Scripture:

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

Whoever winks maliciously causes grief,
and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

Hatred stirs up conflict,
but love covers over all wrongs.

Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning,
but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense.

The wise store up knowledge,
but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

Consider:

My dad used to work with a guy named Dave who was, without a doubt, a master juggler. Not with bowling pins, but with stories.

If he was talking to the boss, he was a hyper-polished corporate ladder-climber. If he was grabbing a drink with the entry-level staff, he was a cynical rebel who hated the system. He had a different version of himself for every room he walked into, and honestly, it sounds exhausting just hearing about him. Can’t you practically see the gears turning in his head: “Wait, what did I tell them last week? Which mask am I wearing right now?” He must have lived in perpetual fear of getting caught in his own web.

As a child, I assumed this was what it took to be successful in any career - being the person the other person expected to see. And I tried it for awhile, but it turns out that is not a sustainable way to live. About the time the identity crisis fully took hold, I met Sarah. Sarah was just... Sarah. Whether she was talking to the biggest donor in the church, the janitor, or venting over coffee, she was the exact same person. She didn’t have a “work persona” and a “real persona.” She just had one life.

And wow, the absolute peace that gave her was contagious.

That’s the beauty of walking in integrity. The word integrity actually comes from the math term integer, which means a whole number—not a fraction. When your life is split into fractions, you’re constantly doing mental gymnastics to keep the stories straight. You’re always on guard, terrified a casual comment will expose a contradiction.

But when you choose to be a whole number, you get to travel light.

• No narrative maintenance required. You don’t have to remember what you said to whom, because you always just tell the truth.

• No fear of exposure. If someone peeks behind the curtain of your private life, they’re just going to see the exact same person they saw at the grocery store.

Living like this doesn’t mean you’re perfect; it just means you’re honest. It’s like building your house on a solid concrete slab instead of shifting sand. When life gets chaotic and the storms roll in, a fractured life starts to crack under the pressure. But a unified life stays completely steady.

There is so much mental freedom in letting go of the act. When your words and your actions finally align, you get to stop managing an image and just start living.

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Respond:

What’s one area of your life where it feels tempting to wear a mask, and how can you bring a little more of your "real self" into that space?

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Pray:

Lord, free us from the belief that our worth is measured by what we accomplish. Teach us to stop believing that our importance and value are attached to how tired or overly busy we are. Help us create spaces where we and can rest. May our rhythms reflect the freedom You have given us, and may our lives bear witness to Your kingdom of grace rather than the demands of endless production. Amen.

Scripture:

Jesus also said to the disciples, “A certain rich man heard that his household manager was wasting his estate. He called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of your administration because you can no longer serve as my manager.’

“The household manager said to himself, What will I do now that my master is firing me as his manager? I’m not strong enough to dig and too proud to beg. I know what I’ll do so that, when I am removed from my management position, people will welcome me into their houses.

“One by one, the manager sent for each person who owed his master money. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your contract, sit down quickly, and write four hundred fifty gallons.’ Then the manager said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ He said, ‘Take your contract and write eight hundred.’

“The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted cleverly. People who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their peers than are people who belong to the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it’s gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and the one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much.

Consider:

“Character is what you do when no one is watching.” - John Wooden

In a world where “bigger is better” seems to be the primary messaging of choice, this passage turns a few things on their heads. Those with power and authority are directly called out for grand gestures of attention seeking and transactional public living, while those on the outside, those with nothing, become the focus of exaltation.

Jesus shifts the focus away from the grand to the granular… Integrity is not proven in the spotlight; it is revealed in the quiet choices we make everyday. The ones nobody applauds, but are done anyway because they are needed. The way we answer an email, keep a promise, handle money, speak about someone who is absent, or respond to inconvenience says far more about our character than the occasional public display of virtue.

The world often assumes that character will appear when the big moment arrives. Jesus teaches the opposite. The big moment simply exposes what has already been formed in the small moments. A million small moments shape and form the bigger character of a person…and what we do in all those small moments truly matters.

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus at the end of the chapter reinforces this truth. The rich man’s failure was not merely what he did publicly but what he ignored daily. Every day he passed by a suffering man at his gate. The tragedy was not a single catastrophic decision but a pattern of unnoticed choices, repeated over time. Compassion was available to him in ordinary encounters, yet he continually looked away.

So some questions come to mind here: How do we treat people who cannot advance our careers? How do we speak to family members when we are tired? How do we handle responsibilities when there is no accountability? These day to day, hour to hour little decisions build the shape and form of our true character, not just that one big check written once, or that beautiful prayer spoken loudly.

Luke 16 invites us to stop waiting for a great opportunity to prove our faithfulness. Today’s small choices are already doing that. Every interaction, every responsibility, every unseen act of obedience is forming a life of integrity before God.

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Respond:

For today, consider this question: What small responsibility has God placed in front of me that I may be tempted to overlook? Consider WHY you may be tempted to overlook it…does it feel too small to matter? Does it not provide the social capital you would want?

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Pray:

God help me to be faithful in the small things. Form integrity within me when no one is watching. Give me eyes to notice those around me, a heart that serves without seeking recognition, and a spirit that remains faithful in every responsibility You entrust to me. May my private character honor You as much as my public life. Amen.

Scripture:

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back^, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Consider:

I used to have this old van with a alignment issue. If I let go of the steering wheel for even a second, the whole thing would immediately start drifting toward the ditch on the right.

Driving it was exhausting because I was constantly having to make these little, micro-corrections to keep us on the road. I couldn’t just set the wheel and check out; I had to stay totally awake to the drift.

Living out our faith and our values is a lot like driving that van.

We all like to think we’re cruising down a perfectly straight line of flawless integrity. But the reality? Every single one of us experiences a “drift.” There is always going to be a gap between the ideals we say we uphold and the actions we actually take. We promise to be patient, and then we lose our temper in traffic. We value honesty, and then we stretch the truth to save face.

Here is the liberating truth: The ultimate mark of integrity isn’t perfection. If integrity meant never messing up, the club would be completely empty. Real integrity is actually about how fast you make the correction.

When you notice that gap between who you want to be and how you just acted, a fractured life tries to hide it. We make excuses, we blame the traffic, or we pretend the ditch is actually where we meant to park.

