Start your day with the Daily Devotional Podcast — a Monday through Friday Bible study designed to help you pause, reflect, and connect with God’s Word. Each short devotional takes you deeper into Scripture, offering encouragement, insight, and practical application for everyday life. Whether you’re commuting, on a break, or beginning your morning routine, these devotionals will point you to Jesus and help you grow in your faith one day at a time.
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This reflection explores the complexity of becoming part of God’s family, recognizing that the Church is made up of people with very different backgrounds, wounds, failures, and stories who are nevertheless united through Christ. It reminds believers that Jesus’ sacrifice has broken down the divisions that would otherwise separate us, calling us to forgive, serve, and love our brothers and sisters as people for whom Christ bore the same curse He bore for us.
TheDaily Devotional Podcast
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“May the Lord bless you and keep you — and may His presence guide you this week.”
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Howdy everyone and welcome back to the Daily Devotional Podcast. As you're listening to this, the show has reached one year old. The intro to the show came out August 24th, 2025, a year to the day. One could get picky and say the first actual episode didn't drop until September 1st, but where's the fun in that? Before we get into the meat of the day, I want to share with you just a couple of stats that you've all helped us reach. This will be the 259th episode, which for me is so crazy to think about. Considering there are typically 260 weekdays in a non-leap year, we really did successfully record an entire year of devotionals. There's another crazy number. Nearly 10,000 downloads. You all have done an amazing thing by getting us there. But the craziest thing of all, we have listeners in 85 countries around the world. I am completely astounded and honored that this little project would reach so many people in so many different places. Before we have our pause in deep breath, thank you. This doesn't work unless you all listen and give the feedback and encouragement you have given. Thank you. So without further ado, let's pause, take a deep breath, and relax into God's presence. Today I'm reading Galatians 3, verses 24 through 29. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came. It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you were all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham.
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You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. Family. For some of us, that word brings to mind the warmest of fuzzy feelings, memories of all the joy that family can bring.
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For others of us, it brings to mind the deepest of pains, wounds that seem to never quite heal. Most of us probably fall somewhere in between, maybe leaning 51% in either direction on any given day. Given that the extremes do exist, though, it makes sense that being brought into a new family can come with some very complex relationship interactions. Yet throughout the New Testament, we're reminded that we are a family. With Jesus himself even saying that anyone who does the will of his father is his brother, mother, and sister. As much as we get to choose our faith in Jesus, we don't get to choose who's in our family of faith any more than we get to choose our family of flesh and blood. Is there anything more analogous to a dysfunctional family than the church? As one of my favorite current authors, Father Roland Rollheiser, describes it, this is paraphrased by the way. As part of the church, you are a family member of saints like Mother Teresa and Saint Peter, and equally the family member of murderers, cheaters, and addicts. Given the breadth, it can be daunting to imagine how to manage relationships like that. Especially if you come to the table with more than a fair share of pain associated with that word family. Luckily it's not in our hands to manage anyone but ourselves. God's family plan could have never been achieved if you or I had to manage it. And it's his plan that's one of the very pillars of hope that we have. Without Jesus bearing the curse of the law, you and I don't get to be a part of the promise of Genesis twelve. And all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you. All the peoples includes the very people our fleshly body would rather not be associated with, and it's the sacrifice that bore their sins as much as our own that brings us together. As it said in our passage today, there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, since you are all one in Christ Jesus. To look at your brother or sister in Christ as anything but that is to look at the crucifixion as just three criminals paying for their crimes. By not forgiving, not serving, and not loving each other as we love Christ, we deny his payment for our sins. God's family has just as much, maybe even more, dysfunction than our earthly families, but we should not lose sight of where God's family plan finally came to fruition. Alongside two criminals, arms spread wide, bearing our curse, buried for three days, and rising again so that we may be free from the stain of our own making and be embraced in the family He desired from the beginning.
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Before I close in prayer, here's a question to wrestle with.
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Who in my family of faith is hardest for me to see as brother or sister? And what might be Jesus inviting me to do with that resistance? Jesus, thank you for making us children of God and heirs of a promise we could never earn on our own. When I'm tempted to distance myself from those you've called my brothers and sisters, remind me that your cross has already made us family. Give me the humility to forgive, the courage to serve, and the love to see others through the grace you've given us both. Thanks for listening to the Daily Devotional Podcast, helping you to slow down, breathe, and reflect on God's Word. Even just a few minutes in Scripture can change your day, so be sure to subscribe and share today's devotional. May the Lord bless and keep you, and see you next time.
