The Gospel for Every Day
Each day, we slow down to align our hearts with God’s Rhythms of Grace.
This series, we turn our ear to God’s Call to Go
This week, we meditate on the theme of Slow to Anger throughout Scripture.
Today’s Scripture
As we focus this week on the God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, this famous Scripture from Galatians can be seen in a new light. It’s no wonder the fruit of the Spirit makes us look more and more like who God has always been.
Reading slowly, let God convict you by his truth and overwhelm you by his grace in Christ.
Galatians 5:16:26
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Gospel Meditation
Prayerfully meditate on the Scripture you just read using the rhythm Look Up, Look In, Look Out:
Look Up: What does this reveal about God?
Look In: What does this reveal about me?
Look Out: Where is Christ leading me today?
Closing Prayer
From Jonah 3 and Exodus 34
Father,
You did not clear the guilty by turning a blind eye to the evil in Nineveh, but warned them through your reluctant prophet, “Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
You were slow to anger when you gave them forty days to change
You overflowed with steadfast love when you saw their repentance, and relented from bringing disaster
Only you keep steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin
This new day, I turn from evil and call out mightily to you, trusting that you are still slow to anger, and that you still abound in steadfast love.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen
