DAILY READING Exodus 12:1-13 REFLECTION   The Blood of the Lamb By Beth Voltmann The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. (v.13)   Passover isn’t just a story from long before Jesus was born, nor is it simply a Jewish celebration, but it is the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed in the Old Testament. The Israelites were still in captivity in Egypt. God had sent plague after plague, but Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. It was...

DAILY READING 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 REFLECTION   All-Surpassing Power By Beth Voltmann But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this  all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)   What treasure is Paul speaking of? If we look back to verse 6, we read that God “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” God bestows on his followers the treasure of Christ’s light and wisdom...

DAILY READING 1 Peter 4:12-19 REFLECTION   Blessed to Suffer By Beth Voltmann Each new year many of us are motivated to change our lives in some meaningful way. More intentionally, Christians often pray that the Lord will help them to grow in their faith. I wonder, though, if anyone has ever asked to suffer more? Not I.   In America, we rarely suffer physical harm in the way that believers in other nations do (China, Nigeria, Malaysia, India, North Korea, and Iran to name a few), but we are...