Daily Worship Devotional

DAILY READING Philippians 2:1-11 REFLECTION   The Mind of Christ By Elaine Pierce How can we have the mind of Christ? My mind so often is far, far, from Christlike. In today's passage, the apostle Paul challenges the values that we see in the world every day: look out for No. 1.....act with confidence even when you are in doubt (fake it until you make it)... be ambitious.....be forceful....be a winner. What does Paul focus on? Tenderness. Compassion. Loving and united in spi

DAILY READING John 15: 12-17 REFLECTION No Greater Love Than This By Michael Guastella When Jesus says "this is my command", it's always a good idea to pay attention to what comes right after that. We open this passage with exactly that - a command. And this one is very, very important. We are called to love each other, but very specifically, we are called to love each other as Jesus has loved us. Elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves

DAILY READING Ephesians 3:14-21 REFLECTION   What Do You Pray For By Gene Pierce The Apostle Paul lays out his prayer for the church at Ephesus: that the Ephesian believers (and us by extension) would know God's love. God's really big -- unbelievably big -- love. Verse 16: Paul prays ... that God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  --- Believers have Christ working from the inside out

DAILY READING 1 John 4:7-21 REFLECTION   Choose Love By Judy Webb Anyone who pays attention to the news today doesn't find information, only inflammation. There is so much noise in our world one could easily conclude that there is little love for one another. Words of hate are spewed on social media where it seems safe to express whatever we want. No wonder we have stomachaches and emotional trauma. There is little peace or compassion; love seems to have taken a backseat to o

DAILY READING 1 John 3: 11-16 REFLECTION   Piece by Piece, Little by Little By Jen Raber Early one morning, I noticed all the bare Christmas trees at the curb—fallen soldiers after an exhausting battle. These trees, that served so valiantly, literally laid down their lives for our seasonal joy. We thoughtfully selected them, and placed them prominently in our homes. They brought light and sparkle adorned with remembrances of Christmases past colorfully dangling from their eve

DAILY READING Romans 8:31-39 REFLECTION   God's Love for us By Kim Starr The passage for today provides the ultimate assurance that God's love for His people is invincible and eternal.  God sent his own son to die for each of us. If he will give us his one and only son, how can he not give us all things? God justifies. Jesus, who died, rose, and is sitting at the right hand of his father, intercedes for us. No one can separate us from the love God has for us. And, because of

DAILY READING Romans 5:6-8 REFLECTION   Why Does God Love Us? By Dave Mann Even as long-time Christians, we are tempted to believe that God loves us because we are basically good people.  We may think that God’s love for us is greater when we do good things – attend church regularly, read the Bible and pray, donate generously to the church and Christian causes, etc.  But just today, I heard our pastor declare, “There is nothing that we can do to make God love us more than he

DAILY READING John 13:1-9 REFLECTION   Radical Love By Elaine Pierce This is most likely a familiar passage for UALC Daily Worship readers. I'm sure you have seen artwork that depicts 'the last supper' as Jesus washes his disciples' feet. (Interestingly, the other 3 gospels don't include this story). Washing the dust-covered sandaled feet of weary travelers was usually performed by the lowliest servant in the household. This task would have been considered beneath an honored,

DAILY READING Acts 7:54-60 ; Jude 17-25 & Ephesians 6:10-18 REFLECTION   Responding to Distortions & Attacks By Todd Marti As I dug into today’s reading, I was struck by its similarity to yesterday’s reading, Jude 17-25 . I was also struck by how both readings parallel Ephesians 6:10-18 . Given that God often repeats Himself  when He communicates key precepts, it strikes me that we should spend some time looking at the directions given in all three of those scriptures. Initi

DAILY READING Jude 17-25 REFLECTION   Fear By Jennifer Jerrome What is your relationship with fear? Fear can keep us from doing crazy things, but too much or too little isn’t good. So, what is healthy fear? And what exactly does v. 23 mean - mercy, mixed with fear ?   This is where today’s scripture took me, to an analysis of fear. I can tell you my relationship with fear leans more towards the unhealthy. As someone who struggles with anxiety, fear tends to overwhelm me. For

