Grace for All

Made in His Image

1 Peter 2:9 KJV

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

When I was in elementary school, it was a common practice to “choose” sides before playing softball, football, kickball, or whatever sport we were playing that day. Remember how that went? Everyone knew who the first player chosen would be – the star athlete, the one who could be depended upon to play well and help their team win. Everyone also knew who would be chosen last – the uncoordinated kid, the one most likely to strike out or drop the pass. There were definitely winners and losers.

In this verse, however, God calls an entire holy nation, all of whom are individuals that stand out, not for their athletic skill but because of their choice to follow Jesus into his “marvelous light.” We are united not because of what we can do but because of what we believe. On God’s team, we bring our individual gifts to enable us to work together to build His kingdom on earth. We do this in praise of Him, and there are only winners on this team.

The final part of the verse seems particularly relevant to our modern world. There is a great deal of darkness – wars, disease, poverty. . . man’s inhumanity to man shows itself in many different horrifying ways.  Sometimes that darkness seems overwhelming; it is easy to feel we will never see full light. However, we are “called out of darkness into His marvelous light.” God’s word and our faith assure us that “His marvelous light” is there to guide us through whatever dark circumstances we are experiencing. The light is for all who believe. There are no losers in God’s Kingdom.

Prayer:

God, thank you for choosing us to be your people and for your promise of marvelous light. May we continue living in that light by not only growing and living out our own faith but also by sharing the Good News with others. We are your peculiar people, and we praise You! Amen.

This devotion was written by Pat Scruggs and read by Grace Jonas.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His Image

Our Scripture for today is Galatians 3:26-28 

“You are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

 

God sees us as one—his children who have faith in Jesus Christ!

All our differences, our earthly qualities and physical identifiers are covered with Christ.  Our filthy rags of sin are washed away by the blood of the Lamb!

We are beautiful in God’s eyes, because we are one with Christ.

Unfortunately, we don’t always see each other the way God sees us.  We sometimes look at our fellow humans and judge them by the human qualities we can see.  We look at some people and declare in our thoughts that they are too lost, too dirty, too wrong somehow.  Sometimes we want to judge and exclude those whom we see as not good enough, not clean enough, not measuring up to our standards of righteousness.  But thankfully, we don’t get to judge!  God will be the judge.  And God knows all our hearts.

Matthew 7:1-2 says,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

As children of God, with faith in Jesus, our job is to believe Him; and to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; to love our neighbors—all our neighbors—all other people on the Earth!  And who knows?  If we LOVE them all, we just might help lead a few of them to Christ, and therefore help to grow God’s kingdom—the Kingdom LOVE!

 

Let’s pray together:

Dear loving God, help me to remember.  Help me to LOVE more and to stop judging who is clean enough and who is too dirty.  Help me to see Christ in my fellow believers, no matter their affiliations, their lifestyles, or their politics.  Help me to LOVE all my earthly neighbors more like the way You LOVE them.  And please forgive me when I don’t measure up. Forgive me for judging and help me to LOVE all your children!  In Jesus name we pray – Amen!

Today’s podcast was written and read by Bernice Howard.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His Image

 

Romans 8:17 "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

 

Nothing encourages me more than to think that I have been adopted into the family of God.  And nothing challenges me more than to think that I have been adopted into the family of God.

We who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit are the children of God. No longer slaves, we have been adopted. By grace, we call God, “Daddy,” and Jesus, “Brother.” This means that we are co-heirs with Christ and God says to us, “Everything I have is yours.”  But it also means that just as Christ suffered with us, we must suffer with Christ.

Living in this world is hard. Life is messy. Relationships are messy. We seek certainty and direction. We want to find something we can count on. We want things to be clear—right or wrong, good or bad.  But if we are paying attention, we know that few things are certain, and few things are “all” or “nothing.”  

Being part of a family requires wrestling through the uncertainty, complications, and messiness of life together. Families suffer together, and families celebrate together. And this is what it’s like to be part of God’s family, too. It means that we are accepted, and loved, and that we will always have a place to belong, but it doesn’t mean that life will be easy, or that we’ll always get along.  

This scripture passage suggests to me that entering into all of the complicated mess of this world is the pathway to joy and peace. Jesus did not avoid life’s messiness or its complications or conflict. Jesus entered into suffering—not only the suffering of the cross, but the suffering of the world. And therein lies Christ’s glory. As this scripture says, we also share in Christ’s sufferings SO THAT we may also share in his glory. As the family of God, we share in one another’s, too.   

Let us pray:

God, thank you for adopting me into your family. Let me not forget your love for all of my brothers and sisters. Use me this day to be an encouragement to someone else, and allow me to be challenged to love more fully, even when it’s difficult. May I truly share in Christ’s sufferings that I may also share in his glory. Amen. 

