Fear is an emotional state that can lead to panic. It is a natural reaction to things that threaten us, things we cannot understand, things that can harm. Our world is filled with things that potentially could threaten us. Our world is filled with things we do not understand at first glance. Our world is filled with things that might or might not cause us harm.

But, the world is also filled with things that nurture and feed us. The world is filled with things we come to know and love. The world is filled with things that help us.

“Do Not Fear” is not shared as a polite request, nor does God try to explain to us why fear doesn’t lead to positive and loving actions. God commands us, “Do not fear.” God’s reason is simple. He tells us, “I am with you.”

The Lord also tells us, “do not be dismayed.” The word dismay means to be stripped of our strength. Do not allow the world and the unknown to strip away the strength that is with us if we allow it. Do not let the absence of understanding lead us to weak actions and words.

God knows that humans’ first response is often negative- filled with fear, filled with resistance, filled with helplessness. So what is his advice? As any parent might do, God encourages.

When something happens, when something appears, when we face an unknown, stop and gather the strength of God that is all around you. Stop, look, and listen. God will show you, lead you, and strengthen you. The way forward may be challenging, but each step can be filled with the love and support of our Father. If we stop for a moment, breathe in, and exhale a prayer, then may we be filled with the love, strength, and grace of our Lord that will allow us to respond in love and not in fear of the unknown path before us. If we open our eyes, heart, and mind to what God shares with us, then we will get to know and understand what lies before us. We can use that understanding to react with grace and love instead of fear and hate.

Today, let us pray together a prayer we can repeat in each moment where we feel fear and dismay. Father, in moments where we feel weak, help us to still our heart and breathe in. In that breath, fill us with Your spirit, and may we exhale a prayer that You will guide us and strengthen us. In all moments, help us see Your love all around us so that we do not fear what we do not understand. Amen.

This devotion was written by Jill Pope and read by Susan Daves.

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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Nothing encourages me more than to think that I have been adopted into the family of God. And nothing challenges me more than to think that I have been adopted into the family of God.

We who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit are the children of God. No longer slaves, we have been adopted. By grace, we call God, “Daddy,” and Jesus, “Brother.” This means that we are co-heirs with Christ and God says to us, “Everything I have is yours.” But it also means that just as Christ suffered with us, we must suffer with Christ.

Living in this world is hard. Life is messy. Relationships are messy. We seek certainty and direction. We want to find something we can count on. We want things to be clear—right or wrong, good or bad. But if we are paying attention, we know that few things are certain, and few things are “all” or “nothing.”

Being part of a family requires wrestling through the uncertainty, complications, and messiness of life together. Families suffer together, and families celebrate together. And this is what it’s like to be part of God’s family, too. It means that we are accepted, and loved, and that we will always have a place to belong, but it doesn’t mean that life will be easy, or that we’ll always get along.

This scripture passage suggests to me that entering into all of the complicated mess of this world is the pathway to joy and peace. Jesus did not avoid life’s messiness or its complications or conflict. Jesus entered into suffering—not only the suffering of the cross, but the suffering of the world. And therein lies Christ’s glory. As this scripture says, we also share in Christ’s sufferings SO THAT we may also share in his glory. As the family of God, we share in one another’s, too.

God, thank you for adopting me into your family. Let me not forget your love for all of my brothers and sisters. Use me this day to be an encouragement to someone else, and allow me to be challenged to love more fully, even when it’s difficult. May I truly share in Christ’s sufferings that I may also share in his glory. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Greta Smith.

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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

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 hope that each of these scriptures and podcasts will bring you a full measure of joy, peace, and love.

Now, let's listen to the scriptures that have been on our hearts this week.

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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

1 Peter 2:9 KJV

When I was in elementary school, it was a common practice to “choose” sides before playing softball, football, kickball, or whatever sport we were playing that day. Remember how that went? Everyone knew who the first player chosen would be – the star athlete, the one who could be depended upon to play well and help their team win. Everyone also knew who would be chosen last – the uncoordinated kid, the one most likely to strike out or drop the pass. There were definitely winners and losers.

In this verse, however, God calls an entire holy nation, all of whom are individuals that stand out, not for their athletic skill but because of their choice to follow Jesus into his “marvelous light.” We are united not because of what we can do but because of what we believe. On God’s team, we bring our individual gifts to enable us to work together to build His kingdom on earth. We do this in praise of Him, and there are only winners on this team.

