The Reboot of Grace

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading, titled The Reboot of Grace, was written by Adam R. Holes. Over the last several decades, a new word has entered our movie vocabulary – reboot. In cinematic parlance, a reboot takes an old story and jumpstarts it. Some reboots retell a familiar tale, like a superhero story or a fairy tale. Other reboots take a lesser-known story and retell it in a new way. But in each case, a reboot is a bit like a do-over. It's a fresh start, a chance to breathe new life into the old.

There's another story that involves reboots – the gospel story. In it, Jesus invites us to his offer of forgiveness, as well as abundant and eternal life. And in the Book of Lamentations, Jeremiah reminds us that God's love for us makes every day a reboot of sorts. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. God's grace invites us to embrace each day as a fresh opportunity to experience his faithfulness. Whether we're struggling with the effects of our own mistakes or going through other hardships, God's Spirit can breathe forgiveness, new life, and hope into each new day.

Every day is a reboot of sorts, an opportunity to follow the lead of the great director who is weaving our story into his bigger one. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Lamentations chapter 3, verses 16 through 33. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust.

There may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him and let him be filled with disgrace, for no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion.

So great is his unfailing love, for he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. Let's pray. Father, thank you that your grace and forgiveness invite us to reboot and start over, whether we've walked away from our faith long ago or just as we awaken every morning. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. I'm Stephen Taver, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.