Atonement Lutheran Church and Preschool

Atonement Lutheran Church and Preschool ALC Church Office 614-451-1880 ALPS Office 614-451-5212.

“Who is a God like you?”Today’s Reading: Micah 7:18–20Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah%2...
08/28/2026

“Who is a God like you?”

Today’s Reading: Micah 7:18–20

Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah%207%3A18-20&version=NIV](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah%207%3A18-20&version=NIV)

Devotion: The God Who Delights in Mercy

That’s how Micah begins—and it’s a fitting question to end our four weeks together.

We’ve watched God pursue a runaway prophet, hear his prayer from the depths, send him back to Nineveh, spare an entire city, and patiently confront Jonah when he became angry about it.

Again and again, God has turned out to be more merciful than Jonah expected.

Micah tells us why.

God doesn’t merely *show* mercy. He “delights to show mercy.”

Think about that.

Forgiveness isn’t something God reluctantly offers after we finally persuade Him. Mercy isn’t an exception He makes when circumstances warrant it. Mercy flows from who God is.

And nowhere do we see that more clearly than in Jesus.

At the cross, God takes our sin upon Himself. In Christ, He pardons our guilt, restores us to Himself, and gives us a life we could never earn. Micah pictures God hurling our sins “into the depths of the sea.”

Gone.

After four weeks with Jonah, perhaps that’s where we should finish—not with a list of things we need to do, but simply with wonder.

Who is a God like this?

A God who pursues runaways. Who hears cries from the depths. Who sends His Word to Nineveh. Who forgives sinners. Who even patiently teaches angry prophets.

And who has shown that same mercy to us.

God is always more than we imagine Him to be.

Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Merciful God, thank You for showing me again the wonder of who You are. Keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, and let the mercy You have shown me shape how I see You, myself, and the people around me. Amen.

Mercy Is God’s to GiveToday’s Reading: Romans 9:14–16Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2...
08/27/2026

Mercy Is God’s to Give
Today’s Reading: Romans 9:14–16

Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%209%3A14-16&version=NIV](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%209%3A14-16&version=NIV)

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.”

Those words can sound almost unsettling. We like mercy—but we’re often more comfortable when we have some say over where it goes.

Jonah certainly was.

He knew God was gracious and compassionate. He simply didn’t want God being gracious and compassionate toward *Nineveh*. The older brother resented his father welcoming the prodigal home. The vineyard workers grumbled because the landowner was generous to people who hadn’t worked as long as they had.

Behind all three is the same assumption: *Surely I should have some say in who deserves mercy.*

Paul reminds us that we don’t.

Mercy belongs to God.

That’s actually very good news. Because if mercy depended on our deserving it, none of us could claim it. If it depended on our effort, goodness, faithfulness, or determination, it wouldn’t be mercy anymore.

Instead, God gives freely.

That’s what we see most clearly in Jesus. God didn’t wait until we had made ourselves worthy of His love. Christ came for sinners. He carried our sin to the cross and gave His life for people who could never earn what He came to give.

We don’t stand before God as people who successfully qualified for mercy.

We stand there as its recipients.

And once we realize that, perhaps we can stop trying to decide who else should receive it.

Mercy is God’s to give.

Thanks be to God that He gives it so freely.

Prayer: Merciful God, thank You that Your mercy doesn’t depend on what I have earned. Keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, and teach me to rejoice in the mercy You freely give. Amen.

When Grace Doesn’t Seem FairToday’s Reading: Matthew 20:1–16Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=M...
08/26/2026

When Grace Doesn’t Seem Fair

Today’s Reading: Matthew 20:1–16

Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020%3A1-16&version=NIV](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020%3A1-16&version=NIV)

Devotion: It doesn’t seem fair.

Some workers spend the entire day laboring in the vineyard. Others work only a few hours. A few barely get their hands dirty before quitting time.

Then the landowner pays them all the same amount.

The workers who started early are furious. But here’s the thing: the landowner hasn’t cheated them. He pays them exactly what he promised. Their complaint isn’t really about injustice.

It’s about generosity.

“Are you envious because I am generous?” the landowner asks.

That question takes us straight back to Jonah. Jonah wasn’t angry because God had somehow wronged him. He was angry because God was generous toward Nineveh.

Grace can look unfair when we’re keeping score.

We compare ourselves with others. We remember how long we’ve served, what we’ve sacrificed, or how faithfully we’ve tried to live. And then God pours out His mercy on someone who hasn’t earned it.

But that’s exactly what mercy is.

None of us stands before God with a timecard proving what He owes us. We stand before Him with empty hands. And into those empty hands God places Christ—His forgiveness, His life, His salvation.

God’s generosity toward someone else doesn’t diminish His generosity toward us.

So perhaps the question isn’t, “Do they deserve that much grace?”

Perhaps it’s, “Can I rejoice that my God is really that generous?”