The final part of the verse seems particularly relevant to our modern world. There is a great deal of darkness – wars, disease, poverty. . . man’s inhumanity to man shows itself in many different horrifying ways. Sometimes that darkness seems overwhelming; it is easy to feel we will never see full light. However, we are “called out of darkness into His marvelous light.” God’s word and our faith assure us that “His marvelous light” is there to guide us through whatever dark circumstances we are experiencing. The light is for all who believe. There are no losers in God’s Kingdom.

God, thank you for choosing us to be your people and for your promise of marvelous light. May we continue living in that light by not only growing and living out our own faith but also by sharing the Good News with others. We are your peculiar people, and we praise You! Amen.

This devotion was written by Pat Scruggs and read by Grace Jonas.

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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Genealogies are found throughout the Bible, and I have found them to be both informative and interesting reading. In a sense they provide a legitimacy to the stories of God’s chosen people because we see the growth of the family tree from Adam all the way to Jesus. Along the way, the authors would occasionally interrupt the list of names to provide small details about particular individuals not unlike details you might have heard about one of your distant relatives.

I am fortunate to have a family genealogy that was traced back to the year 1280. The large parchment sheet does not just list names but also has small notes about people with titles like Earl of Worchester or Secretary to King Henry VII. One person had a note that they had the family Bible.

I think it fitting that the early chapters of Genesis put a priority on genealogy with an emphasis as we see in today’s scripture that God created both man and woman in God’s image. I have two photos that I really enjoy, one is me with three of my father’s brothers…I look just like them. The second photo is me with two of my mother’s brothers…I look just like them. Clearly, I was created in the image of my parents.

When I read God created man in His image, it gives me a comfort to know that this was one of the first acts of love by God and sets the stage for God desiring a relationship with us, His children. This is seen in the portion of scripture that reads, “He created them male and female and blessed them.” Regardless of our current family dynamics, we should draw comfort knowing that our family tree traces all the way back to Adam and Eve, created by God, in the image of God, and blessed by God. You have a part in that as well.

Father, God, thank you for creating each of us in your image. Strengthen and nurture us as a loving Father who desires nothing more than a relationship. Open our eyes that your desire for relationship also extends to all those around us. It is in your name, God, that we pray. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Owen 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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

During our church's Vacation Bible School, I had the pleasure of being in the kitchen. As the children came through the line, I watched as parents worked with their children on having good manners. Some, when asking for their selection, had to be reminded to say “please.” At times, the parent holds the plate as they say several times, “Now what do you say?” until the child finally says, “please.”

Other times, the “please” is almost automatic, and often I heard a “good job” from the parent.

The cutest exchange I saw was when the child did not want either selection we offered. The parent said, “You have to choose one.” After much resistance, the choice was made. The parent said, “Now what do you say?” The child replied, “Why do I have to say thank you for something I don’t want?” Mom politely said, “Because you are lucky enough to have something to eat, you are lucky that there are people here to cook this food, and besides, it is the right thing to do.” With a sullen, stormy look, the server got a “thank you,” to which she replied, with just a trace of a smile, “You're welcome.”

This entire exchange made me think of the words from Thessalonians where we are encouraged to give thanks in all situations. I picture myself being at times like that pouting child saying or thinking, “Why do I have to give thanks for this?” We can easily list the things in life that do not spark any feelings of gratitude. Among them are illness, loss, anxiety, and fear. No, we may not give thanks for the specific negative things that are impacting our lives, but like the child in that situation, God wants us to pull back from the immediate moment and look at life in a broader context.

When we do we see that we are lucky to have a loving God who is with us in this dark time and that there are loving friends and family supporting us.

I now have a new image to hold when I come to those times where I want to sulk instead of give thanks. I am going to picture God as that loving parent standing beside me, reminding me of all the things that are going well in my life, even in the midst of the storm, encouraging me to say thank you. And if I resist, God will help me see the big picture but most of all remind me, “Besides it its the right, the gracious, and loving thing to do.”

Just like the child who beamed when praised for using their good manners, I want to bask in God’s loving smile when I am at my best and doing and saying what God is trying to teach me to do. I want to hear, “Good job!”

Life can be challenging, and it my be hard to find gratitude in the moment, but remembering that God is beside me, encouraging me to see the good in life will help those words of thanks to come a little quicker. Don’t we all want to live knowing our heavenly parent is pleased because we are doing what we have been taught to do?

