God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. – Hebrews 6:10

Psalm 103:12 says that God takes our our sin and removes it from us “as far as the east is from the west.” In Isaiah 43:25 God says, “I will forget your sins.” I find verses like these so comforting because more often than not, I want God to forget what I’ve done.

This verse reminds me that God isn’t only paying attention to the stuff I mess up so God can forgive it, God is deeply invested in my life because God is rooting for me to succeed. When I am taking steps that allow me to better follow Jesus, I am taking steps toward being the version of myself that God created me to be.

As you go through your day today, may you feel the encouragement of God. Imagine God looking at you and delighting in you. And know that when you show love to others, you are showing your love to and for God.

Will not God grand justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? – Luke 18:7 Something I’d like to […]

“Mary…sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.” —Luke 10:39

The story Luke tells about Martha and Mary is a sneakily challenging one. In this story, Martha distractedly goes about all the work that needs to be done as she hosts Jesus and his disciples. As Martha runs around, Mary just sits and listens to what Jesus has to say.

The moral of the story seems clear: Slowing down and listening to Jesus is better than running around taking care of tasks that need to be done. And that’s not wrong, but it’s also a little confusing if taken on its own. Because there are a lot of times when Jesus taught that we should, you know, actually do stuff for each other. We can’t read the story of Martha and Mary as an excuse to sit around and avoid work.

But life is all about priorities. Life is about choosing what to focus on, how long to focus on it for, and how intently to pay attention. For some of us, it’s easy to go through a day without ever really paying much attention at all.

This story about Martha and Mary isn’t an excuse to be lazy. But it is a reminder of what the source of life and energy is. It is a warning about a life that misses out on the voice of Jesus. Let’s make today a day in which we—whether for an hour or for a minute—focus intently on what Jesus has to say.

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” – Luke 1:78-79

Luke’s gospel begins by telling us about a priest named Zechariah. Zechariah was visited by an angel and told that he will have a son who would turn people’s hearts back to the Lord and prepare the way for the Messiah. Because Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth are older and haven’t had any children up to this point, Zechariah doubts that this is possible. In response to his doubt, the angel tells Zechariah that he will be unable to speak until the birth of this baby.

Zechariah was a priest, he loved and followed God. Yet, he struggled with trusting that God would actually come through for him. But in losing his speech, every time he wanted to speak and was unable to, he is reminded of what God had promised to him. He is reminded of God’s actions in his own life and the life of all of Israel. He thinks back on all the times where God has proved to be faithful. He is reminded of God’s promise to send a messiah.

When Zechariah’s son is born, he regains his speech and immediately sings a song of praise to God which reflects this deepened understanding of the character of God. Today’s verses come from that song.

The older we get, the more we think we know. We are tempted to ignore opinions we disagree with and sometimes we’re even tempted to write off people we disagree with. Zechariah’s loss of speech put him in a position where all he could do was listen, reflect, and observe. He came out of that time establishing trust in God at a level that he otherwise would have never reached.

Zechariah reminds me that no matter how well we think we know God, there is more to learn about God. That each day provides us the opportunity for a deepened relationship with God and the opportunity to sing God’s praises to the people around us. 

The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short?” –Numbers 11:23

Sometimes Scripture invites us to think about God in bodily terms. We read about God’s eyes, God’s ears, God’s hands and feet.

Today’s verse asks us to think about God’s arm.

In Numbers 11, the Israelites have been wandering in the desert and they’ve become tired of the provision of manna the Lord has been sending for them to eat. They demand meat, and the Lord tells Moses he’ll provide it (more than they want, in fact). Moses is skeptical. He says, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

And – I love this – God throws a question right back at Moses: “Is the LORD’s arm too short?”

It’s like God is saying, “Excuse me, Moses, I’m gonna to stop you right there. Do you know who I am? You still think there are limits on what I can do?” See, Moses has made the error I think we all make – Moses has forgotten just how big God is, how complete God is. Moses has already lost sight of the miraculous things he’s seen God do. I do this, too. Moses needed – and we need – the reminder that the Lord’s arm span is wide. His reach is far.

In fact, I’d argue that when we worry that there isn’t enough of something to go around, it’s usually the length of our own arms we ought to scrutinize. Where do I hold my blessings so close that no one else can enjoy them? Where does God’s provision get bottlenecked? Am I helping to make sure that everyone gets enough of what they need? When it comes to reaching out and serving people, am I stretching my arms out as wide as I can?

We serve a God of generous abundance. And God invites us to participate with him in reaching his world. When Jesus fed a whole crowd with just a few loaves of bread and some fish, he made the disciples part of the process. He handed them the food so they could share it with the hungry people around them. God also invites us to be part of the process. God’s arm is not short. God’s capacity to provide is not limited. God’s love is not just for an inside crowd. So, with confidence in our limitless God, may we extend our own arms to share God’s provision more freely with the world God loves.