Four hundred years had gone by since God made his last promise to send a Savior to Israel. It seemed as if God had forgotten to finish his plan. Suddenly God surprised Zechariah with an angel who laid out God’s plan of salvation. Zechariah would have a son named John who would prepare the people for Jesus. John would preach repentance and looking to the Lamb of God as the Savior. We too listen to John’s message, seeing the need for a Savior and repenting of our sins.

We are managers of blessings that really belong to God. Often greed and fear cloud our willingness to give. In this section of Scripture, Paul gives us four guidelines as to how to think about what we give back to God. We are free to respond to God’s grace, but Paul offers some guidelines: Every week we should plan ahead to honor God first with our money in proportion to our incomes.

In this account of Jesus healing the ten lepers, Jesus is teaching the truth that all good for this life and beyond comes from God through faith in him. We can trace all the blessings in our lives back to him. Yet it is in our sinful nature to complain and forget our blessings. Thankfulness is a learned behavior. By stopping to think about where good things come from, we can live lives of thankfulness to the God who gives us all, including forgiveness and eternal life.

Jesus gives us several warnings and several blessings about living a Christian life—as we live out our praise to God. We are to watch out for hypocrisy in ourselves and others and persecution from others, even from the church. We are to respect our relationship with God and not be ashamed of our beliefs. Rejecting the gifts the Holy Spirit brings and denying salvation cuts us off from God. On the other hand, the blessings of living a Christian life are that God loves us completely, is proud of us, and watches out for us. And the Holy Spirit will help us as we live our lives and share our faith with others.

The world was created by God; all of human history was shaped by his hands. Yet we as sinners can still approach him in prayer and worship because of the holiness that is laid on us by what Jesus did for us. We worship confident in our forgiveness and confident that the God who created us is here, making things change and happen for our good.

Jesus’ parable describes the different reactions that people have to his Word. Initially, we do nothing for our faith. The Holy Spirit plants it; it is pure grace. But once planted, it is the type of “soil” that we are that determines whether or not we have a lasting faith. For us to retain our faith, we must stay in the Word, listening to it and studying it. That is how God strengthens us and keeps us close. We then live lives of faith for God, sharing the gospel with those around us.

In this section of 1 Peter, Peter tells us what God calls us: we are chosen, we are priests, we are a holy nation, and we belong to him. Knowing our status with God, we are all part of one family, connected to each other through Christ with the same mission to share the good news. We are to embrace who we are and keep the Word of God moving—sharing it with others.

Jesus used the miraculous healing of the blind man to bring the man closer to him and to reveal God’s glory to witnesses of the event. God also uses our sicknesses, failings, and diseases to strengthen our faith and point us to the new bodies we will enjoy in heaven because of Jesus. We can use the difficulties we have in life as stepping off points for strong witness to others.

In this section of Scripture, Paul gives a wonderful summary of Jesus’ work: his life, death, and resurrection. God sent his Son for sinners—he cared enough to send his Son for all people. Because God cares, we care—being light to those who are still lost in their sins and striving to share Jesus’ love and forgiveness with them.