Daily Devotions

YOUNITED Day 2

Scripture: Psalm 33:5 The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

Devotional: Knowing God means knowing His character, and this passage demonstrates God’s heart for righteousness and justice.  Love is what fuels righteousness and justice.  And when we lack love, unrighteousness and injustice is sure to follow. 

The stories and images that we’ve repeatedly seen over the past several weeks show us all too well what can happen without love.  It’s sickening to view outright hatred. But the reality is, most people don’t set out to live their lives with hatred – it’s a slippery slope that eventually lands an individual into a very dark place. 

Racism can be viewed as an absence of love.  It’s an inability to see another human being as just that – a person created in the image of God and loved deeply by Him.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to love all people, and have been given the ministry of reconciling all to God through Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf.  That’s what love does.  And when we’re about the business of love, it’s hard to hate your brother.

Reflect:

• Take some time to examine your innermost thoughts. Are there areas where you cease to see a person or group of persons’ humanity and begin to view them in a negative light? Be honest with yourself about those attitudes where you may lack love and confess that before God.

YOUNITED Day 1

Scripture: Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Devotional: In this week’s devotions we are focusing on our response to the racial injustice that exists in our culture today.  Injustice is a sin problem and it’s been around since the beginning of humanity. But that doesn’t mean we should accept it or turn a blind eye to it.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Today’s passage gives us insight into God’s heart on the matter.  He has shown us what is good, and that is to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.  So we begin this week with the personal responsibility we each have to do these things. 

What are your thoughts and feelings towards the current climate of unrest?   Does it frustrate you, make you feel uncomfortable, or does it cause you to feel compassion for the injustice that exists?  Perhaps it’s a mix of all.  But take some time to reflect upon how you can approach the current reality with justice, mercy and humility.

Reflect:

• What might it look like in our current climate for you to:
  • do justice?
  • love mercy?
  • walk humbly with God?