September 3, 2023 8:00 pm
Fast-food restaurant worker Kevin Ford hadn’t missed a shift in twenty-seven years. After a video surfaced showing his humble gratitude for a modest gift he received to commemorate his decades of service, thousands of people rallied together to show kindness to him. “It’s like a dream, a dream come true, that nobody can even think of
this,” he said when a fundraising effort brought in $250,000 in just over a week.
Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah, was also the recipient of extreme kindness. He’d been incarcerated for thirty-seven years before the benevolence of the Babylonian king resulted in his release. “[The king] freed him from prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon” (Jeremiah 52:31–32). Jehoiachin was given a new position, new clothes, and a new residence. His new life was fully funded by the king.
This story pictures what happens spiritually when, out of no contributions from themselves or others, believers in Jesus’ death and resurrection are rescued from their estrangement from God. They’re brought from darkness and death into light and life; they’re brought into the family of God because of the extreme kindness of God.
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Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading, titled Extreme Kindness, was written by Arthur Jackson. Fast food restaurant worker Kevin Ford hadn't missed a shift in 27 years. After a video surfaced showing his humble gratitude for a modest gift he received to commemorate his decades of service, thousands of people rallied together to show kindness.
It's like a dream, a dream come true, he said, when a fundraising effort brought in $250,000 in just over a week. Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah, was also the recipient of extreme kindness. He'd been incarcerated for 37 years before the benevolence of the Babylonian king resulted in his release. Jeremiah chapter 52 verses 31 and 32 reads, The king freed him from prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. Jehoiachin was given a new position, new clothes, and a new residence.
His new life was fully funded by the king. This story pictures what happens spiritually when, out of no contributions from themselves or others, people who believe in Jesus' death and resurrection are rescued from their estrangement from God. They're brought from darkness and death into light and life.
They're brought into the family of God because of the extreme kindness of God. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Jeremiah chapter 52 verses 31 through 34. In the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the year Al-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the 25th day of the 12th month, he released Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and freed him from prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table.
Day by day, the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived till the day of his death. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your loving kindness and your forgiveness. As the hymnist wrote, Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Thank you for washing us and cleansing us to be white as snow. Help us to live as those who have truly been freed. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-03 20:25:11 / 2023-09-03 20:26:38 / 1
