Pastor Steve Bond's daily devotions, serving among the people of Community of Christ Lutheran Church, Whitehouse, Ohio
Whitehouse, OH
Joined November 2015
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It is easy to convince ourselves we have God's support because we are saying all the right "religious" words, while looking the other way as people are stepped on and taken advantage of.
Found Family: Not Our Mascot, But Our Master--November 12, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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When we talk about being "saved by grace through faith," does it mean that God lets us "in" to heaven because we've scored a passing grade on a post-mortem theology exam--or is it about trusting that God has already done the saving?
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God's love for all creation doesn't just give up on it because we keep turning away or rebelling. God's love reserves the right not to let our rejection of God be the last word on the subject.
Found Family: Christ's Homecoming--November 11, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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In a time when it's easy to be a "spectator" as a churchgoer, or just to learn "head knowledge" about the Bible or theology, but not to live it out in our everyday practice, what can we do to deep and develop discipleship in Christian congregations?
open.spotify.com/episode/7fK…
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Instead of worrying, "Did I do enough to get into the club?" what if the Christian life is more about the question, "How will I grow to maturity in faith since I trust that I am already a part of God's people?" That's where the book of James begins.
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Because each of us--along with Saint Paul, dearly departed Great Aunt Matila, and all the members of the First Church of Thessalonica--have been joined to Christ, death is not the end of our story.
Found Family: Tethered to Jesus--November 10, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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Word for the Week:
(drawn from Matthew 25:14-30)
Every morning we are given a day of life as a free gift from God; what will you do with this day’s gift?
#WordForTheWeek
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What would you do if a fortune were placed in your lap one day, with the only instruction being to somehow make the most of it? And what will we do with the fortune of 1,440 minutes given to us every day of our lives?
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It is because people matter to us that we grieve, and it is because we are convinced that people matter to God that we have hope.
Found Family: Hope Holds Onto Us--November 9, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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God has already called us and claimed us as "children of God," but that is not the end of things--God continues to make us to be what God says we are already. We become more fully what we already are.
Found Family: What God Says We Are--November 6, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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Some folks who occupy seats of power use their status only for their own advantage and self-promotion... but not God. God chooses to use God's position to protect and provide for us--to be our shelter.
Found Family: The God Who Shelters--Nov 5, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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If you're given a free ride on the bus, that's great--but you still need to ask where you're going once you're on it. Similarly, followers of Jesus need to hear BOTH the good news that we are saved by grace as a gift AND called to follow in Jesus' way!
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We, along with everybody else who will be there in the new creation from every language and nation, will find ourselves found by grace--because of what God has done for us in Christ, not what we've done.
Found Family: The Real Stain-Fighter--Nov 4, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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Hey friends!
Here's a new episode of our weekly podcast, "Crazy Faith Talk." As the models for pastoral leadership have changed over history, how do we face the needs of the current situation for leaders and pastors?
open.spotify.com/episode/2aD…
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When Christians say that Jesus saves people, we don't only mean that he cured sickness or performed miracles. Most centrally--and scandalously--the Christian claim is that Jesus saves most definitively in what looks like utter defeat and loss: the cross.
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The dreamer of Revelation keeps telling us here, "Don't settle for too small a vision--don't accept too meager a hope. At the end of this story, God throws a party, and everybody's there. Remember that."
Found Family: A More Expansive Hope--Nov 3, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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Word for the Week:
(drawn from Matthew 25:1-13)
God's Reign is like a party you don't want to miss out on because you were out buying accessories.
#WordForTheWeek
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You don't want to miss out on the Main Event at the Big Game because you were at the concession stand buying souvenirs. Jesus invites us to the same clarity about being ready for his coming in glory--it's not about us, but about him. That's good news.
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God reserves the right to bless everybody, sure, but who are the people who have been so forgotten about that they need the reminder that they, too, are blessed?
Found Family: Particular Blessings--November 2, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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If you asked the apostle Paul how to spot a Christ-follower out in public, he might have told you, "Listen to the people talking--the followers of Jesus will have nothing to brag about."
Found Family: Nothing to Brag About--October 30, 2026 beinggraced.blogspot.com/202…
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