Our devotions to begin the Year of our LORD 2026 will be based upon the teaching of Lord’s Day 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism. We will follow our beloved opening Lord’s Day phrase by phrase.
Our greatest need is the LORD Jesus Christ, to belong to Him as His possession, to belong to our Redeemer body and soul, and to belong to our Saviour through the pilgrimage of this life, looking past our death to the world to come. What blessing beyond compare to confess that Christ has fully paid for the sins of those who are His own.
The Bible teaches that there is a lion in our streets, prowling around, looking for someone to devour. To be set free from the tyranny of the devil is a great comfort. The believer’s greatest comfort is to belong to Jesus.
Yes, our faithful Saviour Jesus Christ is our only comfort. It is ours in solitude and in the fellowship of congregational life. It is ours amid the racket and often jarring noise of societal life. It is ours when we travel through the valley of sorrows and as we set our sights on the world to come. Our only comfort is what we need for all situations in life.
The Scripture selections will speak for themselves. Most meditations will conclude with a quote as food for thought. The prayer suggestions are based on a stanza from the Trinity Psalter Hymnal. May the LORD add His blessing on our meditations together.
Lord’s Day One of the Heidelberg Catechism
Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I am not my own,1 but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death,2 to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood,4 and has set me free from all the tyranny of the devil.5 He also preserves me in such a way6 that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head;7 indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.8 Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life9 and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.10
1 1 Cor 6:19, 20. 2 Rom 14:7-9. 3 1 Cor 3:23; Tit 2:14. 4 1 Pet 1:18, 19; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:2: 5 Jn 8:34-36; Heb 2:14, 15; 1 Jn 3:8:; 6 Jn 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 1:5: 7 Mt 10:29-31; Lk 21:16-18: 8 Rom 8:28; 9 Rom 8:15, 16; 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14; 10 Rom 8:14.
Q. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
A. First, how great my sins and misery are;1
second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; 2
third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.3
1 Rom 3:9, 10; 1 Jn 1:10; 2 Jn 17:3; Acts 4:12; 10:43;3 Mt 5:16; Rom 6:13; Eph 5:8-10; 1 Pet 2:9, 10
A most important question: What is your only comfort in life and in death?
“Comfort, yes comfort my people! says your God.” – Isaiah 40:1
Scripture reading: Isaiah 40:1-11
By God’s glorious grace we have entered the year of our LORD, 2026. And while ‘hours and days and years and ages swift as moving shadows flee’, believers go forward day by day in the confidence of God’s great promises. And where would we be without those precious promises?
As the canvas of the new year (D.V.) stretches before us, there will be times of uncertainties (humanly speaking) and perhaps lingering doubts. The world stage is in turmoil. How are Christians ‘to proceed’? The opening question of the Heidelberg Catechism with the accompanying answer is foundational for our walk with the LORD. Every day again, we must turn to the LORD seeking His guidance by His Word through the work of the Holy Spirit. Every day again, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1). While we do not know what the future holds, we know who holds the future. We must always believe that our care is His caregiving.
Long ago, Isaiah spoke words of comfort to the covenant community, declaring that their iniquity has been pardoned. We need the comfort of that same pardon. Ask for it. Thank the LORD for abounding mercies. We need the comfort of knowing that our LORD goes before us. We need the comfort which confesses we belong to Jesus.
If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer – His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable. – John Newton
Suggestions for prayer
Thank the LORD that you can sing “Comfort, comfort ye my people, speak ye peace, thus saith our God; comfort those who sit in darkness, mourning ‘neat their sorrow’s load. Speak ye to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them; tell her that her sins I cover, and here warfare now is over” (TPH 298:1).
Rev. Vellenga is presently serving as a ‘here and there’ preacher who preaches across several Reformed denominational/federational lines. Peter and his wife Judith reside in Delaware, Ontario and are blessed with eight children and a growing quiver of grandchildren. Get this devotional delivered directly to your phone each day via our RP App. This devotional is made available by the Nearer To God Devotional team, who also make available in print, for purchase, at NTGDevotional.com.
