Amos 5:24

This is a powerful demand from God for unstoppable fairness and care for the vulnerable, warning that empty religious rituals are meaningless without moral integrity. By definition, Justice is a fundamental and ethical principle based on equity, fairness and the rule of law. It ensures that individuals receive what they are due, whether it is appropriate rewards for good deeds or fair consequences for bad ones.

The prophet Amos delivered this message to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during a time of great economic prosperity, but also deep moral decay. The wealthy and powerful were exploiting the poor, taking bribes in court, and using false scales in business. Despite this widespread oppression, the people were still faithfully attending religious festivals and offering sacrifices. The prophet Amos is condemning the religious hypocrisy and demands that the society establish true justice and righteousness , rather than just offering the obligatory sacrifice.

God’s law for His people was always about loving God and loving others. In the time of Amos, it seems that His people had totally missed the point. The prophet Hosea reveals the heart of God in this matter: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). God provided the sacrificial system for His people because He knew that they would sin, and He wanted to provide a way for their sin to be cleansed. In Amos’s day, the people used God’s sacrificial system like pagan religious systems. They didn’t follow God’s moral law, and they assumed perfunctory obedience to the letter of the law would suffice. They were stuck in a legalistic religion. But Amos emphasizes that God would rather have true justice rather than outward conformity to his laws.

Martin Luther King Jr. famously invoked the phrase "let justice roll down" during the Civil Rights Movement to demand immediate equality and an end to systemic racism. The exact line, "...we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream," was a focal point of his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. It was a rallying call that true racial equality was a necessity.

This verse is as relevant today as they were in Amos’s time. The call to justice and righteousness is a timeless one, calling us to examine our own lives and the society we live in to ensure that we align with God’s standards of justice and mercy.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, Be in our hearts so that we may be truly just and righteous people, not merely mouthing the words. Open our eyes to the injustice of the world and guide us to right the wrongs and continue to do Your will. Amen

This devotional was written by Virginia Hardwick Kerr and read by Sally Stovall.

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 prophet Zechariah is mentioned in passing in Ezra 5:1. Both he and the prophet Haggai were part of the generation that returned to the land of their ancestors after the King Cyrus of Persia released the exiles. They went to Jerusalem to settle and rebuild the city and the Temple of the Lord.

A small number of the people who traveled were part of the exiled generation. The majority, though, were the descendants of people who experienced the destruction of the city, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the Temple. We may marvel at the courage involved in going to a place they have never seen and starting life anew. The nagging question on everyone’s mind had to be what will we do when we get there? They would rebuild, live, be the people of God again were among those answers. But what do we rebuild first? Do we build our own houses, the Temple, or the city walls? How should we live when we are settled? Haggai will argue that the people need to complete the Temple. Zechariah will say, “We need to do what God is doing.” What does God want?

Our text says God wants this new generation to do community life better than the previous one did. These verses in Zechariah 7 repeat the teaching of the prophets of those earlier generations. We should live honestly and never mistreat another person. While we may desire to leave the lesson there, Zechariah names the people whom he saw as the most vulnerable. He wants his readers to ask, “How are we treating orphans, widows, aliens, and the poor?” He suggests the key is to ask how are we treating another person? Are we devising evil against someone else? Are we excusing our attitudes by the unholy imagination that someone is planning to do us harm? Is our golden rule, do unto others before they do unto you?

The people of Zechariah’s day probably responded by saying their situation was more desperate than the times of their ancestors. They may have claimed that they would never act like their ancestors did. People living in our time would say, “This is not who we are.”

The fact is Zechariah knows his neighbors. He knows himself. And he knows everyone experiences the temptation to be dishonest in their actions and their relationships with others. This is who we are. Zechariah and the other people who returned know they did not release themselves. It was the grace of God working through the Persian emperor. The prophet seeks to remind his neighbors of that fact.

When we ask what the Lord requires, we acknowledge we are saved by grace and not works. This is the truth we rely on when we fail to do what is right. That truth also means we know better and should work to be examples as citizens of Heaven. People should acknowledge their need for grace. We should also know God gives grace to other people. We cannot mistreat someone without God knowing it.

This devotion was written by Don Jones and read by Jim Stovall.

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/.

Deuteronomy 10:12 (NRSV)

Her name was Sam. At least, that's what she told people here, because her real name — Xiomara — made people uncomfortable. They'd try it once, mangle it, and look relieved when she smiled and said, "Sam is fine."

She arrived in 2004, with two suitcases, a worn-out dictionary, and the same dream every person who ever came here — including my ancestors and yours — carried with them: a better life.

What she hadn't expected was the grocery store. Not the size, but the variety. An older woman noticed her staring at forty-seven kinds of breakfast cereal with an expression somewhere between confusion and panic. The woman picked up a box of Cheerios, held it out, and said, "These are good," and walked away.

Sam ate Cheerios every morning for a month. After that, she discovered Raisin Bran. And Captain Crunch.

She learned English fast, out of necessity, and before long had a job at a hospital. There was still the apartment manager who told her she didn't 'sound right' for the building. Still, the coworker who spoke slowly and loudly at her, like more volume could fix the language gap. But there was also still the woman from the cereal aisle.

A few months later, Sam ran into the “cereal aisle” woman again. The woman remembered her. She asked how she was getting on, and actually listened to the answer. Before they parted, she said, "We have a church. Nothing fancy, just like the Cheerios. But the people are good. You're welcome if you want to come."

She came. A Sunday school teacher named Harold learned her name on the first try. Over time, people cared for her and visited her, “just because.” Like a neighbor. Like a person. She was home.

Moses, near the end of his life, stood before the people he led through the wilderness and asked them a question: What does the Lord your God require of you? He doesn't leave it hanging. Fear God. Walk in his ways. Love him. Serve him with everything you have. And — almost as a natural consequence — love the stranger. Because you were strangers once. You know what that cost.

America turns 250 this summer. That's worth celebrating. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of men put their names to a document that said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." They didn’t make that up. They reached for something they believed was already true, written into the nature of things by God himself. Some of them would lose everything for signing it — their homes, their fortunes, their lives. It is right to honor that. It is right to celebrate it. But that creed is now ours to carry. Every person. Including the ones who show up with two suitcases and a worn-out dictionary and dreams of a better life.

Being a true American, in the purest sense, has always meant taking that creed seriously — living it. Jesus didn't leave much ambiguity about what that looks like either. Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Sam is a neighbor. Xiomara is a neighbor. The cereal lady understood that. The apartment manager hadn't gotten there yet.

Moses's question still hangs in the air. It was never aimed at strangers. It's aimed at the people who already claim the name.

What does the Lord require of you?

Father, remind us what it felt like to need someone to hand us a box of cereal. Give us the grace to go back down that aisle and invite someone in. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Cliff McCartney

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/.