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Listening is the Heart of Our Ministry
Listening is the heart of our ministry here at The Upper Room. In July, I traveled Read More
Kate Obermueller Unruh | Read 2 Timothy 2:8-15
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Sign Up TodayWhen I became a mother, people naturally wanted to know about the baby. How much did she weigh? Who did she look like? How did we choose her name? After several months, I began to emerge from my sleep-deprived stupor and reenter the world, happy to get out of the...
Faithful God, I want to put you first. Help me to see you before all and in all, until you are all I see. Amen.
One might have expected Jeremiah to advise the exiles to maintain their independence and be ready to return to Judah. Instead, he tells them to settle in, to build and plant, to seek the welfare of Babylon, even to pray for its prosperity. The judging purposes of God call for extended exile and not impa- tient rebellion. In the story of the ten lepers in Luke, one returns to praise and thank Jesus for giving him health. Only then do we learn that he is a Samaritan. The ultimate outsider becomes the model of faith. Second Timothy bears witness to the awe- some character of God that always honors divine commitments, thereby appearing to humans full of surprises. For the psalmist, God merits the worship of all the earth.
• Read Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7. When have you found yourself in exile? How did you cope with the situation? What reminded you that God had not abandoned you?
• Read Psalm 66:1-12. When has the testing of God brought you out to “a spacious place”?
• Read 2 Timothy 2:8-15. How do you ready yourself to pres- ent yourself as one approved by God?
• Read Luke 17:11-19. The writer states that Jesus’ question, “Where are the other nine?,” invites us to receive God’s healing of illness and inner wounds. What in your life needs God’s healing touch?
Respond by posting a prayer.
"A few years ago, my sister, Anna, and I had a club called the Awesome Club.We had short meetings in a walk-in closet with stuffed animals and dolls. It was fun,but it didn’t have a real purpose. One day we decided that it would really make the club awesome if we followed the Golden Rule and did something to help others."
To read more about this awesome story, click here!
