Today’s Verse – Psalm 59:16
I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. —Psalm 59:16 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… So many things in our lives can be stolen away by natural disasters, aging, greedy people, addictive appetites, our own laziness, many distractions, and untimely death. These subtle temptations lead me to believe the evil one could be appropriately called “The Thief of Always.”* God, however, is immovable, and what he offers us is unstealable! We can invest ourselves in him and know our futures are secure in his care. God is our fortress and our refuge. We can run to our Father in heaven, find his grace and protection from the evil one, and build our lives on his solid promises and find that our future is secure with Jesus (Colossians 3:1-4). * This name is borrowed from Clive Barker’s dark fantasy tale of that same title, a classic tale of temptation, consequences, and the battle for one’s soul. My Prayer… O Great Rock of my salvation, thank you for being unchangeable and faithful. Thank you for being the source of my security, the assurance of a future in days of chaos and change. Thank you for being God. You are my God, and in you I place my life, my hopes, my dreams, my value, and my future. So, dear Father, I conclude with the prayer of your servant David as my heart’s desire: May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14). In the name of Jesus. Amen.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Let Me Decide!
Note from Jesus Dear Precious Disciple, Satan uses a very effective form of temptation on many of you who are My followers. He gets you to avoid looking at your own personal weaknesses and tempts you to focus on other people’s faults. Before long, you find others you don’t think measure up and aren’t as fruitful as you think they should be. You can grow angry because you are discouraged by those who claim to follow Me and yet live showing no loyalty to Me at all in their lifestyles. You are frustrated because unbelievers point to the hypocrites in My churches and use them to bolster their claim that Christianity doesn’t really matter. There can be times when you wish someone would just run out all the “fake followers” so there wouldn’t be so much spiritual drag on your worship, mission, and influence. Please remember that I warned you in several of My parables that many would claim to be My followers while their lives revealed something very different. Some among you are new disciples and don’t fully know My way and need time to mature. Others are weak and succumb to temptation easily, but they truly love Me and need help to grow stronger and have someone walk alongside them. Even some hypocrites have good hearts; they just haven’t surrendered all of that heart to My lordship and need to be challenged to love Me with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Please hear the two-part warning in the parable below. First, My church, My people, My spiritual family on earth does not exist in a vacuum. Satan and his demonic forces wage war against Me, My people, and My church. My enemy plants fake believers in the middle of true believers. He does so to drag you down and discourage you so that he can diminish your spiritual passion. The evil one longs to give ammunition to your critics and discourage those trying to decide whether or not to follow Me. Don’t let this situation discourage you. Instead, use this knowledge to help those who are not faithfully following Me to come to full faith in Me and to follow Me as their Lord and Savior. Second, you should not try to decide who is a true disciple and who is a fake disciple. It’s My job to expose what is false and what is genuine. Please don’t destroy My church by ripping up someone who is precious to Me. Let Me handle discerning between good fruit and bad fruit. Most of this I will do at the end of time. I will do this with My angels — the heavenly messengers. In the meantime, let’s work together on you. Let’s be honest about where you are in your spiritual journey. Are you fully following Me? Do you struggle being a new disciple? Do you have periods when you are weak? Do you catch yourself being hypocritical in what you say you believe and what you actually live? Do you find yourself being cynical about the faithfulness of other believers? Whatever is holding you back, please, let’s work on it together as we journey through the New Testament this year! Remember, I long to help you “shine like the sun in the Father’s Kingdom”! Verses to Live In this parable, faithful disciples are described as “good seeds,” and the unfaithful are “weeds.” You — and everyone else — get to decide what you will be — weeds or seeds. As you undoubtedly know, the initial decision to be faithful frequently is not enough. Most people need frequent recommitment and the help and encouragement of others. Don’t automatically categorize others who are not completely faithful to Me as being among the “weeds.” Rather, you may be able to provide just the help and encouragement that they need, while at the same time being careful not to become one of the weeds yourself. Jesus told them another parable. Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like this: Once there was a farmer who sowed good seeds in his field. While the farmer’s workers were sleeping, his enemy crept into the field and sowed weeds among all the wheat seeds. Then he snuck away again. Eventually the crops grew — wheat, but also weeds. So the farmer’s workers said to him, “Sir, why didn’t you sow good seeds in your field? Where did these weeds come from?” “My enemy must have done this,” replied the farmer. “Should we go pull up all the weeds?” asked his workers. “No,” said the farmer. “It’s too risky. As you pull up the weeds, you would probably pull up some wheat as well. We’ll let them both grow until harvest time. I will tell the harvesters to collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, and only then to harvest the wheat and bring it to my barn. … Then Jesus left the crowds and returned to … [the] house. His disciples followed Him. Disciples: Explain to us the story You told about the weeds. Jesus: The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed represents the children of the Kingdom. The weeds— who do you think the weeds are? They are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who threw the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the workers are God’s heavenly messengers. In the parable, I told you the weeds would be pulled up and burned — well, that is how it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send His messengers out into the world, and they will root out from His kingdom everything that is poisonous, ugly, and malicious, and everyone who does evil. They will throw all that wickedness into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. And the righteous will
Why Won’t They Believe?
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, Some of you will be frustrated and hurt because people you know and love will choose not to believe in Me as Savior. Some will talk about intellectual doubts. Others will talk about life’s hurts and will wonder where We — Father, Son, and Spirit — were in the middle of their hurts. Some will say they have a hard time believing something they think the Bible says because they view it as a book of myths and superstitions. Others will see Christians who are weak and stumble, or who are hypocrites, and say they want no part of a religion like that. Some will say they just can’t believe in the miracles and My resurrection that they read about in Scripture. These reactions and feelings that you find frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking are not new. I faced the same thing. As you read about the events below, remember that I had done two “nature altering” miracles — I fed more than 5,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish as well as walked on the water to the disciples in their boat caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Most of the people in the area knew of at least one of these miracles — that’s why they were back trying to get something else from Me. Many of them were also puzzling over the possibility of another miracle: How had I crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to be with My disciples without a boat? But before they would do the one thing I told them truly was “God’s work” — to believe in Me as the One the Father had sent, they wanted another miracle to show I was someone special. In other words, they saw or heard about the great works I had done, but refused to believe until they received the miracle they wanted from Me. My precious disciple, please hear Me: Some people don’t believe because they won’t believe. Another miracle wouldn’t have convinced most of the skeptics in the crowd you read about below. They were there for what they could get for free, not because they saw the sign that I had done and realized that it pointed to My identity as the Son of God. No one wants people saved more than We (Father, Son, and Spirit) do. No one’s heart breaks more than Our heart at the refusal of people to believe. I left the Father to share grace, offer hope, and bring true life to the people of your world. Some, however, refuse to receive that grace. Don’t burn up all your time and energy trying to convince people who refuse to believe. But don’t give up on them. Invite the Spirit to work on their hearts and in their circumstances. Live before them in a way that is good, gracious, and genuine. However, My dear disciple, please realize that you cannot make them believe, and I won’t force them to believe. Faith has to be chosen freely to be faith; do not use force or coercion on anyone, or it is not genuine faith! As much as you want someone to believe, you do not have the power to make it happen. Give that work over to the Spirit. Be ready as you look for the opportunity when the Spirit prompts you to reach out to that person you want to believe. A lot of folks in my day didn’t believe in Me until after My death, burial, and resurrection. Others didn’t believe until their lives came crashing down around them and they realized they needed help bigger than their circumstances. So be a real friend and a genuinely loved one of the people you want to believe. Be faithful and patient in loving them, but not pushing them or annoying them. Look for that moment of grace orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Then, share your story of grace and let them know about Me. Remember what