But a person of true integrity just owns it. They make the micro-correction immediately:

• They confess quickly. No rationalizing, no spinning the narrative. Just, “I messed up, and I’m sorry.”

• They close the gap with honest action. They do the hard work to make things right with the people they hurt.

• They lean into God’s restoring grace. They accept that they can’t fix themselves on their own power, and they let grace put them back on the road.

Integrity isn’t about pretending you never drift; it’s about having the humility to admit when you do. God doesn’t expect us to be flawless drivers who never hit a bump. Instead, God wants us to stop hiding behind the steering wheel, admit when we’re off course, and trust the abundant grace we are given to pull us back to the center.

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Respond:

When was the last time you noticed a "drift" in your own life, and what’s holding you back from making that quick correction today?

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Pray:

Lord, free us from the belief that our worth is measured by what we accomplish. Teach us to stop believing that our importance and value are attached to how tired or overly busy we are. Help us create spaces where we and can rest. May our rhythms reflect the freedom You have given us, and may our lives bear witness to Your kingdom of grace rather than the demands of endless production. Amen.

Scripture:

Keep the Sabbath day and treat it as holy, exactly as the Lord your God commanded: Six days you may work and do all your tasks, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Don’t do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your oxen or donkeys or any of your animals, or the immigrant who is living among you—so that your male and female servants can rest just like you. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That’s why the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day.

Consider:

Brick making…that is how you were judged as productive or unproductive in ancient Egypt. How many bricks a worker made in a day. The more bricks made, the more valuable the worker seemed. We may not be dealing in brick quotas today, but isn’t that mentality surprisingly familiar? Modern culture (burn bright but burnout) often tells us that our worth is tied to our productivity, our schedules, our achievements, and our ability to keep producing without pause. There is always another task, another goal, another deadline or quota to meet.

This command by God to rest is striking not only because it goes against the grain of the “productivity” model that seems to have always been in place, the command is striking because everyone is included: sons, daughters, servants, foreigners, and even animals. Rest is not reserved for the privileged; it is a gift for all. By commanding rest, God declares that people are more than what they produce. It levels the playing field with the reminder that all require, and deserve, rest…not just those who can afford it.

Sabbath interrupts the cycle of endless labor and reminds us that our identity comes from belonging to God, not from meeting quotas. It is a weekly act of resistance against the fear that everything depends on our effort.

So as we enter into summertime, a time of (presumed) more rest and less stress, let us try to hold time for true Sabbath and work to offer that gift to others (especially those not in the position to take rest) …this act of advocating for and taking Sabbath time reminds us that all deserve dignity, refreshment, and freedom, not just those with power or resources. May it be so.

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Respond:

Think of 2 things you can let go of in the next week that will build more time in your life/schedule for Sabbath keeping. Are there “"busy” places in your world that don’t actually hold purpose or value to you anymore? How also might you offer Sabbath rest to someone else this week?

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Pray:

Lord, free us from the belief that our worth is measured by what we accomplish. Teach us to stop believing that our importance and value are attached to how tired or overly busy we are. Help us create spaces where we and can rest. May our rhythms reflect the freedom You have given us, and may our lives bear witness to Your kingdom of grace rather than the demands of endless production. Amen.

Scripture:

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.

Consider:

The clock ticks, the inbox fills, and a quiet whisper echoes in the modern heart: You are what you accomplish.

We live in a culture obsessed with the resume. From social media bios to networking events, we are constantly prompted to introduce ourselves by our titles, our productivity, and our accolades. It is a exhausting trap that conditions us to value others—and ourselves—solely by what can be measured on a spreadsheet or engraved on a trophy.

But this performance-trap is not a modern invention. Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul ran this exact race, and he won it by every human standard. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul reflects on his own pedigree. If anyone had a right to boast in human achievements, it was him.

He writes: “Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.”

Look at that resume. Paul had the perfect heritage, the elite education, the ultimate religious status, and unmatched drive. By the standards of his day, he was at the absolute top of the ladder. He was highly productive, fiercely committed, and universally respected in his circles.

But then, Paul does something radical. He looks at this towering mountain of human accolades, and he reevaluates its worth.

He continues: “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him...”

The word Paul uses for “garbage” or “rubbish” in the original Greek is skubala—a gritty, shocking term that refers to street filth or refuse. Paul takes the very achievements that defined his worldly worth and declares them worthless when compared to his fundamental identity in Christ.

Why? Because Paul realized that human accolades are a shifting sand. If your identity is built on your titles, who are you when the title is taken away? If your worth is tied to your productivity, what happens when you burn out, grow old, or fail?

When we value people based on their achievements, we reduce the image-bearers of God to mere utility. We turn relationships into transactions. But Christ shatters this trap. Our fundamental identity is not earned; it is received. It is not built on our doing, but on what Christ has already done.

In the eyes of God, your worth is locked in. You are loved, chosen, and redeemed—not because of your flawless performance, but because of God’s flawless grace.

Let us step off the treadmill of human validation. Let us stop measuring the people around us by their productivity and start seeing them through the lens of the cross.

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Respond:

Think about the people you interact with most often (colleagues, family, neighbors). Do you subconsciously value them based on how efficient, successful, or helpful they are to you, or do you view them fundamentally as image-bearers of God?

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Pray:

Lord, We confess that our hearts are prone to wander into the trap of performance. We confess that we so easily tie our worth to our work, our identities to our titles, and our value to our productivity. Forgive us for the times we have looked at others through the lens of utility rather than the lens of grace.

Thank You for the reminding example of the Apostle Paul. Today, we choose to step off the treadmill of striving. We lay down our resumes, our need to prove ourselves, and our hunger for human applause.

Anchor our souls in the truth of who we are in You: loved, chosen, and redeemed. May Your unconditional grace free us to rest in our true identity and empower us to love others not for what they can do, but for who they are in Your sight.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.

Amen.

Scripture:

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?

The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;

whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;

who despises a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;

who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.

Consider:

I don’t know how much attention you’ve paid to what I call “the tipping wars”. Ever since many establishments moved towards the touchless pay systems - you know the ones where you can tap your card or phone to pay - the tip screen has become ubiquitous. You’re being asked to tip everyone you encounter. My reaction is always to feel extreme guilt I’m about to commit a social sin by not tipping someone who I really should or “wasting money” tipping someone I really shouldn’t. Do I need to tip at the pick-up counter if all they did was hand me my food? Someone please help me!

Now, I was a waitress for many years prior to seminary. My first job for pay was at the airport restaurant in Clarksburg, WV. I say the restaurant because the airport only ran to one and actually only offered three flights a day. One to Cincinnati, one to Pittsburgh, one to DC. I worked at this restaurant for mostly tips because the minimum wage for servers was $2.15 per hour. So I know how important tips can be for our lowest paid workers.

That being said, the tipping economy has made every interaction in our life transactional. I’ll do this for you if you do this for me. It requires us to measure to the penny how much a person’s effort and labor are worth - and it is measured differently by each person. Let’s see, was today’s effort worth 10%? 18%? Some custom amount I make up in my head? It transactionalizes and quanitifizes relationship and human beings.

This Psalm asks us to step away from the transcational relationship our cultures encourages towards a life where all people are treated the same AND our behavior is the same no matter the circumstance. This life of integrity takes away the burden of negotiating every interaction for its relative value because it gives us the freedom to be absolutely the same every single time. We live into its values by treating each other with respect and kindness despite how much value the person can offer us in return. We speak the same with the Senator as we do the sketchy guy on the corner by the traffic light. We give freely and generously with no strings attached.

Imagine how freeing it would be if we could step away from the tipping machine? We can stop the quid pro quo stress and never worry about a social faux pas ever again.

I already feel more relaxed.

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Respond:

Think for a moment on a time when you stepped away from a transactional relationship into one of mutual respect? What would it look like to shift towards an attitude of integrity where your attitude towards other people isn’t affected by what they can do for you?

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Pray:

Loving Lord, give me eyes to see beyond faults and failures (my own and others) and recognize Your image in those around me as well as in myself. Teach me to build true community through kindness, compassion, patience, and forgiveness. May my relationships reflect the love You have poured out on me. Amen.

Scripture:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries^[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Consider:

Do you remember trying out to make a team? Whether a sports team, or dance or theatre performance, or to get accepted into the school, or be part of a special project, event, elite group… you name it! Many of us are conditioned to work hard and be competitive and make that team because there are only a limited number of slots available. This puts us in the difficult situation of not just trying to be better at something, but to be better than the competition which could be a friend or a colleague. Then the results are published, and we may be disappointed not to make the team, or it can be a bit difficult not to get puffed up with pride when we do make it.

Well, thank God that His kingdom is not like that! We need to shift out of the paradigm of competition and scarcity mentality. God’s kingdom is not out of anyone’s reach. When Jesus came, he dramatically changed the rules, in fact he turned the whole game upside down. Now, to be first you must be last, the exalted are humbled, the humbled are exalted, the greatest is the servant. Then He not only talked the talk, but He walked a walk that no one else would ever have to walk. He did it with the disciples when he wrapped a towel around his waist and washed their dirty, stinky feet, just like the lowest of servants. Then, He humbled Himself to be humiliated in the worst of ways by being crucified like the vilest of criminals.

The problem for the Pharisees and the scribes, is that they had already invested and dedicated much of their lives to compete and make the team. They tried to elicit a standard which deep inside they knew they could not meet. But they were good at their game. They wore the uniform to be recognized. They thought they were on the team. They thought they had beat out the competition, and by setting the high bar they fended off the common who were not as good at their game.

When we read a passage of scripture like this, it is easy to put ourselves in team Jesus, and “other” the Pharisees and the scribes. However, we need to understand the context and what they were doing and examine ourselves to identify where we may eliciting similar hypocritical behaviors. This is not an easy task, but we need to step off the soap box which only has room for One and consider how we may also be falling into this trap.

The good news is that the kingdom of God is not a team with limited slots, and Jesus came so that the whole world might be saved through him (John 3:17). The warning to the scribes and Pharisees, and to us, is that we are not the dispensers of grace. We do not get to say who is or who isn’t worthy of receiving His grace.

Just when we thought we had figured out this whole grace thing, Jesus turns around and pours it on the wrong guy (or so we think). But the one thing that really makes Jesus mad is when any of us “lock” anyone else out of His kingdom because they didn’t make the cut, they aren’t enough, because of how they vote, what they post, the hat or t-shirt they wear, the issue they support or oppose, who they love, or because their sin just happens to be more visible than ours.

Jesus himself told us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, so if we’re putting heavy burdens on people to make team Jesus, something is amuck.

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Respond:

Where have we limited God’s grace? Have we excluded anyone out of God’s kingdom because they don’t meet a certain standard? Let’s examine ourselves and ask, who is Jesus calling me to love with his love?

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Pray:

Father God, You are eternal and omniscient and your grace really is amazing and beyond comprehension. Give us a heart to love those who we find it hard to love. Help us to understand today, how we may be limiting your grace. Give us the humility to open our hearts to those who we misjudge as not enough or not worthy of your love.

Scripture:

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab:“Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Consider:

Rahab could be called many things. Business owner. Mother. Entrepeneaur. Beloved Child of God. Resident of Jericho. That lady with the hair. There are many names the Bible could have used to explain her relationship to the story and her importance to the narrative of Joshua. Yet the word they chose was a perjorative one.

Prostitute.

And so Rahab, like Mary Magdalene, came forever to be known for their brokeness and not their vital role in the story of God. Though for Mary Magdalene there is no biblical proof she was anything like a prostitute or, as she is sometimes known, the woman with many husbands. All the Bible tells us is she was an apostle and the first witness to the resurrection. It’s her hands which are trusted with the first words of good news in the gospel.

“Go and tell you brothers”, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene. And yet the historic church chose to lessen her by assigning her mortal sins for which there is no attribution except imagination.

Rahab wins the story in the end. Of all the people who are named in Jesus’ pre-birth genealogy in Matthew, there are only two women. Rahab and Mary, Jesus’ mother. Matthew took the story of Rahab and turned the label on its end. No longer defined by the worst moments of her life, Rahab became a hero and essential part of the story of God. Without her, Jesus could not be.

We all carry labels and stories which are attached to the worst moments of our lives or, like Mary Magdalene, completely made up by ourselves or others. Those labels could define our story if we chose to let them. Drug Addict. Mental Patient. Lazy Slob. Angry and Mean. Bossy. Ugly. You pick it, we all carry a label which is supposed to make us feel shame.

