Grace for All

I entered a new decade of life last June, and with that age comes lots of people older than I am saying, “It’s just the beginning” of whatever new age-related issue I’m facing, be that skeletal ailments, gray hair, or whatever else. 

One of those issues that I think we all have dealt with occasionally is losing something only to find that very item right there in plain sight, or even with us the whole time. I don’t know about you, but I have done this most frequently with my phone. I will search the house for it only to find it in my pocket or worse (and much more embarrassingly) – my hand!

But that’s what comes to mind when I read this verse. How many times have we been looking for God in our lives only to find God’s presence right there with us the whole time? We seek God – and we should seek God – but the irony is that God is always there with us. 

God’s love is steadfast and constant, and when we are looking the hardest for it, we often find it in the last place we look. Occasionally, then, we have to remind ourselves to slow down, take a step back, and, instead of looking for God where we think he should be, let God reveal where he already is.

God, when you feel illusive in our lives, remind us that those moments are opportunities to slow down, breathe deeply, and see how you are in our lives. Help us to remember that, even in the times when we don’t feel like it’s true, you are always with us. But most of all, help us to not look for you where we think you should be, but to seek you where you already are. In Christ’s name we pray, amen. 

This devotion was written and read by Dwight Dockery.

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/.

Darkest valleys, evil, and enemies. Green pastures, quiet waters, and right paths. No matter where I go, how far I stray, I dwell in the house of the Lord. Does anything else need to be said?

I think it does, simply because we forget. In our hardest times, we can feel alone so easily. Some days I go to a friend to tell her how I am feeling, what is bothering me, to lament. And before I begin, the person I have gone to begins a plea about how she is feeling, what is bothering her, and she laments. I hope that I listen and truly hear, but sometimes I leave feeling very alone. I forget that God is with me in those moments allowing me to be there for my friend.

Sometimes I have been very sick in bed. Sometimes it has been at home feeling very alone even though family is in the house with me. Sometimes it has been in the hospital waking from surgery or visiting someone who is very ill. And I feel loneliness surround me even though there are hundreds of others there. I forget.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the house of the Lord day and night, on good days and bad, while needing comfort and while comforting others. You are in my heart always whether I stop to remember it or not.

Lord, please always help me to remember and feel your presence not just with me but within me. Please help me share your presence with others when I visit them. Amen.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope 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/.

Saturday inspiration from the Scriptures we used during the devotionals from last 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/.

King Solomon had built a glorious Temple where all the people of Israel gathered for the day of dedication.

I can only imagine being in the Temple surrounded by God’s fir. It is literally the “burning bush moment,’ of knowing God is with me and being overwhelmed with His presence. Have you ever had a moment where you knew you needed to humble yourself to God and seek his will and not your own? I sure have! I love how we are given God’s grace of repentance to seek Him in prayer and turn from our sins.  

This encounter teaches us what happens when a person gets right with God.

I went through a time in my life when I was not actively seeking God, living on my will, not his. What a disaster! Not until life became too difficult did I finally “seek” God through prayer and meditation and had my spiritual experience where I could no longer ignore God’s voice. Life has been such a gift to have a change of heart and mind where I can think differently, and turn my heart away from sin and towards God. 

What are you doing to change your life and seek God? It will not only impact you but those around you in a profound way! It’s worth it!

you have given us the opportunity to be redeemed. Thank you for allowing us to seek you with our whole heart and live the life you would have us to live. Amen. 

This devotional was written by Laura Burchfield and read by Sally Stovall.

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/.

During the four decades, during which I was a college professor, I heard all of the excuses. Students could not come to class, could not complete their assignments, could not do the things that they were supposed to do and that I knew that they could do all because of… well, you could fill in the blank.

Numerous times, I asked the students, no matter what their failings, to stop offering me excuses. The excuses did me no good, and they were certainly not doing the students any good. And yet, the excuses continued no matter how much I asked them to stop.

In truth, however, I am no better than many of my students. I am an expert at making excuses for myself. There is always a reason why I can’t do as I should. I have a whole list: That’s the way I am. That’s the way my parents raised me. I don’t have it in me. I don’t know how.

In this passage of scripture, God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, is clear and refreshingly direct. If anything, he sounds a little like an exasperated teacher. No more excuses. Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. Remove the evil things from your life. Do the right thing.

If there is something that we need to talk about, God says, then let’s talk. Let’s argue it out. It is a direct challenge to all of our excuses. If I get into an argument with God, I’m pretty sure I know who’s going to win that one.

And then God offers us a promise, a promise of forgiveness. If we will do the things that he asks, our sins will be washed away. What thing on earth can we want more than to have our sins forgiven, to be in the presence of the God who loves us, and to know his spirit and his grace more fully? What excuse can we offer for rejecting that?

Our Father, Help us to accept the commandment to put aside our excuses so that you can forgive our sins and that we can experience your love and grace. Amen.

This devotion was written by Jim Stovall and read by Amy Large.

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/.

Sin? What, ME? Unfortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of seeking for me to find instances where I have “come short of the glory of God.” Verse 23 provides an unachievable measuring stick and nails us all.  Old habits revisited; harsh words spoken; kind words left unspoken; times of impatience; inattention to the needs of others. 

