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Remembering Freedom
I have always thought of freedom as a political good. Because I was raised in a Read More
Joe E. Pennel Jr. | Read Ephesians 4:1-6
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Sign Up TodayDisunity is all around us and everywhere to be seen and experienced. We see it in families, in politics, and in the church—both locally and globally. Disunity builds walls between people. It is difficult to take down those walls because disunity is so embedded. Disunity hurts. It causes us to...
Help me, O God, to bear with others with gentleness, patience, and love, for you are above all and through all and in all. Amen.
David thinks he has gotten away with his sins, but God sends Nathan to tell David a story. The story angers David, but Nathan reveals that the story is really about David’s own behavior. Indeed, it can be tempting to condemn others’ sin, while we justify our own. Psalm 51 is David’s appeal to God for forgiveness and restoration. If we want to please God in our own lives, what does this look like? Ephesians tells us that the signs of a redeemed life include humility, love, patience, and building up one another (the opposite of what David displayed). In John, Jesus has crowds following him because they want a free meal. The lasting nourishment they truly need, Jesus teaches, comes through believing that God has sent him.
Read 2 Samuel 11:26–12:13a. When has someone else helped you see that you have sinned? How did you respond to that person?
Read Psalm 51:1-12. When have you felt “unclean” before God? How did God restore you?
Read Ephesians 4:1-16. What are your gifts? How do you use them to build up the body of Christ?
Read John 6:24-35. How do you feed your soul?
Respond by posting a prayer.
The Upper Room lifts the spirits of residents I serve as a correctional chaplain. Christians and non-Christians read the devotions, reminding them of an alternative path to a loving God that will walk alongside them through the good and ugly of life.”
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