THE UPPER ROOM DAILY DEVOTIONAL 24 JUNE 2024, MONDAY MESSAGE
TOPIC: Improving with Time
TODAY’S READING
Ephesians 4:7-16
If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NRSVUE)
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Recently I considered replacing my 40-year-old acoustic guitar with a newer model. However, after trying out many guitars, I found that my old guitar produced warm and pleasing tones that sounded much better than the new guitars. I chose to have my old guitar worked on by a guitar technician instead. The technician said that old wood makes a richer and more pleasant sound because as an instrument ages, the wood dries out and the sap loosens from its grain, allowing vibrations to move more freely through the instrument. My guitar’s wood has gradually become less and less like it was when the guitar was new. Over time it has become a new creation — a new form of what it was.
As growing Christians, I think we change in a similar way. Over time as we absorb God’s word and follow God’s guidance, we become less like our former selves and transform into new creations. As our faith matures and changes, God’s influence is able to move more freely within us. And in time, we can produce more beautiful “music” because we are living more harmoniously with God.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Loving God, help us accept the ways you have made each of us wonderful and unique. Give us wisdom as we grow in faith and become new creations in you. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
As I mature in my faith, I open up to God’s presence and influence in my life.
PRAYER FOCUS
New Christians
The Upper Room Daily Devotional 24 June 2024 Message. The Upper Room is a daily devotional magazine published in more than 30 languages and 100 countries around the world. The daily meditations are written by readers of the magazine and others interested in sharing their faith experiences through writing—both laity and clergy, published authors and new writers. The meditations are stories of real people working to live faithfully with the Bible as their touchstone. Every day, readers of The Upper Room around the world read the same story in many different languages and pray the same prayer together. Read More