I had a recent experience regarding trust that caused me to stop and consider the word and its deeper meaning. The veterinarian was to come and vaccinate our cat and horse early one morning. Usually, I must catch the cat and place him in the kitty box before the veterinarian comes to the house. Since we were also vaccinating the horse, I took the kitty box to the barn the night before. Prince, the cat, always, rain or shine, comes to the barn when I feed the horse just to get a few strokes of appreciation. So, I thought when he came to the barn, I would catch him and place him in the kitty box. Prince saw me take the box to the barn the night before, and probably due to some bad memory about the box, refused to come into the barn the next morning. A bit later, I did manage to catch him and put him in the box. Following the veterinarian’s visit, Prince would not come near the barn or me. I believe it was because he had lost his trust in me. It took about a week before he would allow me to touch him again.

It reminded me of how I trust others. I do know that once I lose trust in someone, it takes a lot of time and dedication for that trust to be regained or earned. I will usually trust anyone unless there is a reason not to trust them. Are there times when our trust might be based on the part of town we are in or the nationality of a person, or the color of their skin? Following 9-11, I may have had some tendency to be suspicious or perhaps not trust those who might appear they be from the Middle East.

The scripture says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

What does it mean to trust in the Lord?

I do not know how the Lord speaks to you, but for me, it is through my intuition, a nudge, or perhaps at times a dream. Do I always pay attention, or do I lean on my own understanding? Probably not always. I have had several experiences in which I felt I needed to do something, such as making a phone call or stopping to visit someone. In too many cases, I have not followed up but leaned on my own understanding. Then that person perhaps died or moved away, and I regretted not listening to that still small voice that was encouraging me to take some action.

When we pray and ask God for help or direction, we may not like to hear, see, or feel the answer. The answer always comes, though we may not recognize it or agree with it. In the long run, it usually turns out to be the best outcome.

Dear God, help us to be more trusting of others and to trust in you. Amen.

This podcast was written and recorded by Emmit Rawls.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

The stated theme of our podcast organizers this month is "The 'And' of Faith: Grace and Good Works." Having been raised Lutheran, where Sola Gratia—by Grace Alone—is an oft-quoted slogan and Martin Luther was known for his dislike of the book of James, my first reaction to the theme was a little negative. I had to remind myself that Paul has taught me that when I accept the gift of God’s grace, my faith will grow, and it will naturally produce good works.

In the parable of the sheep and goats that today’s verse is taken from, the emphasis is generally put on the verses where Jesus recounts being aided. “When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink,” and the lesson is that all that is listed was either shared or it was not. Today, let us focus on what the sheep and goats have in common. Both the sheep who share and the goats who do not react verbally to the Lord in the same way, “When did we see you?” Both groups appear to lack the clear vision to see Jesus in others. However, one group shares what has been freely given, and the other group sees no need.

Two groups share the same blindness but do not make the same choices. Everyone must make choices. In life, choices are presented to us moment by moment, day by day, year by year, decade by decade. How often do we see Jesus in others, and how often are we blind? How often do we choose to share what is part of God’s gift to us with others, and how often do we let the opportunity to share escape us?

So it seems it is inevitable that we will all fail to see and share at times, and we must remember that no human will be the King that separates the sheep from the goats. It is not my mission to label the goats. But neither is it my mission to decide who is a sheep. In other words, not only is it not our role to decide who is a goat, Jesus is telling us that we can’t tell a sheep from a goat. I did not create the water that will quench someone’s thirst. But I can carry it to someone who is thirsty or not.

I have found over the years that a better question than who is a goat to ask myself is – when I interact with others, am I being a sheep or a goat?

We make things harder than they are. Let’s strive to make it simple. Don’t waste your energy and effort on trying to decide who is a sheep and who is a goat. But also don’t be an angry little goat butting heads with others, assuming you are right versus someone else being wrong. Don’t carry the burden that you are a judge. Instead, focus on the fact that those who have faith are led by the Shepherd. Be a sheep and accept that whatever you are faced with that you are in union with all in the herd. Leave your anxiety with a higher power. Those who have faith know that we are one and do not own anything. We are, for a time, given the grace to exist as part of God’s kingdom on earth. When we have faith, we follow the Shepherd.

Let us pray today that our Shepherd will lead us to clear and abundant waters. Lord, give me the faith to walk with your herd to water, making way for all of those we encounter to drink with us along the banks of your stream of earthly water and Living Water. May we be one with your body and spirit while here in your kingdom today, Amen.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by Susan Daves.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in...

Grace is the rock upon which Christian life is built and sustained. Through faith, grace transforms us so that good works naturally follow.

