Today Daily Devotional

They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
— Romans 16:4

What level of risk are you comfortable with? Are you willing to invest your money in something that could make a great profit but could also make a significant loss? Or would you rather keep your money safe in a bank?Priscilla and Aquila were two ministry colleagues of Paul, and we can find parts of their story in Acts 18. These two new creations, people who were united to Christ in faith and becoming more like Jesus, did risky things in the name of protecting Paul and providing for him in order to share the good news of Jesus more widely. They were risk-tolerant when it came to spreading the gospel. They understood that risks taken in the name of Jesus are not necessarily risky in the long term. That’s because the future of all believers is secure in Christ.Paul was grateful for these two new creations. The Gentile churches to whom Paul was able to minister, in part because of Priscilla and Aquila’s faith-filled risk tolerance, were also grateful.I am grateful too. God made new creations out of these former unbelievers, and as new creations they have shown us what it means to hold everything but God loosely.

Thank you, dear Father, for re-creating Priscilla and Aquila through the Spirit of Jesus and calling them to work alongside Paul, taking risks for the sake of spreading the gospel. Turn our hearts in that direction as you re-create us too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae.
— Romans 16:1

“Don’t call it ‘just a list.’” That was the advice of preaching professor Fred Craddock as he spoke about Romans 16. This collection of Paul’s friends, with names that are unfamiliar to many of us today, is not merely a list. Every person here has a story revealing a miracle of God’s grace.Take Phoebe, for example. Paul calls her a sister, and he commends her to his Roman readers as a diaconal servant from the church in Cenchreae, a harbor town near Corinth in Greece. Apparently she was a great help to many people in a town that saw lots of travelers come and go.To use the language of this month’s theme, Phoebe was a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Having come to faith in Jesus as Savior, she was a woman who was “in Christ,” and the old Phoebe was disappearing while a new Phoebe was coming to expression. By the work of the Holy Spirit in her, she was becoming more and more like Jesus, the greatest giver and helper of all. She was an ongoing reminder of resurrection life, pointing us all to God’s renewal of his whole world.That is what new creations, like the ones named in Romans 16, do. They become a great help to many people because they are in Christ, the one Savior and the greatest helper of all.

Lord, thank you for adding us to the gathering that includes Phoebe and all other believers. Make us more like Jesus so that we may be a great help to the world, a sign of your new creation to come. Amen.

Timothy has . . . brought good news about your faith and love.
— 1 Thessalonians 3:6

Paul was overjoyed! He had sent his disciple, Timothy, back to the city of Thessalonica to check on the church they had recently planted there. And Timothy had returned with amazing news!First, the background: Paul had spent only a short time in Thessalonica, establishing a community of Christ-followers, before an angry mob opposed to the gospel chased him off. Paul knew the deep challenges that the new Christians faced there in his absence, living in a culture that was deeply opposed to Christianity. He wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone had gone back to their former ways of life in Judaism or Greek tradition.But Timothy came back with a report that the new Christians in Thessalonica were standing firm despite the challenges. They remained full of faith in Jesus. They even longed to see Paul again!That doesn’t happen by accident. The God who raised Jesus from the dead also brought these people to life in him, and he kept them there. You might say that every standing-firm, new Christian was an ongoing resurrection story, a new creation, proof that God was up to something big: the renewal of all creation.If anyone is in Christ, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, there is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come!

Lord, all of us who are new creations in Christ are glad to have your resurrection power at work in us. Thank you! The old is going away and the new is coming. Help us to see and rejoice. Amen.

The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
— Acts 16:14

I would love to have been there, watching Lydia turn into a new creation. As our story begins, she has no idea who Jesus is. She worships and prays to God, but she doesn’t know Jesus, God’s Son, the Savior. But as she listens to Paul’s message about Jesus, the Lord opens her heart to believe in Christ. She is then baptized, along with her household, and she generously hosts Paul and his companions. What an amazing transformation!This is what the Spirit of God loves to do—lead people to Jesus, ignite faith in them that Jesus’ death has rescued this broken world from sin, help them to know that the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection are theirs too, and change them to become like Jesus. Sometimes God works in the heart of an adult like Lydia. Sometimes he starts with a child of Christian parents, like me. In every case, it’s the start of a process, a lifelong journey of renewal in which we grow more and more like Christ.Like Lydia, all who are “in Christ” are new creations, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17. They are being renewed and restored for full life with God. And, again, their transformation points to the colossal project God is working on, the renewal and restoration of his entire broken world. And when that is complete, his new creation will be fully here!

Father, you love to transform people. We love to see and hear about you doing that. Do it more and more. Keep the project going in each of us. We want to see more signposts of the new creation. Amen.

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived. . . .
— Acts 16:1

In the United States, where I live, it is common for people to have parents and grandparents from different countries or ethnic backgrounds. A neighbor or coworker might have ancestors from India, Africa, and Europe, for example.This wasn’t as common in ancient times, and that is why the writer of Acts points out that Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father. In his home community Timothy was unique in that way. Because of that, Timothy may have struggled to find a community in which he truly belonged. Was he Jewish? Was he Greek? Timothy became a believer in Christ, and the community of believers spoke well of him.When Paul and his missionary companions came along, they invited Timothy to come with them. As they discipled Timothy, they likely made clear that his faith, the faith given to him by God and by which he was “in Christ,” made him part of a growing, deeply bonded, and truly beautiful community: the church. Timothy, like them, was a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), part of a growing gathering of new creations.Today, if you meet other Christians, take note that together you are part of that growing gathering. Keep your eyes open for what lies behind the faces, the eyes. You’ll be seeing new creations. With you, they are signposts of God’s renewal in this world, pointing to his new creation.

Lord, help us to see all believers in Jesus as new creations, your handiwork, signposts of glorious things to come. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.