Daily Devotional for Jul 3, 2026

2026-07-03: Let's talk about the empire inside us. 🏙️ In Zechariah 2, the prophet gives an urgent, electric command to the exiles: "Escape to Zion, you that live with daughter Babylon!" It’s a literal call to pack up and leave the physical empire. But what happens when you leave Babylon, and you realize Babylon hasn't left you? In Romans 7, Paul writes an agonizingly relatable confession: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." This is the confession of someone who knows what the Kingdom asks, but still defaults to the empire's patterns—the scorekeeping, the anxiety, the transactional reflexes. The empire got inside us before we knew to resist it, and getting it out is the work of a lifetime. Detoxing isn't a one-time event; it's a daily, interior struggle. The Kingdom doesn't ask you to pretend the empire isn't inside you. It just asks you to keep naming it and keep choosing the new way. Be patient with yourself today! ✨
#Romans7 #Zechariah2 #UCC