But the Gospel story invites us to shed that sticker - peel it right off and throw it to the ground, leaving it in the dirt behind our feet as we walk away. We do not need to be defined by the worst thing or worst name of our lives. We are so much more than those words in God’s eyes. In the moments when we tell our story, we have the opportunity to name something different and tell a different story.

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Respond:

What label do you carry which causes you shame? Name aloud or in your heart those words which others have used to try and confine or make you less than you are. Count them on your fingers as you go.

Now, name an equal number of names and labels which are more true, remembering as you do those positive stories of really who you are. When you’ve counted down an equal number, add one more, remembering those words are more powerful than the labels others have given you.

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Pray:

Lord, give us the humility to accept help when we need it and the courage to reach for the hand You provide. Thank You for the friends, family, mentors, and brothers and sisters in Christ who help us stand again when life knocks us down.

Teach us to be that kind of presence for others too. Make us quick to encourage, ready to restore, and faithful to walk beside those who are struggling. Let our words bring hope, our actions bring healing, and our lives reflect the love of Christ.

Strengthen our hearts today to keep walking forward together. Amen.

Scripture:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Consider:

I don’t know about you, but Paul’s letter, for me, laundry lists all the things I DON’T always want to put into practice in my life…especially when they are not practices being returned in kind to me by others. Paul speaks of bearing with one another in love, reaching full maturity in faith when unity and peace is achieved. In a world that feels more and more fractured and divided by the year, these plans of Paul’s seem so very unattainable that I could close the bible and walk away fully defeated.

I could, but then I would be fulfilling the very thing Paul rebukes in this letter…I would be choosing to stay the course in what is current, what is earthly, what is not in and of and about God. I could do that, it would be pretty easy to fall into the well of negativity and jaded perspective. But as we’ve learned over and over and over again, we are not called by God to take the easy road.

Paul describes true faithful community not as a gathering of perfect people, but as a family of redeemed people learning to live together under the grace of God. The chapter calls believers to humility, patience, gentleness, forgiveness, and love (all the qualities that sound great but are oh so much harder to live out). These qualities are not optional extras; they are the mandates of a life lived transformed and shaped by Christ.

One of the greatest challenges in community is learning to see beyond the scorekeeping of injuries, move past our sinful desire to be right all the time and prove someone else wrong. People can be difficult, disappointing, and imperfect. Yet Paul reminds us that the standard for our treatment of others is not their behavior toward us but God’s grace toward us. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We show compassion because we have received compassion. It’s pretty simple math when you get right down to it.

So, how do we go about being a true Christian community? We love one another, we show up for one another, and we stay at the table even when it gets hard. God stays, no matter what. Let’s try to stay as well.

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Respond:

Think for a moment on a time when grace was truly extended to you, without any deserving on your end… how did that make you feel? How did it shape the action you took next? Now think on your response moving forward, how should God's grace toward you shape the way you respond to others' weaknesses?

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Pray:

Loving Lord, give me eyes to see beyond faults and failures (my own and others) and recognize Your image in those around me as well as in myself. Teach me to build true community through kindness, compassion, patience, and forgiveness. May my relationships reflect the love You have poured out on me. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

An angel from the Lord spoke to Philip, “At noon, take the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) So he did. Meanwhile, an Ethiopian man was on his way home from Jerusalem, where he had come to worship. He was a eunuch and an official responsible for the entire treasury of Candace. (Candace is the title given to the Ethiopian queen.) He was reading the prophet Isaiah while sitting in his carriage. The Spirit told Philip, “Approach this carriage and stay with it.”

Running up to the carriage, Philip heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?”

The man replied, “Without someone to guide me, how could I?” Then he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him.

Consider:

We tend to measure the success of our lives by the crowd and the momentum. When our careers are flourishing, our ministries are growing, and our daily schedules are clicking along without a hitch, we assume we are exactly where God wants us. We love the main highway of success because it feels productive. But sometimes, right in the middle of our most fruitful seasons, God introduces with an abrupt, inconvenient detour.

Our immediate human reaction to a detour is to ask, “What did I do wrong?” or “Why is God disrupting my progress?” We assume every shift in direction must be a lesson, a punishment, or a refining fire meant for our personal growth. But Scripture reveals a beautiful, alternative truth: God often detours us not for our own benefit, but because there is someone on a lonely side road who needs a miracle only we can carry to them.

We see this clearly in the book of Acts. Philip was in the middle of a massive, wildly successful ministry revival in Samaria. The crowds were listening, miracles were happening, and the city was filled with joy. By all human metrics, Philip was on the fast track of his preferred path. Then, an angel of the Lord shattered the momentum with a jarring instruction: “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

To leave a thriving city revival for a barren desert road made absolutely no strategic sense. The trip was isolated, hot, and seemingly counterproductive. Yet, Philip obeyed. And on that dusty side road, he encountered an Ethiopian official sitting in a chariot, struggling to understand the scriptures. That entire, exhausting detour wasn’t about Philip’s growth, Philip’s comfort, or Philip’s platform. It was solely for the sake of one single soul who needed the Gospel.

When we are forced off our main highway and onto a “desert road,” we must change the questions we ask. Instead of looking inward and asking, “Why is this happening to me?” we need to look outward and ask, “Who is here that needs what I carry?” You might currently be on a detour you didn’t ask for. Perhaps a sudden shift in your career has placed you in a less prestigious environment. Maybe a family crisis has pulled you away from your regular routines, or a financial constraint has restricted your options. It feels like a step backward. But God does not waste steps. You have been sent to that specific side road because there is someone there—a cynical coworker, a grieving neighbor, a desperate stranger—who is praying for an answer that God has placed inside of you.

You are the carrier of the miracle they need. It might be a word of encouragement, a tangible act of kindness, or the sharing of the Gospel itself. The main highway was good, but the detour is holy. Trust the redirection of the Holy Spirit. Your current disruption is actually a divine appointment, orchestrating a miracle for someone who is waiting just around the bend.

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Respond:

How could you learn to see “detours” as purposeful redirection?

The next time you find yourself somewhere unexpected, try looking for three ways you could find possibilities in the unexpected.

