Today’s devotion shows us that we can be present when modern life pulls us away
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Scripture: John 1:14
The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Pressure I Feel
I can measure value by speed, efficiency, and output.
The Grace I Receive
The Word became flesh, showing me that love takes the shape of presence.
Reflection
Efficiency has its place. Good systems can relieve burdens. Careful tools can save time. A schedule can protect energy. AI can draft, sort, summarize, and assist. In healthcare, workplaces, churches, and homes, automation can help people carry work that has grown too heavy.
The danger begins when efficiency becomes our highest good. When love grows weak, production often rushes in to take its place. We begin asking how fast a task can be completed before we ask how faithfully a person can be loved. We begin measuring output while the person in front of us needs presence.
John tells us, “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” God did His saving work through embodied presence. The eternal Son entered time, skin, hunger, fatigue, friendship, grief, touch, conversation, and tears. Grace came near enough to be seen.
That matters deeply in an automated age. The future may give us remarkable tools. We can receive them with wisdom. We can use them in love. Yet the Christian witness remains profoundly human because Christ came to us in the flesh.
Anyone who has sat beside a bed, listened to a grieving friend, held silence with a frightened patient, or stayed in a hard conversation knows this truth. Presence carries a grace that efficiency can never imitate. A faster answer may help. A faithful presence can heal.
The age may tell us that every human exchange should be optimized. Love asks a different question: Who needs me to be here with them?
Presence may look inefficient. It may slow the pace. It may interrupt production. It may require eye contact, patience, touch, silence, and attention. Yet presence is one way Christ keeps the future human through us.
The Word became flesh. So our love must have flesh too.
Formation Practice
Today, before one task where you feel rushed to get finished, pause and ask: Who needs presence here?
It may be a family member, coworker, patient, church member, neighbor, or stranger. Let love slow you long enough to see them.
Offer one embodied act of presence. Look at them. Listen without preparing your answer. Sit beside them. Send the message with care. Make the call instead of choosing the easier distance.
Let grace come near through you.
Prayer of Formation
Lord Jesus,
You became flesh and lived among us. Teach me to value presence in a world of speed. Help me use tools wisely while keeping love human, attentive, and near. Where efficiency becomes my refuge, call me back to the person in front of me. Let my presence become a witness to Your grace.
– Amen
Carry This Prayer
Breathe in: Christ dwells in me…
Breathe out: … let my presence carry grace
Formed Future Statement
I will let love keep me present where efficiency would hurry me
Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.
Favorite line - “Let my presence carry grace.” Amen!