What do we do when we are brought low in life?

In our text today, Moses experiences a sudden fall. After he kills an Egyptian slave driver he is expelled from his life of luxury in the Egyptian palace. He flees Egypt and heads east.

Everything in Moses’ life changes. He marries a shepherd’s wife and becomes a shepherd himself. The prince becomes an exile -

he finds himself in the lowest of lows.

We don’t know how Moses felt about his fall. From the text it appears that he made the best of his circumstances. He accepts his new job and his new family. This is a good lesson for all of us when we fall.

What if Moses’ exile was exactly what Moses needed to be the leader he became to be? We can learn important things in our own failure and exile. Moses is eventually called by God to do a very difficult and important job to lead God’s people out of Egypt. God can use our time in exile to help us grow. Over and over again in Scripture, God uses the wilderness to teach his people.

Our own exile can come about from our own mistakes or perhaps from something outside of our control. If our hearts are consumed by bitterness and pride and anger, we will miss the opportunity to allow God to help us grow through our tough times.

A Beautiful Thing: Anointing at Bethany

Weekly Devotional 3.3.2025

“But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:7-8

Mary, Lazarus’s sister, used an expensive oil to honor Jesus as their guest, anointed Him, and prepared Him for burial. Though the disciples could not understand why she would use the rare oil this way, this humble servant gave her best for the sake of Christ. What do you value more than Jesus? Would you give that up to serve Jesus in faith and obedience? Reflect on how you can be a humble servant and give Jesus your best as a way to serve and honor Him. Lower yourself so that Jesus may be lifted up. Humble yourself so that He is exalted.

For the next few weeks we'll be looking at the life of Moses. So much of Moses' life echoes the life of Jesus and we're looking forward to diving in.

Moses is born in a time of genocide and suffering. The Hebrews were enslaved by the Egyptians. Moses' mother had to resort to sending her baby down the Nile. At that point, Moses' life hung on the compassion of others for survival - Pharoah's daughter found him and showed compassion, adopting him as her own. God isn't mentioned in this story in Exodus, but the providential care of God is in full display. Clearly, God's hand of protection was upon him admist all the dangers.

All of our lives have twists and turns. We have setbacks or grief that flattens us. But when we pray and offer ourselves to God, God has a way of redeeming and even using the hard things in our lives to guide and equip us. God's hand is there protecting and preparing us. Your life has a purposes in God's plan. God loves you and God knows you.

Where do you see care from others for you and the provision of God in your life?

Power Over All: Jesus Raises

Weekly Devotional 2.24.2025

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

This week, we continue to explore Jesus’ miracles and His power and authority over death! The two miracles we will focus on today are Jesus raising a girl from the dead and healing a woman who was hemorrhaging. From creation and sin to disease and death, Jesus has power and authority over all things, the ability to heal what is broken, forgive all our sins no matter how numerous or grievous, and bring those who are dead into newness of life by His grace. You have been brought into newness of life, where one day, you will be raised from the dead to eternal life with Jesus. We often feel that we need to see something extraordinary to call it a miracle, but God’s work in the life of every believer is truly miraculous.

Can you be lost at home? Can you be in a new and unfamiliar place and still not be lost?

Jesus consistently welcomes and spends time with outsiders and sinners, garnering criticism from the very religious.

In the story of the prodigal son, we see the father selling the family land to give the inheritance in advance in response to the younger son's request. This son went off and quickly squandered it. He decides to return in abject humility but the father runs to him in joy and celebrates. But the story doesn't end there!

When the older son heard of the celebration of the father, he was angry and resentful. How could the older brother be lost too?

The Prodigal son tries self-fulfillment embracing messages like "follow your heart." The problem is that this overlooks that we are flawed and sinful.

The Older Brother tries moralism embracing messages like "follow the rules." The problem is that this overlooks that we are flawed and sinful.

Elder brothers do good for others for themselves. Their hearts are based in fear based moralism, a great self-centeredness.

Jesus leaves the story unresolved. We're left wondering - he leaves it for us to finish with our own lives. How far away are we?

We must be honest about our own sin. Our obedience and acts of service are not a replacement for God's grace, but a response.

Jesus goes looking for the prodigals and moralists and invites all of them to experience the beauty of the grace of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the one who saved us. When we know him, we can enter the party with other forgiven sinners, letting go of resentment and bitterness and jealousy; and knowing in our bones that we are loved by God.

Power Over All: Jesus Forgives

Weekly Devotional 2.17.2025

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14

Jesus desires to heal the whole person, both from physical ailments and sin. Jesus’ healing in Matthew 9 reveals that His mission was not solely about calming storms or curing diseases, but ultimately about saving people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). His healing served as a foretaste of what the promised Messiah would accomplish by dying on the cross so that all our sins could be forgiven forever. Just like the conclusion of the story in Matthew 9, we can stand in awe and glorify God—not only for His power to forgive sins but also for His grace and mercy in doing so.

What does it feel like to realize that you’re lost?

Let’s look at maybe the most famous story of being lost - the story of the Prodigal Son. In our text today from Luke, the story begins with the father - “There was a man who had two sons”.

The younger son wants to make his own way. This is a common desire in our culture today - the world tells us to “live our true life” and “follow our heart”.

The prodigal son cannot even wait for his father to die before he asks for his inheritance. This would have been extremely offensive in Hebrew culture. The text says that the father gives the younger son half of his LIFE. As the son goes out on his own, he slowly begins to realize that he is not “living his true life”, but he is in fact lost.

There is an echo in this story of the Garden of Eden, the Israelites slavery in Egypt, and the Israelites exile in Babylon. This is a story that comes up again and again in scripture and also in OUR lives. We often feel a longing for another place, our true home.

The younger son realizes that he is truly lost and his only hope of finding life is by returning home. He returns in shame but his Father takes his sons’s shame and accepts his son with grace and love.

This is the nature of our God. When we admit our own “lostness” and return to him, God gives us true life. He accepts us. He forgives us. He loves us unconditionally.

Power Over All: Jesus Heals

Weekly Devotional 2.10.2025

“Jesus bore the sins of people in his body on the cross, so that people could be healed through his stripes” 1 Peter 2:24

This week, we continue our mini-series on Jesus’ power and authority over creation, disease, sin, and death. The miracles in Matthew 8-9 show Jesus’ power and authority while simultaneously exposing the disciple's insufficient faith. Remember from last week that Matthew’s gospel goes from Jesus’ authority in His teaching to His power through miracles. The disciples first saw Jesus’ authority through His words and will now see it through His works.

The three healing miracles were about marginalized individuals in society and represented who the Kingdom of God was truly for: both Gentile and Jew, woman and man, and all who came to Jesus in faith. A person’s identity is not ultimately in physical ailment, ethnicity, or gender—a person’s identity is solely in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who has power and authority over all things. Jesus came to save the lost, the hurting, the broken, all by our faith. When the world rejects us, Jesus embraces us, draws us to Himself, and we join a new community of believers where we are one in Him.