A WORD FOR TODAY, February 18, 2026
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, February 18, 2026
Lectionary Scriptures for February 22, 2026, First Sunday in Lent: Genesis 3:1-21; Psalm 32:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
“For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:12-19, WEB
“The ink is black, the page is white, together we learn to read and write. A child is black, a child is white, the whole world looks upon the sight. A beautiful sight.” This song was made popular in 1972 by the group Three Dog Night and was a statement about the Brown vs. Education decision of the United States Supreme court which outlawed racial segregation in schools. Sammy Davis, Jr. made the original version of this folk song using a verse that was not used in later versions. “Their robes were black, their heads were white, the schoolhouse doors were closed so tight, nine judges all set down their names, to end the years and years of shame.” The issue of segregation demands that people be seen as opposites, just like the colors black and white. However, we can’t separate people so easily. Though skin color makes us different, there are too many things that we share to think people can be separated by just one trait.
It is so much easier to look at the world as dualistic. White or black, tall or short, fat or thin. These are ways we can define people and things, but are there really only two choices? Have you ever gone to a paint store to get white paint, thinking the worker will just hand you a can of paint? Instead, he hands you a bunch of paint chips and asks, “Which one?” There are numerous types of white. Can we really tell the difference between them? Yes, when you look at them on paint chips that are side by side, but most people would never be able to tell you if your walls are ivory or ecru. The same is true about skin color. We are not just black and white; the world is filled with many skin tones.
We think about good and evil in dualistic terms: there is good and there is evil and neither the twain shall meet, right? The reality is that it is sometimes difficult to separate good and evil. Theft is evil, but sometimes theft seems to serve a virtuous purpose. We want the world to be black and white, but there are a million shades of gray. Even though we try to do only good, all too often the things we do turn out to be less than good. If it is less than good, is it still good or is it evil? Where do we draw the line?
In the text from Genesis, the serpent told Eve that if she ate the fruit of the Tree, she would be like God, knowing good and evil. This phrase does define the world as dualistic, it shows us that God knows everything. It is like saying that Adam and Eve would be like God, knowing everything from A to Z. We shouldn’t think there is good and evil but are reminded that most of our actions fall somewhere in between. There are times when we have to choose the best of two evils. Which is better - to shoot a dying horse or allow him to suffer until he dies naturally? Both options are evil, but a choice has to be made. It is the consequence of living in a fallen world.
Martin Luther said, “Sin boldly.” He did not mean that we should go out in the world purposefully sinning against God and man. He meant that if, as you are living in this sinful and fallen world, you have to sin, do so boldly knowing the grace of God. The whole statement is “Sin boldly but believe more bolder still.” In other words, if we have to decide to do something that is less than good, we are to do so with the knowledge of forgiveness that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Adam and Eve were created and God called them “very good.” They lived in harmony with God and with the rest of creation. Then the serpent (representative of human desire) made them aware that there is more than “good,” and they sought to know more. They wanted to be like God, and that desire set them apart from Him until God sent Jesus to provide forgiveness for the sin that causes us to live less than good lives in this dark and fallen world.
Forgiveness is what Jesus is all about. As I started thinking about today’s scripture, I searched online for information about forgiveness. Most of the websites I read had something to do with healing and psychology. Many people agree that if someone is going to experience wellness after a difficult situation, they have to get through forgiveness. Forgiveness is not only something we need to give other people. Sometimes we need to forgive ourselves. Sometimes we need to forgive God.
Each theorist has his or her own idea about the process of forgiveness. Our Psalm for this week gives a more narrowed focus on the process than many of the theorists. It shows us God’s example of forgiveness, which is more than simply offering the words of absolution. The easiest part of forgiveness is saying “I forgive you.” But forgiveness requires much more.
William Gladstone was Prime Minister of England in the late nineteenth century. Earlier in his political career he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, the British cabinet minister responsible for economic and financial matters. On one occasion, he asked for the statistics necessary to write his budget proposal from the Treasury office. The clerk was always very precise with his calculations, so much so that the chancellor did not bother to verify the numbers. Unfortunately, the clerk made a horrible mistake that made the entire budget wrong. Gladstone did not notice the mistake until the budget was presented to the House of Commons. He was made to look like a fool before not only the House, but also the entire nation.
