Morning Devotional:
A recent magazine article addressed why change is so difficult for people. The author explained that most people fail to distinguish between technical change and adaptive change. A technical change is pretty straightforward. You secure the resources and skills to fix something, so you fix it. An adaptive change, however, is a change that is much more difficult because it involves soul searching, learning, and changing who we are and how we live. With that distinction, a person can easily understand why change can be difficult to accept because the most significant changes in life are adaptive ones. Those changes involve changing ourselves.
When the people in Jesus’ day sought Him out, they were looking for change in their lives. Take for instance the moment when Jesus healed the paralytic in Luke chapter five. He had a physical ailment that needed healing, a problem that could be easily fixed by the Lord. But spiritual change was what he needed most and bringing about that soul change of repentance was foremost on Christ’s mind. When Jesus asks in verse 23, “Which is easier, to say ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk,” Jesus offered him a total life change overhaul. He got it, too when he not only got up and walked home but walked home forgiven.
– Beth
Burning Question:
When did you take a sour situation and make it sweet?
Bible Quiz:
Question: Matthew 22:39 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What Old Testament book is Jesus quoting in this passage?
Answer: Leviticus (19:18)
Storytime: It was a circus of Helping!