READ: ZEPHANIAH 3:17; JOHN 11:31-36; ROMANS 12:9-21

A young man sits in his home, weeping. His mourning song goes unanswered by all but the One who hears everything.

A knock on the door startles him. An older man, a fellow member of the Body of Christ, comes in the house and, without prompting, throws his arms around the young man and weeps. The young man freezes. Then, slowly, awkwardly, he places his arms around the old man. A few of his tears, freed by the tears of the old man, leak out of his eyes despite his best efforts.

Then another believer comes through the door, a young woman this time, and joins the huddle. A middle-aged man with his child come in and follow suit. Soon a dozen believers surround the young man, letting their grief flow freely.

The young man’s pain, freed by the pain of those around him, finally dislodges the lump in his throat, and tears stream down his face. He opens his eyes and, for a moment, sees the face of his Savior, wet with tears.

A young man sits in his home, laughing and singing. His joyful song goes unanswered by all but the One who hears everything.

A knock on the door startles him. An older man, a fellow member of the Body of Christ, comes in the house and, without prompting, throws his arms around the young man and laughs. The young man freezes. Then, slowly, awkwardly, he places his arms around the old man. A few chuckles, freed by the laughter of the old man, leak out of his mouth despite his best efforts.

Then another believer comes through the door, a young woman this time, and joins the huddle. A middle-aged man with his child come in and follow suit. Soon a dozen believers surround the young man, letting their joy flow freely.

The young man’s joy, freed by the joy of those around him, finally dislodges the lump in his throat, and his voice sings out loud. He opens his eyes and, for a moment, sees the face of his Savior, singing along. • Taylor Eising

• Everyone who knows Jesus is part of His family, the church. In the church, we are called to share our joys and sorrows with each other. How does this reflect what Jesus does for us?

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15 (CSB)

READ: ISAIAH 41:10-13; 49:13-16; MATTHEW 10:29-31

My cell phone was set to full volume—there was no way I would miss this call. A small tech company had expressed interest in hiring a freelance writer to create promotional material for a new app, and they were considering me.

What an impressive addition to my writing portfolio! Actually, it would be the only addition so far. I was just starting out. I could pay the electric bill and get a long overdue haircut. My mind was churning out ideas and making plans and…then the call came. They had changed their minds and gone with someone else. No reason, no explanation, just a big no.

The disappointment washed over me like a mini tsunami. I didn’t know what to do, so I called out to the Lord. He reminded me of Isaiah 49:16, “Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”

My walls were closing in on me. Fear gripped me. I didn’t know how I was going to pay the rent or bills. I didn’t even know whether another opportunity was around the corner…or miles down the road.

What I did know was in God’s Word. I held on to His promises. The Lord knows exactly what’s going on with me. Every detail. Every moment. He has helped me through tough times and disappointments before, and He will again, because He loves me. He is in control, and He will work out the details. Nothing can stop His good purposes, His kingdom will never be shaken, and His people will never be outside of His loving presence and care (Romans 8:28-39).

Whenever it feels like the walls are starting to close in on us, we can go to Jesus. And we can go to the Word—God’s love letter to us—and find hope. • Rosemarie Pagano

• In Isaiah 49, God comforts His people who are in exile. He promises to be with them in their hurt and to one day restore them from their sin and brokenness. We now know that all God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). As Christians, how can His promises to be with us and to restore us from sin and death affect the way we view the tough circumstances we face?

• When you feel overwhelmed by a mini tsunami of disappointment, fear, or sadness, who are trusted Christians in your life who can support you and remind you of God’s promises?

Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Isaiah 49:16 (CSB)

READ: LUKE 19:10; JOHN 3:15-21, 36; ROMANS 8:14-17; 1 JOHN 3:1

Oliver, the cat I adopted years ago, is asleep on the couch beside me right now. He’s gained a little weight over the years, and now he’s quite fat and happy. He’s had a wonderful life since he decided to trust us and take the gift of grace my family extended to him that week we left food out on the porch. And now he’s reaping the benefits!

But about a month after Oliver joined our family, another cat was spotted wandering around our house. He was a beige cat with orange spots, and he was very skinny. We’d see him jumping in and out of our garbage can, searching for food. I named him Popeye, and he looked like he was in pretty bad shape.

In my cat-adopting enthusiasm (I may have a small problem), I left a bowl of food out for our new guest! Popeye was afraid—I could see it in his eyes. He never let anyone from my family get within ten feet of him before darting into the woods.

Every once in a while, he would venture up to the porch for a few bites of food. But I only saw him a few times before, one day, he took off and never came back.

The same grace that was extended to Oliver, the fluffy, chubby gray cat sleeping beside me, was extended to the fearful cat who spent a few cold weeks living in our garbage can. If Popeye had only accepted our free gift like Oliver had, his life would look a lot different.

