July 3rd, 25: God's Love and Our Journey in Isaiah, Chronicles, Philemon

Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible, where every day is an opportunity to gather around the Scriptures and be reminded of God’s unfailing love. In today’s episode for July 3rd, 2025, your host Hunter invites you into a journey through Isaiah 6 and 7, 2 Chronicles 26 and 27, and the book of Philemon. Together, we'll witness Isaiah’s transformative vision of God’s glory, reflect on the rise and fall of King Uzziah, and listen to Paul’s heartfelt appeal to Philemon—a call to radical love and laying down our rights for the sake of others. Hunter encourages us to allow these passages to wash over our lives, offering rest, insight, and a fresh perspective on what it means to live out the gospel each day. Whether you’re joining for the first time or returning as a long-time listener, get ready to experience Scripture in community, prayer, and hope—reminding us all that we are loved, and called to participate in God’s work of making all things new.

TODAY'S DEVOTION:

Lay down your rights for love’s sake. The only way this world is going to be made right is if someone puts aside their rights and offers love instead. That is the request that Paul makes of Philemon. Onesimus was Philemon’s slave who had run away from him, and in God’s providence both men had been led to the Lord by Paul. Now Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon, who by law still owns him. In this moment, Paul is challenging Philemon to discover the depths of the gospel—the radical extent to which the gospel transforms individuals and societies.

Paul is reminding Philemon, and us, that the only way this world will be made right is if people put aside their rights and extend love instead. Legally, Philemon has every right over Onesimus, but Jesus has shown us a better way. Jesus set us free by giving up his own rights and becoming a servant, a slave, so that we might be set free by God. Paul, in Philippians chapter two, says that Jesus “gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” Jesus gave up what was rightfully his in order to set the world free. That is the only way broken people and this broken world are made right—by the man who gave up his rights.

Now, Paul is calling Philemon—and he is calling you and me—to follow this example. This isn’t just a word for an ancient slave owner, but for every one of us who is trying to live in the light of Christ. There’s no greater demonstration of love than to lay down our lives, our privileges, and our rights for another. When we do, we participate in the very life of the One who is making all things new.

That’s the prayer I have for my own soul today—that I would join Christ in learning how to lay aside my rights, my privileges, in the service of others. It’s my prayer for my family—my wife, my daughters, my son. And it’s my prayer for you. May it be so.