Grace for All

Psalm 46:10 (NIV)  Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. I’m a big fan of the movie Groundhog Day. I’ve seen it a couple of dozen times, and it is a tradition in our house to watch it on February 2nd every year. In the movie, weatherman Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray, gets stuck reliving the same day over and over again in...

Galatians 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Repeatedly throughout my Christian walk, I have considered the question, “What does it mean to be crucified with Christ?”  Surrender—of my life, of my will—is central to my understan...

Welcome to the Grace for All podcast. Our theme for this month is Let Go and Let God - A Season of Surrender . Normally, I would begin by sharing today’s verse of scripture and then a short devotion; however, I believe today’s format should be story first and then scripture because that is exactly how it happened.  I will begin the story by saying the theme of Let Go and Let God - A Season of...

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. If a seed does not germinate, it bears no fruit. It has been formed to create, yet it does not fulfill that destiny. It is squandered. It wastes away, dried up and useless. What a loss!  We also must realize that the majority of seeds in the hist...

Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.  I suppose we didn’t study Ecclesiastes in my childhood Sunday school classes because, for a long time, I thought this verse, and the examples of opposite human experiences (life and death, planting and reaping, weeping and laughing, love and hate, war and peace, and others) in the following eight ver...

Matthew 6:34  Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. There are several songs in popular movie musicals that refer to the hope and promises of tomorrow. Perhaps one of the most popular examples of this is the song “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” from the musical Annie.  In the musical, the orphan Annie sings t...

You are listening to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast produced by the people of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee.  This is Scripture Saturday, a time when we pause and reflect on the scriptures we have read throughout the week. If you missed any of our devotionals on these passages, you can find them on our website at 1stChurch.org or wherever you get your podcas...

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT) For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.  There are different seasons in our lives. When I was a young boy, I thought as a young boy. All I could think about was receiving my long list of wants. I believed that all would be right with the world if only I had a certain toy or bike. Birthday and Christmas gifts? Did they make my life...

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12  Now about your love for one another, we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God's family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands...

Philippians 4:6-7 (the Living Bible) Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God‘s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. The constant drone of aw...

Romans 3:23-24 …since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…  One doesn’t have to be a performer to have heard the advice for someone who is nervous to go on stage or speak or perform in front of a crowd: just imagine everyone in the audience in their underwear (or sometimes, it’s even...

Philippians 2:3-8  Don't do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus: Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit. But he emptied himself by taking the...

John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed." I am so grateful that God’s grace is bigger than my doubt. In my life, I have been blessed to witness numerous things I would consider miracles, things that by the odds never should have happened. Some have been big—life-changing. Others have been small; perhaps no...

Thank you for joining us for today's Grace for All podcast. On Saturdays, we pause for a few moments to look back on our week and to review the scriptures that we have used in our podcast. We encourage you, after listening to this episode, to go back and listen to the episodes you missed, or to review the ones that were particularly meaningful for you. We trust that the thoughts that we have share...

Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”  Reading the red passages in the Gospels, the words spoken by Jesus sometimes terrify me. Previously in this chapter, Jesus describes His return and uses a metaphor comparing believers and nonbelievers to sheep and goats. Sheep, highl...

I Samuel 20:42 Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace because the two of us made a solemn pledge in the Lord’s name.”  When we think of faith and good works, our minds go immediately to the New Testament and the words of James, “Faith without works is dead.” Recently, however, I was reading the story of David and Jonathan anew from the Old Testament. In it, I see a story of faith and actio...

John 21:20-22  Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”  I suspect Peter must h...

Hebrews 10:24  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Who are the greatest influencers in your life? Family? Friends? Coworkers? Neighbors? Or are they politicians? Content generators? Social influencers?  We have entered an unprecedented era in which the people who influence our behavior the most could easily be people we have never personally met...

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. In thinking about this passage and reading other versions of these words, I came upon a phrase I think more accurately describes what the author of Hebrews is asking of the reader. Rather than the...

John 15:1-5  Jesus said: I am the true vine and my father is the vinekeeper. Every branch that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can...

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the people of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee.  This is Scripture Saturday, a time when we pause and reflect on the scriptures we have read throughout the week. If you missed any of our devotionals on these passages, you can find them on our website at 1stChurch.org or wherever you get your podcasts.  Now, we i...

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. I love lighthouses. There is just something special about them to me. I love to photograph them, especially at dusk or dawn.  What’s interesting to me about lighthouses is that although they are often architecturally very plain, and there is usually nothing sp...

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. How many times in life have we as humans felt that we are working towards something and making little to no visible progress?   I know that, being a graduate school student, I have felt this plenty of times, going through two thesis changes and working a job 20 hours a week on top of my...

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us love not in word or speech, but in deed and truth.  In my life, I’ve had more than one experience, as I’m sure you have had, in which a person touted their piety and religious superiority, but I later found out that it was not backed up with behavior that reflected God’s love toward others. One of the most stark examples I can remember is when I was a child...

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. I’ve known some “big talkers” in my lifetime. Some of these acquaintances spoke of grandiose plans for their future, only to fizzle out when action was required. Others would spout off accomplishments, but in reality, they were riding on someone's coattails and attempting to take credit for someone else’s work....