Aaron Powers

The disciples shooed the children away from Jesus, and he got indignant. Let them come, he said, the kingdom belongs to such as these, Mark 10:14. A child doesn’t stand at the door wondering if they’ve been good enough. They climb right up, certain they’re welcome. That’s how you come to him. Not cleaned up, not qualified, just trusting. And childlike isn’t casual, it’s dependent.

New devotional every weekday morning, before the noise.

A year into anything, the real temptation isn’t to quit, it’s to coast, to settle in and stop letting it cost you anything. But Paul, the most mature believer who ever lived, refused to coast on his résumé. Not that I’ve already obtained this, but I press on, straining forward, Philippians 3. Wherever you are with God, you were never meant to plateau there. Press on. There’s always more of Him to know.

New devotional every weekday morning, before the noise.

One year ago today the first Before the Noise went out, and I had nine followers. I’d have kept going for those nine. A year later there are thousands of you across YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, and I never once promoted it. This year was hard, honest work, and God met me in every uncertain morning. Whatever small, unseen thing you’re doing, don’t despise it. God did all this with nine.

New devotional every weekday morning, before the noise.

The comfort it cost me is what bought the depth.

One year of Before the Noise, and I won’t pretend it’s been clean and easy. It cost me comfort, ease, and the undisturbed kind of faith that never asks hard questions. It even left me with questions I still haven’t fully answered, and if yours has those too, you are not doing it wrong. Faith is a relationship you keep working out. But every single thing this year cost me was the exact price of something better.

New devotional every weekday morning, before the noise.

We reach for the mute button on our own hearts.

When the ache gets loud, we reach for whatever turns the volume down, the scroll, the show, the drink, the snack. But numbing is the one cistern that doesn’t just fail to fill the ache, it deepens it. 1 Peter 5:7 says cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Not bury it. Not mute it. Hand it over to the One who meets you inside the ache instead of helping you escape it.

New devotional every weekday morning, before the noise.

God didn’t have to make strawberries taste good, or sunsets worth stopping for. None of it was necessary. He made a world you could delight in because he delights in you. That’s abundance, Matthew 6.