Deepen Your Faith: Daily Devotionals

DAY 1 — MONDAY
The Box Everyone Checks

There is a box at the bottom of every terms and conditions agreement. You know the one. It says you have read and understood everything above it. You tick it without reading a word. You move on with your day. It is such a small thing that it barely registers.

But it registered as I was preparing Sunday’s message. Because that moment, that tiny, reflexive lie, is actually a picture of something much larger.

Scripture: Luke 23:32–33

Additional reading: Romans 3:23 — “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

A writer named Harvey Silverglate argued that because of the sheer density of federal law, the average American commits three felonies every day without realizing it. You are on someone’s record whether you know it or not. Scripture makes the same argument at a deeper level. We exist before a holy God who sees every moment, every motive, every tick of a box we did not earn the right to tick.

This is not discouraging news. Sunday’s whole message turned on this hinge: the criminal who received the promise of paradise was the one who stopped pretending. He looked at his situation and said, we are here justly. I committed the crime. That honesty was not his defeat. It was his doorway.

Reflect: What is one area of your life where you have been ticking the box without reading the page? What would it look like to stop pretending and be honest with God about it today?

DAY 2 — TUESDAY
“As Man Poured Out His Wrath on God”

Think about the last time someone hurt you. Really hurt you. Now imagine that in the middle of the moment, while the wound was still being made, you looked at that person and said, I forgive you. Not after. Not once the dust settled. In the middle of it!

That is not how we work. But it is exactly what Jesus did.

Scripture: Luke 23:34

Additional reading: Romans 5:8 — “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

As the soldiers drove the nails, Jesus was praying. Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing. He was not waiting for the abuse to stop before extending grace. He extended grace in the middle of the abuse. As man poured out his wrath on God, God poured out his grace on man. Right there. In the same moment. On the same cross.

This is not a God who loves us once we clean ourselves up. This is not a God who forgives us after we have paid enough of a price. This is a God who prays forgiveness over the people killing him while they are still doing it. And Scripture tells us he is still praying that prayer today!

Reflect: Where in your life do you find it hardest to believe God’s grace reaches? What would change if you took seriously that he is praying for you right now, not after you get it together?

DAY 3 — WEDNESDAY
The Torture of the Self-Diluted Soul

There is a particular kind of misery that comes from believing you deserve more than you have received. It is not poverty. It is not hardship. It is the inability to appreciate what is in your hands because you are too focused on what you feel you have been denied.

I have been there. Looking at what another pastor had, what another church had, convinced I deserved it too. Those were torturous seasons.

Scripture: Luke 23:39–41

Additional reading: Philippians 4:11 — “I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.”

The first criminal on the cross had this soul. He was convinced he deserved rescue. Save yourself and get me off this cross while you are at it. He was a self-diluted soul, certain that the world owed him a different outcome. The second criminal saw things entirely differently. We are here justly. We earned this.

The contrast is not just theological. It is the difference between a life lived in constant grievance and a life lived in honest freedom. The truth really does set you free, not because it flatters you, but because it orients you. When you stop insisting you deserve what God has not given, you can finally begin to receive what he has.

Reflect: Where are you most tempted toward a self-diluted soul right now? What would it look like to trade that grievance for honest gratitude today?

DAY 4 — THURSDAY
Undone

Isaiah had been preaching for years before this happened. He knew the Scripture. He knew the theology. He had been speaking for God long enough to feel at home in the role. And then God showed himself, high and lifted up, the train of his robe filling the temple. And Isaiah, the preacher, came completely undone.

Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips.

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1–5

Additional reading: Luke 23:40–41 — “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.”

The second criminal on the cross had this same experience. He looked at Jesus clearly, without distortion, and it immediately showed him who he was. We are here justly. This man has done nothing wrong. Seeing Jesus without distortion is the only thing that allows us to see ourselves without excuse. These two movements are not separate steps. They are one motion.

The clearer our picture of God, the more honest we become about ourselves. The more honest we are about ourselves, the clearer God becomes. Honesty about who we are is not the obstacle to freedom. It is the path to it. Isaiah was undone before God, and that undoing was the beginning of his most powerful season of ministry.

Reflect: When did you last allow yourself to be genuinely undone before God? What would honest prayer look like for you today, not managing your image before him, but simply being seen?

DAY 5 — FRIDAY
“Remember Me”

He did not ask to be taken down from the cross. He did not ask for one more day. He did not even ask for the pain to stop. He said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

That is one of the most remarkable requests in all of Scripture. And most of us miss what made it so.

Scripture: Luke 23:42–43

Additional reading: John 14:3 — “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

The word paradise came from Persian culture. It referred to the palace retreat of the king. You did not wander in. You did not earn your way in. You were invited. And when you arrived, you were in the presence of the king himself. That is what this man was asking for. Not rescue from his circumstances. Not a better outcome on earth. He wanted nearness to the king.

And Jesus said, today. This very day. You will be with me there. The longer we live, the more we realize that is the only thing worth asking for. Not what Jesus can provide. Jesus himself. Not his gifts. His presence. That is paradise. That is what the criminal understood in his final hours. And it is available to us right now.

Reflect: If you are honest, are you seeking Jesus’s provision more than his presence? What would it look like to make his nearness the main thing you are after today?