The Connect Devotional - a daily devotional with CCC

The connect devotional is a great way to stay connected spiritually to what our community is learning about God right now.  It is in step with the current sermon series, studying the scripture through the lens of life application.

Clicking here to subscribe and receive the Connect Devotional in your inbox

 

To see past posts, click the "All Posts" button above

Archives for April 2022

Subscribe to the RSS Feed
  • Featured Posts
  • All Posts

Fresh Eyes

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." Luke 8:47,48 I first heard the story of Jairus' daughter and the woman who was healed by a simple tou...

Keep Reading
1

Big Love, Small Acts

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came tremblingand fell at his feethe said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace" (Luke 8: 47,48). Jesus is on his way to perform a very important action. Jairus's daughter is sick and dying. Jairus pleads with Jesus to help him, and Jesus agrees. But on the way he encounters another woman who need...

Keep Reading

On Our Way

As Jesus was on his way (Luke 8:42b). Have you noticed how Jesus is often "on his way" when opportunities to be a good neighbor present themselves? I hope this encourages you as it does me. It means as we are "on our way," going about our business or pleasure, opportunities may present themselves to us, too. (Being immersed in a sermon series called "Won't You Be a Neigh...

Keep Reading

Like a Good Neighbor, [insert your name] is There!

As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds. A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. "Who touched me?" Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, "Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you....

Keep Reading
2

The Touch of Neighborliness

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him [A woman] came up behind himand touched the edge of his cloak (Luke 8:42, 44). In our current Won't You Be a Neighbor? series, we're looking at the ways God "neighbors" us, and how that needs to shape us in our relations with our neighbors. This week, another Jesus-story about being a neighbor to folks you weren't s...

Keep Reading
1

How's Your Candle Burning?

"'Which of these was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?'...'The one who had mercy on him'." (Luke 10: 36-37) What's your reaction when you're first in line at the red light, stopped right next to the disabled man holding a sign asking for help? Look away? Fumble for the least amount of change you feel you could get away with? Meet his gaze with a sm...

Keep Reading

Attention Shift

(Jesus asked) "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Then Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:36-37). It seems I become uncomfortable whenever I approach the Good Samaritan parable. I recognize this is because I immediately think of the ways ...

Keep Reading
2

Love Like Jesus. Then Do Good.

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him" (Luke 10: 36-37). Have you ever read, seen, or heard something you think you've heard a thousand times before and just realized you missed something important? I've read the parable of the Good Samaritan dozens of ...

Keep Reading

A Life Well Lived

He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Luke 10:27). A cousin passed away unexpectedly a few days ago at the young age of 29, and my family is gathered in Missouri this week to celebrate his life. I can't be there in person, but I've been re...

Keep Reading

How God Treats His Neighbors

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" In reply, Jesussaid to him, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fellinto the hands of robbers (Luke 10:29-30). Christ is risen! This changes everything: he is making all things new! As we continue in the celebration of Jesus's resurrection, of his defeat of and triumph over S...

Keep Reading
2

...And This Last, Silent Day

It's Saturday. A spring Saturday, so: yard work? Chores? Kids' school or sporting events? Normal, typical "Saturday stuff." But this is also the "silent day" of Holy Week. Jesus has been opposed, accused and betrayed; deserted, denied and abandoned; arrested, tried, sentenced, tortured and put to death in the most shame-filled, degrading and dehumanizing way possible; b...

Keep Reading
1

Fully Human

Editor's Note: this week, a very different set of Connect Devotionals because this week is unlike all others. Each writer this week will invite you to explore a different passage: the "cleansing of the Temple" (Monday), the argument about paying taxes to Caesar (Tuesday), the "great commandment" (Wednesday), the Last Supper and Gethsemane (Thursday), and the culmination of...

Keep Reading

The Last Supper

Editor's Note: this week, a very different set of Connect Devotionals because this week is unlike all others. Each writer this week will invite you to explore a different passage: the "cleansing of the Temple" (Monday), the argument about paying taxes to Caesar (Tuesday), the "great commandment" (Wednesday), the Last Supper and Gethsemane (Thursday), and the culmination of...

Keep Reading
2

Follow Me!

Editor's note: this week, a very different set of Connect Devotionals because this week is unlike all others. Each writer this week will invite you to explore a different passage: the "cleansing of the Temple" (Monday), the argument about paying taxes to Caesar (Tuesday), the "great commandment" (Wednesday), the Last Supper and Gethsemane (Thursday), and the culmination of...

Keep Reading
2

The Inadvertent Reveal

Editor's note: this week, a very different set of Connect Devotionals because this week is unlike all others. Each writer this week will invite you to explore a different passage: the "cleansing of the Temple" (Monday), the argument about paying taxes to Caesar (Tuesday), the "great commandment" (Wednesday), the Last Supper and Gethsemane (Thursday), and the culmination of...

Keep Reading

When a Distraction Isn't a Distraction

This Necessary Week Brian and Kathy Emmet This week, a very different set of Connect Devotionals because this week is unlike all others. On Sunday, we "welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem," joining with that long-ago crowd in lifting our praises to the Messiah. If we're not attentive, we might skip past all that the Gospels insist on telling us about this week, and find ourse...

Keep Reading
2

Two-For-One Special

We love it when our writers are on a roll. Enjoy an extra helping of Connect Devotionals today! What God Enduringly Does Lana Waters Liu Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Let Israel say,"His love endures forever" (Psalm 118:1-2). "If God loves me / us, why did He let this awful thing happen?" How many times have you heard someone yo...

Keep Reading
2

When Faith Goes Flat

You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you.Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (Psalm 118: 26-27). I've had my share of ups and downs when it comes to my faith journey. A couple decades ago I thought my relationship with Jesus was in a good spot. But then I had a rough day while visiting a friend in Atlanta. I...

Keep Reading

Steadfast Love

"His love endures foreverHis love endures foreverHis love endures foreverHis love endures forever." (Psalm 118: 1-4) David, the likely author of Psalm 118, finds himself again in a dangerous, potentially fatal military engagement (118:5-13); yet, he begins this psalm not pleading for rescue, but asserting God's essential goodness and underscoring His enduring love. Let's...

Keep Reading
1

Gratefully Mended

I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.Psalm 118:21-24 ESV In the third book of her widely popular trilogy, Divergent, Veronica Roth wrote: "Since I was yo...

Keep Reading
1

What Happens in Between

The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Psalm 118 This is an in-between week for our Connect Devotionals. We're not at the start, middle or end of a series; instead, we're in something of an in-between moment. Our Fractured series has been moving us towards an important series of days, the week that began with Jesus riding into Jerusalem a...

Keep Reading

Mercy for the Worst

There never was a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD He behaved in the vilest manner Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Have younoticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself,I will not bring this disaster in his day" (1 Kings 21:25-26, 28-29). Perhaps you've noticed: last week's passage on David and ...

Keep Reading
Subscribe