Joe Barnett

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.                                  —Matthew 6:33 Matthew 6:25–34 is Jesus’ brief homily about worry. Nix it, he says. His prohibition of worry about material things is not a forbiddance of forethought, but of anxious thought. Don’t

Envy rots the bones.    —Proverbs 14:30 Paul’s list of sins in Galatians 5:19–21 specifies sexual sins, impurity, idolatry, and sorcery. The New Century Version calls them “The wrong things the sinful self does.” But Paul’s list goes on to include jealousy, selfish ambition, and envy. James said, “Where you have envy and selfish ambition,

You will always reap what you sow.                   —Galatians 6:7 NLT Conflict. Bickering. Divorce. War. The fruits of selfishness. “Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you” (Jas 4:1 NCV). Self-centeredness is a noxious seed

Be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt!     —Joshua 1:9 TLB Don’t doubt that God has a plan for your life. “One who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (Jas 1:6–7). God won’t give

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.             —Psalm 118:24 The first half of today’s text belongs to God. He did the heavy lifting; birthed this brand-new day, gift-wrapped it, and delivered it to your door. The second half of the

These are written that you may believe.                               —John 20:31 John records seven of Jesus’ miracles (signs): Turning water into wine (2:1–11) Healing a nobleman’s son (4:46–54) Healing a paralytic (5:1–15) Feeding the 5,000 (6:5–14) Walking on water (6:16–21) Healing a

God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.          —Psalm 66:19 It was a Saturday afternoon. I was chatting with a neighbor who was out for a walk with her daughter. She said something to the child, who put her hands over her ears. The lady said, “That’s what she does

Rid yourselves of all malice.               —1 Peter 2:1 “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander” (1 Pt 2:1). If you want a good starting place for removing the garbage from your life, take malice to the dumpster. Malice indicates a desire to hurt

Be holy, for I am holy.         —1 Peter 1:16 Justin Martyr’s First Apology (his defense of Christianity) was addressed to Emperor Antoninus Pius, challenging the emperor to examine the exemplary purity of Christians. “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is

Set a guard over my mouth.             —Psalm 141:3 Gossip insinuates that we are a cut above the person we’re trashing. It may make us feel superior, but it doesn’t make us superior. Jesus charged us to remove the two-by-four from our own eye before presumptuously reaching to flick a