This was another huge lesson about grace that I learned from cats. If we reject the free gift God is offering to us—the gift of adoption into His family and eternal life with Him—we only hurt ourselves. But when we embrace the gift, when we open our hands to the grace God wants to shower on us, our lives will never be the same. • Emily Tenter

• What questions do you have about God’s gift of grace and adoption? Who could you talk to about these questions? (For more about what it means to receive this gift, check out our "Know Jesus" page.)

• What are some of the reasons someone might reject Jesus’s gift of eternal life? How can we pray for people who don’t know Jesus yet?

• Even when we reject God, He keeps pursuing us. He has compassion on us when we’re hurting, and He never gives up on us. One of the ways He reaches out to us is through the kindness and gentleness of His people. How could you show someone around you the love and grace of Jesus?

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15 (NLT)

READ: ROMANS 3:20-24; EPHESIANS 2:8-10

Being adopted by my family wasn’t the only way my cat Oliver demonstrated a lesson of grace to me. You see, it’s common for cats to leave little presents for their humans. And when I say “little presents,” I mean dead mice that we’d find just outside the front door. Cats leave dead animals to show loyalty to the humans who take care of them—how cute is that?!

As you can probably imagine, my family had no use for dead mice. But I can’t tell you how excited I was when Oliver began to demonstrate to my family that he loved us back!

That’s how God’s grace works in our lives. He pours His grace out on us. He’s the One who gives us every single blessing we have (James 1:17). And what do we have to give Him in return? Dead mice! Isaiah 64:6 says that all our good deeds “are nothing but filthy rags.” That means the best we could ever give to God is still trash. Like dead mice.

But you know what? I still smiled when I saw those mice because they meant that my cat—the cat I adopted and named and loved—loved me back!

God offers to save us from sin and death and bring us into His family with no strings attached. I didn’t adopt Oliver because of anything he could give me in return. And even if he never gave me a dead mouse, I still would have adopted him. Our God treats us the same way. We don’t have to do anything to earn His grace—and we couldn’t even if we tried—but once we know Jesus, we begin to respond to the heaps of grace He has dumped on us.

Going to church, obeying parents, telling a friend about Jesus, working hard without complaining—those are all dead mice. They will never earn us eternal life. Our relationships with God are already secure because of what Jesus did when He died on the cross and rose from the grave. But Jesus still wants what we have to offer. Because even though He doesn’t need our offerings, He still delights in them, and He uses them for good in His kingdom. • Emily Tenter

• What are some of the “dead mice” you offer God? Can you think of a time you compared your “dead mice” to those of other people? Why is that wrong? (1 Corinthians 12:12-31)

• If the best gifts we can give God are still worth so little, why does it matter if we give them at all? (Hint: read 1 Corinthians 12:7; Philippians 2:13; 1 Peter 4:10)

When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6 (NLT)

READ: LUKE 15:1-7; COLOSSIANS 1:13-14; 1 PETER 2:22-25

I’ve learned a lot about God’s grace from my cat. I know that sounds weird, but hear me out! When I was in high school, I looked out the living room window and saw a fluffy gray cat striding through the trees in our backyard. After talking with all the neighbors, we concluded that he had no home. So, I made it my mission to give him one!

I began leaving small bowls of food out on the porch for him. I was delighted to see him creep up the steps one day to eat. He came back every day for food, slowly becoming more comfortable with my family. It wasn’t long before he allowed us to pet him.

A few days after that, my mom was cooking dinner in the kitchen, and when she turned around he was sitting on the floor staring up at her. He just snuck right inside the house! I named him Oliver, and in no time at all my entire family considered him to be a permanent resident. We gave Oliver a home, an identity, protection, love, and even medication for a nasty ear infection. We embraced our new furry buddy with open arms. What exactly did this homeless cat do to deserve any of it? Absolutely nothing. Does that sound like grace to you? Because it sure did to me!

I was reminded of how God adopts us and gives us a new identity. Without Him, we’re all broken. But Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” The entire Bible is one enormous story of grace. God showed grace to the nation of Israel, even when they messed up time and time again. This pointed forward to how God would show us all grace in Jesus. He came to die on a cross and rise from the grave to offer us the free gift of salvation! Through Jesus, we can become children of God—fully forgiven, forever saved from sin and death.

There is nothing we have done or ever could do to earn such an enormous gift, but Jesus gave Himself for us anyway. And He did it so we could have a family, an identity, love, and eternal security…just like Oliver. Only better! • Emily Tenter

• In what ways can you relate to Oliver the cat?

• What are some ways God has shown grace to you in your own life?

