READING: One-year plan: Genesis 1-3, Matthew 1; Two-year plan: Genesis 1-2, Matthew 1:1-11
January 1. The first day of a new year. The first opportunity to serve God well in the new year. This is an exciting day of new beginnings!
All of today’s Bible reading takes us in that direction, too. The first light. The first day and night. The first dry land and seas. The first plants. The first animals. The first garden. The first human beings (the first couple, in fact), created in God’s image and given the responsibility to represent God and spread His glory around the globe. In the couple’s unashamed nakedness before God, all was good.
But . . . we then have the first reference to a crafty one in the garden (which those reading the two-year plan will encounter tomorrow). The first temptation. The first sin—that is, the first rebellion against the Creator’s commands. The first shame. The first hiding. The first announcement of judgment, including death that would be the penalty for the couple’s sin. The first expulsion from the garden. What was so good was no longer so.
That’s just what sin does. It defeats. It divides. It devours. It destroys. My prayer for these 2024 devotions is that we will together strive to make godly choices, ever learning from the Word how to do so as we lean on the power of the Spirit. May today be the first day of our renewed faithfulness!
PERSONAL REFLECTION: What sin issues do you want to address and defeat in this new year?
PRAYER: “Father, thank You for life, for love, for a New Year. Make us more faithful than we’ve ever been this year.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Genesis 4-6, Matthew 2-3
Two-year plan: Genesis 3:1-4:16, Matthew 1:12–25