your “work” truly is. You must truly believe. You must trust that I AM the Son of God, your Savior and Lord, and then live that faith graciously before others. Your faith guarantees that your life is bound up with Me for eternity. It also gives you the best opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those you love. Verses to Live As you read today’s verses, remember what I told people was the true work that God wanted them to do: believe in Me! Please remember, if people you know and love are looking for a sign before they believe in Me — like the people in the verses below — then you and your faithfulness to Me may be the sign that they most need. Then, be patient… faithful… gracious… and ready to share your love and My grace with those you want to see come to faith. The following day [after Jesus had walked on the water] some people gathered on the other side of the sea and saw that only one boat had been there; they were perplexed. They remembered seeing the disciples getting into the boat without Jesus. Other boats were arriving from Tiberias near the grassy area where the Lord offered thanks and passed out bread. When this crowd could not find Him or His disciples, they boarded their small boats and crossed the sea to Capernaum looking for Him. When they found Jesus across the sea, they questioned Him. Crowd: Teacher, when did You arrive at Capernaum? Jesus: I tell you the truth — you are tracking Me down because I fed you, not because you saw signs from God. Don’t spend your life chasing food that spoils and rots. Instead, seek the food that lasts into all the ages and comes from the Son of Man, the One on Whom God the Father has placed His seal. Crowd: What do we have to do to accomplish
Today’s Verse – Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. —Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… So many times the evil one seduces us into a flat, 2-dimensional Christianity – going to church and doing good things. However, God calls us to a three-dimensional faith – one that involves our heart, soul, and strength (body). He wants us to love him with all of our heart, all our inner being, and all of our actions used mightily for him. God wants us completely aligned with his ways, his character, his compassion, and his faithfulness in every facet of our being. Hear, O [people of God]: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Yes! Three-dimensional faith. Three-dimensional discipleship. My Prayer… Dear Heavenly Father, I honor you as God Almighty. I appreciate all the kindness and blessings you have lavished on me. I love you because you first loved me in Jesus. I honor you as the universe’s Creator and greatest power. I am humbled by the sacrificial and redemptive love you have shared with me in Jesus. I worship you with all I am – heart, soul, and strength – because you are worthy of my worship. Father, my heart desires to demonstrate my love, respect, appreciation, and worship for you in all I love, am, and do. I offer this prayer to you, dear Father, in the mighty name and through the intercession of Jesus. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
The Greatest Treasure
Note from Jesus Dear Beloved of the Father, You are a child of God; so I want to open your heart to hear two incredible truths found below in two simple stories that I told long ago. Truth One: You are the Father’s treasure! Yes, I know that is not normally how the two stories below are read, but I want you to think about it for a minute. There is a truth that you must not miss behind this understanding of these stories. The Father sent Me, His greatest gift, to pay the price to ransom you back to Us. You are Our treasure — Our discovered treasure and Our searched for treasure. I was the willing purchase price paid to buy you back from sin and death. Truth Two: The kingdom is the greatest treasure you can ever find. For some, it will seem like an accidental and great discovery as in the first story — almost like the treasure found them! The key, however, is that when you have “accidentally” discovered this treasure, then you should be willing to give up everything else to make it your own! Others, as in the second story, will find the treasure of the kingdom because they have longed to find it and have searched far and wide to find it. Again, the key is that having found it, they rejoice in giving up everything else to make this treasure of the kingdom their own! Notice the truth that ties these two understandings together: true treasure is worth any price necessary. That is true with the ultimate price I paid in coming to redeem you. It is also true for the price you must be ready to pay for the kingdom if you are willing to follow Me! Verses to Live What is your greatest treasure? I made clear that you are My treasure when I left the Father’s side and came to give My life to buy you out of slavery to sin and death and to reclaim you as a child of God. Will you choose to see My way, My kingdom, as your greatest treasure? Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that is hidden in a field. A crafty man found the treasure buried there and buried it again so no one would know where it was. Thrilled, he went off and sold everything he had, and then he came back and bought the field with the hidden treasure part of the bargain. Or the kingdom of heaven is like a jeweler on the lookout for the finest pearls. When he found a pearl more beautiful and valuable than any jewel he had ever seen, the jeweler sold all he had and bought that pearl, his pearl of great price. (Matthew 13:44-46) Response in Prayer O Father, all I can think about in response to these stories is Your great love that sent Jesus to ransom me and Jesus’ great love to come and pay the price for my sin. The words to the old hymn speak the emotions of my heart in response to this great love: Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.* May the lordship of Jesus and the kingdom of heaven rule my heart just as the sacrifice of Jesus has captured my heart and made me Your child. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. * From Isaac Watts’ hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” 1707. ‘A Year with Jesus’ is written by Phil Ware. © 1998-2026, Heartlight, Inc. ‘A Year with Jesus‘ is part of the Heartlight Network.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Voice™. © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today’s Verse – Psalm 86:5
You are forgiving and good, O LORD, abounding in love to all who call on you. —Psalm 86:5 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Forgiveness is such a sweet blessing. But God does more than forgive! Jesus cleanses and purifies us, then presents us to God as “holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:21-22). God does not grudgingly meter out his love. He does not ration out his forgiveness. He lavishly pours his love upon us, and into us, as we genuinely seek him as our Father (Romans 5:5; 1 John 3:1). So, let’s cry out and ask for God’s forgiveness as we praise the mighty and holy name of The Almighty, confidently knowing that our Father longs to bless us with his overflowing goodness, mercy, and love. My Prayer… O Precious Father, I call to you, wanting you to know how important your love and forgiveness are in my life. Thank you for sending Jesus to show your love for me and pay the debt of my sin. Please help me to live today as your child, shaped to be like Jesus, and may others see my joy and my passion for you as I seek to live for your glory. In the name of my Savior, Jesus, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
The ARC of My Grace
Note from Jesus Dear Child of God, Many people in your world view My ministry as little more than a traveling miracle show. Many people during My time on earth viewed it in the same way. Nevertheless, I refused to be a traveling miracle show. I refused to do things simply to impress people or just to prove to them how powerful I am. If you remember My temptations by Satan in the wilderness, I refused to do miracles for My own good, for My own reputation, or for proof of God’s approval and presence in My ministry. I refused these shortcuts to winning people’s hearts. Instead, I chose to win the hearts of people through My earthly ministry to them and My going to the cross for them — and that includes you! If you look at most of My miracles for people, they follow a similar pattern. You can call it the ARC of grace: Acceptance of the person with his or her needs. Relationship established with that person through kind words or physical touch. Community restored to that person so she or he could re-enter life that is full and good. Remember yesterday? We looked at the time when I cast many demons out of Battalion. Now compare how I did that miracle with the miracles I do in the verses below. Sure, you can talk about My great power if that is your focus. I have power over demons. I have power over disease. I have power over death. And yes, you can focus on My power — but that is only part of the point I want you to grasp today. Today’s point is as simple as it is personal; My love and My power are personal. I have the power to restore you! Yes, people — the crowd, the many, the lost — all matter to Me. Each person matters to Me — the hopeless and uncontrollable man called Battalion, the good and influential man named Jairus, and the outcast woman who was considered unclean. Each — let your heart settle on that word — each matters to Me! Each! So My miracle for each of these people follows this ARC of My grace. Notice how the woman was healed in the verses below. She was physically healed as soon as she touched Me. She could have left with her miracle for her physical condition, but how would she have known she was loved and accepted — that she mattered to God even when she was still sick? How would she have known that what she did was no cause for her to be ashamed and no offense to God? How would the community around her have known she was healed and should be welcomed back into daily fellowship in the neighborhood, the market, and the synagogue? She needed the full ARC of my grace — acceptance, relationship, and community — to fully restore her in every way. Now notice Jairus and his dying daughter. Here was a moment for Me to capture the goodwill of many people, especially people of position and influence. Jairus, unlike the woman, had many people surrounding him and supporting him. A miracle for his daughter could have raised My standing in the community. But remember, I didn’t do miracles for