Grace for All

I Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, becaus...

Lamentation Let’s listen to some words of lament from two people discussing anger toward God: PERSON 1 : Hey my friend, why so glum? PERSON 2 : Oh, you know, work’s not going well; I’ve got family issues, and my marriage is on the way out. PERSON 1 : So life is hard, but God is good, right? PERSON 2 : If you say so. PERSON 1 : What do you mean? You can’t blame all your problems on God. PERSON 2 :...

1 John 4:12 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. The fourth chapter of 1 John, is the fullest discussion concerning the love of God that we find in our Bible. It is a richer and more challenging message than is to be found in 1 Corinthians 13, often called the “Hym...

Proverbs 17:17 (NIV) A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. Proverbs 17:17 ( The Message ) Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. I believe the kind of love spoken of in both of these scriptures is Agape love—love which is selfless, unconditional, and sacrificial. It is rooted in goodwill and action rathe...

Galatians 5:13 (NIV) Serve one another humbly in love. This is an eye-opening scripture for me. As I have been thinking and reflecting on it these last couple of weeks, memories have been flooding in of people I have known and know who serve humbly often. First, it is important to think about what a humble servant actually looks like. They are not proud, don’t believe they are better than others,...

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 podcasts. No...

Proverbs 10:12 (NIV) Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers all wrongs. There have been several songs written through the years about love being something the world needs now more than ever, with such examples heavy on my mind lately being “Where is the Love?” by the Black-Eyed Peas and “What the World Needs Now is Love” by Dionne Warwick. In watching recent news stories regarding the atrocitie...

Proverbs 17:17 (ESV) A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. A couple of years ago, my family and I took a trip to Normandy, France. We stood on Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. We walked through the American Cemetery, where row after row of white crosses stretch toward the sea. We drove through the Normandy countryside, where during World War II, American soldiers fought thei...

1 John 4:12 (NIV) No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. No one has ever seen God. That's a bold statement, and it might surprise us at first. What about Moses on the mountain? What about Isaiah's vision of the throne room? What about Ezekiel and the wheels within wheels? But the Jewish teachers understood something important. Mos...

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. Turn on the news, open Facebook, any social media sites, or check your preferred news sources, and you will invariably find angry, bitter comments and fighting words. Read or listen for a while, and opponents will soon start slinging angry comments at each other, tempers flare, words get nasty, and hatred boils. Later, we ma...

2 Timothy 4:6-8 As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look for...

Galatians 5:13 Serve one another humbly in love. We spend our lives learning how to live. The world is a complicated place. We get to a point where we have knowledge and experience, and we look around trying to solve problems. With an eye to help and being a servant, we try to help others. We want to share. We want to help. We want to love. But sometimes, we think others should thank us for tellin...

Welcome to the Saturday episode of the Grace for All podcast. Thank you for joining us today. Saturday is a special time when we take a few moments to review the scriptures that we have cited in the episodes this week. If you missed any of those episodes, you might want to consider listening to them today. And even if you heard them all, there may be one that you might want to listen to again. We...

Psalm 29:11 Let the Lord give strength to his people! Let the Lord bless his people with peace! In isolation the closing verse of Psalm 29 is a soothing verse. But in context, it is even more soothing. It reminds me of a memory I have from childhood. I grew up in West Tennessee. Tornadoes were just part of the landscape, with 92 of them between 1960 and 1980. We didn’t have as many as the folks in...

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. This devotion was written and read by Leslie Ragland. Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no m...

Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. A pivotal figure in the book of Psalms is King David. Each of the Psalms shows a different aspect of the life of King David and his unwavering faith in his Lord, which is what I find perhaps the most impressive about David as a character. What I find even more impressive about David is how far back this fait...

John 16:33 (NIV) “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” This scripture appears in the Gospel of John, as part of Jesus’ long soliloquy to the disciples preparing them for his departure. It provides the transition between the Last Supper and the arrest of Jesus. The disciples are confused and...

John 3:30 “He must become greater; I must become less.” In this scripture, John the Baptist is recognizing that his ministry and notoriety will be diminishing as Jesus’ ministry begins. The brash desert preacher is happy to now take a back seat to the Messiah. When I was a teenager, my brother lived in a communal home referred to as The Jesus House in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Our family once h...

Ephesians 4:2 (NLT) Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Well, well……. Patience is an interesting concept. It is about how we handle adversity, delays, unpleasant circumstances, and trouble. Our first thought, at least mine, is how often I am caught in traffic and am irritated with the slow or distracted driver in f...

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 podcasts. No...

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. STRESS, everyone seems so stressed. Is this new? I don’t really think so. Life is stressful. It’s not going to change. Nothing I say here will change how the world and human society operates. I could say that I’m too busy to write this; too busy to listen, too busy t...

Psalm 13:5 “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.” One of the greatest aspects of my faith is my understanding of God’s unfailing love. I don’t know about you, but I have so many days when, taking stock at the end of the day, I think about so many more things I have done wrong than that I’ve done right. Those seem to be easier to catalog for some reason. Among th...

Luke 15:3-7 (NIV) Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I te...

Colossians 3:10 (New Living Translation) Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. This letter to the Colossians was written by Paul and Timothy, chosen by God to be apostles of Christ. In this letter, Paul clearly teaches that Christ has paid for our sins, that Christ has reconciled us to God and that we have been given the knowledge and the abil...

II Timothy 4: 6-8 As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look f...