Thursday Devotional - Sin and Death or Victory and Life?

We just remembered Jesus death on the cross this past Friday and celebrated His resurrection on Sunday!

After a Good Friday service, we came home and got baths and then had our evening Bible reading and prayer time in a dark bedroom (instead of in the well-lit den). I used a flashlight as we read the crucifixion story together from the book of Luke. It’s a new tradition we started last year, remembering the utter darkness God sent while Jesus hung on the cross to pay for our sins. The kids had clear memories from a year ago (when we read the account from John)!

It’s hard for us to grasp all Jesus did in those dark hours on the cross. His death freed us from the penalty of sin and His resurrection freed us from the power of sin.  

Romans 6:1-5                     What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Are you and I truly living in the new life Jesus provided and looking forward to our resurrection someday?  Or, is there some habitual sin that reflects a lack of union with Jesus’ death? Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us overcome those sins, living in the victory Jesus has already won!

Alice

A Father's Love

Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”

Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!”  Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time.  His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.  Genesis 37:31-35

I remember when my youngest daughter was growing up, and she struggled to enunciate words.  She had a speech impediment, and it made it very difficult for us to understand her.  It also had to be frustrating to her because we often struggled to get her what she needed.  As a father, you struggle because you see how your older children were able to easily do things, and this young adorable child would cry as you fought to get her to that same understanding.  It saddened me because at times I feel I was too hard on her.  I still can see the pained look on her little face and her tears when she felt I disappointed her.

Today, I can’t get her to shut up.  Now I have to fight her about keeping her room clean and why she got put out of Social Studies class.  “I was in the right, Dad,” she would explain.  She’s taller than me, and she loves to wrestle with her Dad.  Not because she’s fragile.  She’s a base for a cheer team and arguably the strongest of them.  But in a way, it reminds her how her Dad will always fight for her.  It may be just a small reminder that I love her.  And I do.  I would be so incredibly sad without her.

God loves us such that He too would grieve if He lost us to the world.  In the story of Joseph in Genesis, he is sold into slavery by his own brothers.  The focus is not on Joseph in these verses.  It is on Jacob, his father.  As his children deceive him about his favorite son, Joseph, we see the level of sorrow with Jacob.  This is incredibly sad, and one might wonder how to endure such grief.  As we look at our relationship with God, we are right to focus how we should better serve Him.  Loving Him above all things, loving others as ourselves, and breathing life into His word through our actions are just some of the many things we do as proof of our servitude.  But what if we reflect not on our own actions but also how God would feel?  What if our actions disappoint Him?  What if we chose not to follow Him?  Yes, God punishes us for our failings, but as our Heavenly Father, we must realize our failings disappoint Him as well.  When making decisions, we should take time to reflect on what impact it has on our relationship with God for He loves us more than we can ever imagine.

You are a precious gift of God.  Jesus in the ‘Parable of the Lost Sheep’ said, “… it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:14b)  Our relationship with God hinges heavily on our willingness to submit to His will.  Our successes brings us toward a more rewarding relationships.  Our failures bring us opportunities to grow.  But whether we succeed or fail, let our understanding of the depths of our Heavenly Father’s love be a driving force in our actions.  How can you meditate on the love God has for you?  How can what breaks God’s heart be motivation in your life?  My prayer is that we never forget what it means to have a Father’s love.

Tues Devo: The effect

Hello,

This Easter weekend got me thinking about something a little different. The start of the church service I was at began by talking about creation, and how our world today was not as it was designed. There is an effect of sin – and it leads to death and destruction. We see it with the garden of Eden, we saw it with Cain & Abel, we see it with the death of Jesus – in fact, we even see it with Judas who was so overwhelmed with what he had done he killed himself.

Even our “small stuff” has an effect. We tell a small lie, and lose trust. We get angry quickly and damage a relationship. We are selfish, and lose impactful time with our children.  

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NASB)

God took sin seriously, and paid a seriously painful price for us – let us take it seriously too.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill