Did you catch that!? God prepared good works for us to do, even before he created us! He designed us to complete the work he had already prepared for us!

God is love. His design for us is to do good works of love on his behalf!

He backed up the plan by sending Jesus to tell us, to remind us that our job, our greatest commandment, our business, is to LOVE God and to love our neighbors, our fellowman, as we love ourselves. That is the most important job on earth!

And who is our neighbor?

To paraphrase Marley’s ghost from the tale A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, “Mankind is our business. The common welfare is our business. Charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, and love are all our business.”

And who is our neighbor?

Mankind is our neighbor; humans on earth are our neighbors.

These operating instructions are explicitly clear! God assigned us to LOVE him and to LOVE our neighbors!

I don’t know about you, but I know I fail to LOVE from time to time. I’m sure of it! So, this year, I resolve to keep LOVE at the top of my To Do List every day and to remember my assignment, my God-given purpose, every single day.

Dear God, please forgive me where I have failed in my assignment and help me to LOVE more and to do good works in your name continually. Help me to forgive as I wish to be forgiven and to recenter myself in your LOVE over and over throughout my day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen!

This devotional was written and read by Bernice Howard.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

In John 15, Jesus shares his relationship with God and teaches how to have a relationship that brings full joy through our true vine and connection with God.

God loves us—always. God loves us when we sin. God loves us when we love. But we hate when we sin. And we love when we love.

Love can fill our hearts, but somehow we seem to struggle to allow this. Somehow, we see the world, and we want to take instead of give. Somehow, we seem to think that we will lack. We fear scarcity. We fear loss. We fear not having enough, not being enough.

Share love. You have been given everything—so give. No greater, more complete joy exists than to love others, and yet so often we do not. We blame instead of trust. Blame seems to give people the idea that it justifies their choice of behavior that follows. Instead, open your heart, let it fill with love, and let it flow.

God so loved the world that he gave his son to be sacrificed. Jesus so loved God that he submitted to his will and plan. In the garden, Jesus says, “take this cup from me,” yet he follows with “your will not mine.” He does not say, “This is a fine mess you’ve gotten me into.” He does not attack those who arrest him. He does not blame Judas. In fact, he loves and blesses him. How can that be? Well, because he is connected to the true vine and source of all love. His joy is full, and God so loves him that it is enough. He does not fear. He trusts and loves God. He submits to a plan that will end his human existence, but it keeps him connected to his source of joy.

Never let us forget that with the birth of Jesus, we have been shown and told that full joy can be ours if only we trust in God and allow our hearts to be filled with joy. Be joyful. Be loving. Look at all that we have been given, thank God for it, and share it with all you encounter. This is the greatest gift and the greatest joy the world has ever known.

As we pray today, let us know that the love of God fills our hearts if we allow it.

As the old hymn teaches us:

God, please help me to empty all but your love from my heart, my words, and my deeds. Teach me to let go of everything in me that is not your love, and may I be full of your joy, Amen.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by Susan Daves.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Let’s set the scene. Moses has just spent hours speaking to the entire nation of Israel, going back and forth with promises and dire warnings, presenting a stark contrast between some really good things and some really bad things that will happen to them depending on choices they make. It is in this context that he delivered the famous line, “I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Moses winds up saying, in essence, “But I’m 120 years old. I’m not going to live to see this. Joshua over here, he’s going to take over the leadership of this whole thing.”

He looks around a little vaguely, spots Joshua, says, “Joshua! Just the guy I was talking about. Come on up here, son.”

Joshua looks a little sheepish, mounts the steps to the platform. Moses faces Joshua, looking him straight in the eye, grasps his shoulders, and delivers the lines we read at the beginning of this devotional.

Joshua looks around. There are people on every square foot of land as far as he can see, maybe as many as two million people, and the man who led their ancestors out of Egypt, who has gone before them for 40 years, who has talked with God himself, has just told all of them that he, Joshua, is going to lead them into the land God has promised.

And, he says, don’t be afraid or scared.

And, strangely, when Joshua looks back at Moses, his heart becomes calm. Because he has heard, to the depth of his soul, Moses words: “But the Lord is the one who is marching before you! He is the one who will be with you! He won’t let you down. He won’t abandon you.”

Do you, too, hear that promise, really hear it?

Father, your presence banishes our fear when we really take it to heart. Keep giving us that message so that we can rid our hearts of trouble. In the name of the Christ who came and lived as one of us to know our challenges and our fears, Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Donn King.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.