Dave Miller's 2024 Bible Reading Challenge

Today's Reading - Romans 8 Background All of God's Word is inspired, inerrant, God-breathed and useful to teach, correct, and train us in righteousness. It's all God's and it's all good. But there are still certain mountaintops among the passages of God's Word. If there is a Mt. Everest in the Bible, it is Romans 8. Starting with the affirmation that there is no condemnation in Christ, through the promise that all things work for the good of those who love him, and ending with the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. We could do a year of daily devotions from this passage and not exhaust its glories. Should we look at verse 1 and revel in the fact that there's no condemnation in Christ (uh...yes, we will). Should we look at verse 18 which reminds us that our present sufferings aren't worth comparing to the glory that awaits us, or verse 28 which promises that all things work together for good? What about verses 29-30, the glorio...

Today's Reading - Romans 6-7  Background I've been saved by grace so it really doesn't matter if I sin, right? Forgiving my sin brings glory to God, so I might as well sin so that he can be glorified in forgiving me, right? We aren't under the Old Testament Law anymore, right? So I can live any way that I please! It is amazing how many ways people have found through the years to distort and pervert the teaching of the greatest truth ever - salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In Romans 6, Paul begins of his teaching on "righteousness by faith" that would continue through chapter 7, dealing with the common objections to the teaching and excuses people might give for living shoddy lives after receiving God's grace. He answers three questions - excuses, really - that people have set forth for sin. Many take the beautiful, wonderful teaching of grace and twist it into something ugly, an excuse to sin, and this causes others to reject grace. So Pa...

Today's Reading - Romans 5 Background In this passage, Paul concludes his explanation of the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. He explains that all humanity is basically counted under one of two people - the first Adam or the second. The first Adam sinned and brought sin on the entire race. The second Adam (Christ) died to show us God's love and brought forgiveness and righteousness on all who would believe. Every human being is either in Adam and facing judgment or in Christ and due eternal life. Devotional  - While Still a Sinner   I was out working in the yard and I needed badly to get cleaned up. There was my shower - hot water, shampoo, soap - all the things I needed. If only I could find a way to get myself clean enough to be worthy of getting into the shower. It was so clean I just wasn't sure if I would ever find a way to work my way up to shower-readiness. Absurd, right? You don't clean up to get into the shower, you get in the shower to clean...

Today's Reading - Romans 3:21-4:25 Background Romans 3:21 is a turning point in the book. Through verse 20 Paul has been a total downer, exploring the depths of human depravity. Now, though, he is getting to the heart of his argument - "the righteousness that comes from God - apart from the law," He is going to lay out a new way. In chapter 4, he shows that it is in line with OT truths as well.  Devotional - By Faith! I can remember the bumper sticker clearly. "Proud to be a Christian." That is an oxymoron. You can be proud. And you can be Christian, but you cannot be both. A proper understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ absolutely, totally and eternally precludes any boasting on my part. I understand that the person with the bumper sticker may have had something else in mind - that he was not ashamed of his (or her) faith, that he would not apologize for his convictions. Perhaps. But it is a crucial point. Pride is the opposite of Christianity! Paul made ...

Today's Reading - Romans 2:1-3:20 Background After setting the key theme in the introduction, "the just will live by faith," Paul systematically goes through the truth of Christ's saving work. After having established the world's depravity in chapter 1, he expands on that in chapter 2, explaining that even the religious are not righteous by their works. Then, summing it up in verses 11-20, he concludes that all are under sin - what is often called the doctrine of depravity. It is not a hopeful view of the human condition. But it sets the basis for salvation by grace through faith. We need Christ because of our depraved and helpless human condition.  Devotional - Basically Bad "People are basically good." It is established as truth beyond contestation in popular culture. Politicians flatter people by trumpeting the innate goodness of man. Educational systems are designed around the assumption that people, given the opportunity and resources, will make ch...

Today's Reading : Romans 1 Background Donald Grey Barnhouse was the pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for decades. He spent many of those years preaching verse by verse through Romans and compiled a wonderful set of commentaries on the book. This raises a crucial problem as we begin reading Romans. Chapter 1 has so much depth, I could do devotionals from this chapter for a month and not run out of topics, and we are reading it in ONE DAY. After the introductory greetings, Paul sets his theme. "I am not ashamed of the gospel." "The righteous will live by faith." We relate to God not on the basis of our own works, but by God's grace, by the righteousness Christ won for us at the cross. Having set that theme, Paul begins to systematically develop that theme - righteousness by faith. He begins by explaining human sin and depravity, the reason we need a righteousness from God. He will go on to teach the glories of our salvation and of the Christ...

Today's Reading - 2 Corinthians 11:16-13:14 Background This section continues, a powerful description of true ministry, and frankly, an odd and counter-cultural defense of a man's ministry. Paul defends the reality of his faith and his apostleship not by his successes but by his sufferings. He then goes on, in chapter 12, to "boast in his weaknesses, because it is in those weaknesses that Christ is glorified. Paul discusses the concept of the "thorn in the flesh" in chapter 12 as well. This was possibly a temptation or more likely a physical malady that God did not heal to keep him humble and usable.  As he always does, Paul closed his letter with personal comments and admonitions. There's almost a note of regret in his tone. He's been harsh and he wants to leave on a good note. He calls them to unity, to strive for restoration and unity - which is always the purpose, even when he is giving a stern rebuke. He is preparing to come and visit them for the t...

Today's Reading - 2 Corinthians 10:1-11:15 Background This begins the intense part of Paul's letter, continuing through the end of chapter 13. In fact, some believe this is actually the "painful letter" Paul refers to in chapter 2, added on to the end of this book. I do not believe that, but the intensity of this section certainly gives rise to those theories. Corinth was rife with false teachers who were attempting to lead the people astray and Paul here ratchets up the defense of his ministry and his attacks on the false apostles. Devotional - Dark Angel of Light In Genesis 3, when the Serpent tempts Adam and Eve, it uses (abuses) the words of God to do so. When Satan tempts Jesus he quotes (misquotes) Scriptures in the attempt. Our enemy is a "scholar" of God's word who uses it freely. The problem is that he always twists it. In 2 Corinthians 11, we are told about false teachers in the church of Jesus. Guess what. They don't preach from the Bhaga...

Today's Reading - 2 Corinthians 8-9 Background Are Christians required to tithe? Is the Old Testament standard still in effect today? Today's passage is the quintessential teaching on New Testament giving practices and shows exactly what the standard is. Two things should be said. First, the OT tithe was far more complex than we've made it. Second, if we come to understand this principle we will find ourselves wishing all we had to do was move the decimal one place and write a check (tithing means giving 10% of income). This is a much more all-encompassing and powerful standard than tithing. Devotional - Giving God's Way It was at one time a tradition in Baptist churches that annually the pastor would preach a stewardship sermon in which he begged, pleaded, and cajoled the membership to tithe. It was called "Stewardship Sunday." When you read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 you see a completely different attitude about giving than was often on display on Stewardship Su...

Today's Reading - 2 Corinthians 6-7 Background These two chapters are an appeal to the church at Corinth to leave behind their wayward strayings and walk in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He warns them against yoking themselves in partnership with wicked people and instead appeals to them to open their hearts to Paul.  Devotional - Measuring Our Lives Has my ministry been successful? Is our church doing well? Our world has certain standards that it judges by and the Christian world has baptized those standards and adopted them. We have turned success into a formulaic thing.- how many people, how many buildings, how big is the budget? Paul had some strange ideas about success. Yes, at times he saw big numbers come to Christ in his ministry, but at other times he saw suffering, imprisonment, rejection and betrayal. When he defended his ministry he did not trumpet his numeric successes or his other measurable results. From this point on in this book ...

Today's Reading - 2 Corinthians 5 Background How do you view yourself? The world tells us that it is all about our self-image, our self-esteem. 2 Corinthians 5 defines a healthy self-image, one based on the realities of Christ's work in us, not on what who we are in ourselves. We are people who of eternity, not of the present. We walk by faith, not by sight.  We recognize that we will appear before his judgment seat to give account of our lives. We are new creatures in Christ.  We live to bring others into reconciliation with Christ.  We understand where it all comes from (v 21). He who had no sin became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God.  Devotional - Biblical Self-Image What is the key to having a biblical self-image? If you listen to the social experts in our world (who are the very definition of biblical fools so often) then you believe that it is self-assertion, loving yourself, and never letting anything have a higher p...