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Pray:

God, when life takes me through valleys I do not understand, help me trust that You are still working. Teach me to surrender the illusion of control and depend fully on You. Help me trust that even painful detours will be used to shape my character and deepen my faith. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?

Consider:

We had an extended discussion this morning at the breakfast table about the merits of the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ We told one of our children that it matters what clothes they wear to school and that, while we will allow clean sweatpants, pajama pants were a step to far in the casual department for our family. It matters, we said, how you present yourself to the world because the clothes you wear and the way you present yourself affects your own attitude and how other people treat you. So you show up to school ready to learn.

To which they responded, “I thought you weren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover.”

Touche.

There is a difference between using the outward signs of a person’s physical appearance - dirty clothes and unkempt hair do give you information about a person’s current state of mind - and using those markers as ways to define a person’s inward value. While they may be pristene and neat on the outside with a perfectly matching outfit and luxury brand clothes, the inside may not match the cleanliness of the outside. Our outward signalling to the world does offer information, but it doesn’t define who we are at the root.

God sees past those sign posts to see what is in our hearts. While we can and do present ourselves to the world and we can and should use those clues from others to keep ourselves safe and informed, God asks us to look deeper and see the intrisic value of the human made in God’s image behind and underneath those signs.

While book covers help you decide which books to choose, the books inside are not the sum total of the cover. The same goes for you. You are not your cover.

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Respond:

When was the last time you found yourself using someone’s outside appearance and physical bearins to judge their value as a human? How about yourself? Do you look in the mirror and see a body which doesn’t live up to your (possibly impossible) standards and think less of yourself?

The next time you find yourself equating appearance and value, take 30 seconds to name other attributes you have which can’t be seen from the outside.

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Pray:

God, Our perception of others often gets mixed up in the jumble of information we can percieve about them from the outside. Help us to have the wisdom to see past the cover to the value contents inside, and the wisdom to use the information the cover provides. Amen.

Scripture:

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight.

Consider:

My father worked for a few years at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV. You are probably familiar with regular old astronomy, the kind where you look through the viewfinder and see, using the power of mirrors, a distant star or planet close up. You can see so clearly with some of those refracting telescopes that you can count the rings of Saturn.

However, there are distant objects in the galaxy which we can’t see with that type of microscope. If you flew a spaceship right up to a distant nebula or galaxy, it would mostly look like a faint, grey smudge. Human eyes just didn’t evolve to see the faint, sprawling gas clouds of deep space.

It requires a different tool. That’s where Radio Astronomy comes in to play.

Astronomers use radio telescopes to capture data in wavelengths we can’t see, such as infrared or X-ray. They then use “false-color” imaging to map those invisible wavelengths to colors humans can see (like mapping sulfur to red, hydrogen to green, and oxygen to blue).

This altered vision allows scientists to visually map the chemical composition, density, and temperature of the universe, turning raw data into a readable cosmic blueprint. They can be incredibly detailed. One of the telescopes at NRAO was even dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life.

The downside of this technology is that it is incredibly sensitive to all Radio wavelengths - including microwaves, cell phones, and spark plugs. They have to use old 1950s suburbans to drive around the campus to prevent interference and the surrounding area is a radio quiet zone, banning all electronics which might produce radio waves and interfere with the incredibly sensitive equipment.

I wonder how often we miss seeing the truths which are right in front of us because we are using the wrong equipment?

We have a tendancy to view each other through mirrors, which often misshape and misout on crucial and important pieces of their humanity. Much of the time, that view misses their God-created belovedness all together.

So what if we used a different kind of telescope? One which saw people in living color instead of black and white? The kind of telescope which reveals the person themselves, and also the entire world around them which gives them context and shape.

Then, I think, we’d really be able to see each other as God sees us.

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Respond:

Try this activity:

Bring one person to your mind, maybe someone you are having conflict with or try to avoid but can’t quite figure out why. Give them a name and face, drawing their image into your mind.

Now, name 3 things you “know” about this person. Consider how and why you know these 3 things to be true. Did they tell you? Did you guess? How certain is your knowledge about this person?

Now, imagine you are looking at them through God’s eyes. What would God see in them?

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Pray:

God, when life takes me through valleys I do not understand, help me trust that You are still working. Teach me to surrender the illusion of control and depend fully on You. Help me trust that even painful detours will be used to shape my character and deepen my faith. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

I will stand at my watchpost and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.

For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faithfulness.

Moreover, wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure. They open their throats wide as Sheol; like Death they never have enough.

They gather all nations for themselves and collect all peoples as their own.

Consider:

Last week I “ran” a 5k. My daughter is in an after-school run club and their end of season celebration is a 5k which requires a running buddy. She has started running 5k’s on her own for fun and while this sounds like torture to me, I’m glad she has found something athletic which she enjoys. Which is all to say, she did NOT need a running buddy, nor did she wait around for hers during this event. Perhaps its because she actually ran while her buddy, me, walked about half of it.

Maybe next time.

Over the course of the 3.1 mile course I found myself trying to find motivation through different promises I made with myself. Just run 30 more seconds then you can walk. Don’t let that old guy in the orange shirt beat you. Run the last 500 feet so your sister can take a picture proving you ran. Small sign posts along the way to keep my feet moving.

The Israelites of Habakkuk’s time found themselves in the midst of their own national marathon. They were there on the ramparts trying to outlast the siege from Assyria which surrounded their borders. The runners were starting to flag and grow weary. The old men were losing their hopes and the young men’s dreams no longer seemed to come. The water station was too far away for it to be a useful goal and they needed another sign.

Habakkuk reminds them when their energy fades and their adrenaline no longer pushes them past the finish line, the best motivator is to refocus on the reason why you started in the first place. He wrote the vision from God on a placard big enough to be seen at the back of the pack, miles away from the finish line. Remember, he says, why you are here and who God has called you to be.

This works for us in all the times of lives when we start to grow weary, stumble, and faint. Those are the moments when we remember why we started on this journey in the first place. We look to the sign which says “you can do this!” and it rekindles the flame which has died away. We center ourselves in the knowledge God loves us as and how we are, even when we are too tired to love ourselves.

We look at the sign and remember.

