Romans 2:5-16 | But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

For God does not show favoritism. – Romans 2:11

Anger. Pain. Frustration. Fear. Numbness. My Black compatriots and I listed our deep feelings about horrifying discrimination against Black people in the United States. Yet those feelings couldn’t deter our passionate efforts toward positive change. Protests that promote equal civil rights continue because so many people have felt the sting of racial hatred. It’s no secret. But Genesis 1:27 reminds us that God made all of us “in his image.” Black lives are created in God’s image—beautiful.

Our unique, colorful skin colors are only one expression of God’s image. God’s creativity for His divine purposes, however, doesn’t give preferential treatment to anyone based on a face in a mirror. What matters most to Him is the content of each person’s heart. He gives us each the opportunity and responsibility to bring His heavenly truth to Earth, to everyone we see. And to do good and love one another. In Romans 2:6–7, we see that God “will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”

If God shows no favoritism, then why should we? The solution to racism begins with each of us taking a look at ourselves in the mirror and asking God, What can I do for the good of others? How can I love? Powerful change begins in our heart and affects the souls around us. —Justin Morris

What can I do to turn the tide toward justice today, and how do God and His wisdom fit into my plans?

God, help us to look into the Scriptures, understand that discrimination does not come from You, and love our neighbors, all created in Your image. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/

Matthew 13:10-15 | The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. – Matthew 13:13

As an artist, I’m fascinated by the way people see. Think of picture games that ask, What do you see? In one image, some see a lady with a hat on and others see a bird sitting in a tree. How is it two people can look at the same picture and see two different things?

Jesus’ disciples asked why He spoke in the spiritual illustrations known as parables (Matthew 13:10). Quoting the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus answered, “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (v. 13). He added, “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them” (v. 15).

My hope is not in people seeing correctly. My hope is in the God who opens the eyes of our hearts to see what He wants us to see. Apart from His supernatural power to open our eyes, we remain blind, without understanding, and without hope.

Let’s pray to the God of our seeing that once He allows us to see and hear and understand with our heart we would turn to Him with all our heart. My hope is in His ability to help us to see, to sensitize our dull hearts, and to heal us. —Genie McGee

Do you need Jesus to open your eyes to anything today?

Father, we need You to give us supernatural sight. We don’t want to miss what You are doing in us and around us.

Celebrate Hope: Looking Back, Stepping Up is an invitation to find where God has been present with us in difficult days long past and where God is present with us now. Certainly God has been our help in ‘ages past,’ and God remains ‘our hope for years to come.’ Celebrate Hope provides us with this needed reminder and offers us the strength to carry on.
Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/

Luke 4:14-19 | Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free. – Luke 4:18

During my senior year of college, I participated in a service-learning trip to Ghana, West Africa. I visited and toured the Cape Coast Slave Castle, one of the key forts the Transatlantic Slave Trade facilitated for kidnapping, selling, and abusing many millions of Africans. Millions perished. One exhibit, Portraits of the Middle Passage, showcased sculptures reimagining slavery’s victims. I looked at my Black people’s traumatized faces and felt sick about the pain experienced within those prisons, aboard ships, and in foreigners’ hands. But I also know the enslaved dared to imagine a better future for their descendants, resisted oppression, and pursued freedom. My freedom.

Jesus Christ, who denounced corrupt religious, economic, and sociopolitical systems, including slavery—proclaiming the good news—pursued all people’s freedom in this world. He sacrificed His life so that we can be set free spiritually—eternally. Jesus declared God’s demands for justice, love, and righteousness as He repeated Isaiah’s prophecy (Luke 4:14–19). Standing in the synagogue at Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus determined to “set the oppressed free” (v. 1).

The gospel calls us to imagine and to press for freedom with both strong teaching and sacrificial acts of love. We love our God and our neighbor fully when we raise our voices, too, against oppression and proclaim God’s favor on all people. God has carried and will carry us through. —Kayla Jones

How does Jesus’ mission to release captives, give sight to the blind, and liberate the oppressed change our perspective of the gospel and the hope He brings?

Heavenly Father, we praise You for the faith, imagination, and resiliency of our ancestors. Thank You for being the God of deliverance. We will march, resist, sing, pray, and press on for our children’s futures. We believe You respond to injustice and know You have the power to heal, save, and deliver.

Celebrate Hope: Looking Back, Stepping Up is an invitation to find where God has been present with us in difficult days long past and where God is present with us now. Certainly God has been our help in ‘ages past,’ and God remains ‘our hope for years to come.’ Celebrate Hope provides us with this needed reminder and offers us the strength to carry on.
Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/

Matthew 23:1-12 | Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

An increasing number of antique leather-bound books are being purchased for their covers and not their content. Interior designers buy them by the linear yard and use them to create a warm, old-world atmosphere in the homes of affluent clients.

Of prime importance is whether they match a room’s decor. One wealthy businessman purchased 13,000 antique books he will never read just to create a library look in his renovated home. Those books are just for show.

Focusing on outward appearances can be a pleasing way to decorate a house, but it’s a dangerous way to live. Jesus reprimanded many religious leaders of His day because they did not practice what they preached. They were addicted to receiving praise and feeling self-important. Instead of opening the kingdom of heaven to people, they shut the door in their faces. Jesus said of them, “All their works they do to be seen by men” (Matt. 23:5).

The Lord calls us to be people of inner substance, not just outward appearance. We are to demonstrate the reality of His presence in us by an attitude of humility. “He who is greatest among you shall be your servant” (v.11).

In living for Jesus, our content is far more important than our cover. We are here for more than show. — David McCasland

Let my will be lost in God’s will,
Ask no question; seek no place;
Render humblest duties gladly,
Showing forth His truth and grace. — Anon.

If God controls you on the inside, you’ll be genuine on the outside.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.

Psalms 55:1-7 | Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked; for they bring down suffering on me and assail me in their anger. My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert;

A television commercial asks, “What do you reach for when you’re stressed?” Then it suggests, “Reach for [our product].”

The number of ways people try to deal with serious stresses in life are as numerous as there are people. Having a drink. Blaming God. Stuffing ourselves with food. Keeping our feelings inside. Blaming others. These responses might calm us, but they’re just a temporary means of escaping our problems. No product we reach for can take them away.

In Psalm 55, King David described his desire to escape from his difficulties: “My heart is severely pained within me . . . . Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (vv.4,6). After the betrayal of his friend and counselor, Ahithophel, who had gone to help his enemy, David wanted to get away (vv.12-13; see 2 Sam. 15). In this psalm, he tells us that he reached out to God in his pain (vv.4-5,16).

What do we reach for? Author Susan Lenzkes suggests that we reach out to the Lord and pour out our heart to Him. She writes, “It’s all right—questions, pain, and stabbing anger can be poured out to the Infinite One and He will not be damaged. . . . For we beat on His chest from within the circle of His arms.” — Anne Cetas

Christian, when your way seems darkest,
When your eyes with tears are dim,
Straight to God your Father hastening,
Tell your troubles all to Him. —
Anon.

When we put our cares into God’s hands, He puts His peace into our hearts.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.