Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, March 21, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Everything is God’s, of course. So does that mean the emperor gets nothing? Is it a trick question? Luckily, God is incredibly generous. Yes, God wants everything—all we have and all we are. But in a kind of cosmic upcycling project, God gives it right back to us better than it was.
I’ll be honest and say the last year has been one of the hardest years of my life, if not the hardest. I am regularly overwhelmed to the point of exhausted sobbing. I feel like I have absolutely nothing left to give God or anyone else. All the commitments I had made to my faith community since I joined in 2020 I have had to back away from except teaching Sunday School (and that’s touch and go).
But I still keep showing up to life, still keep trying to trust God, still doing what I can when I can. I give to God absolutely everything—not just the good stuff, but everything. God takes it all in, spiffs it up, and gives it back in incredible ways, supporting me through people and resources and serendipity. Whatever is going on in my life, giving it to God is the best bet.
Are there things in my life that I need to turn over to God today?
