Friday 10 October
“Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you—if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from your native wild olive tree and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these—the natural branches—be grafted into their own olive tree?” (CSB)
Consider God. His kindness. His severity. Both are real. Both are right. His kindness flows to those who remain in faith. His severity falls on unbelief. The same God who judges sin also restores the sinner who turns. He is able. Always able.
The olive tree stands as witness. You were grafted in—against nature, by grace. If He could graft you in, a wild branch, how much more can He restore Israel, the natural branches, to their own tree? Behold the power of God. He cuts. He heals. He removes. He restores. None can resist His will.
This power humbles the believer. You are held by divine strength, not human resolve. It comforts the fearful. The God who saved you can sustain you. And it warns the proud. The same hand that grafts in can cut off. Therefore, remain in His kindness. Persevere in faith.
Application:
Pause before you step into your day. Consider God. Speak His kindness aloud. Whisper His severity with reverence. Let both shape your worship. Tell your children tonight of a God who is strong and good—kind and just. They need both truths, side by side.
Question for Discussion:
How does remembering both God’s kindness and severity deepen your reverence and strengthen your perseverance?