Christ Church Daily Devotion Oct 14 2023

God's desire is to include every person, as seen in the biblical stories. He reached out to Adam and Eve, started over with Noah, and now tries again with Abram. God wants to bless all people and make them part of His family. We should invite others to join us because that's what our Heavenly Father wants. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for October 14th, 2023. Today we will be reading from Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. The Lord had said to Abram, Go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Yes, we looked at this passage last week. We visit it again to be reminded of God's desire from the beginning to include every person. From the earliest biblical stories, we find read this God seeking to reach out and bridge the divide that the humans have created. From a heart and mind of grace, God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, but maintained a relationship with them. Even when it looked like the whole human experiment was going to need to be destroyed, God reached out through Noah to start all over again. Here in our passage for today, God tries again through Abram. And from the beginning of this relationship, God makes clear a desire to bless all of the people of the earth. It is that foundational desire, that purpose of God that is to motivate and guide God's people in our mission. God seeks for every person to be a part of the family of God. That makes us all potential brothers and sisters. We are to be constantly seeking and inviting those around us to become our siblings. Why? Our Heavenly Father said to. Today's personal worship option. Brian Wren wrote a beautiful song for communion titled, I Come with Joy. Here are two verses that fit our focus this week. I come with Christians far and near to find, as all are fed, the new community of love in Christ's communion bread. As Christ breaks bread and bids us share, each proud division end, that love that made us makes us one, and strangers now are friends, and strangers now are friends. We might even say, they're family.