Our Daily Bread September 5th, 2024 Devotional: Grace Now
OUR DAILY BREAD DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR 5 SEPTEMBER 2024 MESSAGE
Today’s Topic: Grace Now
Bible in a Year: Psalms 146-147; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28
Bible Verse: [Love] is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. – 1 Corinthians 13:5
Today’s Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-13
Insight: Writing to a divided church in conflict and deficient in love, Paul instructed the believers at Corinth how to love one another and described what true love looks like (1 Corinthians 13:4-13). Jesus taught that love is a requirement for those who believe in Him. Loving God and our neighbor are the most important commandments for “the entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:40 nlt).
Building on the original standard of “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 39), Christ sets a higher standard, patterned now after His sacrificial love. He wants us to “love one another [as] I have loved you” (John 13:34). Calling it a new commandment, Jesus said love was the distinguishing mark of those who believe in Him (v. 35). Loving others is proof that we’re God’s children who’ve experienced His love (1 John 4:7-12, 19-21). By: K. T. Sim
Our Daily Bread September 5th, 2024 Devotional Message:
We hurried to a fast-food restaurant to have lunch together on my friend Jerrie’s short work break. Arriving at the door about the same time, six young men got inside just in front of us. Knowing we didn’t have much time to spare, we grumbled inwardly. They stood as a group at both registers to be sure each of them could order first. Then I heard Jerrie whisper to herself, “Show grace now.” Wow! Sure, letting us go first would have been nice, but what a great reminder to think of others’ needs and desires and not only my own.
The Bible teaches that love is patient, kind, and unselfish; it’s “not easily angered” (1 Corinthians 13:5). “It often . . . prefers [others’] welfare, and satisfaction, and advantage, to its own,” wrote commentator Matthew Henry of this love. God’s kind of love thinks of others first.
In a world where many of us are easily irritated, we frequently have occasion to ask God for help and the grace to choose to be patient with others and to be kind (v. 4). Proverbs 19:11 adds, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”
That’s the kind of loving action that brings honor to God, and He might even use it to bring thoughts of His love to others.
With God’s strength, let’s take every opportunity to show grace now. By: Anne Cetas
Reflect & Pray
In what ways might you need to not act out of frustration? How could turning to God help you?
I’m in need of Your help, God. I face many levels of irritation but want to instead be filled and overflowing with Your kind of love.
Scripture Union Daily Guide 31 August 2024: Inheritance Through Strife And Hard Hard Work