Me! I did them because people needed to experience the ARC of My grace! So notice carefully what I did. When Jairus was told that his daughter was dead, I encouraged him to believe. Then I did something that seems crazy to folks who want to make My ministry into a traveling miracle show. I put everyone out of the house so I could go inside and personally minister to Jairus, his wife, and his dead daughter. Notice how personal I was with what I did. I took the girl’s hand — I was willing to become ceremonially unclean when I touched her. I wanted there to be more than just acceptance of Jairus and his family even though he represented a group largely opposed to Me. I wanted to establish physical contact, build a true relationship, with this girl and her family. Finally, after instructing her to get up, I gave the simple command that seems so strangely ordinary: give her something to eat. Let’s have table fellowship and re-establish community and restore the life of this family which was now whole. Dear child of God, please understand something very important. Miracles are only for a moment. Sooner or later each person on earth will run out of miracles to keep their bodies whole and alive! Yes, miracles are very important to you. I get that. But please understand something even more significant: you are more important to Me than miracles. I want you to experience the ARC of My grace and to pass it along to others: Accept others where they are in their messes, agonies, and problems, but don’t leave them there. Establish relationship by being personally involved with them — don’t just throw money at their problems and abandon them. Connect with them through talk and touch to help them know they are loved. Help restore them to community — help them reconnect to life with other people who will walk beside them and include them in the life of My family. As much as you may want a miracle, I can assure you that a miracle is for just a moment in the grand scheme of time. The ARC of grace gives people true life — life that matters now and life that lasts long after miracles no longer matter. Verses to Live Read through this story several times while seeing yourself as different people in the story. Notice how My grace impacts each person in a different way. Now try to share that ARC of grace with others! When Jesus and His disciples crossed the lake, another crowd was waiting to welcome Him. A man made his way through the crowd.
Today’s Verse – Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. —Ephesians 4:2 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… “You mean I have to put up with all this from that person!?” There are those folks in life about whom the saying is true: “They are the grit out of which we are to fashion our pearls.” Our great example in this challenge – “To be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” – is Jesus. Jesus has fashioned many pearls from pretty bad grit. Think of what he had to put up with in his 12 disciples. Remember how the LORD’s patience and kindness helped transform them. His love persevered through so many of their failures, especially failures in his hardest and darkest moments. In the process, however, Jesus’ life of humbleness, gentleness, patience, and love transformed them. Can we dare to do less with those for whom Christ died? Video Commentary… ToGather Worship Guide | More ToGather Videos My Prayer… Please give me strength and patience, O God. I know the Holy Spirit can and will, so I ask for this help because I long to be as loving, gentle, and patient with others as Jesus was with people during his earthly ministry, and you have been with me. So, I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, my LORD and hero, to become more JESUShaped and live like him. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
A Tale of Two Powers
Note from Jesus Dear Precious Child of God, Two powers — God and Satan — are at war over your eternal destiny. The story below illustrates the different goals of these two powers. No matter how alluring temptation may seem to you, the ultimate goal of the tempter — Satan, the evil deceiver, the devil, the evil one — and all the forces of hell can be seen from the condition of the man called Battalion. When you meet the man identified as Battalion, the forces of evil are literally hell-bent on his destruction. This devastation is Satan’s intent for you. However, the ultimate goal of your Father in heaven is for you to be in your right mind, for you to be learning from Me how to have purpose for your life, and for you to live out that purpose in your daily life. Notice the ways Battalion is described at the beginning of the events recorded in the verses below: He is isolated — actually driven into isolation by the demonic powers that control him. He is filled with destructive power. He is naked. He lives and sleeps in a cemetery — the place of the dead. He is uncontrollable. He has lost his sense of self-identity — he doesn’t even know his real name. He is aware of all of these problems in himself. However, as much as this man is in bondage to demonic powers, notice this one truth: he can still come to Me and fall at My feet despite the power of the demons in him wanting to be rid of Me! I AM more powerful than all of these demons. So