Daily Reading Week 31
Sunday
John 12 (focus v.1–11)
Discover:
Today’s passage in John 12 is one of the most memorable moments in Jesus’ ministry. Just after raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus is in Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem, sharing a meal at the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. During dinner, Mary takes a large flask of pure nard, an extremely costly perfume, and pours it on Jesus’ feet, wiping them with her hair. Matthew and Mark tell the same story and note that the home belonged to “Simon the leper,” likely a relative of the family. Together the accounts show just how lavish the gift was: enough perfume to run from His head all the way to His feet. The perfume was worth about three hundred denarii, a full year’s wages for a day laborer. Even for a prominent family, this was a costly act, an act of extravagant love.
Judas objects, saying the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor. But John tells us Judas’s real motive: he was the group’s treasurer and regularly helped himself to the funds. Greed, not compassion, drove his complaint.
Jesus defends Mary. Her act was fitting because it anticipated His burial. There is a proper time to care for the poor, but in that moment it was right to honor the Savior so freely. Mary was not practicing poor stewardship; she was recognizing who Jesus is and what was about to happen.
Scripture clearly calls us to help the needy. Yet that is not the only faithful use of our resources. It is also right to honor Christ and His church. The key is wisdom, asking God to help us allocate what He has given us in ways that please Him.
Respond:
• What currently gets the most attention and affection in your life?
• In what ways are you tempted to give Jesus leftovers instead of your best?
• Do you relate more to Mary’s surrender or Judas’ calculation? Why?
• What would it look like to worship Jesus more fully this week?
Monday
Malachi 1 (focus v.6–14)
Discover:
God showed His peace with Israel when He invited the elders to eat a covenant meal in His presence (Exodus 24:1–11). He also provided regular ways for His people to share covenant meals—through festivals like Passover and through peace offerings (Exodus 12; Leviticus 3; 7:11–18). When they brought the required spotless animals and followed God’s instructions, these meals became a special reminder of His redemption and a means of enjoying His blessing.
Tragically, the nation as a whole failed to treat these holy ordinances with the reverence they deserved. Just before the voice of prophecy fell silent, Malachi confronted the people for polluting worship. Instead of offering the first and best of their flocks, they were bringing blemished animals (Malachi 1:12–14). In doing so they were treating the Lord’s table with contempt, offering God what even an earthly king would refuse. Matthew Henry notes that few things provoke God more than the careless handling of His holy name.
God’s response was sharp: better to shut the temple doors and stop pretending than to continue with empty, false worship (v. 10). Yet right after this strong word, the Lord made a promise. He declared that His name would one day be honored among the nations and that pure offerings would rise to Him from every place (v. 11). This pointed forward to a time when animal sacrifices would end and Gentiles would be welcomed to the Lord’s Table.
That greater offering came two thousand years ago when the spotless Lamb of God gave His life on the cross. We now celebrate a new covenant meal that remembers His finished work. And just as under the old covenant, this meal must never be treated with contempt (1 Corinthians 11:17–34).
Respond:
• What area of your life are you most tempted to give God leftovers in?
• Why do you think God cares about the heart behind worship?
• What does costly worship look like in your current season?
• How can you honor Jesus with your best this week?
Tuesday
Song of Songs 2 (focus v.3–4)
Discover:
The Song of Solomon is first and foremost a wisdom song about commitment and intimacy within marriage. It is not a detailed allegory of Yahweh and Israel or of Jesus and the church. At the same time, Scripture shows that the marriage covenant established in Genesis 2 was always meant to point beyond itself to something greater—the final marriage of Christ and His people described in Revelation 19–22.
Paul makes this clear at the end of Ephesians 5. After quoting Genesis 2, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” he adds, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31–32).
In the new heavens and new earth, every good gift God has woven into marriage will be raised to its highest expression, and every sorrow and loss caused by sin will be gone forever. Marriage frames the entire story of the Bible, from its first pages to its last. Let the covenant of marriage, then, keep our eyes fixed on the hope that awaits us at the end.
Respond:
• What do you treasure most in your life right now?
• How is worship different when it flows from love instead of obligation?
• How can you intentionally cultivate a deeper love for Christ this week?
Wednesday
Luke 18 (focus v.18–23)
Discover:
Today’s passage records Jesus’ conversation with the man we know as the rich young ruler, possibly a synagogue official. The story is familiar, yet it is often misunderstood.
The man has already been doing some honest soul-searching. He approaches Jesus wanting to know how to obtain eternal life (v. 16). He later claims he has kept the commandments (v. 20), which shows he is looking for assurance beyond what God has already revealed. Jesus knows this, but He begins where salvation always begins, with the law of God. He reminds the man that only God defines true goodness and that the path of life is found in obeying Him.
Jesus is not suggesting that anyone can keep the law perfectly and earn salvation. As John Calvin observes, “the keeping of the law is righteousness, by which any man who kept the law perfectly, if there were such a man, would obtain life for himself. But as we are all destitute of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), nothing but cursing will be found in the law; and nothing remains for us but to betake ourselves to the undeserved gift of righteousness.” Only when we try to obey do we discover how far short we fall and how desperately we need Christ, who kept the law perfectly in our place (Rom. 5:20–21; 2 Cor. 5:21).
The young man cannot put this into words, yet he feels the gap. “What do I still lack?” he asks (v. 20). Jesus’ answer is clear: following Him is the only way to life. For this particular man, that meant selling everything and giving to the poor (v. 21).
