A WORD FOR TODAY, July 28, 2025
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, July 28, 2025
“Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel. Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Like a father has compassion on his children. so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:6-14, WEB
I once saw a video that began with a guy grumbling about everything. A kid rode by on his skateboard as the guy was trying to leave his driveway. He struggled to cross a busy intersection. A woman took the parking space where he was about to park. The line at the coffee shop was really long. A guy jumped in front of him for a cookie. His coffee took a few minutes because the shop was so busy. He sat down to wait and he was approached by an ominous looking man who handed him a pair of glasses. He put them on and they revealed the secrets of everyone he saw. One woman was lonely. The barista was battling addiction. The kid on the skateboard just needed someone to listen..
H was overwhelmed at first. He made excuses. He did not think it was possible to help any of the people who crossed his path. What could he do to make life better for everyone else? He wore the glasses all the way home, seeing the troubles and needs of his neighbors in their cars, but when he parked he wanted to remove them from his face. As he opened the glass case he saw the words “Get it?” He looked up and saw the boy. In the beginning of the video, he wanted to tell his parents that he was being annoying, but then he realized that the people about whom he had been grumbling had their own troubles. He realized his troubles weren’t that important after all. Instead of complaining to the parents, he gave the boy a few minutes of his time. Instead of being an annoyance, the boy gave him purpose. The glasses helped the man to see the world through God’s eyes.
I did not need glasses to see the world through God’s eyes during our trip to Honduras last week. There is always a bit of culture shock when you visit another country, even if that country is in some ways the same as many that are considered first world countries. Trips I have taken to France, Belgium, and Germany included the language hurdles. The money is different. The food is different. The people have a unique character based on their heritage and resources. Still, there is much about those countries that are similar to what we have in the United States.
The differences are more conspicuous when you travel to a country like Honduras. It is interesting because it is not considered a third world nation, but it is not yet a first world nation. Some call it a developing nation, and though there is much left to do, I noticed that there was much first world influence, particularly in the cities. We passed fast food places and convenience stores. The gas stations were name brands we recognized. The grocery store shelves were filled with many of the same products we see every day. The culture shock was more intense in Honduras, though. The poverty is evident everywhere. There might be Hondas on the road, but there are also oxen driven carts. Most houses are cinder block boxes with no central air and often no electricity. The most surprising difference is in the plumbing. We could not flush toilet paper down the toilet, not even in the most developed areas of the country. We complain about road construction, but in Honduras we drove on roads that were washed out and barely passable.
When I came home, someone asked me about the differences, and I admitted that we are spoiled. This is true for the least of us, really. Can you imagine living in a place where the sewage system is so bad that you can't flush the paper down the toilet? We talked about being grateful for our blessings, but besides being grateful, I think those of us who live in first world nations must consider whether our abundance is really a blessing. While I saw the needs of those we served during our mission, I also so the many blessings of their lives in their communities. Children who ate only one meal a day were happy, playful, intelligent, grateful, and inspiring. We delivered a truck load of clothes, shoes, toys, and household items to a school where the children ran to help, not realizing that those donations were given to them.
We think, “Oh those poor children” but the reality is that our abundance will never make us happy and content. We saw a man leading a cart drawn by oxen talking on a cell phone. We laughed at the absurdity of the picture, but we learned that though most people do not have electricity, they all have cell phones because it is the only way to communicate. Many of the homes had small solar panels, which were used solely to charge those phones. We might wonder how they could afford cell phones, but the reality is that they are a necessity in a country that is quickly changing around them.
Can you imagine what our lives look like from God’s perspective in heaven? We are poor compared to the abundance of God’s kingdom, yet Jesus deemed it right to come to earth to identify with us where we are, living in our world to show us how to live in love and compassion for our neighbors, whether they annoy us or not. We are to see everyone through those God glasses, to realize that we see their actions negatively, but we are no different. In today’s Psalm, God gives us an example of the way we should imitate Him with our neighbors.
The joy of living a life in our Lord Jesus Christ is that He transforms us and gives us the strength and courage to see the world in a different way. is patient and long-suffering, helping us to see the world through His eyes so that we will treat our neighbors with kindness. We live in the Spirit of God, a gift from our Lord Jesus Christ. Kindness keeps us in step with His Spirit, setting aside the grumbling about our troubles as we acknowledge that our neighbors might be dealing with difficulties we cannot see. Then, as we treat them with kindness, following God’s example, we will glorify God an example of His love and grace for others.
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. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org