In James 2:17, we find that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” When grace moves us into action, we “go and do”.

Good works show that our faith is genuine and transformative.

Our good works are the visible evidence of an invisible faith, which is proof to the world that God’s grace lives within us!

Faith is not meant to sit still. It is alive, breathing, and moving because the grace of God never leaves us where it found us. James reminds us that belief without action is lifeless. True faith compels us to “go and do.”

Grace is God’s gift, freely given and unearned. But grace is never idle. When we truly receive it, it transforms our hearts, shifts our priorities, and stirs us toward acts of love, mercy, and service. It is grace that moves us to forgive when wronged, to give when it costs us something, and to speak truth even when it’s uncomfortable.

The world doesn’t just need to hear what we believe—it needs to see it. Every act of kindness, every choice to love, every step toward serving another is faith made visible. It’s grace in motion.

As you listen today, where is grace calling you to “go and do?” Is there someone you need to serve, forgive, or encourage?

Heavenly Father,

You have called me not only to believe but to live out my faith. Shape my heart so that my good works flow from love for You, showing the world that my faith is genuine and life-changing. May everything I do point others toward Your transforming grace. Amen.

This devotional was written by Gary Hensley and read by Joey Smith.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

My father, like many men of his generation, grew up working on his family’s farm. His father, my grandfather, had two jobs: he was a stationmaster at various train stations throughout East Tennessee, and he farmed. It wasn’t a huge farm, but he produced enough to sell or share with others. My dad recalled working alongside his father and learning how to cultivate and harvest many different plants and trees, including grape vines, from which they made jelly and juice. The grapes on these vines did not taste good at all. They weren’t cultivated to be eaten but to be used in other ways. As children, my brothers, sister, and I didn’t see much use for a grape that couldn’t be eaten, and one day, when we were visiting our grandparents, we decided the branches on the grapevine would be ideal for whatever project we were working on. Whether it was a mud fort or an imaginary sword, I don’t remember, but the four of us stripped several strong branches from the vine. Big mistake! We were soundly scolded for our actions and forbidden to touch the growing plants. Our sticks and twigs had to be those that had fallen on the ground naturally.

The branches we had pulled never had a chance to mature; they couldn’t fulfill their natural purpose. They had been separated from their source of life and were therefore useless.

I always remember that experience when reading this passage. We are the branches. Unless we remain connected to God through the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. We often fool ourselves and think we can manage life, but when challenges arise, and they always do, we find we are powerless. It is in difficult times that we are painfully reminded that we can do nothing on our own. There are many forces at work in the world that would separate us from the vine: greed, seeking power or fame, being swayed by false teachings, focusing on how others are different instead of acknowledging that we are all children of God. If we allow any of these things to control us, we are ripping ourselves from God. We are dead branches. We can do nothing.

It is up to us to remain connected to God through worship, Bible study, prayer, and service. We can separate ourselves from the vine through willfulness and the false belief that “I can do it myself,” but no one else can do it if we find our strength in these practices.

Dear God, we are so thankful that you hold us close, as branches on the vine, and give us the opportunity to find life and strength in You. Help us reject the forces that would separate us from You. Guide us to be fruitful in the service of your Kingdom. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Pat Scruggs.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

You are listening to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast produced by the people of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee.

This is Scripture Saturday, a time when we pause and reflect on the scriptures we have read throughout the week. If you missed any of our devotionals on these passages, you can find them on our website at 1stChurch.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, we invite you to listen and receive Grace.

Welcome and thank you for joining us.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

My objective today is to take this simple, straightforward message and complicate it to the point that you will never forget it. Now you might be saying, “What could possibly be hard about the phrase, Let us consider how to stir up one another? '” If you ask my wife, this is very clear; to stir is a cooking term. Stirring helps dissolve particles like sugar or salt into a solvent like water. Stirring creates a homogenous mixture by evenly distributing ingredients. It is also essential to keep things from sticking or cooking unevenly. And if you take a scientific approach to your cooking, you know that stirring can increase the rate of chemical reactions by increasing the frequency of collisions between reactant molecules. At this point, I would say thank you, dear, for those four different definitions. Although she is correct, I see it differently. You see, my friend used to frequently hand me a wooden spoon and say, “Owen, you are just trying to stir up trouble.” It had nothing to do with cooking.

