March 14, 2021 8:00 pm
Decades ago, Dr. Jerry Motto discovered the power of a “caring letter.” His research found that simply sending a letter expressing care to discharged patients who had previously attempted suicide reduced the rate of recurrence by half. Recently, health care providers have rediscovered this power when sending “caring” texts, postcards, and even social media memes as follow-up treatment for the severely depressed.
Twenty-one “books” in the Bible are actually letters—epistles—caringly written to first-century believers who struggled for a variety of reasons. Paul, James, and John wrote letters to explain the basics of faith and worship, and how to resolve conflict and build unity.
The apostle Peter, however, specifically wrote to believers who were being persecuted by the Roman emperor, Nero. Peter reminded them of their intrinsic value to God, describing them this way in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,” and lifts their gaze to God’s great purpose for them in their world, “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Our great God Himself wrote a book filled with caring letters to us—inspired Scripture—that we might always have a record of the value He assigns us as His own. May we read His letters daily and share them with others who need the hope Jesus offers.
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Hi again, and thanks for joining us for today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Alisa Morgan wrote our reading for today and titled it Caring Letters. Decades ago, Dr. Gerimoto discovered the power of a caring letter. His research found that simply sending a letter expressing care to discharged patients who had previously attempted suicide reduced the rate of recurrence by half.
Recently, health care providers have rediscovered this power when sending caring texts, postcards, and even social media memes as follow-up treatment for the severely depressed. Twenty-one books in the Bible are actually letters, epistles, caringly written to first-century believers who struggled for a variety of reasons. Paul, James, and John wrote letters to explain the basics of faith and worship and how to resolve conflict and build unity.
The Apostle Peter, however, specifically wrote to believers who were being persecuted by the Roman Emperor Nero. Peter reminded them of their intrinsic value to God, describing them this way in 1 Peter 2, verse 9. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. This lifted their gaze to God's great purpose for them in their world, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Our great God Himself wrote a book filled with caring letters to us, inspired scripture, that we might always have a record of the value He assigns us as His own. May we read His letters daily and share them with others who need the hope Jesus offers. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 1 Peter, chapter 2, verses 4 through 10. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.
They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Let's pray. Dear God, we know that letters are so useful to show love to one another. We can send notes of encouragement and prayer, friendship, success that brings joy and peace to those that we reach out to. Thank you for the scriptures which are filled with so many letters that give us personal insights into the writers themselves and their audiences. We thank you for this gift of caring. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. These encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-12-15 23:23:48 / 2023-12-15 23:25:24 / 2