Devotional on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
by Tim Williamson
My family and I have recently started reading through 1 Thessalonians as part of our regular devotions. This is a wonderful letter that Paul sent to the church in Thessalonica to commend them and to encourage them to continue in faith, hope, and love. Unlike other churches where he was able to spend an extended amount of time planting and teaching (e. g., Ephesus), Paul was only able to spend a few weeks with the Thessalonian believers before he was forced to flee due to the outrage of the Jewish religious leaders in the local synagogue (Acts 17:1-8). His letters to this church reflect a desire to affirm them both in their doctrine and in their practice.
Devotional on Mark 15:6-16
by Tim Williamson
Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Mark 15:6 – 15 (ESV)
This portion of the narrative of Good Friday is familiar to most of us. Jesus, an innocent man, is condemned by Pilot to be crucified due to the incessant protests of the crowds outside his palace. These crowds had been gathered and whipped up by the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem who believed Jesus to both be guilty of blasphemy (that is, claiming to be God) and saw him as a threat to their positions of power and their attempts to justify themselves before God through their outward obedience to the law. Pilot was a fairly shrewd man and had correctly, “perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered [Jesus] up.”
Devotional on Philippians 2:5-11
by Tim Williamson
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As we face the effects of a pandemic (and the social and economic consequences that it brings), it is certainly easy to become discouraged. The normal rhythms of life have been upended in both small and big ways. Activities many of us take for granted, like going to school or work, shopping for groceries, or gathering together as God’s people have either become significantly more complicated or prohibited altogether. The effects of these disruptions range from minor annoyances to serious threats to our health and safety. In a very real sense, there is a substantial degree of suffering that we are enduring on a global scale.