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New? February 15 Devotional

by David Joynt on February 15, 2025


1 PETER 4:11b | ...so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

 

The Reformation had five “solas.” Sola is the Latin word for alone, and we get our word solo from it. They are sola fide, solia gratia, solus Christus, sola Scripture, soli Deo gloria. We are saved by faith alone, in grace alone, through Christ alone, known in scripture alone, and we live for God’s glory alone.

 

God has a unique glory belonging to himself as part of his nature. He also has a reflected glory, visible in the worlds he has created and in the lives of his children. The authority and strength he gives us are not to be used to enhance our standing, demonstrate our own power, or impress others. They exist and find their purpose when they glorify the one who is their creator, source, and giver.

 

1 Peter 4:11 elevates and humbles us. Do you agree?

 

 

Gracious God,

Let me live for your glory and not my own. Help me sense your power and authority today and let me exercise them in a humble way.

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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