The Boundless Love of God

This is the first service of 2026. King Joash comes to the prophet who lies close to death, shoots the arrow and strikes the ground. Yet he strikes only three times and stops, and so the victories that might have been his are cut short at three as well.

In this we see ourselves, hesitating even with salvation already in our hands. God has made everything ready to pour out his grace and is waiting, while we halt our obedience and devotion at a line we have drawn for ourselves. Even after the prophet has died, a dead man whose body touches his bones comes back to life, showing that though a human life comes to an end, God’s power and love do not.

Our thanksgiving must not be for a flawless year but for the love that has brought us this far. On the cross God has already demonstrated that love, in which he did not spare his only Son but gave him up. Our limits and shortcomings do not stop that love, so rather than settling for standards of our own making, we need to go on trusting God to the very end.