Dave Miller's 2025 Bible Reading Challenge

Today's Readings -  Nahum 1-3, Revelation 5, Psalm 143:4–12, Proverbs 30:29-31 This is perhaps the longest of the devotions of the year, but this is a glorious passage. You are welcome to ignore my lengthy trek through the passage, but don't ignore Revelation 5! Devotional - Worthy Is the Lamb There are few passages more glorious, more majestic, than Revelation 4 and 5, in which true, heavenly worship is modeled.  In chapter 4, John is transported to heaven in a vision, and he is allowed to see how things take place before God's glorious throne. He sees what we will see and experiences what we will experience one day when we are in the presence of God.  First, John saw a throne in heaven, one Isaiah told us was high and exalted.  E veryone and everything was focused on it.   We can only imagine the beauty and the glory of the heavenly throne room, though John tries to give us what information he can.   But, in spite of all the beauty in...

Today's Readings -  Micah 5-7, Revelation 3–4, Psalm 143:1–3, Proverbs 30:24–28 Devotional - Living in Sardis There may be no better picture of the American church than Jesus' description of the church in Sardis. In Revelation 3:1-6, he confronts them with devastating simplicity. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.  No one but Jesus would have said that about Sardis. Everyone else would have described the church in glowing terms. Growing. Vibrant. Lively. I'm guessing their praise band rocked! Their hip preacher delivered the best sermon in Asia Minor. It was everything anyone would want a church to be. Other churches were jealous - if only we could be like Sardis. They attended seminars on the Sardis Model - how to make your church just like that one. Of course, this is all hyperbole, but Jesus' words are clear - they had a reputation for being a lively Christian church. He saw something very different. He saw death. All their vibrancy, th...

Today's Readings -  Micah 3-4, Revelation 2:12–29, Psalm 142, Proverbs 30:21-23 Devotional - Jesus Knows Wouldn't you love to know exactly what Jesus Christ thinks of our church? Wouldn't it be interesting (or, perhaps, horrifying) to get a report card from him, a progress report that says exactly what he thinks of how we are doing as a church? There are seven churches that got exactly that - the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3. Yesterday we talked about Ephesus. Today we read the letters that Jesus sent to the churches of Pergamum and Thyatira. One of my struggles has always been dealing with the opinions of others. When people have been angry at me or critical, it buries itself deep in my spirit, and often I've been too susceptible to praise and flattery. Proverbs says that the fear of man is a snare, that living my life according to man's opinion, to please others, is a path of folly. But what does God think? Of course, I have the Holy Spirit ...

Today's Readings -  Micah 1-2, Revelation 2:1–11, Psalm 141, Proverbs 30:20 Devotional - First Love  It is a startling contrast that Jesus draws in his analysis of the church at Ephesus. First, he describes how great a church it was. This was no Corinth, with  its  immorality, its showy spirituality, and its false doctrine. And  it  was certainly no Pergamum or Thyatira, no Sardis, and definitely no Laodicea. If I was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Ephesus (okay, it probably wasn't called First Baptist...) I'd think we had a pretty good thing going on! Look at what Jesus himself said about the church in verses 2 and 3.   I know your works, your labor, and your endurance,  and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not,  and you have found them to be liars.  I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name,  and have not grown weary. They w...

Today's Readings -  Jonah 3-4, Revelation 1, Psalm 140:9–13, Proverbs 30:17–19 Devotional - The REAL Jesus  Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,  Look upon a little child; Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to Thee. Charles Wesley penned these words to this beautiful hymn in 1742. We love this Christmas season because of the cute little baby in the manger, bathed in the star's soft light, surrounded by his mother, the shepherds and the Magi (a misunderstanding - they didn't leave until Jesus was born and arrived many months later). It is sweet and sentimental.  And potentially deceptive.  Yes, Jesus was everything I have mentioned. He was gentle Jesus, meek and mild, come to seek and to save the lost. He emptied himself of heavenly glory and cloaked his divinity in human frailty. He made himself a lowly servant to accomplish the Father's purposes. That is why he was born as a baby - not just as a photo op to keep the Christmas card vendors in business.  But it i...

Today's Readings -  Jonah 1-2, Jude, Psalm 140:1–8, Proverbs 30:15–16 Devotional - Jesus or Jonah?  I love the story of Jesus and his disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee. As the storm raged all around them and the disciples (some professional fishermen) were panicking in fear for their lives, Jesus was sleeping at the bottom of the boat, trusting fully the power and plan of God. His trust in God allowed him to sleep when others were panicking. But in today's reading, we encounter another story of one sleeping in a boat while a storm raged and the professionals panicked. This story is completely different, though. Jonah was not trusting God; he was running from God. God had assigned him a duty - to go to Nineveh and minister to the Assyrians a job he did not want to do. He hated them and was more than happy for God to judge them. He knew God would grant repentance to them (as the story ended) and he wanted no part in that. So he ran in the other direction. The judgment...

Today's Readings -  Obadiah, 2 John, 3 John, Psalm 139:20–24, Proverbs 30:11–14 Devotional - Going Bad It is one of my favorites of the seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." One of the first stops in the epic adventure takes Prince Caspian and his band to an island where they are captured and enslaved. The island has become a haven for slave traders. Caspian is freed and marshals his forces to free his friends and the entire island. When he confronts Governor Gumpas about the slave trade and demands it be stopped, Gumpas responds, But that would be putting the clock back," gasped the Governor. "Have you no idea of progress, of development?" Prince Caspian's rejoinder is brilliant, demonstrating CS Lewis' absolute mastery of metaphor. " I have seen them both in an egg," said Caspian. "We call it Going bad in Narnia. This trade must stop." Obviously, some progress is good - we are not called to be ...