Daily devotion – Fitting God in when we can.
You would have heard the phrases, “Bring some closure,” or “Time heals all wounds.” Over the years, I have heard people use these expressions in an attempt to help those who are suffering grief or loss. They are often well-meaning, but like another old saying—“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me”—they simply don’t ring true.
When we grieve, there is no such thing as real closure. Grief continues. There are good days and bad days—sometimes even good hours and bad hours. Likewise, time does not erase grief. Life moves forward, yes, but the ache remains, especially when a loved one has been taken. And words? Words truly do hurt. They cut deeply, and they often stay with us far longer than we expect.
I say all this because it is Friday as I write this devotion, and this morning I am still deeply troubled by the events at Bondi. The emotions continue to rise and fall, especially as I watch the funerals and remember, in particular, a little girl who was shot and killed—murdered—simply because she was Jewish and at the beach.
Australia, Bondi, and each of us will never be the same since that fateful Sunday.
We are complex creations, made in the image of God—a God who weeps.
As His creation, we were never meant to live in isolation. Being alone, independent, and disconnected is not how God designed us. We belong in a family—the family of God. We are sheep who need both a flock and a Shepherd.
Being an active and persistent part of God’s Church is not merely an obligation, as though God is ticking a box because we showed up. No—each of us, as believers, has been given something, a gift, that benefits the rest of the flock and helps us all walk rightly before God.
The Bible tells us that we are the body of Christ—His Church.
In these Last Days, there is a growing trend to fit church in around what we consider more important things. Attendance becomes casual, commitment negotiable—after all, “we can catch up later.” Yet we always make time and give resources to what we truly value most.
I pray that as we draw closer to the Rapture of the Church, each of us will remember our Saviour, Jesus Christ—who put aside heaven and all its glory, stepped into the frailty of a child, and entered this broken world so that He might rescue us.
Those who have been forgiven much will always love much.
Let us examine our schedules and honestly ask where God sits in our personal “pecking order.”
When Christ calls us home, I want to be in the place where He would expect me to be, serving Him and loving Him.
Hebrews 10:23–25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.