What About Jesus? Devotions

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260918dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’” Matthew 18:32-33 Canceled Debt Jesus once told a story about a servant who owed a king an enormous amount of money. The debt was so large that the servant could never repay it. When the king demanded payment, the servant fell to his knees and begged for more time. Then the king did something surprising. He did not give the servant more time. He canceled the debt completely. The servant walked away owing nothing. Soon afterward, that same servant found another man who owed him a much smaller amount. Instead of showing mercy, he grabbed the man and demanded his money. When the man could not pay, the servant had him thrown into prison. When the king heard what happened, he was furious. The servant had received incredible mercy, but he refused to show mercy to someone else. Jesus told this story to teach us about forgiveness. When someone hurts us, it can be difficult to forgive. The pain may be real. The offense may be serious. Forgiveness does not mean pretending that what happened was okay. But Jesus wants us to remember how much God has forgiven us. Every time we disobey God, we add to a debt we could never repay. We fail to love God as we should. We fail to love other people as we should. We think, say, and do things that go against what God wants. But God does not tell us to work harder until we have paid him back. Jesus paid our debt for us. On the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved. Because of what Jesus did, God forgives us completely. Our debt is canceled. That changes the way we look at people who sin against us. We do not forgive because their sin was small. We forgive because God’s mercy toward us is so great. The more we remember how much we have been forgiven, the more ready we will be to forgive others. Prayer: Merciful Father, thank you for canceling my debt through Jesus. Help me remember your mercy and show that same mercy to others. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260917dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22 No Keeping Score Three strikes and you’re out. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We all have limits for how often we will allow someone to offend us. We can understand and forgive one offense. Maybe even two. But if someone offends or hurts us three times? That’s it. So when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him, he thought he was being generous by offering to forgive seven times. Jesus had just been teaching his disciples about forgiveness. Peter thought his question showed the lesson was sinking in. Jesus’ response showed Peter, and us, just how much we need to grow in our understanding of forgiveness. He turned Peter’s generous offer of seven into a fraction. “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Jesus wasn’t giving Peter a bigger number to keep track of. Imagine getting to offense number seventy-eight and saying, “Finally! Now I don’t have to forgive you.” Jesus’ point was the opposite: stop keeping score. That is hard. When someone hurts us repeatedly, we remember. We keep a mental record. We can recall what they said, what they did, and how many times they have done it. Eventually, we decide they have used up their supply of forgiveness. Thankfully, that isn’t how Jesus treats us. How many times have you committed the same sin? How many times have you lost your temper, spoken selfishly, entertained the same sinful thought, or failed to love someone? Yet you have never reached the limit of Jesus’ mercy. He carried every one of those sins to the cross and paid for them completely. Jesus doesn’t stand over you with a tally sheet. He stands before you with nail-scarred hands and says, “You are forgiven.” Because his forgiveness has no limits, we don’t need to put limits on ours. We can put down the scorecard and forgive again. Prayer: Jesus, thank you for forgiving me again and again. Help me stop keeping score and freely forgive others as you have forgiven me. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260916dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20 God Meant It for Good Joseph didn’t call evil good. His brothers had betrayed him and sold him into slavery. Joseph described their actions honestly: “You intended to harm me.” But their evil intentions were not the only intentions at work. Joseph continued, “God intended it for good.” Through Joseph’s suffering, God placed him in Egypt. Through Joseph’s position in Egypt, God provided food during a severe famine. Through that food, God preserved Joseph’s family, including the family line through which the Savior would eventually come. The brothers intended harm. God accomplished salvation. That does not excuse what the brothers did. God did not approve of their sin. But their sin could not defeat his gracious plan. The same is true at the cross. Jesus’ enemies intended to silence him. Judas intended to betray him. Religious leaders intended to destroy him. Roman soldiers intended to execute him. Yet through their evil actions, God carried out his saving purpose. Jesus’ suffering became the means by which God rescued sinners. We cannot always see what God is accomplishing through the wrongs committed against us. We should not minimize evil or pretend that suffering is painless. But we can trust that evil never gets the final word. The God who turned Joseph’s suffering into the saving of many lives turned Jesus’ death into the salvation of the world. He is still able to bend what others intend for harm toward his good and gracious purposes. Prayer: Lord God, when I cannot understand the evil and suffering around me, help me trust your saving wisdom and your gracious purposes in Christ. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260915dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?” Genesis 50:19 In God’s Place Joseph had the power to make his brothers pay. He was a ruler in Egypt. His brothers had betrayed him and sold him as a slave. Because of them, Joseph had endured years of hardship, false accusations, and imprisonment. Now they stood helpless before him. Joseph could have acted as judge, jury, and executioner. Instead, he asked, “Am I in the place of God?” Joseph was not denying that his brothers had sinned. He was refusing to claim a position that belonged to God. Judgment and vengeance were the Lord’s responsibility, not his. When someone hurts us, we often want to take God’s place. We replay the offense, pronounce the person guilty, and decide what punishment would be fair. We may refuse to speak to them, hope that they suffer, or look for an opportunity to hurt them back. But God has not called us to be his executioners. He calls us to forgive. That does not mean pretending that sin does not hurt. It does not always mean immediately restoring trust or removing appropriate consequences. It means releasing our personal claim to revenge. We place the matter into God’s hands. We can do that because God did not treat us as our sins deserved. Jesus stepped into our place and received our punishment. God’s undeserved forgiveness frees us to surrender our desire for revenge and show mercy to those who have wronged us. Prayer: Merciful God, keep me from taking your place as judge. Help me entrust justice to you and forgive others as you have forgiven me. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260914dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” Genesis 50:15 Forgive the Unforgivable Years had passed, but Joseph’s brothers were still afraid. Long ago, they had been jealous of Joseph. Their jealousy turned into hatred, and their hatred led them to do something terrible. They sold their own brother into slavery and let their father believe Joseph was dead. But Joseph did not stay a slave. Through a remarkable series of events, God eventually placed Joseph in a position of great power in Egypt. Years later, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt looking for food during a famine. They were shocked to discover that their brother was alive and in such a position of power. Their father was thrilled to learn that his long-lost son was alive. All was well. But then their father died. The brothers were terrified. Maybe Joseph had only been kind to them in order to please their father. Maybe now he would finally get revenge. They could imagine punishment. They could imagine Joseph making them pay. What they could not imagine was forgiveness. Guilt can do the same thing to us. It reminds us of the worst things we have done. It tells us that some sins are too serious, too shameful, or too deliberate to be forgiven. We may believe that God forgives sins in general, yet still wonder, “But will he forgive this?” The answer is yes. God does not forgive reluctantly. He is not pretending to forgive while secretly planning to punish you later. Jesus already took the punishment your sins deserved. On the cross, he paid for every sin completely. Joseph did not take revenge on his brothers. He reassured them, cared for them, and spoke kindly to them. Your Savior does even more. When guilt tells you that God must still be angry, listen to Jesus instead. His cross says the punishment has been paid. His empty tomb says the payment was enough. What seems unforgivable to you is not beyond the forgiveness of Jesus. Prayer: Lord Jesus, when guilt makes me doubt your forgiveness, direct me to your cross and assure me that my sins have been paid for completely. Amen.   Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.