August 24, 2023

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.

 

Romans 3:23-25

Devotional

Did you know that in this third chapter Paul uses the word faith, or pisti in Greek, nine different times?

 

That’s good news!

 

That means we don’t have to have all the answers. Too many times we search, Google, and beg for the answers; we want everything to be a simple “yes, that’s ok” or “no, we don’t believe that,” when the answer sometimes is simply “it’s ok not to know.”

 

When I first came to Peachtree Church, I was so encouraged to see that curiosity is part of our GrACE habits. The more I think about it, the more I become certain that curiosity, especially about the world around us, is a holy and moral virtue that is required as disciples of Jesus. Jesus asked questions, ate dinner with those considered less than, and sought after God through scripture. We have the freedom to be curious and to seek because, as Paul said, “…through the shedding of Jesus’ blood, we are received by faith.”

 

Part of the beauty of this community is that we have a place to be vulnerable and to show up with curiosity about ourselves and others. We get to engage in holy conversation together without having to know all the answers because we are justified, or made right, by grace through our faith in Christ. That is good news.

For Reflection


What can you be curious about this week?

 

How can your curiosity help spread the love of Christ in your community?

Prayer


God, thank you for holy curiosity and thank you for the freedom to not have all the answers. Remind us how big and mysterious you are. Remind us that we are saved through the blood of Christ and on a journey to know you better day by day.

 

Jesus, help prompt our curiosity of you first. Help fuel the desire to go to the deep end of knowing you with the faith that we are covered by your grace. Then, Lord, help us have a holy curiosity to know the people and the world around us. Amen.

Morgan Kennedy
Teaching & Learning Director
404-842-2170