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Respond:

Get out a post-it note or an index card. Take a few minutes to remember: who are you at your best? Who does God say you are? What is one small goal you can make to take one step forward on this wearing journey?

Now, take your index card and write a short phrase which will help you remember when you start to feel weak or weary. Place it on your mirror or in your car - someplace you will remember to look when the night feels too long to go on.

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Pray:

God, when life takes me through valleys I do not understand, help me trust that You are still working. Teach me to surrender the illusion of control and depend fully on You. Help me trust that even painful detours will be used to shape my character and deepen my faith. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.

Consider:

Have you ever tried to set up a camping tent alone? Or perhaps put away an artificial Christmas tree into it’s storage bag on your own? These may be things that are simple and easily accomplished for you as a lone entity, but for me, they are two things that jump to the forefront of my mind when I think about the misery of having to do certain things on my own.

This sounds rather trivial to be sure, but what about the large and looming things of life that we don’t want to walk through alone: the death of a loved one, the loss of a beloved job, the diagnosis that takes your breath away.

One of the incredible gifts God offers us is the gift of community. It is about the theology of the restart. And restart seldom, if ever, need be done alone.

Everyone stumbles or falls at some point in this journey of life. Sometimes exhaustion, disappointment, sin, grief, or any number of other stumbling blocks get in our path and wreak havoc. Sometimes it feels like we are kicked while we are down, and when that fall is done in isolation, it feels like an exclamation point to the already heavy burden. Scriptures like the one above offer some respite in those times however: falling is often the place where grace arrives through another person.

“Two are better than one” means God often places people in our lives who help us begin again. They remind us who we are when we forget. They pray when we are too tired to pray. They steady our faith when our footing gives way. The restart becomes possible because someone reaches down and says, “Get up—we’re not done yet.”

This is faith lived out in everyday life. Not abstract, not heady or intellectual, but embodied grace in the flesh. A friend who calls at the right moment. A spouse who refuses to give up on you. A mentor who speaks hope after failure. A church community that helps carry the weight when your strength runs out.

This passage in Ecclesiastes assumes falling will happen because it does! The wisdom comes not in pretending weakness doesn’t exist but in recognizing the community all around us when it does.

God designed community not merely for celebration, but for recovery. Sometimes the miracle is not avoiding the fall—it is having someone there to help you stand again. May we all be helped AND may we all be a helper in this journey. That’s how community grows best.

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Respond:

A simple question to ponder this day … Who might God be calling you to encourage, support, or help “restart” this week?

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Pray:

Lord, give us the humility to accept help when we need it and the courage to reach for the hand You provide. Thank You for the friends, family, mentors, and brothers and sisters in Christ who help us stand again when life knocks us down.

Teach us to be that kind of presence for others too. Make us quick to encourage, ready to restore, and faithful to walk beside those who are struggling. Let our words bring hope, our actions bring healing, and our lives reflect the love of Christ.

Strengthen our hearts today to keep walking forward together. Amen.

Scripture:

The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Consider:

A couple of weeks ago at Little League Baseball, the 8 year old Shortstop on the other team got hit in the head with a baseball. He misjudged both the speed and trajectory of the ball and it went over the top of his glove and landed with a fairly loud thud on his forehead. Somehow, the ball miraculously bounced off the kid’s head right into the 3rd baseman’s glove for an out, who then threw it to first base to catch the runner who had not tagged up. The Shortstop’s head got a double play. And a concussion.

Most of the team shook it off and kept playing, using the unique power of the young male brain to forget those things can happen to them too. But not Henry. He’s been afraid the entire season. We’ve been slowly coaxing him out of that fear by promising the ball wouldn’t hurt him as long as his glove was between his body and the ball. He’s gotten bolder and stronger throughout the season, braver. He’d started making better plays and not running away from it when it passed. Right before Forehead gate he actually got his first hit all season.

By the time of the next game he’d lost every ounce of bravery. Every time the ball came towards him he turned away, forgetting the safety of the glove. One time he literally ran away from a ground ball which died on the ground 5 steps behind him. The fear of the ball was back as he’d had time to contemplate and remember.

Our culture has an unspoken expectation we are just supposed to “get over it”. We tell kids to get up and brush it off, they are fine. Or we’ll tell them their fear of the dark is silly with off-hand comments like “there is nothing there in the dark that wasn’t there during the day.” I’m rubber your glue dismisses the lasting pain of words bullies in both the adult and children varieties hurl our way. We are supposed to forget, move past it, let it go.

And sometimes it is right to get up and get going, but often times it ignores the permanency of some of our scars. There is no way to predict which comments will revolve in our heads for years to come, or which difficult circumstances seem to overwhelm our courage, or why some events leave lasting memories in our hearts. But some do. There is no moving past those kinds of scars, we only learn to live with them like a unwelcome friend we have to invite because we’ve known them so long.

When pain changes your view of yourself and the world, it’s a holy act to recognize the change and make space for it in the inventory of your memories. Pretending it doesn’t exist only gives it permission to pop-up in unexpected times and places. Placing it on the shelf where it belongs allows us to revisit it when necessary, but to move it out of the way when we no longer need it.

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Respond:

A highly effective technique when those scars rear their ugly head is called The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Method. It uses your five senses to pull your brain out of the fight-or-flight loop and anchor you back into the present moment. Let’s practice.

1. Acknowledge 5 things you can SEE: Look around you and name five objects out loud or in your head. Try to pick things you wouldn’t normally notice—like a scratch on the floor, a reflection on a window, or a specific book on a shelf.

2. Acknowledge 4 things you can TOUCH: Notice the physical sensations of four things around you. It could be the texture of your shirt, the hard surface of the chair supporting you, the cold smooth surface of a desk, or the feeling of your feet flat against the ground. Spend a moment feeling each one.

3. Acknowledge 3 things you can HEAR: Listen closely to your environment. Name three distinct sounds. It might be the hum of a refrigerator, traffic outside, birds chirping, or even the sound of your own steady breathing.’

4. Acknowledge 2 things you can SMELL: Identify two smells. If you can’t smell anything immediately, look for things that have a scent—like the smell of your coffee, soap on your hands, a candle, or even the scent of the air in the room.

5. Acknowledge 1 thing you can TASTE: Focus on one thing you can taste right now. It might be the lingering taste of toothpaste, a mint, or just the inside of your mouth. If you can’t taste anything, simply swallow and notice that sensation.

