Author: Nathaniel Colt

Read about It

Read: Lamentations 3:22–24

What are your thoughts when you start a new day? When we imagine the morning, we probably think of birds chirping, the sun creeping up, and throwing back warm covers. In those moments, we should remind ourself of this important truth: God has given us mercy, and we can live in thankfulness. The Bible says that God’s mercies are new every morning. This means that we can begin our day with hope and gratitude.

As we begin each day, let’s remind ourself that God has been merciful to us. Some days, this can be difficult if we are late for school, forget a homework assignment, or if there is a thunderstorm on our big game day. The kind of day we are having doesn’t matter. When we wake up and say, “God, thank You for Your mercy on my life,” we remember the gift Jesus gave us. Starting the day with gratitude makes it harder for unkind thoughts, bad attitudes, and sin to creep into our day.

Read about It

Read: John 8:9–11; Romans 6:23

After her accusers were gone, the woman caught in sin was still there with Jesus. We can imagine that she felt shocked, confused, and probably relieved. But Jesus didn’t stop at driving her accusers away. He offered the woman His life-changing mercy. He didn’t condemn her either, and He told her to “go and sin no more.” Jesus offered her the gift of a new life, one that she now could begin because of His mercy.

Jesus offers this same gift of mercy to us. The Bible says that we all deserve death because of our sin, but God has shown us mercy through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. This gift is better than anything we could ever imagine. None of us can earn it by good deeds or our own wisdom. The good news about Jesus is a gift of hope for our salvation and a new life in Him. We get to receive this undeserved forgiveness just by accepting His gift.

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Read: John 8:1–9

Some religious leaders brought a woman caught sinning to Jesus. The Law said her life could be ended because of what she had done. The leaders came before Jesus to test Him and see what He would say should happen. Instead of responding to the Pharisees’ anger and accusation, Jesus stayed mostly silent and wrote in the dirt. After Jesus told the religious leaders that the person who had never sinned should be the first one to throw a stone at her, they all left.

Jesus’ way of handling this reminded the Pharisees that they needed to show mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is showing another person forgiveness or compassion when they have done something wrong. Maybe you’ve seen someone break a rule, and you want them to be punished. But like Jesus, Christians need to see people as more than rule breakers; we need to see them as people who deserve the kind of mercy we have received. Jesus loves others just like He loves us. If His forgiveness has changed us for the better, we should offer that same mercy to others.

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Read: Psalm 15

How can we enter the presence of God? He is holy, clean, and pure, so we can’t enter into His presence unless we have been washed clean on the inside. The good news is that Jesus has made the way for us to do that. When we repent and ask for forgiveness for the wrong things we’ve done, He washes us clean. Jesus washes away our sins so we can be with Him.

But that doesn’t mean we’re perfect going forward. Every day is a challenge to stay away from the sin that keeps us from Jesus. We avoid gossip and other things that don’t show love to our neighbors. We stay away from people who encourage us to sin and surround ourself with people who try to live faithfully and committed to God. When we remove sin from our life and humbly ask God to keep us clean, we can enter His presence. God’s presence is the best place to be because it is full of everything He is: love, joy, peace, faith, healing, and hope.

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Read: Ephesians 4:21–24

You have probably seen a caterpillar crawling on a leaf. When the time is right, that caterpillar will spin a cocoon around itself. Later, it will transform into a butterfly and emerge as its new self. It won’t do the things it used to do anymore. Butterflies don’t crawl along the ground, but instead, they have wings to fly. Even its diet changes from leaves to sweet nectar. A new life calls for a new way of living for the butterfly.

The same should be true of us when Jesus enters our life. We stop some of the things that we used to do. We must let the Holy Spirit living in us work in and through us to change the way we do everything—even down to the words we say and the thoughts we think. Sin is left behind, so like a butterfly, we can soar to the new plans and purposes God has for us.

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Read: Mark 11:18–19

The religious leaders had heard about Jesus turning over tables and clearing out the temple. Instead of realizing that Jesus’ actions were good, they plotted to kill Jesus. When Jesus ran those selling animals for sacrifices out of the temple, most likely it cut into the money the religious leaders were getting as the ones in charge of the temple. Instead of learning, they responded with anger.

How do you react when the adults in your life correct you? Do you argue and try to explain away what you did? Or do you recognize their authority and humbly accept the loving correction they give you? When we are corrected, we have to ask forgiveness with our words, and we have to mean it in our heart. God’s correction makes us clean.

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Read: Mark 11:15–17

In the Bible, the temple was the sacred and holy place where God would be close to His people. The temple was built of the finest materials because God deserved that. In the temple, God wanted everything to remain sacred and treated with honor. Why? God is holy,  pure, and without sin, and He wanted His people to know that where they came to worship Him should be pure and clean as well.

We can understand Jesus’ anger when He saw that people were using His Father’s house as a place to buy and sell. His Father’s house was meant to be sacred and honored. Like the temple in the Bible, our heart is a place where God lives. Just like greedy people buying and selling brought “dirt” into God’s house, sin is what makes our heart dirty. But when our heart is clean and pure, we can have the kind of home that God deserves. Our heart will be clean and pure when we ask God to forgive us for the wrong things we’ve done.

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Read: 2 Corinthians 9:10–13

The things God has given to you aren’t meant for you alone. When you give of your money, your local church can grow, and the kingdom of God can grow around the world. When you give of your time, people will know that you care. You will be sharing the love of Jesus with them. When you give of your talents, you’re using the skills and gifts God has given you to help other people see Him. When we give back the things God has given to us, God is glorified and made known.

The Bible helps us to understand that when we live generously, not only will people’s needs be met, but also they will thank God and come to know who He is. Living generously with your gifts isn’t about you. It’s about making Jesus known to others. It’s about helping others understand the generous love of God because they’ve seen His generosity in you.