy family. And Abram did not have a crystal-clear vision on how everything was going to turn out.

All he had was a promise. The Lord promised to bless him. The Lord promised to take care of him. The Lord promised to do wonderful things through him. And most of all, the Lord promised that, through Abram, he would bring the Savior into the world.

And that was it. That’s what Abram had. Throughout his most ordinary life, Abram possessed an extraordinary promise from God.

With few exceptions, our lives are not lives of high drama. The London Symphony does not follow us around playing a movie score. Our lives contain much that is mundane, ordinary, filled with trouble, bouts of pain, and unresolved problems that need our management. It’s part of living in a broken world—a world broken by your sin and mine.

And all we have is a promise. A promise that the Lord will bless. A promise that the Lord will take care of us. A promise that the Lord will do wonderful things through us.

But here’s the thing. Such a promise is more than enough. It’s more than enough because it’s a promise sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, the very blood that has washed our sins away.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when the mundane problems of my life overwhelm me, remind me of the extraordinary promise I possess in you. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”
Genesis 12:1

Leaving

Leaving is hard. You empty out your home until it’s nothing but vacant rooms. Once you’re on the road, the rhythms and routines of your old life cease to exist. And when you reach your destination, you know that, for a while, you and your family are going to be the new people—the people no one knows.

When Abram had to leave with his family, however, his sources of stress were far worse. At that time, leaving your homeland meant more than leaving the place where you grew up. It meant leaving your sense of identity. It meant leaving those who knew you and your family through generations of shared stories, traditions, inside jokes. It meant leaving a place where you knew the people you could count on.

Abram left all that—for what? Permanent camping. Living in a tent. Uncertainty. Unknowns. Always the stranger. Never fitting in. Humanly speaking, that’s what Abram had for the rest of his life.

But leaving the familiar happens to you and me, too. We leave the carefree days of school, when easy laughter with friends was the norm. Many of us have had to leave a workplace where we felt appreciated. Through illness or injury or age, many of us have had to leave behind the days when our bodies were quick and strong. And when death strikes, many of us have had to leave behind those moments when we were never alone for the evening meal.

Leaving is hard. Thankfully, Abram had the LORD. He had the One who would already be there, waiting for him, when his future arrived. He had the One who would be his constant. He had the One who would never change. He had the One who would keep his every promise. He had the One who would bring to Abram a kind of fulfillment and joy he could not even imagine. All this Abram possessed through faith in the promise of a Savior from sin.

You and I have the same.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when I leave the familiar, remind me that you never leave. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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[Jesus said] “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
John 3:14

A Sure Cure

Bronze has been known to cure snake bites. At least it did in 1500 B.C.

God’s people figured their God was taking longer than he should to get them from Egypt to the Promised Land. So, they complained about his leadership, just like they had been complaining for the last forty years. This time, God allowed them to experience a little bit of life without him.

Immediately poisonous snakes in the wilderness started to bite people, and many died. The people were sorry for their sinful disobedience against God and pleaded for the snakes to be taken away.

God directed Moses to make a snake out of bronze and hang it on a pole. God promised, “Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (Numbers 21:8).

It seemed ridiculous, but it worked. Snake-bitten people who looked at the bronze snake did not die. How could bronze be an antidote for venom? God’s promise made that piece of bronze cure a snake bite.

We have our own “snake bites.” We lose our temper and hurt the people we love. We trade news about people we know—news that wounds reputations.

Make no mistake—these “snake bites” are more deadly than those snakes in the wilderness. Our sinful disobedience leads to eternal death in hell.

Our heavenly Father gives us a stronger cure than bronze. He put his Son on a pole—a cross. God promises that his death takes away the poison of sin. By looking at Jesus and believing in him, we will not die but live forever in heaven.

Jesus, the Son of Man, was lifted up on a cross. Because of him, your sins are forgiven. Because of him, you have life with God—now and forever!

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for being the sure cure for my sins. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.