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Pray:

God, when life takes me through valleys I do not understand, help me trust that You are still working. Teach me to surrender the illusion of control and depend fully on You. Help me trust that even painful detours will be used to shape my character and deepen my faith. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The local people showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us around it. Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire when a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

Now in the vicinity of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him. After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They bestowed many honors on us, and when we were about to sail, they put on board all the provisions we needed.

Consider:

We have all experienced the sudden, jarring halt of a spiritual or emotional roadblock. In our achievement-driven culture, our natural instinct when facing an obstacle is to rev our engines, press harder on the gas, and try to burst through by sheer force of will. We treat our lives like a cross-country race powered by an endless supply of human adrenaline. But a roadblock often signifies something much deeper than a temporary delay; it is a clear diagnostic that the “old way” of traveling wasn’t sustainable.

Operating on the fumes of our own strength inevitably leads to a crash. We burn through our emotional reserves, neglect our souls, and mistake frantic movement for spiritual progress. When the collapse finally comes, it leaves us stranded. This reality speaks directly to those who have “stumbled and fallen”—those who find themselves sitting in the dust of broken plans, burnout, or moral exhaustion. The roadblock is painful, yes, but it is also a mercy. It forces us to admit a truth we try desperately to ignore: our independent pacing was designed to fail.

Setting out again from the place of failure requires an entirely new pace. We cannot simply dust ourselves off and resume the same frantic sprint that broke us in the first place. Instead, we must transition to a journey fueled entirely by God’s strength rather than our own fading adrenaline. This is not a call to passivity, but a radical recalibration of our energy source. It requires us to trade our fragile, human grit for the inexhaustible power of the Creator.

This profound shift is beautifully captured in the promise of moving from “running and being weary” to “soaring on wings like eagles.” The secret to this transformation lies in a seemingly contradictory action: waiting on the Lord. In the original biblical context, to “wait” does not mean sitting idly in a waiting room. It implies a hopeful, active, and expectant twisting together—like strands of a rope weaving into one unbreakable cord. When we wait on God, our weakness is woven directly into God’s perserverance.

Consider the mechanics of an eagle’s flight. An eagle does not achieve great heights by frantically flapping its wings the way a smaller bird does; that would exhaust its resources within minutes. Instead, the eagle waits. It sits on a high rock, scanning the horizon, watching for the arrival of thermal updrafts—invisible columns of warm, rising air. When the updraft arrives, the eagle simply spreads its wings and steps into it. It is the power of the wind that lifts the bird; the eagle’s job is simply to align itself with that power.

This is the new pace of the sustainable journey. When we learn to wait on the Lord, we stop frantically flapping in our own strength and learn to catch the wind of the Holy Spirit. We exchange the wearying sprint of self-reliance for the effortless elevation of divine grace. The road ahead may still be long, but we are no longer traveling it alone, or on our own terms.

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Respond:

Take a few moments to check in with yourself today. What is the predominant emotion which rises to the top? Are you feeling stressed or refreshed? Are you running on adrenaline or fatigue?

Consider what life would look like if you took the opportunity to either slow down or ramp up your pace? What would have to change?

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Pray:

God, when life takes me through valleys I do not understand, help me trust that You are still working. Teach me to surrender the illusion of control and depend fully on You. Help me trust that even painful detours will be used to shape my character and deepen my faith. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.

Consider:

Imagine you’re Paul in this story…you’ve just survived a shipwreck, among so many other things. You’re probably soaking wet, cold, and all you want to do is light a fire. And as you do…you get bitten by a snake.

That’s it, I’m done. It feels unfair and very much like insult to injury to me. At this point I think, if I were Paul, God would be on my “naughty” list. I would have very little to no trust in the idea that God was with me through it all. Wasn’t surviving the storm proof that he had endured enough trouble for one season? Yet immediately after one crisis ends, another pain appears.

That is often how these “halts” in life feel. We already feel like we are carrying the baggage of all past injuries, all the failures, the faults and the mistakes of life that seem to be so much more memorable than any miracle or joy… and here comes one more.

We survive the failure, the heartbreak, the closed door, the ministry setback, the financial collapse, the betrayal, the burnout—and then we carry the aftermath with us. Even after the storm is over, there’s a snakebite out there waiting for us.

Sometimes the greatest obstacle is not the original storm but the emotional and spiritual baggage left behind by it. We replay mistakes, relive embarrassment, and carry invisible weight into every new step forward.

But God never intended for us to carry that snake with us just because it bit us.

What if the very presence of God in your life is where you are meant to throw the shame, disappointment, and exhaustion you’ve been gripping? There’s no chance of moving graciously into tomorrow when today’s baggage is still on our backs.

So, today we look at a few things we need to do (perhaps while singing a little Taylor Swift in the process): shake off the shame of a failed attempt, shake off the bitterness of a delay in plans, shake off the fear of another disappointment.

God’s call on your life is not defeated by a storm, a setback, or even the painful season that followed it. There comes a moment when faith looks less like understanding everything and more like refusing to stop walking forward.

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Respond:

What aftermath from a past failure, mistake, disappointment or injury are you still carrying? What baggage have you allowed to stay “checked” in your brain for entirely too long? Visualize throwing that failure, that shame, that guilt or grief into a fire…and warm yourself today with the new freedom of mind and spirit you have with that freed up headspace.

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Pray:

God, You know the storms I’ve survived and the wounds I still carry from them. Help me release the shame, frustration, and fear that keep me stuck in the aftermath. Teach me to shake off what tries to stop my calling. Renew my courage to move forward again, trusting that Your purpose for my life is greater than any setback. Amen.

Scripture:

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

Consider:

I will be the first to admit that when I’m on the road, I want NOTHING standing in my way of my destination (especially if I’m driving…if I’m riding, I can nap and all is right with the world). Bathroom breaks are very strategically timed, people driving slow in the left lane are clearly out to get me, etc. It’s serious business on the road to somewhere for me.

And so, you can imagine the words I utter when I see the “detour” sign in the distance. It is not met with curiosity or even begrudging acceptance…it is met with full blown anger. So when I read these verses of scripture where God speaks to both the Magi and the holy family, insisting on a detour, or outright change of plans in the midst of presumed chaos already in place, I find myself being a bit embarrassed and rather humbled about my road rage over a slight imposition to my schedule.