notice what I do to bless this man despite the demons trying to use My identity to gain power over Me and send Me away. I deliver him from the demonic powers oppressing him. I return this man to a normal life and a right mind. I welcome the man into My fellowship and friendship. I send the man out on a mission to share his good news and My story of grace. Satan’s goal for you is clear: he wants to do with you what he did with Battalion. He wants to introduce hell on earth into your life. His temptations may look enticing. There may be no apparent signs of Satan’s destructive and evil intent in these temptations — at least not at first. But behind each temptation, there are traps designed to enslave you. I can help you break your bondage to these traps, although you are much better off if you avoid the traps all together! I have a goal for you. I want you to be My disciple. I want you to sit by Me and learn the way of true life from Me. I want to defeat the powers that desire to hold you in bondage and enslave you to self-destruction. I want you in your right mind — in control of your life and your decisions. I want you to find your purpose in Me. I want you to have a positive and influential relationship with your family and friends. But you have to choose Me… you must call out to Me for help… and you must ask Me to take control of your life and be willing for Me to do so! Not everyone will be happy if you choose Me. Some prefer to live out-of-control lives rather than to yield their lives to Me. In addition, the lure for you to go into a life under Satan’s control — to have that uncontrollable power at work in you — is just as destructive as it is strong. You must recognize that you cannot defeat the power of evil on your own. However, I can defeat it. In fact, I have defeated it through My death and resurrection. Do not despair in the face of great evil. Cry out to Me. Trust Me. Follow Me. Learn from Me. Share your story about Me with others. And when you do, you can know this: I will never leave you or forsake you. Verses to Live Notice how the “friends” of Battalion react when he is set free of the demonic spirits. They order Me to leave after I have liberated him and put him in his right mind. They cannot deal with Me. They don’t know what to do with a power they cannot control or understand. So rather than inviting Me into their small little world, they ask Me to leave. What about you? Will you ask Me into your world or order Me to leave? When they [Jesus and His disciples] get to the other side of the lake, in the Gerasene country opposite Galilee, a man from the city is waiting for Jesus when He steps out of the boat. The man is full of demonic spirits. He’s been running around for a long time stark naked, and he’s homeless, sleeping among the dead in a cemetery. This man has on many occasions been tied up and chained and kept under guard, but each time he has broken free and the demonic power has driven him back into remote places away from human contact. Jesus commands the demonic force to leave him. The man looks at Jesus and starts screaming. He falls down in front of Jesus. Possessed Man (shouting): Don’t torment me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! Why are You here? Jesus (calmly and simply): What’s your name? Possessed Man: Battalion. He says this because an army of demons is inside of him. The demons start begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. They plead instead to enter into a herd of pigs feeding on a steep hillside near the shore. Jesus gives them permission to do so. Suddenly the man is liberated from the demons, but the pigs — they stampede, squealing down the hill and into the lake where they drown themselves. The
Today’s Verse – Mark 9:35
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” —Mark 9:35 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Did you hear that? Last! Last? Nobody likes to be last. When it comes to lines, we all hate to be last! Many of us have a hard time settling for second place, much less last place. Jesus, however, reverses the way the world ranks people (Luke 22:25-27). The person who is most important to him is not the person seeking status, Facebook® likes, a big following on social media, notoriety, or a place of honor at “bigwig” gatherings (events centered on status and influence). The most important person is like Jesus himself: they are willing to give up their rank, status, and place importance to serve the least, last, and lost. Why? Because that’s how Jesus was. For Jesus, being last meant being first in service and first in the eyes of God. My Prayer… Magnificent God, my Savior, you have made the world wonderful for me and have given your Son to redeem me. How can I ever thank you or repay you for your grace and kindness? Help me serve others with grace and kindness just as my LORD did. Please give me eyes to see people as you do, not judging by mere appearances, but valuing and treating people like Jesus did in his earthly ministry. I want to be willing to serve; to be last. So, where you place me (Luke 14:7-14) is in your hands. I pray in the name of the LORD Jesus, the one who washed his disciples’ feet to show them his love and the place of proper importance. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.