Gladstone sent for the clerk. The clerk was terrified, certain that he would have been fired immediately for the mistake. Mr. Gladstone said, “I sent for you, because I could imagine the torture of your feelings. You have been for many years dealing with the bewildering intricacies of the national accounts, and you have done your work with such conscientious exactness that this is your first mistake. It was because of your splendid record that I did not trouble to verify your calculations. I have sent for you to compliment you on that record and to set you at ease.” In this story of William Gladstone, we see what the psalmist says, “whose sin is covered.” Mr. Gladstone did not focus on the mistake but covered it with the compliment about his good work until that moment.
The final step of forgiveness is probably the hardest. This is the part when we forget the sin. The psalmist says, “Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity.” He doesn’t hold on to the sin. We often say the words and cover the sin, but we eventually remember and use it. When we get into a battle with someone, we bring up those old sins and remind our “enemy” of the things that they have done to hurt us in the past. God does not do that. When He grants forgiveness, He covers it with Christ’s righteousness and then forgets. It is by God’s grace that we are set free from the burdens of our sin and in this we rejoice.
One of the reasons why we fast during Lent is to learn how to deal with temptation. After all, the forty-day period of Lent mirrors Jesus’ wilderness wandering that is reported in this week’s Gospel lesson. This story helps us to see that it is possible to reject the temptations that threaten us, just like Jesus. Oh, Jesus was the Son of God, but He lived a human life. So, during Lent we choose some things that tempt us during the rest of the year that we probably should avoid, but we do so anyway. I downloaded a game on my tablet a few weeks ago and every time I opened it up, I thought to myself, “I really shouldn’t be playing this stupid game” knowing that I was wasting so much time.
I receive a report each Sunday that shows me how much I used my tablet during the previous week, and which apps I use the most, and I was shocked at how many hours I’d spent playing that stupid game. I uninstalled it immediately, but Lent is a time during which I will consider how I spend my time. Am I glorifying God? Am I using my time in the best way possible? Or am I wasting it? I do have a few word games I play each day that are good for my brain, but I waste a lot of time with others. “Just one more round” I say to myself, and then a half hour later I have not accomplished any of the things I should be doing. We do this with internet surfing, too, don’t we. “I’ll just watch this one video of a guy milling wood,” and twenty minutes later I’ve learned all about the different features that are found in ancient walnut trees.
Temptation is a daily fact of life. We go to the grocery store, and we are tempted by the endcap displays and the candy at the check outs. We are tempted to speed on highways or run a red light. We are tempted to gossip about our neighbors. We are tempted to get angry with every disagreeable post on social media. We are tempted by so much we see on television, both in the productions and the advertisements that pepper our tv time.
Advertisements are designed to tempt us. Naturally, they tempt us to want, or to think we need, their product. However, the ads often sell much more than their products. They say that “sex sells” but I think that the ads using sex also sell sex. In other words, The beautiful girl tempting someone to visit a website or drink a particular brand of water not only sells the product but also makes that behavior acceptable in the world. Should women actually be sexually assaulting a man because he has the hottest new laptop? Of course, he didn’t mind the kiss from the beautiful girl, so it must be ok. However, these actions easily become common, even expected, leading to dangerous attitudes about relationships and the flesh. Kids play out the commercials as if they express life as it is meant to be lived.
Some of the temptations are not nearly so blatant. It is certainly not a bad thing to work out, to get healthy and strong, to work toward a goal and achieve it. The temptation we all face, however, is letting that goal become our entire life. Working out at the gym takes us away from time we should spend with our family. Jobs often become the most important thing in our lives so that we can afford the things we want, but they take up so much of our time that we can’t enjoy it all. We work seventy or eighty hours a week and ignore our responsibilities of home and family. The good things we seek, even the blessings for which we thank God, become the overwhelming influence of our lives and we forget the God who by His grace has blessed us.