So, what do you do for clarity when you are thinking about a scripture? For me, I look at other translations. The New International Version says we should spur one another on. Does this mean cowboy spurs? Ouch. The New Revised Standard Version says we should provoke one another. This doesn’t sound much nicer than getting spurred. The King James Version says consider one another to provoke. The Common English Bible says to consider each other carefully. The Amplified Bible moves to consider thoughtfully how we may encourage. It appears we have moved from my stirring up trouble to my wife’s blending and evenly mixing together.

Not to give up yet, it occurs to me that we could both have effective methods to bring people together if we remain focused on the true end state of working together with faith and good works. Many of the translations say love and good works; either expression is good with me. Regardless of our initial differences, if we act in love by doing good works together, we will form a bond (perhaps a chemical reaction) that transforms us into a stronger relationship with Christ and our neighbor.

One final translation for you. Let us keep holding one another in our thoughts, such that an explosion of love and good works results.

Father God, bring us together in relationship with you and each other such that we can demonstrate our faith by doing good works for our neighbors. May all that we do glorify our God. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Owen Ragland.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Just before saying these words, Jesus had told the parable of the sheep and the goats. In Chapter 24 and 25 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is sitting alone with his disciples on the Mt. of Olives, telling them of the time to come – a time in the future when the Temple would be destroyed, nation would rise against nation, famines and earthquakes would be in various places, and many would turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other. He told them that because of the increase in wickedness, the LOVE of most will grow cold. He told them of the future time when the abomination that causes desolation will stand in the holy place.

He goes on to say that, as in the days of Noah, before the flood, when people were living large, paying no attention to God, the end will come. In Chapter 25, he told them to keep watch, because you do not know the hour or the day. At that hour, on that day, the Son of Man will come in Glory with ALL the angels with him.

He said that ALL nations, ALL people will be gathered before Him and separated on His right and left – the sheep (those who LOVE and worship him) will stand on his right and the goats (those who are cursed because they do not LOVE and worship him) will stand on His left. As he spoke to them in this final judgment, he spoke the words from today’s scripture – “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

I think we all want to be on his right that day!

It can be easy to help our siblings – brothers and sisters from the family we grew up in, siblings from the same parents – even when we have resentments or anger pushing us apart. Family generally binds us. But Jesus was talking about all our human siblings! Perhaps we find it simple to think of our Christian brothers and sisters too. But Jesus was referring to ALL our human brothers and sisters, all God’s children.

From that viewpoint, the least of these encompasses those in need all over the world! Just look at the news and you will find hundreds of thousands of the least of these brothers and sisters. We must consider what Jesus said in Matthew 19:21 – “If you want to be perfect, sell all you have, give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come and follow me.”

I don’t know if he meant that literally, but what if he did? In America, we are a nation of plenty. We have great wealth. I’ll bet most people hearing my voice today have good houses filled with things of comfort and pantries full of food.

When we turn on the news and see war-torn villages around the world, devastation in our own country from disasters and poverty, are we immediately reaching out to do for our fellow humans, our human brothers and sisters across the world?

I’ll wager that not many of us would sell all we have and give to the poor to follow Jesus.

And not enough of us put food in that blessing box outside our church doors, to feed our homeless brothers and sisters. Not enough of us skip the luxuries of dining out, to write a weekly check to the Community Food Connection or Welcome Table, or to give to the International Rescue Committee, to send food to our hungry brothers and sisters locally and in Gaza or Afghanistan…food for Jesus!

Perhaps this modern perspective on our brothers and sisters in need will give us pause and prod us to feed the least of these - to feed Jesus more richly and more often.

Great loving God, remind me with every bite I take, to think of your hungry children next door, down the street, and across the world. Steer me to generously share my blessings with You and all of them. In Jesus’ name we...

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the phrase “good things come to those who wait.” I feel this also goes hand in hand with the phrase “patience is a virtue.”

It can often be exhausting to feel that you are constantly doing good towards others to get nothing in return; on the contrary, there are some cases where doing charitable acts towards others paves the way for more acts to be done in the future, in other words, setting off a “domino effect” of sorts or serving as inspiration.

While it can be easy to grow impatient from doing good deeds and not seeing our efforts bear fruit right away, this does not always mean that they will not bear fruit. They can often lead to a returned favor down the line, or as previously mentioned, a beginning of a series of charitable acts to be done. So, in these instances, it can be crucial to practice patience and remember that it truly is a virtue and that good things can come to those who wait, so long as we have the willingness to wait.

God, thank you for showing us that patience is a virtue and that while doing good can often lead us to feel weary, this is not always the case, as our efforts may soon bear fruit if we remain strong in doing good and have the willingness to wait. Help us to always remember this and have the willingness to be your faithful servants. Amen.

This devotional was written and recorded by Grace Jonas.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.