Langdon's Devotional

Matthew 6:34 – “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Especially within today’s generation, young men and women often experience problems in twos. And while the use of the word “anxiety” has taken off in recent years, it’s truly nothing new to the sinner. Anytime we are able to premeditate any undesirable situations that we expect ourselves to be in, we burden ourselves by creating a new problem alongside it and worrying about those situations. We allow fear to sneak into our hearts and minds by masking it as if it’s some sort of safety mechanism that prevents us from being disappointed or unprepared. What we disguise as a safety mechanism, though, is actually one of the enemy’s choice weapons to push us from God. How ironic would it be if that weapon were to be used against the enemy? We’re told in this verse not to worry about what’s to come, but more specifically, we’re first told in Matthew 6...

Galatians 5:18 – “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” One of my favorite parts of the Bible is how it can teach us the same concept effectively, through different ways. Just like the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 and Mark 4, the verse leading up to the fruit of the spirit is what puts the entire fruit-bearing process into context. This verse more or less shows us how we can be fruitful, before the fruit of the spirit is even explained. In a sinful world, it’s not uncommon to subconsciously assume that our responsibility is to plant the seed of love, joy, peace, etc., within ourselves in order to be good people (or even to be good Christians). The Bible never tells us that, though; God ultimately tells that to be “good people”, we reflect Him. Can you think of a better person? So instead of trying to plant that seed within ourselves, we should allow the Spirit to dwell in us and take control of our lives. We call it the Fruit of the Spirit , not the fruit...

Psalm 94:12 – “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law” Some of the hardest jobs are the ones that are best learned through experience instead of through traditional teaching. Those jobs come with the burden of learning through hardship. When we learn mostly through experience, we are almost guaranteed to make mistakes. Those mistakes and difficult experiences are precisely what we learn from. Being a Christian is hardly any different. Obviously, there are things that we learn through traditional methods (i.e., reading God’s Word), but we also learn through watching what God is doing in our lives and how we follow His word while He does it. Discipline is tough, but it leads straight to growth. And growth is pretty important, wouldn’t you say? Blessed is he who reads Your law, absolutely – but even more blessed is he who is taught and disciplined through it.

Psalm 84:5 – “Blessed are those whose strength is in you” I think people tend to confuse courage with strength. At least in my mind, courage is the ability to go head-first into the things that we fear the most, because our love for something else overpowers that fear. Strength on the other hand, is reflected by how we receive things, even when fear overwhelms us. It takes strength to build up courage, and sometimes it takes courage to build up strength. Obviously, that strength needs to come from somewhere, whether it be from our natural inclination, situational circumstances, a loved one, etc.  So, it’s important to be careful about where we take our strength from. In a previous post that I wrote on Colossians 3, I talked about how susceptible the flesh is to disappoint those that rely heavily on it. For that same reason, it’s dangerous to rely on anything or anyone other than God and His Word. They aren’t reliable; they were made to be unreliable. But God is the only person out...

Psalm 84:12 – “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!” Around when I was in middle school, my family went to the Dialog in the Dark exhibit in Atlanta, which is a simulation of sorts that puts people in the shoes of the blind. It’s one of those experiences that might seem simple at first, but quickly becomes extremely difficult to navigate. One thing I noticed while doing it was that I depended on those around me a tremendous amount. We had impairment canes with us to prevent from walking into things or people but navigating the exhibit itself would have been nearly impossible without the voices of the people around me. The same can be said for how we walk through our lives. Some things are in our control, but ultimately, we depend on God to guide us through it. Sometimes He guides us through things that we find happiness in. Other times, through challenging experiences and uncomfortable feelings. God closes doors, God opens doors, God closes doors . Often times we will...

1 Corinthians 9:27 – “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” We should all hope to surround ourselves with those that hold us accountable for what we say and do, to make sure that we are growing as Christians. Those people are the final judges of our character – the people that see how our personality is reflected in our words and actions. Our first judge is God, who knows what we will do before it’s premeditated (even if only in the heat of the moment). Our second judge, however, is ourselves. After God, we should be our greatest critic. Discipline is what keeps us in line and allows us to grow. In this regard, surrounding ourselves with the right people is only our plan B. We should hold ourselves accountable before anyone needs to. It’s worth noting that my ESV translation of this verse is pretty tame compared to most other versions of the Bible, including the Greek translation which reads more along the l...

James 4:7-8 – “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” A harsh truth that I face daily (as I’m sure many Christians do) is that most of the time, my relationship with God feels one-sided. Of course, this is the devil trying to make me believe that God is absent in my life, simply because I can’t see Him standing in front of me. But during times of hardships, it can be very easy to turn away from God in search of temporary fixes. Temporary fixes are temporary, so the devil has his way and life goes on. In ironic fashion, our problems make us feel inclined to turn away from our only solution. We feel too sick to take our medicine. Drawing near to God during our lowest moments is the most challenging thing we could do in those times, but it’s also the most rewarding. We get close to God; He gets closer to us. When we find ourselves in situations that seem hopeless, it’s often because they seem hopele...