Studying this morning's four readings from the St. James Daily Devotional Guide (click to subscribe), I examined myself with these questions. Where is your self-examination leading today?
Psalms 148:1-14. How long a list of specific things to praise God for, can I make on this last day of a tough year? What complaints about the year come to mind, and how is each put to silence by saying “but God”?
Isaiah 66:1-24. Verse 22, turning the page into 2021, how can I have access to God’s new heaven and new earth (also portrayed this week in Revelation), to do my part in helping us transcend recent hardships?
Revelation 22:12-21. Verses 14 and 17, how does the symbolism of the tree of life and the water of life translate into meeting my very real needs as a servant of the Lord in this present world?
Matthew 25:31-46. As far as the meeting of needs, who is in a desperate material situation right now and could use hands-on help from me, my family, or my church, as if that person were Jesus himself?
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To go deeper, see interpretive notes by Bible scholar Patrick Reardon for many of this week's readings.