Loving God, we remember that you are always beside us, encouraging us and wanting us to be our best. This loving presence is enough for us to say thank you this day and every day, no matter what might be happening in life. AMEN.

This devotion was written by Bill Green and read by Amy Large.

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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

These verses sound like today’s headlines. Drought has hollowed out the land. Everything is disrupted. The prophet cries out with a question that every generation eventually asks: God, have you rejected us? Why won't you show yourself?

Jeremiah doesn't soften the complaint: we hoped for peace and no peace came, we hoped for healing and found only terror.

Chapter 14 is unsettling because a few verses earlier we read that other prophets are going around promising the opposite — no sword, no famine, only lasting peace (v. 13). It sounds comforting. It is also false. Jeremiah's honesty doesn't ask anyone to pretend that everything is okay. The failure he sees is the temptation to trade honest lament for comfortable lies. That's a spiritual failure before it's ever a political one, and it shows up in every age, including ours.

Yet Jeremiah doesn't stop with just the complaint. He confesses the guilt plainly — ours and our ancestors' both — and then does something remarkable: he turns from the ache to the throne. Not because the drought has broken. Not because the terror has passed. But because he still knows who holds the rain.

Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? No — it is you, LORD our God. The circumstances haven't changed by the end of the passage. What's changed is where Jeremiah has planted his hope.

There's an old hymn that says it almost the same way: though the wrong seem oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. That's not a denial that the wrong is strong. Plainly, it is, in Jeremiah's day and in ours. Jeremiah refuses to let the wrong have the final word. Jeremiah's hope isn't naive optimism dressed up in religious language. It's hope that has already looked straight at the drought, the failure, the false prophets, and the sin — and chosen to trust anyway.

That's the kind of hope worth carrying into whatever afflicts us now — not a hope that ignores the wound, but one that has counted the cost of it and still says, our hope is in you.

Lord, we don't always know why the healing is slow in coming. Give us the honesty to name what's broken, and the faith to trust you as the one who mends it — not because the trouble has ended, but because you have not. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Jim Stovall.

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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

One of the last Christmas presents I received from my Mammaw before she died was a coffee mug. I should back up a bit to say that even as a teenager and young adult — at whatever point in my life I started realizing a bit about how far money goes — I marveled at Mammaw’s gift giving. A lady with nine living children, many of whom have spouses, more than a dozen grandchildren, many of whom also have spouses, and even great-grandchildren never skipped anyone over for Christmas, despite subsisting on a paltry Social Security check. I can remember Christmases in which I received socks that had clearly been part of a larger package that she divided to give to multiple people. It was quite common that she would recycle the cardboard boxes that her cereal came in so she would have boxes for all the gifts. To this day, I am astounded at her ability to express her love through giving on the most limited of budgets.

So, it makes sense at my surprise one year receiving a lovely coffee mug with some sort of flavored coffee. On the mug is inscribed the statement, a paraphrase of today’s verse: “God’s promises are new every morning.” For a few years, I used that mug every Sunday morning as I got ready for church, and I thought of Mammaw every time I did. As I said, it turned out to be one of the last gifts I received from her.

You can imagine my heartbreak, then, when the mug tipped over and the handle broke. We glued it, and it still worked, but it tipped again, breaking in new spots. Eventually, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to continue drinking from it, as it’s just too fragile. So now, it just rests on the counter, braced by a wall behind it. I simply couldn’t bear to part from it, as it is such an important keepsake of mine. It makes me think of a woman who loved richly despite her poverty. It reminds me of whence I come. It reminds me of being loved.

It also reminds me of exactly what it says: every morning is a new day. Every day is a new opportunity. Each sunrise presents us with a new slate of blessings from God. Moreover, the mug reminds me of what it is: broken, but still doing good. When I look at that mug, I know that even though I have scars, even though I feel broken at times, God can still work through me. Even though Mammaw had little to give, God worked through her to make her family feel loved. Regardless of our flaws or imperfections, regardless of the brokenness and scars we bear, God both loves us and uses us to love others. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. God’s mercies never come to an end. Great, indeed is God’s faithfulness.

God, we thank you for your love and we thank you for putting people in our lives who demonstrate that love to us. We know that, regardless of our circumstances, you can use us to help others. Keep us open to your call on our lives so that others will think of us and know you. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Dwight Dockery

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 matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.