Week One

God Loves You

Today's Scripture

Psalm 139:1-18; 1 John 3:1-3

Key Verse

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:14 NIV

1. In Psalm 139:7-12, what is the psalmist teaching about God's presence with us?

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2. What does it mean to see yourself as a child of God?

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Going Deeper

This psalm features King David singing about the wonders of God. David celebrates because while God knows the whole universe, God also knows and loves him intimately. This text, which we read, was sung in biblical times as a popular song of celebration and an act of praise. The message still resounds today: God knows all of us from our first breath to our eternal life.

There are countless things in Creation, but God specifically cares not only about our names but our lives, our struggles, and our joys as well. God is working for our good but gives us the choice to follow or to go our own way.

David chose to respond to God's offer of a loving relationship with praise, and his life was blessed for his obedience. David's psalm pushes us to consider how we will choose to live.

Trivia Tidbit

According to BBC Science, when first "knit together" in the mother's womb, a baby has around 300 bone parts. Some bones fuse together over time, and by adulthood we end up with 206 bones.

Going Deeper Questions

3. God is aware of all our ways and knows our words before we speak them. How does that thought make you feel about God? How can God know our thoughts and futures and yet still give us free will?

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4. "What we will be has not yet been made known" (1 John 3:2). As Christians, we do not know everything about heaven, but we do know that we will have a "spiritual body" and live in a perfect relationship with God and others. What does that mean? What will it be like then, and how should we be striving for it now?

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Day 2

Today's Scripture

Romans 8

Key Verse

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

Romans 8:15 NKJV

1. Paul begins this passage with these words of encouragement: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." What does this phrase mean to you?

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2. Read verse 15 aloud three times. How does this statement make you feel?

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Going Deeper

Adoption in the ancient world was a big deal, just as it is today. It was an important legal proceeding with witnesses. Those who adopted someone entrusted this child with their good name and reputation, as well a portion of their inheritance. Usually, this process involved the symbolic selling of the adopted person to the new parent. Thus, the adopted person was bought with a price and officially made a part of the family.

Paul tells us that God has taken this a step further, not only adopting us but also making us co-heirs to the kingdom. Not only that, we are invited to call God Abba, which is an Aramaic term meaning not just Father, but "Dad" or "Daddy."

We are invited to relate to God as we would to a loving parent. Children often do not understand or value the sacrifices parents make for them. This may be why in his letters Paul calls Christians to greater maturity. As we mature, we understand all that God has done to offer a relationship to us, just as adult children understand all their parents did for them over the years.

Trivia Tidbit

The Holy Spirit is referred to about twenty times in Romans 8 alone. That's sixteen more times than in the first seven chapters of Romans combined!

Going Deeper Questions

3. The price of our adoption was the death of Jesus Christ, God in human form, and yet we are allowed to call God our "Abba, Father." How will you celebrate and thank God for the love Christ showed us on the cross?

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4. What does it mean to "walk according to the Spirit" in our everyday lives? What does it teach us about people?

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Day 3

Today's Scripture

Matthew 5:1-12; 6:25-34

Key Verse

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33 NIV

1. In today's Scripture, consider the word blessed. What distinguishes being "blessed" from being "happy"?

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2. Worry is a troublesome cancer that removes God's peace in the lives of many of us. God's antidote to worry is for us to trust. State in your own words the trust Christ offers in Matthew...