Being Graced Daily Devotions

Pastor Steve Bond's daily devotions, serving among the people of Community of Christ Lutheran Church, Whitehouse, Ohio

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Not only can we count on God to get done what God wants done, but it turns out that what God wants done is for the world to flourish.  It may happen in surprising ways, but this is how God's purpose works.

Found Family: What God Wants Done--July 17, 2026 https://t.co/17pls5n8u7

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

If God really is the One doing the saving in the big scheme of things, we have to admit we don't have control over who's in. 

Found Family: The Subject of the Sentence--July 16, 2026 https://t.co/wVOq0Gwhnu

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

In a way, the central question of the Hebrew Scriptures is, "Will we remember WHO we are, because of WHOSE we are as God's people?" When the people of Israel remember their identity, they are a light to the nations. When they forget, things go badly.

https://t.co/n4bOkFDt2i

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Hey friends!

We've got a new episode of Crazy Faith Talk to share this week. How will WE respond when God turns out to be more gracious than we expected, or when God shows mercy to the people WE thought were unworthy?

https://t.co/U9KMqqf7kJ

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Jesus never fit the categories of the people around him, whether the religious leaders or the political powers. It's no surprise, then, that Jesus' followers met with the same confusion and hostility from the religious and political forces of the Empire.

https://t.co/IWvAondXZ3

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Because we are joined to Christ, who has taken all the world's sin and nailed it to his own cross, it's not there to be held against us anymore. 

Found Family: All Our Chips on Grace--July 15, 2026 https://t.co/WHdi2GxTCh

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

God doesn't rule the world like Rome does, by fiat and force and coercing compliance, but more like a farmer who plants... and waits... and risks that some of the effort will appear to have been wasted.

Found Family: Yes, Seriously--July 14, 2026 https://t.co/gh3JMOSrCk

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Word for the Week:
(drawn from Matthew 13:24-30,36-43)

God would rather look foolish saving what God loves than to risk losing any one of us.

#WordForTheWeek

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

To hear Jesus tell it, God is more concerned with saving and preserving what is “good” than in zapping what is “bad” or in looking “tough." Jesus' story gives us a surprising picture of the way God rules the world.
https://t.co/al7B8HKDeZ

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

God is willing to bear with the reality that some of God's effort in the world will be met with rejection or disappointment... and yet God goes through with giving abundantly anyway.
Found Family: More Important Than Productivity--July 13, 2026 https://t.co/uLfHFA6m7l

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

So much of our view of the world is soaked in the assumption that you have to be ready to destroy somebody else to make sure that you come out on top. And yet, God offers a disarming (literally) alternative.

Found Family: Divinely Disarmed--July 10, 2026 https://t.co/zwwYe7kaVW

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

When Jesus calls us to take his yoke, he is summoning us to abandon our old loves and wish-lists and to take his loves, his priorities, and his way of engaging the world as our own, to make us more alive.

Found Family: More Than A Metaphor--July 9, 2026 https://t.co/rwfRPtN2zl

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

The story of the Exodus shaped the way of life for the Israelites as they remembered being freed from slavery, cared for in the wilderness, and being led into a new way of life marked by justice and mercy.

https://t.co/eNcImI1nAo

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Human beings end up worshiping power because we think that's what makes God... God. But Jesus insists that we don't really know what the heart of God is truly like until we see Jesus' own self-giving way.

Found Family: God-ness and Goodness--July 8, 2026 https://t.co/sZeGLnU7nx

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Hey friends!

Here's a new episode of our weekly podcast, "Crazy Faith Talk," to check out, as we continue our series, "Bible Stories We Wish We Had."

https://t.co/7S9jnLlVlG

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Is God way beyond all of us… or near to each of us? The apostle Paul told a crowd of curious listeners that both are true at the same time as he brought them the news of Jesus in the city of Athens.

https://t.co/3s37GfaTpN

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

We can't reason our way into understanding how God works, calculate the limits of where God's love can go, or deduce rules which God must follow because we say so. God's love reshapes our vision.

Found Family: Unexpected Epiphanies--July 7, 2026 https://t.co/qDYCqizxIh

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Word for the Week:
(drawn from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

God’s way of ruling looks less like a conquering army and more like a flourishing field.

#WordForTheWeek

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Planting a prairie meadow, much like sowing seed in a farmer's field, means taking the gamble of not knowing exactly how things will come up, but it's worth it for whatever does come up and grow. Jesus says that's how God runs the world.

https://t.co/niLDybeUZs

[Being Graced Daily Devotions @BeingGraced]

Instead of distracting ourselves, we can look where Jesus directs.  It can be difficult--and scary--but the alternative is a zombie life in which we are unmoved or unaware of what is going on around us. 

Found Family: More Than a Shrug--July 6, 2026 https://t.co/ymjydR78Jh