DAILY READING 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 REFLECTION   In The Shadows By Judy Webb This sermon series title is perfect. Paul’s ministry began in the Shadow of the Cross. And still today we can see this shadow as a significant backdrop in his letters. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.  (1 Thessalonians 2:2) Today we are zeroing in on 1 Thes

DAILY READING 1 Peter 4:12-19 REFLECTION   Blessed to Suffer By Beth Voltmann Each new year many of us are motivated to change our lives in some meaningful way. More intentionally, Christians often pray that the Lord will help them to grow in their faith. I wonder, though, if anyone has ever asked to suffer more? Not I.   In America, we rarely suffer physical harm in the way that believers in other nations do (China, Nigeria, Malaysia, India, North Korea, and Iran to name a f

DAILY READING 1 Peter 3:13-22 REFLECTION   No Pit So Deep By Pam Mann We’re reading this passage from 1 Peter during a week with the overall theme: Was God Still Good on Saturday? We can answer that question easily. God is good all the time, including Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. What does Peter tell us about Christ’s action during that first Easter weekend to demonstrate God’s goodness? Let’s zero in on 1 Peter 3:18-20. Peter recounts how Christ died on th

DAILY READING John 20:11-18 REFLECTION   A Personal Encounter with Jesus By Dave Mann The account of Mary at the tomb on Easter morning is a moving story.  The first to see the empty tomb is a group of women.  Mary is part of that group.  Mary and the women go to the disciples and announce that the tomb is empty, but they do not yet believe that he is alive.  (See John 20:2.)  Peter and John run to see the empty tomb themselves.  John believes.  (See John 20:8.)  Mary returns

Luke 24:13-27 REFLECTION   Yes, it's Jesus - it's Him! By Elaine Pierce Luke doesn't tell us why these two followers of Jesus decided to leave Jerusalem and walk to the village of Emmaus. He does tell us that their faces were downcast. After all, Jesus, their hero, had been brutally crucified, and he was dead and gone - at least that's what they thought, and what they told the 'stranger' who walked alongside them. Even though the women told them the tomb was empty, they had n

DAILY READING Colossians 2:8-15 REFLECTION   The Head Over Every Power and Authority By Carmel Elmer As a Saturday devotional writer, before I write I like to read the passages for the week in succession and reflect on how they connect with one another and with the heading for the week.   This week’s heading is “In the Shadow of the Cross” and the readings focus on discerning the difference between the wisdom & authority of this world and that of God in the wake of Christ’s s

DAILY READING Galatians 3:10-14; Deuteronomy 21:23-24 REFLECTION The Book of the Law and Christianity - Revisited By Dave Thompson We are slaves to the law if we let ourselves be. The Book of the Law as an Old Testament set were the first five books of the Bible. They exist as a reminder of the historical law that the Jews had to follow, even up until today. They are very demanding as written, but then groups like the Pharisees and Sadducees took these laws and interpreted t

DAILY READING Jeremiah 9:23-24 REFLECTION   My Faith, Your Free Gift By Judy Webb This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 9:23-24) One commentary indicate

DAILY READING Isaiah 55:6-13 REFLECTION   "NEW YEAR, NEW YOU" By Katie Borden So, how are you doing with your New Year’s resolution? If you’re like me, you took until about January 3rd to actually make one, and then broke it by January… 5th. In our society, we talk a lot about fresh starts this time of year. Resolutions, #NewYearNewMe and the like are plastered all over our social media pages. We are made to feel like the goals that were out of reach the other 364 days of the

DAILY READING 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 REFLECTION   Clean Fresh-from-Heaven By Pam Mann Paul opens 1 Corinthians 2 with a clear statement of purpose: I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.   The crucified Christ. This is Paul’s focus. Like us, Paul was not an eyewitness to the death of Jesus. Like us, however, he has met the crucified and resurrected Christ. Growing in connection with the crucified Christ has changed everything for