Readings

Old Testament: Exodus 19:1-16
Psalm 26
Gospel: Matt. 3:7-12
Epistle: Col. 1:1-14

Devotional
The tryouts were exhaustive. What is your bench press? Your squat max? Your 40 yard dash time? Height? Weight? Can you catch? Can you throw? Prove it. Prove yourself. And the emotional stress of the tryout increased in proportion to its exhaustiveness. Will I be accepted? Am I good enough? Have I earned a spot on the team?

Tryouts are stressful. Yet for some reason (perhaps we are worried a tryout is always ongoing?) we insist on living all of life as a tryout. Build the resume, show off your best qualities, hunt for likes on social media. Even our relationships become a tryout- lets prove ourselves to one another, then perhaps we can trust one another.

God is different. Always has been, always will be. Exodus 19 makes it clear: "You yourself have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you up on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore be holy, as I am holy." God's order is the opposite of ours. He bestows grace, mercy, and salvation, and then calls us to respond to it. He doesn't ask us to prove ourselves; he proves himself to us! Whether you are an ancient Israelite wandering in the desert saved from Egypt by the exodus, or a modern day Christian saved from death by the resurrection of Jesus, you have this in common- the God of the Universe has proven his love for you, over and over. So our motivation to holiness, our motivation to seek justice, our motivation to grow as people is very different: we strive not out of fear but out of gratefulness, we strive not out of anxiousness but out of rest.

Hymn
Nothing But the Blood

Prayer
We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us
from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the
kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he
has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal
joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.