Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges.  This week’s topic is part of our series called God Is… where we’re trying to learn about God’s character and nature through some key stories in the Bible.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. We have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. Every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with others in community.

I used to be a volunteer paramedic, and I noticed an interesting phenomenon.  People who had taken charge of an emergency, and were actively doing first aid, performing CPR or otherwise making a real difference would suddenly stop when the paramedics arrived.  One of our first instructions was often, “keep going!” so we could get in the door and get our equipment bags open.  We had to counter the natural response of people who’d been waiting for help to arrive: relief!

This is the kind of emotion the world was meant to experience at the first Christmas, when God came into the world as Jesus.  Help is here!  We can stop trying to save ourselves in vain, now the one who can truly save us is on the scene.

To experience that ourselves, however, we have to feel some sense of urgency about our situation, and recognize we are helpless and need saving.

Let’s consider what some signs are that our world is broken and in need of a Saviour. Come up with as many examples as you can about how our world is broken in each of these categories to think about:

  • the environment
  • morals
  • politics
  • finances
  • families
  • religion

How easy or hard was it to think of ways our world is broken?  What does that show you about why our world needs Jesus?

What impact has this brokenness had on you?

Question: What kinds of promises do you depend on in your daily life?  What signs do you watch in your work and home life?