Too often, we measure ourselves against the 10 commandments and not the greatest commandments. How honestly can I say that I have loved the Lord my God with ALL my heart, and with ALL my strength, and with ALL my mind; AND my neighbor as myself? When the “glory of God” is the standard, how can I ever hope to measure up? What hope is there for any of us?

Even as it doesn’t take much seeking to find our failings, it happily doesn’t take much seeking to find our hope. The answer is in the very next verse. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Grace is freely given to all those who seek. 

And as Matthew 7:7-8 says, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened unto you: For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Ask. Seek. Knock. Grace is for the receiving. Grace for All. Christ Jesus will forever be our hope.

Dear, God. Help us to never lose our hope for redemption. Help us to never quit seeking for what you have promised. You have promised that your Grace is sufficient for us all. Thank you. Amen.

This devotion was written by Charlie Barton 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/.

We celebrate the big milestones of our lives — weddings, birthdays, graduations, and such — with joy. We should do this. But, I believe that those smaller moments of joy that happen to us just when we need them are just as important.

My husband and I live in the house my parents built.  Many years ago my mother planted jonquil bulbs along the driveway.  After their deaths, the bulbs were neglected and the blooms were spotty.  I finally figured out that the foliage needed to die and began to fertilize the plants for the next blooming season.  After that, they started blooming again and now are the earliest spring flowers in the neighborhood.  

Just after Christmas this past year, I walked down the driveway and saw them pushing their way through the ground.  They had survived record-breaking cold, snow and ice and were now blooming.  Last year, neighbors commented on how good they felt when they drove by our house on a gloomy late winter day and saw the jonquils blooming.  I believe that moments like this are signs of God's grace and generosity to us.  

All of us experience times when we're struggling and suddenly we get an unexpected lift.  Sometimes it's a phone call from an old friend, a compliment we weren't expecting, or maybe just an "I love you" from a family member when we need it.  These small moments matter, and we should recognize that they are part of God's daily grace and should be thankful for them.

Our prayer today: Dear Lord, give us the wisdom to recognize the small acts of your grace that we experience everyday. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Sally Stovall.

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/.

My wife and I married nearly 48 years ago. Before that I saw my daughter, aged 6, every other weekend. My new wife had two daughters, ages 13 and 8.  My wife’s job required her to work Saturdays. On those weekends when my daughter was with us, I struggled to be the right kind of “dad.”

The 8-year-old expected me to be the regular dad she had every weekday and every other weekend. My own daughter expected me to be like I was when she had me all to herself. They both competed for my attention. Who gets to sit next to me in the pickup? Who gets to ride the horse first? And many other situations where I had to choose. I was really torn as to how to know to do what was right and fair. I sought God and needed an answer to my prayer. My experience has been that sometimes we sought answers to prayers but have not been patient or attentive enough to hear or see the answered prayers.

We forget to heed the Psalmist, who wrote, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10)

God’s answer showed up in our local newspaper, the Daily Times. There was a short article about a new book, “Living in Step” by Jeanette Lofas and Ruth Roosevelt. I obtained a copy of the book. It had a chapter on sibling rivalry. I did not know there was such a thing. The authors pointed out how normal it was and that it becomes more dynamic in families where children of both parents were brought together.“ Amen to that.”

I grew up with three sisters, one who was 4 years older who read all the time, and two that were 5 and 6 years younger who played with each other. There was no sibling rivalry.

So, when we seek God, we need to be still and yet be open to answers that might reveal themselves in different ways.

Dear God: When we pray seeking you for answers, direction, comfort or many other needs, help us to be patient and open to answers from friends, coworkers, our subconscious, our dreams or other serendipitous signs. Amen.

This devotional was written and recorded by Emmit Rawls.

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/.

We live in a world with so much noise and news.  There are so many activities, responsibilities, chores, assignments, obligations, appointments, worries, and schedules.  So many people and things pulling us in all different directions. 

We seem tied to our phones!  And these phones have a reminder feature, signaling us when the battery is low.  We know when to plug them in to charge.

But we have no such reminder on our daily lives.  In our hustle and hurry world, we sometimes feel drained of energy, just like our phones!  Our battery needs a charge!  We need some of that Peace that Passes all Understanding!

We need to STOP! We need to go into our “room”, shut the door, and just breathe -- letting God do some charging! There in the quiet space, we can listen for God’s still small voice.  That voice is always there, always waiting for us to make time to tune in, to listen, to seek comfort, and to absorb His great LOVE.  This is the charge we need!

If we take the time to listen, we will find God waiting.  He will come to us and will reward us in secret – within our hearts.  He will calm the storms of doubt, worry, and fear.

Within the calm he gives, we can face the world and do our part as Christians, to make the world a better place by loving our neighbors.

We know God loves us, but we must take the initiative and the time to leave the noise behind; to be alone with God, to feel His LOVE, to absorb it, to acknowledge it, to let it fill us and give us the charge we need!

So, let’s be proactive, let’s make a plan to go daily into the quiet, to shut our doors, and spend some time alone with God.  He’s always there waiting, with your recharge ready!

Dear God – I’m sorry that I fail to recharge myself with you as often as needed.  Help to be more diligent and more proactive, taking time in solitude and quiet, to listen for your still small voice.  Help me to reach out for your LOVE and when my battery is charged up, help me to go out and share Your LOVE with the world.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen!

This devotional 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/.

Listen to a mix of music and Scripture readings from this past week's devotional episodes.

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/.