Grace saves us—we don217;t deserve it, can217;t earn it, and have no grounds to boast about it, as Paul makes plain in Ephesians 2:8–9—so what does it look like when a community of undeserving people actually lives that out together as the church God is building?
The decorations come down, the calendar turns, and Christmas recedes into memory—but Matthew 2 insists there217;s something that doesn217;t go out of season. And if the Gospel doesn217;t go out of season, are we keeping ourselves focused on where it is pointing us?
Most of us navigate life by a quiet, practical question: what217;s the minimum I need to get by with my time and my money? In Matthew 2, the wise men travel months across dangerous roads and then open their best treasures before the child—and the gap between what they did and what they could have gotten away with is exactly where this passage challenges us.
Most of us pray 220;thy kingdom come221; without stopping to ask whether the kingdom we217;re actually building day to day is God217;s—or our own. That tension sits at the heart of Matthew 6:10, and Daniel 4 shows just how far God will go to get our attention when we forget who217;s really in charge.
We217;ve all looked at this world and thought, it just doesn217;t seem like God217;s will is being done. Underneath that thought is a deeper fear that God217;s reserve of will and ability runs dry the way ours does. That fear is exactly what Jesus targets when He teaches us to pray 220;your will be done.221;
We can be full of hope and still put that hope in plans, forecasts, and outcomes that never arrive. When disappointment turns us into expert worriers—or convinces us that life will only get worse—we217;re reminded to look to our true hope and the Power behind it.
You think the picnic went great until you start to itch and realize you brought ticks home with you. What tick bites—those sneaky sins whose venom is already inside before you notice—do you have? Those are the ones Jesus came to rescue us from.
You open what looks like a personal Christmas card and it217;s just a pitch for insurance. There217;s always the something being snuck by us, isn217;t there? Jesus faced that same suspicion 212; how can we know He is really who He says He is?
If we217;re all fools, what217;s it matter if one fool hurts another? Does anything matter? To God, the answer is it does 212; and not all fools are alike because of Him.