Daily Christian Devotional

26 December, 2025

2 Chronicles 24.20-22, Psalm 119.161-168, Acts 7.51-end, Matthew 10.17-22

In 2 Chronicles, Zechariah stands in the temple courts and speaks God’s truth to a people who no longer wish to hear it. His reward is rejection and death. The tragedy is not only his martyrdom, but the forgetting of gratitude: those who benefited from God’s faithfulness turn against the one who calls them back. Faithfulness, Scripture reminds us, is costly.

Psalm 119 gives voice to a quieter but no less resolute courage. Surrounded by opposition, the psalmist clings to God’s law with love and delight. Obedience is not fear-driven, but rooted in peace. To walk in God’s commandments is to stand on firm ground, even when princes persecute without cause.

In Acts, Stephen’s speech reaches the same painful conclusion. God’s messengers are resisted again and again. Yet even as stones fall, Stephen sees heaven opened and entrusts his spirit to Christ. Hatred does not have the last word; forgiveness does.

Jesus prepares his disciples for this reality in Matthew’s Gospel. Witness will bring conflict, even betrayal. But endurance, sustained by the Spirit, leads to life.

As believers, we are called to a faithful, steady witness—rooted in Scripture, sustained by prayer, and shaped by Christ’s own self-giving love. When truth is costly, may we remain gentle, courageous, and faithful to the end.