Kerusso Daily Devotional

O Holy Night is a well-known Christmas carol that began as a French poem celebrating the opening of a new church. The beloved song we know today was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight, an American minister and abolitionist, in 1855.

This poignant carol reflects on the birth of Jesus as humanity's redemption.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth

Long lay the world in s...

Are you comfortable in your life? This is a little different than asking if you’re always happy, or living in some sort of paradise. Comfortable just means you are relatively peaceful and content with your situation. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can be dangerous in a spiritual sense.

Jesus calls us to something more.

Mark 16:15 says, “He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’”

Of the 20...

Today, we’re continuing our series on sharing the gospel, and what we’re covering today is about the Great Commission. Have you heard that term before? Christianity’s great at using terms the general public isn’t familiar with, and sometimes we use terms even we aren’t familiar with as believers. 

A recent study shows that more than 50% of U.S. churchgoers don’t know what that term Great Commission means. And when asked if they had ...

Have you ever known someone who inherited something of great value from an obscure relative? It happens…maybe in a movie or something.

The will is read by an attorney, and all of a sudden, the beneficiary goes from struggling to pay the rent to needing a financial planner. It can be an exciting time, even disorienting.

The only downside to receiving a large inheritance is the knowledge that someday it will run out, or you die and can...

Table salt today is so common, it becomes another thing we take for granted. You go to the store, pick a cylinder or jar of salt off the shelf, and then go home. You don’t even think about it.

Now, consider that 1,000 and more years ago, if a person wanted to use salt on his dinner, this required some prior work. A lot of work! The Romans boiled seawater in huge, lead-lined pans. So valuable was salt in the Roman Empire, it was used...

Kerusso exists to tell people about the Good News of Jesus Christ, but somehow in our information-jacked world, culture has moved further away from understanding who the most famous person in history really is. 

Millions of books and articles have been written about a carpenter who lived in the Middle East 2000 years ago, and Jesus has been identified as anything from a desert mystic to God Himself.

Historically, He was born into a J...

Psychologists and self-help gurus will all tell us that a grateful heart and a positive outlook will do wonders for health and relationships. A person with a heart of gratitude will be seen by others who will want to follow and see what he has going for him.

Such a person is a magnet for sharing the Gospel, and the greatest source of wisdom has much to say on the subject. Dozens of times in the Bible, we read about the value of grat...

Thanksgiving isn’t just a holiday — it’s an attitude we can choose to fill our hearts with every day.

The Bible shares many examples of gratitude in the midst of challenging circumstances.

Imagine Mary, a young Galilean girl, given the news that she was to be the mother of the Messiah. She didn’t panic or protest. Instead, she embraced the news and nurtured the One who would bring healing to the whole world.

The story in Luke 17 tells...

The lack of gratitude in our world can be contagious. It’s kind of like a negative “pay it forward.”

How did we get to this place? 

Are we too prideful to thank each other, or even to thank God? Too busy? Too self-absorbed, maybe?

As believers, we know life is a rich blessing from God. The clearest path to becoming a person of gratitude is to choose it. If we don’t choose gratitude, we choose ingratitude.

Psalm 107:1 says, “Oh give tha...

Do you ever feel like life is passing you by, or worse — running right over the top of you?

When we focus on unpleasant circumstances or people, life can really bring us down. And this perspective is a downward spiral — not a place we want to dwell.

Author John Kralik was there, once. A long hike one day led him to an emotional crossroads; there, he decided to devote the rest of his life to being thankful.

His life changed dramaticall...

You’ve heard that every good thing comes from God, right? It’s true. He is our example, both of how to live and how to react to others. This week, we’re talking about practicing gratitude, and as usual, God shows us the way.

Psalm 107:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Often, we can become disappointed if we don’t get everything we think we should have. But that’s a dead-end when it comes to ...

Humans have a problem asking for help. We can probably chalk it up to our proud hearts.

Often, when we are really up against it, that’s when we resist seeking help.

Jesus does away with all that.

Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Ask yourself: is my pride keeping me from asking for help? If so, mull that over. And then, take a step toward the Lord and ask f...

You’ve heard of heat-seeking missiles. They are weapons so sophisticated that they appear to have a mind of their own. The missile is launched and finds its target, and destruction happens. 

What if a heat-seeking missile could be used for good? What if one has been launched…in your direction?

Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

If you open your heart to God...

The story of the Prodigal Son is one we can all relate to. The Bible tells the story of a brash young man who leaves his home after asking for his inheritance. His loving father complies, and let’s just say the son learns some valuable lessons on his travels.

Eventually, he humbles himself and comes home; he needs his father and his family.

It is really a story of Jesus and us.

Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and y...

Have you ever seen the film, “Saving Private Ryan?” If not, it’s about a group of American soldiers sent into enemy territory during World War 2 to find one lost soldier. The order comes from top leadership.

This small group has a single focus the whole mission. Eventually—at great cost—they locate him and return him to his loved ones. Much of it is difficult to watch, as we see the incredible sacrifice the many make to find the one...

Have you ever hunted and hunted for something, maybe your car keys, and you finally find them? The old saying goes (it’s very unhelpful!) that you find them in the last place you looked. There’s a lot of truth to that, though.

It also is very relevant to our walk with Jesus. Often, we work really hard to solve our own problems, then we finally give in and ask Jesus for help.

Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you...

Have you ever watched a war movie and realized that the actors didn’t know how the conflict would turn out? World War 2 movies are like that. When they filmed “Casablanca,” Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman weren’t sure whether the Germans would win or lose.

Life can be like that.

Matthew 28:20 says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

In your own life, you might be facing some really serious stuff. And it’...

Have you ever been fooled by someone? Doesn’t feel good, does it?

But the absolute worst is when we fool ourselves. We try to manage some problem on our own, or analyze a situation gone awry.

The Bible has a better way of thinking about it.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

We have to do two things here: give total control to God, and de-emphasize our own judgment. Someti...

The Bible is full of what many would call difficult stories. Some of them don’t make a lot of sense at first. Others seem contrary to what we think should happen.

One such story is breathtaking if we follow it through. It involves a father trusting God more than his own instincts.

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we live by faith, and not by sight.”

In Genesis, we read about Abraham being instructed by the Lord to offer his young son, Isa...