Prayer: Generous God, forgive me when I keep score. Thank You for giving me what I could never earn through Jesus Christ. Teach me to rejoice when Your grace reaches others too. Amen.

Standing Outside the PartyToday’s Reading: Luke 15:25–32Read it here:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2...
08/25/2026

Standing Outside the Party

Today’s Reading: Luke 15:25–32

Read it here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015%3A25-32&version=NIV](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015%3A25-32&version=NIV)

Devotion: Jonah has a New Testament brother.

When the older son in Jesus’ parable learns that his younger brother has come home—and that his father has thrown a celebration for him—he becomes angry and refuses to go inside.

Sound familiar?

Jonah sat outside Nineveh angry because God had shown mercy to people he thought deserved judgment. The older brother stands outside the party angry because his father has shown mercy to someone he thinks deserves consequences.

But notice what the father does.

He goes outside.

The father who ran to welcome his wayward younger son now goes out to plead with his angry older son. His love reaches them both.

“My son,” he says, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”

The older brother seems to think his father’s generosity toward his brother has somehow diminished what the father has given him. But grace doesn’t work that way. Someone else receiving mercy doesn’t mean there is less mercy left for us.

Sometimes we can stand outside the celebration too—quietly resenting the people God welcomes, forgives, restores, or blesses. Yet our Father keeps inviting us inside.

Jesus told this story because God delights when the lost are found. And through Christ, that celebration includes us. We weren’t welcomed because we deserved a place at the table. We were welcomed because our Father is merciful.

So come inside.

There’s plenty of mercy to go around.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the mercy You have shown me in Christ. When I resent Your grace toward others, remind me how freely You have given it to me. Teach me to rejoice whenever the lost are found. Amen.

When God Won’t Fit in the BoxToday's Reading is Jonah 4:1-11Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=J...
08/24/2026

When God Won’t Fit in the Box
Today's Reading is Jonah 4:1-11
Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%204&version=NIV](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%204&version=NIV)
Devotion: Jonah knew God pretty well.

That’s one of the surprises of Jonah 4. When God spares Nineveh, Jonah doesn’t complain that God has acted unpredictably. Just the opposite. He tells God, essentially, *I knew You would do this.*

“I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love.”

Jonah’s theology was right. His problem was that he wanted to control what God did with it.

Jonah was grateful for a gracious and compassionate God when *he* was sinking beneath the waves. But when that same grace reached Nineveh—the enemy he believed deserved judgment—Jonah became angry.

He had put God in a box. Mercy could go this far, but no farther.

We build boxes for God too. We learn true things about Him from Scripture and years of following Jesus. But without realizing it, we can begin assuming we have God figured out.

Then God does something bigger than our expectations.

The good news is that God refuses to stay inside our boxes. His mercy reached farther than Jonah imagined—and it has reached farther than we imagined too.

It reached us.

At the cross, God showed us just how far His mercy would go for sinners. The God who refused Jonah’s box refuses ours as well.

And that’s very good news.

Because God is always more than we imagine Him to be.

Prayer: Gracious God, forgive me when I make You smaller than You are. Bring me back to the cross, where I see the wideness of Your mercy, and keep opening my eyes to the wonder of who You are. Amen.

Friday — And Then There's UsReading: Romans 5:6–10Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205%...
08/21/2026

Friday — And Then There's Us

Reading: Romans 5:6–10
Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205%3A6%E2%80%9310&version=NIV

Devotion: Ninevites. Samaritans. Tax collectors and sinners. A dying criminal. Our readings this week show us that God’s mercy keeps reaching farther than anyone expects.

But there’s one more group of people who have received God’s mercy – us.

We’re not standing outside these stories admiring God’s extraordinary mercy toward those people. We belong on the list of “The Undeserving,” too. In today’s reading the Apostle Paul tells us why:

“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And: “While we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.”

Just as God's concern for Nineveh precedes Nineveh's turning toward Him, God's mercy doesn't begin with our worthiness or our initiative. While we were still sinners—while we were God's enemies—God acted.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been reconciled to God and given mercy, grace, and eternal life.
The mercy we've been watching travel astonishing distances throughout this week’s readings has traveled all the way to us in Jesus Christ.

Nineveh was an unlikely recipient of mercy. So was the Samaritan woman. So was the thief beside Jesus.

And according to Paul, so were we.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I praise You that Your mercy has reached even me. Thank You that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me, reconciling me to You. Keep me always amazed by the reach of Your grace and confident that my salvation rests in Jesus Christ alone. Amen.

Thursday — Even HimReading: Luke 23:39–43Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2023%3A39-43&ve...
08/20/2026

Thursday — Even Him

Reading: Luke 23:39–43
Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2023%3A39-43&version=NIV

Devotion: Is it ever too late for the mercy of Christ?

If there was ever an example of a person who had every reason to think so it was the criminal hanging on the cross next to Jesus on Good Friday. Crucifixion was a slow, painful, ugly form of ex*****on. Here he was. He had reached his end. There was no opportunity for him to repair his reputation, to make amends for his past deeds, or any time left for him to demonstrate changed behavior.