Isn’t it interesting that the temptations Jesus faced were not about those things we normally consider “sinful”? Jesus wasn’t tempted by a beautiful woman; He was tempted by the things that He would face during His ministry.
Satan first offered food for Jesus’ belly. Bread is good to eat. Carbs were not an issue in Jesus’ day, so this isn’t a temptation to break a special diet. It isn’t even about the sin of gluttony. Jesus was hungry. He’d been fasting for days. The temptation is about putting the needs of the flesh first. Jesus was in the desert to prepare for His ministry. It was an act of obedience to the will of God, to strengthen Him against the things He would face in the days to come. The temptation was not only to feed His own hunger, but Satan also said, “Command these stones.” Jesus would not have needed more than a loaf, but with many loaves of bread He could have fed all the hungry in Jerusalem. Jesus’ ministry was not about beginning a food bank. He did feed the hungry. However, He did so first by speaking God’s Word.
The second temptation was about fame. Imagine what an impact Jesus would have had on His world if He had actually gone to the top of the temple to take a flying leap? The appearance of angels and the miraculous landing would have made Him the talk of the town. People would have come flocking to hear Him speak and perhaps catch a glimpse of Him doing something else amazing. How many ministries focus on the impact they have in their cities and neighborhoods without caring about the message they are giving to the people? Jesus responded, “Do not test God.”
Finally, Satan tempted Jesus with power. If only Jesus would bow down to Satan, He could rule over all the nations of the world. Of course, this is a promise Satan couldn’t keep, even if Jesus did worship him. Jesus’ purpose was not control or power. It was not to be a worldly king. His purpose was to teach the kingdom of God and then to die for our sake. He would eventually face all those temptations: feeding the hungry, making a spectacle of Himself, and becoming the king which the people longed to crown. He would refuse each time, keeping the focus of His ministry on what matters: God.
We are tempted in the same way as Jesus, and though we are human, it is possible for us to reject the temptations and do what is right. Of course, we live in a fallen world, and what is right is often difficult to distinguish. We also have to remember that in our humanness, we continue to sin. This is why we go through Lent every year, remembering our need for Jesus Christ the Savior. As we walk with Jesus, we are reminded that Jesus already cleansed us from our sin and made us right with God. He will continue to transform us day by day into the people He wants us to be.
Adam and Eve thought that being like God would make them better, but by disobeying God’s Word, they let evil become part of human existence. The choice they made may not seem evil because the fruit looked good, but we are not good whenever we go against God’s word. Anything against God is evil. From that moment in time, we all have evil in us. This is why we need a Savior, why God planned for Jesus from the beginning of time.
We aren’t God. We are created by God and beloved of Him, but we aren’t God. He called us “very good,” but we aren’t good. We are imperfect, frail, fallen beings. We are created and fallible. We are perishable. We are sinners. We are just like Adam and Eve. They did evil in the Garden of Eden by eating the fruit that God told them not to eat. We don’t eat the fruit of Tree in the garden, but we fall to temptation daily. None of us seem evil, but if we aren’t good, then God’s cosmic battle against Satan falls right into our laps.
We join Adam and Eve in the reality of our failure and continue to be tempted by the same things that have plagued human life since the beginning: we fall to the temptations of our bodies, hearts, and egos. Jesus faced those same temptations, but He did not fall because saw through the lie. He did not seek to attain more, and He stayed the course which God had prepared for Him. He walked to the cross because it was what God intended. He didn’t reach beyond what He had because He knew He had everything. His obedience secured the gift of life for all who believe. We have been healed by Jesus and washed clean so that we can dwell once more in the Garden and in the fellowship of our Father the Creator.
Adam and Eve started a process. They may have been the first to turn away from God by listening to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, but we continue to do so. The freedom we have to reason and make decisions also gives us the freedom to reject God and go our own way. In doing so, we find ourselves in the position to act in ways that are against God’s Word. These actions harm our relationship with Him and with His creation. We are like our old pool: no matter how “clean” we appear to be, the threat of corrosion, stagnation, and filth is always part of our life. We are imperfect. We are frail. We are sinners. We need, more than anything else, a Savior.
