Day One
God Means Good
Genesis 50:15–21
Recently, restructuring at the organization where I had worked for a long time led me to decide it was better to retire sooner than I had planned. While I was already thinking about retirement, this change produced many conflicting emotions: frustration and grief, but also relief and hopeful anticipation. I realized that retirement would have its benefits and that God already knew this before any of the events of the last few months occurred, and would bring good out of it.
The story of Joseph forgiving his brothers reminds us that God is at work even when things look dark. Over the long years between Joseph’s being sold into captivity and his finally revealing himself to his brothers as an Egyptian official, God worked through events in all their lives and brought about good from a great evil. My retirement was certainly not an evil, but it’s comforting to know that God knows what I’m facing and will show me the good he can bring from it.
Prayer
Lord, help us remember you hold all the events of our lives and are working for our good and your glory. Amen.
Day Two
God Accepts Our Differences
Romans 14:1–12
My community in north central Kansas is dominated by fans of Kansas State University’s sports teams. But scattered around town are a few brave souls who proudly display the colors of the University of Nebraska. The football rivalry isn’t as sharp as it was in the days when both teams played in the same conference, but the preferences still produce some good-natured ribbing.
Sports rivalries can be entertaining, but they hold no eternal significance. How do you respond to a fellow believer who comes from a different Christian tradition? Do their views on baptism, communion, or musical instruments in church, for example, become an obstacle to fellowship?
Paul reminds us that God has already accepted us and called us into fellowship with each other and with him. We all belong to the Lord. So when differences in debatable matters arise, we listen and learn from one another, demonstrating God’s love for his body.
Prayer
Lord, help us remember that your family is larger than one branch of Christian tradition. Help us to learn from one another and so model your love.
Day Three
God Calls Us Precious
Matthew 18:12–14
Have you ever lost something of minuscule value that you just couldn’t stop looking for? A few years ago I dropped an inexpensive earring. I couldn’t find it all that morning, and it bugged me for a long time. I finally found it when I wasn’t even looking for it — it had fallen into a partially open drawer. I was inordinately happy to find it.
Maybe this incident gives me a small glimpse into what Jesus is talking about. For the Good Shepherd, no matter how many sheep he has, each one is precious. Jesus shows us, through this parable, how precious each of us is to our Father. The body of believers includes billions of people, but God knows each one of us and will pursue us when we go astray. There are no insignificant members of the body of Christ.
Prayer
Father, thank you for knowing us and seeking us, even in our wanderings. May we follow your example in loving those who also wander.
Day Four
God Forgives so We Can Forgive
Matthew 18:21–35
In this passage, the Apostle Peter reminds me of how siblings will try to determine where their parents’ boundaries lie. “If my brother takes my candy one more time, can I get back at him then?” But Jesus isn’t giving boundaries; he’s telling Peter and the others that there are almost limitless boundaries to God’s forgiveness. Instead of keeping track of all our wrongs, God freely forgives us. We see examples of this throughout the Old Testament, and God’s story of forgiveness and redemption culminates on the cross.
Since we are the recipients of such forgiveness, we are called to forgive others. That’s the hard part. When someone has wronged me, my inclination is to hold onto that grievance or maybe even hurt them in return. But holding onto a wrong done to us only deepens our own hurt. When Jesus tells us to forgive, we’re not only releasing the one who has wronged us; we’re releasing the hold that hurt has on us. Then we can experience God’s healing love more completely.
Prayer
Loving God, help us to forgive others as you forgive us.
Day Five
God’s Mercy Is Greater Than Ours
Jonah 3:10–4:11
Jonah’s anger at God’s compassion toward Nineveh has always seemed petty to me. He knows God is gracious and merciful, yet Jonah is mad because God has acted in accordance with his character, sparing the Ninevites when they repented. Then he gets mad again because God causes a plant to grow up and shade him, but it dies. Again, Jonah is so angry he wishes he were dead.
But God is teaching Jonah a lesson. Jonah didn’t really care about the people of Nineveh. He thought God should enact judgment on them. And Jonah only cared about the plant because it benefited him. But God cared about the people of Nineveh, even in their ignorance of him, and God sent Jonah to proclaim his message of repentance. As we saw in the story of the lost sheep, God wants all to come to him and will do whatever he can to achieve that, even if it means sending a reluctant prophet.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that your patience and mercy are so much greater than ours. Amen.
Day Six
God’s Forgiveness Turns the World Upside Down
Matthew 20:1–16
In the world of work, we usually expect the most senior employees to earn the highest wages. Even in our churches, we often have a hierarchy of who is considered spiritually significant. In the larger Christian world, people with large ministries, who have written popular books, or are well-known speakers tend to get more attention than the average person in the pew.
But God’s economy is different. All who believe receive God’s gift of salvation, no matter what age they come to faith. This parable reminds us that it’s not the size of our church, how many Christian bestsellers we’ve written, or how many committees we have chaired that matters. It’s whether, when the master called us to work in his vineyard, we answered “yes,” and served him with whatever time we had.
God gives some people more prominent positions, but in the kingdom of heaven we all have a job to do, and “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last” (v. 16).
Prayer
Dear Lord, help us be willing laborers in your vineyard, no matter how humble the role.
Day Seven
Our Response to God’s Mercy and Forgiveness
Psalm 149
The Psalms were Israel’s hymn book. They provided words to express a wide range of experiences and emotions, from lament to praise. Many psalms recount the history of God’s saving work for his people. Most psalms include praise and thanksgiving. For us today, these same psalms serve the same purpose. Each one of us can recount the history of God’s saving work in our own lives. Maybe we have moments that seemed miraculous. We probably can also remember God’s presence in the quiet, ordinary days of our lives.
No matter what our experience, our response to God for his mercy and forgiveness should be one of praise. Psalm 149 says that God delights in us, no matter our station in life. In the upside-down kingdom of God, the humble are crowned with victory and the praise of God is like a sword against those who oppose him. We can rejoice in his salvation day and night.
Prayer
Dear God, may we sing songs of praise to you all the days of our lives. Amen.