This devotion was written and read by Greta Smith.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His imageColossians 1:15-16 NIVThe Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created,

When I was young boy I visited the small town where my parents had grown up.  One afternoon I was approached by an elderly gentleman who said, “You must be related to my friend. You are the spitting image of him.” His friend was my great grandfather, who had died before I was born.  He then went on to tell me a little about my great grandfather and ended by saying, “I hope you become the kind of man he was.”  I still remember the warm feeling that brief conversation left in me and I believe, subconsciously, I strived for years to be known, like my great grandfather, as being a person of integrity and compassion.

The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, talks about how Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  Another way to put this: through Jesus, his teachings and his life, we gain a glimpse of what God is like.  Or we could say, Jesus is the “spitting image” of God. I believe also, that Paul was encouraging those who read his words to strive to live after Jesus example. As we do this we also draw closer to God whose glory Jesus’ life reflects.  

Going back to my earlier encounter on that dusty Nebraska street, my great grandfather never guessed that someday his great-grandson would be challenged as to how to live because of the reflection of his life.  We too as reflections of the Christ we follow are also sharing with others a glimpse of the invisible God through our lives, words, and actions.  We are, to others, the image of the invisible God.

Each day we should begin reminding ourselves that we are called to reflect God’s light and love into every life we meet.  I hope that thought would cause us to be kinder, more loving, quick to forgive and filled with compassion.  At the end of the day we should ask ourselves, “How did we do?”  Are we proud of the image of God we reflected into our little part of the world? Did we present in image to others that we are proud of? If yes, then give thanks to God for giving you the strength to live faithfully.  If you see places where you failed, seek forgiveness, knowing it will be given, and ask for the wisdom to do better tomorrow. 

Let us pray: 

Jesus, we thank you for your life and how you became the image of God’s love and presence in the world.  May we, as followers of you, live in such a way that when they see us they truly see an image of your light and love.  Amen.

This devotion was written by Bill Green and read by Bernice Howard.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His Image

Welcome to the Saturday episode of the Grace for All podcast. Thank you for joining us today. Saturday is a special time when we take a few moments to review the scriptures that we have cited in the episodes this week.

If you missed any of those episodes, you might want to consider listening to them today. And even if you heard them all, there may be one that you might want to listen to again. We hope that each of these scriptures and podcasts will bring you a full measure of joy, peace, and love.

Now, let's listen to the scriptures that have been on our hearts this week.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His Image Colossians 4:5-6 (NIV): “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

As Christians we believe that we are made in the image of God, and that we are a reflection of God’s love and grace. These two verses in Colossians give us valuable guidance as to how we can reflect the love and truth of Christ to others.

First, use care and wisdom in dealing with others; use every opportunity to display acceptance and understanding.

Second, as Christians we are encouraged in our speech to be respectful, kind and considerate and to season our conversation with the salt of wisdom and love.

Third, we are encouraged as Christians to be ready to respond to both believers and non-believers in an intelligent and gracious manner.

In other words, we are called to be earnest in our religious beliefs, but do it with love, understanding and grace.

While we all fall short from time to time in living up to these guidelines, we should endeavor to apply these Christ-like principles in our day-to-day interactions with others.

Apply these teachings of Colossians 4:5-6 in your life, and you will grow in your faith, deepen your relationship with God, and positively influence those around you.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, thank you for showing us how to live with love, compassion, and humility.

Lord, help us to embody the teachings of Christ in our daily lives. Since we are made in God’s image we must strive to make our actions reflect his love and kindness, his patience and understanding. Grant us wisdom to discern opportunities where we can make a difference in the lives of those around us. Lord help us to “season with salt” our speech so our words are filled with grace, speaking truth in love, and that our deeds be a reflection of your unconditional love for all people.

Empower us, Lord, to live in such a way that others are drawn closer to you. Use us as instruments of your peace and love to positively impact those around us. Amen.

This devotion was written by Gary Hensley and read by Sage Jonas.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His Image

 

John 1:3"All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." 

 

My wife and I were fortunate to take a trip to Sedona Arizona with some friends a few years ago. Sedona is a beautiful city and is situated amongst red rock mountains and big, broad skies.

 

One night we decided that we wanted to be out in the desert for the sunset, and we wanted to see the night sky with no light pollution. I researched the best places to photograph the sunset and night skies, and we found what we thought was the perfect place, well off the main road in the desert. We rented a Jeep and set out just after dinner.

 

We got to our destination and I set my camera on my tripod and pointed it to the coordinates of the sunset. I sat in my camp chair and watched as the beautiful golden sunlight lit up the red rocks and painted the puffy clouds red and orange on a vivid blue background. It was so breathtaking I almost forgot to press the shutter on my camera.

 

A little while later the black sky filled with what looked to be millions of stars. I had never seen a night sky like it, There were twinkling stars on every horizon for as far as I could see.

 

As I sat there looking at the sky I thanked God, the artist behind the whole thing. I occurred to me that the most beautiful painting in the world couldn't match what I just saw.

 

The truth is, friends, that God is omniscient, omnipresent, and eternal. There is nothing that has ever existed that was not created by God. He created the stars and planets but He also created the smallest spot on the wings of the smallest butterfly, He created the mountains but He also created the smallest flower.

 

God created me and He created you. The prophet Isaiah wrote,

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64:8).