You see, the literal life of our savior hung in the decision making of the Magi and his parents. They could heed the warning and take a different route, or they could get frustrated with the detour and plug ahead on the planned route. Thank goodness I wasn’t the one making this decision.

When we become so clearly focused on “the plan” or “the route” we believe is the best one for us, so very often we miss the blessing, or even salvation, of the detour. That thing which God places before us to slow us down, to have us take a different route, is inevitably the better way, even if it might take more time, or feel like the more difficult path to tread. All too often we don’t slow down long enough to even notice that God is offering an alternate route, but when we do, it always leads us somewhere fruitful.

So the next time you get a nudge, or “detour sign”, don’t ignore it, don’t throw up your hands in frustration, don’t be like me and cuss at it and then continue on your way…take note, change course, and see where God is leading you. It just might change your life, or someone else’s…

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Respond:

Take notice today of your set plans or routes…are they well worn and so familiar that you cannot see the alternate route God is asking you to take? Are there possible places you have avoided the detour because it feels scary? Like you may have to change an opinion, or reach out in ways that you haven’t before? Are there dangers in the well worn path for you or others that God is inviting you to notice and move away from? Dangers of old patterns that keep others down, or even old ideas that lead to the chipping away of God’s kingdom building?

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Pray:

God, we know that through You all things work for good…detours are not something we enjoy in our overscheduled, too busy lives. Help us see the saving grace in the change of plan, the alternate route you set before us. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn’t lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though that was the shorter route. God thought, If the people have to fight and face war, they will run back to Egypt. So God led the people by the roundabout way of the Reed Sea desert. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt ready for battle. Moses took with him Joseph’s bones just as Joseph had made Israel’s sons promise when he said to them, “When God takes care of you, you must carry my bones out of here with you.” They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. The Lord went in front of them during the day in a column of cloud to guide them and at night in a column of lightning to give them light. This way they could travel during the day and at night. The column of cloud during the day and the column of lightning at night never left its place in front of the people.

Consider:

One of the GPS apps I carry on my phone promises to get you there faster than any other app. Most of the time, I just settle on the run of the mill GPS which comes with my phone, but every once in a while I’m in a hurry and want to get to my destination as soon as physically possible. That’s when I fire up my special, “break glass in case of emergency” map which doesn’t pay attention to how “easy” the route might be but simply gives you the shortest route between two lines.

This means occassionally you might find yourself trying to cross four lines of traffic to get to the other alley on the other side of the road. From time to time it takes you through sketchy neighborhoods which inspire you to drive even faster. Every once in awhile, you have to make a u-turn and go back the way you came because the shortcut turned into a dead end.

On my trip back here from visiting my grandmother up north, I usually take a stretch of 1-81 which may have more accidents per square mile than any other stretch of road in america*. It also has the most tractor-trailers, which means when a back-up happens the road is shut-down for hours.

One memorable time driving south from back home, my adventure GPS took us up on the Blue Ridge parkway, where it took us up and over, down and around, through parts of Virginia I’d never seen. I often went 10 miles without seeing another car and lost access to internet to play music or podcasts, so I pulled up an old audio book on the History of the American Civil War which seemed to be the only thing actually downloaded to my phone.

It was incredibly strange as we kept passing the sites mentioned in the book. The author would talk about Cold Harbor and, oops, there it went. The book talked about the farms the soldiers raided and barns they slept in on the march through the mountains as they went to march on Richmond. It was surreal and grounding at the same time, this wonderful marriage of the story I was told and the sites I was seeing.

And none of that would have been possible without the re-routing of my GPS.

Sometimes God takes us the “long way” because we aren’t yet ready for the destination or there are unanticipated traffic jams along the way. The detour isn’t a delay; it’s but a rerouting, inviting us to explore the new scenery around us and consider it with awe and wonder in our heart, instead of complaining about the extra mileage on our car.

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*Not a scientific data point

Respond:

When was the last time God told you to “recalculate” and take another direction? What did you learn along the way which you might never have experienced otherwise?

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Pray:

God, when life takes me through valleys I do not understand, help me trust that You are still working. Teach me to surrender the illusion of control and depend fully on You. Help me trust that even painful detours will be used to shape my character and deepen my faith. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

Scripture:

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

____________

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Consider:

When Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit, his life seemed to collapse in that very moment. Betrayed by family, abandoned without rescue, and eventually sold into slavery, Joseph’s journey looked nothing like the dream God had given him or any expectation he may have had for himself.

At first glance, this passage feels like a story of cruelty and family drama. But underneath what seemed to be a terrible outcome for Joseph is the deeper truth: God is at work in the pits and valleys as well as in the mountaintop experiences…sometimes it seems to be in the pit that we stop long enough to truly notice and take note of God’s work.

Joseph had the dreams in hand, but didn’t have the understanding of how to make the dreams work for others rather than live endlessly on the favor and status he already enjoyed. Favor alone was not enough. The pit stripped Joseph of control, status, and certainty. There was no status that could rescue him in this experience. All he had left was God.

That is often where surrender begins, in the lowest places where we have no other resources left. It quite often takes a stripping down of all our self-reliance to realize God at work in our world. In seasons of comfort, we lean on our abilities, our plans, and our confidence. But in the valley, we discover how fragile those things really are. The detour becomes the place where noticing, listening to and relying on God is no longer theoretical — it becomes necessary.

The breaking of self-reliance often becomes the birthplace of spiritual maturity. When we recognize where our own abilities end, we can truly look to where God’s work is taking shape.

The pit did not destroy Joseph. It humbled him, refined him, and positioned him for what was ahead. May we find the refining nature of God in the pits and valleys of our lives, not just on the mountaintop!

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Respond:

What would it look like to surrender your self-reliance today? Think about how much you rely on your own thoughts, your own skills, your own ability to “make things happen” or “get your way” in order to move through your day…what would it look like/feel like to let go of that for just a day?

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Pray:

God, when life takes me through valleys I do not understand, help me trust that You are still working. Teach me to surrender the illusion of control and depend fully on You. Help me trust that even painful detours will be used to shape my character and deepen my faith. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.