Jesus Christ is that Savior. At the cross, He started a new process. He died on the cross so that we would be cleansed from our sin. Unfortunately, the old still exists in our flesh. We continue to be sinners even while we are being transformed by the grace of God. Jesus never gives up. He keeps His grace freely flowing into our lives, granting forgiveness when we fail, and showing us the better way. He teaches us how to reject the temptations that threaten our lives. The process will not be complete until the day when He comes again. Then, on that wonderful day, we will begin anew and the things that make us imperfect now will be gone forever.
For now, we live remembering that we are sinners in need of a Savior. And we live knowing that our Savior has come and He is Jesus Christ. We are saints and sinners, going through this life experiencing the free gift of grace and the frailty of our human condition. Joy and pain, blessedness and suffering are what it means to be a Christian in the world today.
Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the beginning of a forty-day period of fasting and prayer, repentance and renewal. After Jesus was baptized, He was sent into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. For Jesus, that was a time of preparation, of prayer and temptation. During those forty days, the devil came to Him and tempted Him to feed His flesh, His heart, and His ego. Jesus stood firm on the word of God and came to know more clearly who He was and to whom He belonged, while also discerning His purpose in the world.
Today we begin a similar journey. During Lent we focus on the ministry of Jesus Christ while learning about ourselves and the faith which we have been given. It is a time of discipline, not punishment but training. It is a time when we can develop better habits of prayer and healthier ways of living. It is a time for growing closer to God, learning who we are and to whom we belong. It is a time to face the temptations of our lives (our flesh, our hearts, and our egos) and to conquer them with God’s Word as we delve more deeply into the scriptures.
Discipline may mean sacrifice. Athletes eat a special diet when they are training. Students give up the games of childhood as they prepare for college. We do these things so that we can do our best and become the best we can be. Spiritual discipline might also mean sacrifice: giving up the things that keep us from seeing God. This is called fasting. Maybe there is something that in itself is neither good nor bad, yet you find it distracting your focus away from God, like those games on my tablet. Perhaps there is an addictive or bad habit you should give up. Make a prayerful decision. Do not wear your fasting on your shoulders. Keep it private, between you and God. In the end, you might just develop a better, healthier lifestyle.
However, Lent need not only be a time of fasting. More importantly, it is a journey in which we seek God, seek His will for our lives and face our unworthiness so that God can build us up to be the people He has created us to be. It is an inward journey as we come to know ourselves better. It is also a journey that is taken within the community. Many churches offer extra worship opportunities. Some even plan a meal to be shared. As we look more closely at ourselves, we can see our failures as well as our successes and discern the ministry to which God has called us as individuals within the community of Christ and the world.
I encourage everyone to commit time each day to spend with God during this Lenten season. Choose a time and a place, whatever works best for you. Pick a time when you can focus completely on God. Be consistent as you build this habit into your day. Find a place away from distractions so that you can concentrate on prayer, study, and worship. Structure your time with God because it will help you stay focused. Find a Lenten devotional online or in a bookstore that will help guide the direction of your study. Or choose to read through certain books of the Bible. Study the Lenten lectionary texts as we do in this devotional. Begin your time with prayer. Read some scripture. Listen to what God and others have to say about faith in our world today. Hear what God is saying to you personally for this time and place. Discover your own temptations. Discover your gifts. Let God transform you by His Word and His Grace.
Whatever you decide to do throughout this season of Lent, remember that God’s grace is greater than our failure. If you break your fast, ask for forgiveness and begin again. Do not let failure become an excuse to stop trying. We are sinners in need of a Savior. That’s the whole point of Lent, to realize that we need Jesus and the cross to be in relationship with God. Begin each day as if it is a new day. Try and try again. Training is a process of growing. Let the discipline develop over the next few weeks so that it will continue long after Easter Sunday.
Jesus made it possible for us to be like Him, trust that He will continue to give you what you need to live your best life to the glory of God.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276.