
The Journey of Freedom
As the RESILIENCE conference approaches, I find myself thinking about resilience and compassion, solidarity and freedom. Read More
Beth Ludlum | Read Luke 15:1-10
Several months after I moved to China, a friend invited me to her cousin’s wedding in a remote village. When we arrived at the bride’s home, the family surrounded me and began a debate I couldn’t understand. Eventually my smiling friend turned to me and said, “As a foreigner, you...
Friends, we have serious work to do. Let’s get to it. Let’s party.
Jeremiah’s warning of coming judgment continues. The children of Israel have become foolish, have ignored God, and have become good mainly at doing evil. God is going to respond to this situation. The psalmist describes the state of all who are foolish: They deny God and follow their own corrupt desires, including oppressing the poor. The author of First Timothy, traditionally Paul, says that this was also his former way of life. He has been foolish and ignorant, a persecutor of the followers of Christ. In fact, he had been the worst of all sinners; yet Christ has shown him mercy, not judgment. Jesus tells two parables to reveal God’s heart. Rather than neglecting the ignorant, the foolish, and the lost, God searches to find each one of us.
Read Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28. How do your actions show others that you know God?
Read Psalm 14. When have you, like the psalmist, felt that no one knows God? How did you have faith that God would restore God’s people?
Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Recall a time when you felt unworthy of Christ’s full acceptance. How has that experience made you more grateful for Christ’s mercy?
Read Luke 15:1-10. In a world full of death and violence, how do you rejoice when God finds one lost person?
Respond by posting a prayer.
The worship, preaching, and teaching for The Upper Room’s RESILIENCE conference were among the best I have ever experienced. The event was extremely well organized and went so smoothly. The Upper Room continues to make so much impact on people around the world.”
Join us for the next RESILIENCE conference. Learn more at UpperRoom.org/resilience.