Afternoon Devotion

In the average year, firefighters respond to nearly a half-million structure fires. These range from homes to commercial buildings to barns. The job of a firefighter is to rescue people from fires and extinguish the fire from doing further damage. Often, fires are caused by human error—a dropped cigarette, a child playing with matches, a candle left burning overnight, and so forth.

When a firefighter rescues a family caught in a fire, there is much rejoicing when everyone has escaped. Even if the fire was started by somebody's mistake, that is not the focus at the time of rescue. The overwhelming peace that everyone is okay outweighs the reason why it started.

When God sent Jesus into the world, humanity was in a place where we were doomed. We needed a Savior. God didn't send Jesus down to make us aware of all of the fires we had started and to reprimand us—He came to rescue us. There is much rejoicing when someone is saved from the results of their sin. The focus then becomes knowing God and growing closer to Him. The focus is not on the wrongs of the past.

Jesus, there was a time when I was starting a lot of fires in my life. Without your help, they would have burned out of control and destroyed me. Thank you for salvation. I'm so grateful that you offer grace without condemnation and love without hesitation. Help me to do the same even when I don't feel like others deserve it. Thank you for saving me, Jesus. In your name, amen.