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Divine Imperatives August 11 Devotional

by David Joynt on August 11, 2023


MARK 1:14-15 | 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near repent, and believe in the good news.”

 

Do Jesus’ first words, His opening salvo in His ministry, mean God is an eternal pessimist? Does He have a dour view of human beings and human potential? The God of the bible is not a pessimist who believes that decline and death are inevitable. Nor is He a pure optimist who thinks people are inherently good and noble and capable of engineering their own earthly utopia.

 

God is a realist, who insists that we are terribly flawed but eminently restorable. Jesus called for universal change in the heart and life of every person, but He also announced a new world anyone could enter, a kingdom of love and goodness we could access and enjoy and help create.

 

Are you a realist about people and history?

 

 

Gracious God,

Help me to view this world truly and graciously. May I see real trouble, genuine will, and the power and possibilities of redemption.

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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