October 18, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Wednesday, October 18.
What were you doing in March of 2020? Too long ago to remember? Well, here's a hint - that was the month that the world stopped, that was the moment that everything changed, that was the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic shutdown. Here in Shelby County, by order of the governor, churches shut down, too. I work with a lot of volunteers in my position as Minister of Worship & Education at First Baptist Center, and I felt the need, in that moment, to find a way to stay in contact with all of them. I began to send out a daily email, a little devotional thought. After a few months, our church doors opened again and we could see people face to face (or at least mask to mask), but I decided to continue these messages. The email list grew from about 30 to several hundred. And then, about a year later, the kind folks at Shelby County Today, offered to include David's Daily Devotions on their site. And so, three and a half years, and 1000 devotionals later, we continue.
I decided, at the start, that I would never write more than it would take a person two minutes to read, and I've kept that promise. I also wanted the devotions to have a lot of variety. Some days the thoughts surround a moment in history, others focus on an event that's happening around us right now. Some devotionals have featured stories behind songs, and some have included personal notes. And, once in a while, we focus on a single word from the Word. We've taken a look at "hallelujah" and "hosanna", at "angels" and "advent", at "faith" and "forgiveness". Today we look at the word "grace". No one knows the future, and I don't know how many more years these devotions will continue, but if they were to last another thousand days, we could focus each one on this one subject, and never exhaust the riches of grace.
Romans 3:23-24 - "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but all are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Ephesians 2:4-5 - "Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in sin - it is by grace that you have been saved."
Hebrews 4:16 - "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
2 Corinthians 12:9 - "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
And the final word in the Word - Revelation 22:21 - "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen."
Amen!
Meet you back here tomorrow for devotional 1001,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
