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We lose focus on what God has done for us and then aren’t able to do what He really wants us to do.
We lose focus on what God has done for us and then aren’t able to do what He really wants us to do.
When wise men arrive in Jerusalem asking where to find the one born king of the Jews, Matthew 2 says Herod was deeply disturbed—and all Jerusalem with him. It's a strange reaction to the fulfillment of a centuries-old promise, and it looks a lot like what we do when God's work threatens the status and stability we've been quietly building our joy around.
When you prepare a small dinner and twenty guests arrive unannounced, you wish you'd known what was coming—yet knowing what to prepare isn't the only kind of readiness that matters. Luke 1 tells of a righteous priest who knew exactly what God expected of him, yet when God himself appeared with news he'd prayed decades to hear, he found himself unprepared to simply listen.
We’ve all wanted to write that resignation letter—to let the world know the hurt isn’t our fault. Joseph faces that exact urge in Matthew 1, betrayed and confused after he finds out Mary, the woman he is betrothed to, is pregnant — forced to choose between saying his peace and keeping it.
We’ve all found ways to look faithful without being faithful—the outward gesture that signals piety while the heart is somewhere else entirely. That’s exactly the trap Isaiah 7 sets in plain sight: a king who quotes the law of God to refuse the sign God himself is offering, and whose very piety is the problem.
We don’t always expect how God is going to lead us, but we can follow Him knowing He is very much with us every step of the way.
God is the Savior — He rescues us from the issues big and small in our lives.
As we try to not just do something but something pleasing to God, how do we do that? How do we add the flavor of His love into a world that needs it?
God is faithful. We see that demonstrated in everything He does other than make His creation flourish.
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