May 27, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“When God created mankind, He made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And He named them ‘Mankind’ when they were created.” (Genesis 5.1b-2)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

There is no greater tragedy that attempting to be something you are not. Why we want to transform the identity we have been given by God which is now best understood in Jesus as the Christ has any number of reasons and causes. All of them will have their root in “sin” which places “I” before “I AM.” Jesus professed this in the Garden as He shared His hope that the cup given to Him which would lead to His crucifixion (although the promise of resurrection was prophesied and given by God His Father). He declared, “Not My will but Yours be done.” Yes, we see the many mutations which sin has written into the human DNA. It is had a mess and a mockery of God’s creation He called “Mankind.” “Mankind” means “drawn out of man.” What God created was in His image. It was the template for understanding life and its interconnection with the community of all creation. Even in the midst of all the sad and troubling mutations of gender, deformities, diseases and mental maladies, God’s design remains intact. We are called to seek to be new creations, transformed into the image of Christ from the soul level out. How we live out that newborn faith is the witness of God’s love. As I suggested in the purpose of Adam and Eve outside of the Garden, it, too, was a declaration of “Not my will but God’s be done.” This is what we should do as all mankind each and every day.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.