 

I take great comfort in knowing that the same hands that created that sunset and all those stars also created me. I know God loves me and I know he loves you, and because He loves us He provided a way for us to always be with Him. God sent His son Jesus to die on a cross to pay for our sins. Because of that gift, we know that we have the closest possible relationship with God, our creator and our Father, starting right now and for eternity.

 

Father, thank you for your creation. The world is your handiwork and daily displays your glory. We thank you that your grace and love provided us a way to know you and be with you forever. Amen.

 

This episode was written and read by Cliff McCartney.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His ImageJeremiah 1: 4-5 “The Lord gave me this message: I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart.”

My first appointment as a pastor was to a small country church in West Alabama. My wife was expecting our first child, and there was no hospital in the community, so the birth was planned for a hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, about 40 miles away. The due date was January 1st. On December 30th the largest snowstorm in recorded history hit Alabama and Mississippi. We could not get out of our driveway! Panic and prayer! And calls around for a midwife should labor begin. Fortunately, the birth was late—on January 6th. The snow had melted enough to get to Meridian where Bert was born.

In those days, dads were not allowed in labor and delivery, so I was left in the hospital room until a nurse came and said, “You have a son.” As soon as she left, I knelt beside the bed, thanked God for this tiny life, and gave my son to God. There would be many ups and downs in Bert’s life in the years to come, but that promise I made on the linoleum floor of Rush Memorial Hospital remained and remains.

It is easy for me to understand what God says to Jeremiah in the passage I read. Two basic things:

1. I love you. From the beginning. From before the beginning. Almost every mother and father understands this. And if I am capable of loving my child even before he or she is born, imagine the love of the eternal Creator for his children.
2. I have a dream for you. In my case as a father, that dream had no specificity—vocation, location, education or income levels—but it was a dream that Bert would live a life of faith and faithfulness, of goodness and kindness.

From before you were born, God loved you. From before you were born, God had a dream for you. What God says to Jeremiah he says to you.

Dear God, fill me with the wonder of your love and your plan for me. Long before my knowing. Even before I was born. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Herb Sadler.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His Image

Jeremiah 17 5–8 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh, and whose heart turned away from the Lord.That person will be like a bush in the wasteland. They will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

All of us are accidents of geography. We do not choose where we are born or where in our early lives we live. Some people grow up in fairly stable and unchanging environments. Others are shifted from place to place on a regular basis.

Even in our adult lives, we often feel like we have little choice about where we are. We’re in a certain place because that’s where the job opportunities exist. We locate in a certain city, because family or friends are there. We do not always get a choice about where we land.

Our spiritual lives are something else, however. In that realm, we can choose where we are planted. This passage in Jeremiah uses a very familiar analogy to ask a central question about our spiritual lives: Where do you choose to be planted?

Do you choose a desert environment, a place where there is little water and sustenance for you to grow? The Lord, speaking through Jeremiah, says that you can be like a bush planted in the desert, barely surviving and bearing no fruit.

Or you can choose  to plant yourself by a stream and to sink your roots deep into that ground. You can grow to where you are unafraid of the drought or the high winds. You can bear fruit no matter what the conditions because your roots are deep and your branches are strong. This is your choice, your decision to make.

Where are you planted?

Our Father, guide me in the choices I make about where I should plant myself. Help me to find a place by your living water, to sink my roots deeply, and to bear fruit for your kingdom. Amen.

This devotion was written by Jim Stovall and read by Sam Barto.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Made in His Image 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (CEB)The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

There is a famous painting by Norman Rockwell called Triple Self-Portrait. It shows the artist with his back turned to the viewer, looking at himself in a large mirror, and painting a shades-of-gray self-portrait. The Rockwell in the mirror wears glasses, but we cannot see his eyes—the lenses are flat white. The Rockwell he is painting wears no glasses, looking straight at the viewer with no obstruction.

Obviously, when Rockwell looked in the mirror, he saw Rockwell. That is, he saw himself. But he transformed what he saw as he painted.

When you or I look in a mirror, we expect to see ourselves. But when we look into the mirror that is “the glory of the Lord” (which seems to be a phrase that means Jesus Christ), we see not ourselves as we are but as we can be.

John Wesley talked about three kinds of grace: prevenient grace that draws us to God; justifying grace by which we are forgiven and made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ; and sanctifying grace, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that transforms us into the likeness of Christ. Paul here tells the Corinthians about that ongoing work of sanctifying grace.

There’s another key idea in this Scripture. Transformation is an ongoing project. The Common English Bible accurately translates the original verb with the phrase, “We are being transformed.” Not “We were transformed” or “we are transformed” or “we will be transformed.” It started in the past, is happening now, and continues on into the future.

Hold up the mirror of Jesus Christ and look into it to see what you are becoming as you follow the Lord’s Spirit, in which there is freedom.

Let’s pray:

Father, a lot of us don’t enjoy looking in the mirror. We don’t like what we see. Thank you for giving us the image into which you are transforming us. Open us to that transformation by your Spirit. Help us lay hold of the freedom you give to us. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Donn King.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.