Wealth itself is not the problem, Abraham was rich, and many of Jesus’ followers supported His ministry with their resources. Not every believer is called to sell all they own, and the poor are not automatically better Christians than the wealthy. But for this man, money stood between him and full discipleship. He had to let it go. In the same way, every one of us must abandon whatever has become an idol.
Respond:
• What would be hardest for you to surrender to God right now?
• Why do possessions, comfort, or success so easily compete for worship?
• How does this story challenge your understanding of devotion to Jesus?
• What is one practical step of surrender God may be asking from you?
Thursday
1 Samuel 15 (focus v.17–23)
Discover:
In Scripture, a message of judgment often begins with a reminder of God’s goodness. The reason is simple: every sin is a rejection of divine grace. That is exactly what Samuel points out to Saul.
“You were little in your own eyes,” the prophet says, recalling how Saul once knew his humble beginnings. Yet from that low place God Himself raised him up to be king over all Israel, His chosen regent and the instrument of judgment against the Amalekites. The assignment was clear: “Utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites.” But Saul did not obey. Instead, as Samuel puts it, he “swooped down on the spoil.” He treated as plunder what God had set apart for destruction.
Saul protests his innocence, yet his own words betray him. He claims to have wiped out the Amalekites while admitting he spared their king. He blames the people for bringing back livestock to sacrifice, even while conceding that those animals “should have been utterly destroyed.”
Samuel answers with one of the most important truths about relating to God: the Lord does not delight in sacrifice as much as in obedience. Offerings are good and right, but they mean little without a heart that willingly submits to His will. To obey is better than ritual. Rebellion and stubbornness, on the other hand, are as serious as witchcraft and idolatry. As Matthew Henry observes, “It is as bad to set up other gods as to live in disobedience to the true God.”
Then comes the final word of judgment. Because Saul has rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected him as king. Saul forgot that he himself was a man under authority, and that is a basic requirement for anyone who would lead God’s people.
Respond:
• Is there an area where you have been delaying obedience to God?
• Why do people often try to negotiate partial surrender with God?
• What stands out to you most from Saul’s response in this passage?
• What would immediate obedience look like for you today?
Friday
Ecclesiastes 5 (focus v.1–7)
Discover:
God takes the vows we make very seriously, especially since we make them in His name. Because we call on His presence when we swear an oath, we must be careful to make only lawful ones and then keep them once we have spoken.
Oaths exist because fallen people tend to lie. Scripture tells us they matter so much to God that it is better never to make a vow than to make one and fail to keep it (Ecclesiastes 5:4–5). God would rather we stay silent than speak a promise we will not fulfill.
When we break a vow, we treat truth as if it were not sacred. If we truly believed truth mattered, we would keep our word. Breaking a promise made in God’s name is, in effect, saying that His promise to hold us accountable does not count.
The same passage also warns that delaying the payment of a vow makes us fools (Ecclesiastes 5:4). The fool is the one who says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). When we ignore our vows, we show that we no longer fear God’s judgment, and in that moment we are living as if He does not exist.
None of us will keep every promise perfectly this side of heaven. But there is hope. When we fail, we have an Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). Jesus lives forever to intercede for us and secure our forgiveness when we repent and turn to Him (Hebrews 7:25).
In glory there will be no need for oaths, because our desire to shade the truth will be gone forever. Until then, we make lawful vows on proper occasions so that we remember we live before the face of God, and that we must care about truth as deeply as He does.
Respond:
• Have you ever found yourself going through the motions spiritually?
• Why is genuine worship more than words or outward actions?
• How can you cultivate greater honesty before God?
• What does wholehearted worship look like in daily life?
Saturday
Hebrews 10 (focus v.19–25)
Discover:
Ezekiel clearly saw that the Lord would once again make His presence known in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 41:1–4). What he did not see as clearly was how that would happen. The New Testament explains it for us.
Instead of restoring an earthly Most Holy Place that only a few priests could ever enter, God sent His Son to open the way for all His people into the heavenly Holy of Holies. The author of Hebrews has already told us that our hope is anchored there, behind the curtain (Hebrews 6:19–20). In 10:19–25 he makes the point unmistakable: that hope is Christ Himself. His death tore the veil that once blocked access, an earthly event (Luke 23:44–49) that revealed a heavenly reality. With sin fully atoned for, the barrier between a holy God and those who trust His promises is gone. By faith we may now enter the true Holy of Holies of which the earthly one was only a copy.
What once brought certain death now brings life. A.W. Pink notes that this new way remains open and powerful “because of its perpetual efficacy… it is not a lifeless thing, but has a spiritual and vital power in our access to God.” Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). No sin can separate us from the Father as long as we keep turning to Him in repentance and faith (see also Romans 8:28–39). In fact, the Lord delights for us to draw near so that He may hear our needs and receive our worship (Zephaniah 3:17).
We will still sin and forget that Jesus has opened this way. That is why we need one another. Let us not neglect gathering with other believers who will encourage us to keep entering the Holy of Holies with confidence (Hebrews 10:24–25).
Respond:
• What keeps you from consistently drawing near to God?
• Why is worship meant to be both personal and communal?
• How can you encourage others toward faithfulness this week?
• What is one step you can take to worship Jesus more intentionally right now?