All he could do was say to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me.” To which Jesus unexpectedly responds, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Turns out that it wasn’t too late for this man to receive the mercy of Christ. Even very near the moment of his death the mercy of Jesus reached him.

God’s mercy in Christ always reaches farther than we can imagine. Why, it can even reach a sinner who cries out to Jesus at the very end of his life.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that Your mercy reaches even sinners who have nothing to offer You. Keep my eyes fixed on Your cross and teach me to trust Your promise of forgiveness and life, even when I feel most undeserving of it. Amen.

Wednesday — The Wrong Person at the Right WellReading: John 4:7–15, 25–30Nineveh wasn't the only surprising place where ...
08/19/2026

Wednesday — The Wrong Person at the Right Well

Reading: John 4:7–15, 25–30

Nineveh wasn't the only surprising place where God's mercy appeared.

Centuries later, we see that same surprising reach of mercy embodied in Jesus Himself.

As Jesus was passing through Samaria, a region most Jews of the time preferred to avoid, he stops at a well while his disciples go into a nearby town to get food. While there He encounters a Samaritan woman with a complicated life. Even she is surprised when Jesus begins to converse with her. It wasn’t normal for Jews to speak to Samaritans. Nor was it normal in that culture for a man to talk about God, worship, and theology with a woman.

Yet despite all the boundaries that separated them, and despite her complicated past, Jesus still offers her living water—the gift of life that only He can give.

Through this woman we learn that God’s mercy doesn’t require us to become respectable enough for Jesus to approach us. In fact, God’s incarnate mercy in Jesus crosses distances and boundaries that we assume should keep people away from Him.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You that Your mercy crosses every boundary and reaches people we might never expect. Help me to see others as You see them and to trust that no one is beyond the reach of Your grace in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Tuesday — Who Knows?Reading: Jonah 3:6–10Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%203%3A6-10&ver...
08/18/2026

Tuesday — Who Knows?

Reading: Jonah 3:6–10
Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%203%3A6-10&version=NIV

Devotion:
Jonah’s message to Nineveh was one of judgement. It didn’t contain even a hint of hope. Jonah never said anything like “Repent and God will forgive you.” Yet in response to Jonah’s proclamation Nineveh’s king says, “Who knows? God may yet relent…”

The Ninevites turn from their evil and violence and throw themselves upon the possibility of mercy. They aren’t disappointed. We’re told that “God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

We have something Nineveh didn’t have – the cross. The cross is the great assurance of God's mercy toward sinners. Unlike Nineveh we don’t have to wonder whether God is merciful to sinners, even us. Christ has shown us. His cross, where Christ bore our sins in His body, stands as beacon and symbol of God’s unending mercy and grace toward sinners. All who trust in Christ crucified and risen have His sure promise of forgiveness and mercy.

Never doubt God's mercy in Jesus. The cross stands as the enduring proof of His mercy toward sinners—even sinners like us.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the cross. It gives undoubtable assurance that you have mercy upon sinners like me. May I live in the joy that such assurance of mercy brings no matter what circumstances come my way. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Monday — Mercy Moves FirstReading: Jonah 3:1–5Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%203&versi...
08/17/2026

Monday — Mercy Moves First

Reading: Jonah 3:1–5
Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%203&version=NIV

The book of Jonah is not really a whale or fish story. It’s a story about failure, restoration, and God’s mercy reaching unexpected places—places like the ancient city of Nineveh.

At the beginning of the book, when God commissioned Jonah to take a message to Nineveh, Jonah ran away. After Jonah’s flight and rescue, God commissioned him a second time. Same instructions, same destination. This time Jonah obeyed.

The message Jonah delivered was brief: “Forty days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The five-word warning recorded for us contains no mention of God, no promise of mercy, no call to repentance—just judgment.

Yet that terse proclamation had an outsized impact. We’re told that the people believed God, wore sackcloth, and turned from their evil, violent ways. Even the king left his throne and sat in the dust. God saw their repentance, relented, and spared the city.

The message itself is evidence of God’s concern for the people of Nineveh. God could have simply brought judgment. Instead, He sent His Word and gave them forty days. **His mercy was moving toward them before they had done anything.**

Nineveh didn’t ask God to send Jonah. They weren’t searching for Israel’s God. They hadn’t cleaned up their violent ways. God moved toward them first.

That’s how mercy works. It begins in the heart of God, not in the worthiness of its recipient. Before Nineveh ever turned toward God, God had already turned His attention toward Nineveh.

And before you ever reached toward God, His mercy was already reaching toward you in Jesus Christ.

**Prayer:** Heavenly Father, thank You for Your mercy shown to me in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help me to rest in the wonderful truth that Your mercy toward me rests not in my worthiness, but in Your gracious love. Amen.

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