• Without that grace, how do you think your life would be different?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

READ: MATTHEW 1:18-25; LUKE 2:1-21

I was gifted a beautiful Advent wreath for Christmas. The ceramic candleholders depict a winter scene, with the four words that represent the four weeks of Advent labeled in gold. I must admit, for a few years the labeling bothered me. The word wonder was used for the first week of Advent instead of hope. When I hear the word hope, I think of anticipation for something to happen. When I hear the word wonder, it makes me think of feeling doubt or surprise at something beautiful and unexplainable. For me, hope and wonder weren’t interchangeable words.

Then one year, while reading Matthew 1, I considered Joseph’s point of view. Joseph had to wonder, “What on earth is happening?” In good faith, he’d pledged to be married to Mary. She’d accepted, then they found out she was expecting a baby that Joseph knew wasn’t his. He had doubts about the situation and formed a plan. Matthew 1:19 says, “Joseph…was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.”

After an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, he had even more to wonder about. The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (verse 20-21).

So Joseph accepted Mary as his wife. The message from the angel may have removed some of Joseph’s doubt, but for months he had to wonder what exactly was going to happen. After a long journey to Bethlehem, Mary gave birth. Joseph was there when the shepherds found the newborn Jesus and praised God for the message the angel had told them: “The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” (Luke 2:11). Joseph, Mary, and the shepherds witnessed something beautiful and unexplainable. Wonder was turned to hope by Jesus’s birth—for them, and for us. • Rose Ross Zediker

• For years, God’s prophets foretold the advent (coming) of the Savior. In dark days, the prophets’ message gave people hope of light coming into the world, yet they must have wondered how and when this Savior would come. Now we know the answers! When you read the Scriptures about Jesus’s birth, what makes you wonder— what questions or doubts do you have? And does anything fill you with wonder—with awe and amazement?

• Why does Jesus’s coming mean hope for the world? (If you want to know more, see our "Know Jesus" page.)

All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished. Luke 2:18 (NLT)

READ: 1 SAMUEL 1:9-20; MATTHEW 28:19-20; JOHN 16:33

Sun sets.

Moon rises.

Joy dies

Within me.

Silver stars

Cool and pure.

Pain inside

Black as night.

A prayer.

No answer.

I cry out

In the dark.

You still hear,

I will not fear.

Joy comes

In the morning. • Lorna Garlets

• Have you ever felt like there was no way anyone could understand the troubles you’re facing? We all feel like this at times, but the truth is, Jesus always understands us, and He always has compassion on us. God’s great love for us moved Him to endure the excruciatingly painful death of the cross and the cold darkness of the grave so that we could be with Him. Now, we can know that Jesus is truly able to empathize with us. He has entered into our pain, and when we are in distress, He sits beside us and weeps with us. (John 11:32-35; Hebrews 4:14-16)

• If we know Jesus, we can rest knowing that everything will be okay—perhaps in the near future, and certainly when He returns and makes all things new (Revelation 21:1-5). As we look forward to the glorious dawn of the new creation, how does Jesus’s promise to be with us give us the freedom to lament, to honestly cry out to God in all our pain and sorrow? Consider taking a moment to bring Him your lament.

Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5 (WEB)

READ: GENESIS 1:26-31; COLOSSIANS 3:17; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:11

I grew up around gamers. I remember spending hours of my childhood curled up on the couch watching my older brothers, Tony and AJ, play Legend of Zelda. I admired their skill and problem-solving abilities, and I often wished I could play as well as they did.

Many people look down on video games, considering them a waste of time at best and a corrupting influence at worst. But is that always true? It’s true that we can sometimes spend too much time and money on video games, and it’s true that some games contain questionable content. But did you know video games are also one place we can reflect God’s image?

We are created to create because we are created in the Creator’s image (say that five times fast). This allows us to make incredible works of art using all kinds of different mediums. Since the beginning of time, we have been painting, sculpting, writing, singing, and directing plays. And now that artistic expression can be found in developing video games.

Video games can actually tap into our good, God-given desires and abilities to be creative and to solve problems. Many games require strategic planning skills— including resource management, cooperation, and persistence—and all of these skills are vital to the kingdom of God. And many games are played alongside other people, creating a wonderful opportunity for community and connection.

I’m not saying everyone should play video games. I’m just saying that God can be glorified in all our hobbies, including video games. Even though our world is broken by sin, Christ died and rose again to save us from sin and death. He redeems our creativity. So, if we’ve put our trust in Him, we are free to serve and glorify Him in our daily endeavors. As the Creator, God loves beautiful art, and He loves a problem well-solved. And He loves it when we have fun!

So, as Christians, we can think carefully about any art form we create or consume, including video games. And as we enjoy the creativity, strategy, and cooperation found in video games, we can give praise to the Originator of all creativity, strategy, and cooperation, who loves us more than we could ever imagine. • Taylor Eising

• Where do you see God’s creativity in video games or other things you enjoy doing? Consider taking a moment to thank Him for this!

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT)