Scripture: Matthew 6:1-6

1 “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Ash Wednesday kicks off the 40-day season of Lent – a season of piety, reflection, examination, and preparation. Just as Jesus walked through the wilderness for 40 days preparing for His ministry, we take an extended time to fast and walk through our own types of “wilderness” to prepare our hearts. It can be easy to go to church or do acts of service knowing that we will be seen. Others will know we’re practicing Christians. During Lent, it is tempting to go out and about after church on Ash Wednesday, proudly bearing smudged crosses on our foreheads for all the world to see. But that’s not the point of Lent. It is a very inner work, a spiritual work. We shouldn’t boast about what we are giving up and expect praise from others. We should fast or focus on breaking patterns of sin not for the reward of others noticing us, but for the inner mark of God’s Spirit working within us. I encourage you this season to quietly go about your Lenten journey. I challenge you to take this time seriously. Take stock of any sins you have been hanging on to and make a plan to break them with God’s help and grace. Find an accountability partner. Add a spiritual discipline into your daily routine; that could be reading a devotional book, reading Scripture, dedicated prayer, or so much more! I pray that the Lord in His grace changes all our hearts to be closer to Him, and to only desire Him above anyone or anything else.

Scripture: Psalm 91: 1-2

1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,[a]
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”

We are called to abide in the Lord. He covers us like a shadow covers the ground, bringing us into His loving protection. Lent can be hard. It should be hard. We’ve given up something we love. We’ve maybe added in something to our day, which makes us reflect on what has been important to us. But we also find joy in this season. Joy of feeling God’s presence through the hard things. Joy in the waiting. Joy in the work. Joy in community. God is our refuge in times of struggle – He is the one we go to for help, for comfort, for strength, for sustenance. It might seem like we come to God dragging, clawing our way from face-planting again and again in the muck and mire of mistakes and just life things. But God wants us still to come to Him! I pray that this season brings you abiding life and joy in Christ Jesus!

Scripture: Exodus 6:1-13

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.” 2 God also spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘The Lord’ I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. 5 I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.

10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, 11 “Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.” 12 But Moses spoke to the Lord, “The Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am?” 13 Thus the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them orders regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, charging them to free the Israelites from the land of Egypt.

God assures His people of deliverance even when things don’t seem to go according to plan. Moses had been questioning God after he had gone to Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh retaliated by making the enslaved people make bricks without straw (Exodus 5) – a near impossible task. Moses starts to question why he was ever sent back to Egypt, if God was simply going to allow His people to be mistreated even worse than before! God seems to do nothing to stop it. Yet read the words of promise from God’s own self. He is God Almighty (El Shaddai)! He is the God of the forefathers – of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who He renamed Israel). God keeps His covenant with His people. Yet it is with Moses that God allows Himself to be known by His personal name which is rendered “Lord” – YHWH. God reassures Moses that He will come through as promised, and that He will be the Israelites’ God, their Lord, and they will be His beloved people.

In the face of trials, hardship, sorrow, tragedy, and sin, it is difficult at times to remember that God is a personal God who desires a true relationship with us as His people. Lent allows us space to remember God’s steadfast love when we haven’t been so faithful. We are able to turn back and be claimed by God if we claim Him as our only Lord in life. And we see Him keep His promises, though they may seem a long way off. From Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Jesus – God has fulfilled His covenant that binds His people to Him. So today, while we are still early in this fasting journey, let’s remember God’s faithfulness to us. May we call Him El Shaddai, Adonai, Abba. He sustains us. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

The author of Ecclesiastes, thought to be King Solomon son of David, is notorious for the book having a “everything is meaningless” notion in the beginning. Apart from God, it can surely seem like it. Self-indulgence, wisdom and knowledge for their own sakes, success, even life – all can seem futile unless we know and begin to rest in the source of creation – the Creator Himself. As we start to feel the first sunshine of the coming spring, we can read this passage and nod “yes, there are seasons to everything.” The four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Seasons of joy and sadness. Life and death. Lent is a season in the Christian liturgical calendar (for those who follow the calendar) that is a time of putting things away, hopefully those things that are sins or harmful behaviors, and taking up new things that bring us closer to our Lord. Some things are not meant to last forever. That is a difficult thing to handle for us. We often desire our good days to last so that we have no more awful days. We want relationships to stay just as they are because they are comfortable and we don’t want to deal with change or growth…or separation.

Change can be hard, even when it is expected with the seasons and time changes. We can wonder how a shift in what we know can be good. Or we try to see why we sometimes need to do the opposite of what we would really like to do. Lent, I think, gives us this time to practice self-control, discipline, diligence, and accountability. If we take it seriously, it forces us to slow down in a way and consider why we do what we do, what is good and what is purely self-indulgence. And we can give all the anxieties about change and everything else to the source of all that is good, because God Himself is Goodness and Life. Jesus is King over it all. Let us worship the one true King who never changes!

1 John 2:1-6

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. 4 Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5 but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

In Wesleyanism/Methodism, we talk a lot about “perfection” and “sanctification”. Those can be hard to understand, but the gist of it is that it’s all about being made complete. We are made perfect (complete, fulfilled) in Jesus Christ. When we follow Christ, that means giving our lives totally to His will, His mission, His purpose. And that means that we inevitably must follow Christ’s requirements for those who have chosen to accept the life of Christ. We have to be honest in obeying God. If we say His name, if we say we “know” Him, yet our lives do not produce the fruit of that relationship…we have lied, and we have sinned.

Lent is a good time to remember that we have an advocate in Jesus, even if (when) we sin, because we are called into repentance. We can come back to God’s commandments that point to His glory that we get to benefit from. I pray that we may all strive on to perfection in Christ’s love of God, that we will turn our lives back to God if we have fallen away, and see the wonderful foundation that is the Lord. May we abide in His faithfulness so that we may be faithful, walking as He walked.

Romans 10:8b-13

8b "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.11 The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Paul gives a wonderful understanding of salvation throughout his letter to the Romans. When we truly believe in is hearts AND confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Savior and Lord of all, then we are saved! And even if there seems to be shame and ridicule for believing in Christ, in the end God puts all things to right and there is no shame at all. We are all on equal footing before the Lord and all have the opportunity to receive His grace and love. When we call on Christ's name – in the good, the bad, and everything in between – He hears us. We are not forgotten.

This season I offer a challenge, one that I myself often need too! Call upon God first. Don’t go to God as a last resort after all other plans and remedies have failed. He should be our first priority, our first love, our first call in gratitude and for help. May we each be empowered by the Holy Spirit to lean on our Father, redeemed by the Son’s blood, in all things.

As part of this devotional, take a listen to the cover of “Call Upon Him", by FAITHFUL, a collective of Christian women inspired by God’s faithfulness!

Romans 12:1-2

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This morning I was reading my current personal devotion resource, Ruth Chou Simon’s Beholding and Becoming: The Art of Everyday Worship. What I read stuck with me, so I just had to share with y’all today! In beholding God’s grace and mercy, we are able to properly worship; without first being pointed towards God’s mercy, we cannot worship Him well. So often we are unintentionally formed by the ways of our culture, without even realizing we have fallen in self-worship and idolization and sin. Yet, when we are intentional about being oriented to Christ and His work (instead of our own), we are formed into properly worshipping children of God! Ruth Simons uses the illustration of dancing (which I love): we can tell the type of dance even without music by the form of the pattern. So we recognize waltzes as the 1-2-3; we can see swing and salsa and anything else. When we have posture (position and approach to something), the pattern emerges of fleshing out that posture (p. 191).

I love Ruth Simon’s illustration of posture and patterns because that’s a bit of what Paul gets at. Whether we conform to culture or to Christ affects our patterns of life and worship. Yet we can only worship what we know. If we are intentional about being in Scripture, being in church and small groups, being in prayer…then our minds are renewed and patterns are established. Here’s what Ruth Simons writes so much better than I can:

“Sometimes we’re surprised when our desire for holiness grows cold, our pursuit of God wanes, and our likeness to the world catches up with us. But it shouldn’t take us by surprise if we are not intentionally and continually renewing our minds with the Word of God. We do not passively become wise in discernment or worshipful in our everyday lives, and we don’t automatically become living sacrifices without a deliberate choice to respond to His love with obedience. A new pattern takes time to establish and grow when love – not duty – is our motivator…. When we place our full trust in Jesus, we are instantly forgiven and made right with God, but sanctification is the process of becoming – day by day – through the work of Christ in our lives. That new pattern is an outward transformation that reveals inward change.” (p. 192).

We offer ourselves as holy and living sacrifices, giving our whole selves as an offering to God that He accepts and makes right. We cannot love what we don’t know. So today read Scripture and know the good news of God throughout history. I pray that this time is a time of establishing new patterns of worship. Not out of obligation or duty. Not out of a checklist. Not out of head knowledge. But patterns of transformation, of holiness, of justice, of love of God and others.

Psalm 97:1-4, 13-14

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
they shall stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.

13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

I am by nature a homebody; I like to go out occasionally, but I prefer staying home, in one place. I don’t like moving from place to place. Moving out of my parents’ home for college, then to a different state for seminary, then again after getting married and starting at my first church appointment…those were hard because I made those different places home and I liked home. Maybe you have moved way more than I have. Maybe you love moving to new places! I am the kind of person who desires to be super settled – to have one place to call home for the rest of my life, building a family with my husband (and our cat), and settling down. But that isn’t the life of a United Methodist pastor; we move around a lot, going to different churches as we are called. When I accepted my call to ministry about six years ago, having one singular home that I never moved from ever again was a dream I knew I had to give to God in faith. But I am thankful that I don’t move alone, that God gave me a partner in ministry through my husband who will always be a safe landing!

Psalm 97 is about the goodness and protection of the Lord, that He is our home and refuge. In the midst of the darkness of the evil that surrounds us daily, we can find strength and help in the Light of the Lord. When there are circumstances beyond our control that make us afraid, we can reach out to God and know He is there with us. He is our stronghold – a fortress, a refuge, a safe haven. Our Psalmist writes that he seeks after one thing – to live in the house of the Lord all his life. That’s something I desire, too. That God is my home, even in the ever changing ways of the world. Wherever I may go, wherever I make home after home after home, God is there! We can wait for the Lord and His goodness in confidence! I pray that this Lent you enter into the Lord’s house, that you invite Him fully into your own home and feel His daily presence. May the Light of our God be where we rest all the day of our lives!

As part of this devotion, take a listen to a cover of Kim Walker Smith’s “Christ the Rock”!

Philippians 3:17-20

17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul is truly one of my favorite pillars of the faith to read and dive into. As a woman in ministry, it’s doubly fun (but that’s another thing). 😉 I could seriously talk all day about the wonder and beauty that is the writings and teachings of Paul, this man who went from persecuting early Christians to having a direct encounter with the Risen Christ, changing Paul’s entire life trajectory. Paul cared so deeply about having others walk rightly in the Christian faith. He was often moved by strong emotion, affection, and faith. To imitate Paul would be a feat indeed!

Have you ever wondered how we’re supposed to act as Christians who are from different countries and cultures, where we have differing forms of government and ties? Or perhaps it feels like we aren’t really supposed to be here? When we look at Philippians 3, we might immediately want to think that what he meant was that earth is not really our home, that we are to wait to go to our true home of heaven. But what Paul means is that we as believers in Jesus Christ owe our allegiance to Him as Savior and Lord. Where we hold our citizenship is where we give allegiance. So, for example, Romans were very proud to be Romans, and they gave their whole allegiance to Caesar, who was their Lord and Savior. But as Christians our foremost priority is Christ – that is why we are called citizens of heaven, because even though we might be proud to be Americans or a particular political party or even denomination, those allegiances must always be secondary (or even tertiary) to our worship and devotion to Christ! He is the King! And we imitate (follow, emulate) mature fellow Christians in following Christ, giving up all our privileges and reorienting our lives to work for the good of God’s Kingdom, which through Jesus has broken into earthly history! This is a good reminder that we do not try to escape this life or say that “we don’t belong here”; we do belong on earth, for a time, to steward and create and love in God’s name. Yet, we also know that this is not all there is, but that we expect our Savior and Lord to make earth as heaven and establish His good and holy rule over all other powers! May we this season recognize Jesus as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords!

As part of this devotional, listen to the cover (found in the videos below) of Hillsong’s “King of Kings”!

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you, desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

When I consider a mother hen gathering up her chicks, it’s a super cute and cuddly picture! I think of farmyard cartoons, where the mother hen snuggles in close with her little babies under her wings, safe and sound. Yet Jesus completely shakes and jars that notion. As I dived into a similar gospel passage for this Sunday’s worship service, I realized that Jesus longing to gather up Israel and the world like chicks is anything but cuddly and cute.

It’s sacrificial love. It’s lament. It’s heartbreak. Jesus so desires to protect and save us from ourselves in our sin that He wants to protect us as a mother hen protects her chicks – even to the point of death. There are stories where mother hens are found burned from farm fires, and yet has under her wings live chicks. What kind of love it takes to give one’s life! Lent is a time where we are invited to come back to the safety of the wings of Jesus. But it requires us to turn away from sin, from the predator who entices and entangles us, who makes us venture away from the mercy and grace of God. Let’s come back. Let’s hear Jesus’ longing, His heart for us and the world and for God. Let’s respond by acknowledging our need for mercy and grace. And let’s seek the shelter Jesus offers.

As part of this devotion, listen to the cover of a 20th century hymn, Marty Haugen’s “Gather Us In”!

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go, leave this place, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

4 When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” 6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

There is a lot of layers in these verses. Today, though, as I studied the scripture and reflected, I kept coming back to God’s judgment of the Israelites as a “stiff-necked” people. What in the world does that mean? Being “stiff-necked” means to be stubborn, obstinate, difficult to lead. Time and again throughout the Bible, we see the people called by God to be set apart and holy continue to do things their own way, making idols when God doesn’t do what they think God should do. Yet we see here in God’s dialogue with Moses that God is the God of both justice AND forgiveness, holiness AND mercy. It can be hard to wrap our minds around.
When God calls the people “stiff-necked”, He means that they are stubborn and refuse to be led into righteousness. I immediately thought “We haven’t changed at all.” I can recall plenty of times that I have been overly stubborn to my detriment. Can you? It seems harsh to us that God refuses to accompany the people into the land He promised them because they are stubborn; the very presence of God among His people is threatened because as a holy God, He cannot abide among ongoing sin. Yet, even in their stubbornness, God still keeps His promise to get them to safety and thriving! We witness God’s judgment paired with His upholding His end of the covenant when the people have broken their end; truly magnificent!
In the following verses, Moses says that nothing else will do but the full restoration of the people as God’s people. Moses acts a mediator on behalf of the stubborn people to restore and renew the covenant with God. Hmm…a mediator who intercedes for us who are difficult to lead and refuse to turn our eyes and hearts to God in order to fully restore us to God. Sound familiar? We hear the gospel message in the Old Testament, ringing out before Jesus’ time! God brings all things together in the Old and the New! Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior, is our one mediator before the Father. We receive restoration, renewal, and forgiveness, even though we are so often determined to continue in our own ways. Friends, let us not be “stiff-necked”, refusing to turn back to our just and forgiving God. May we repent from our sin of obstinance, and turn back to the one who is righteous, good, and perfect, yet is merciful and gracious even when we don’t deserve it. In Christ, His presence is with us always as He renews and transforms us into new creations.
As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to the cover of Matt Maher’s “Lord, I Need You.”

Joshua 2:8-14

8 Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now then, since I have dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith 13 that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” 14 The men said to her, “Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.”

Today I was inspired by FAITHFUL, an album by a collective of Christian women that has a companion book. And one of the stories they tell is of Rahab. This is only part of an incredible story of God’s faithfulness being instilled in the most unexpected of people. The woman who speaks about God is not an Israelite – it is Rahab, the prostitute who lived on the edges of society in Jericho, the very Jericho that Joshua would lead the people to conquer as God said. Rahab speaks in faith about this immense and powerful God of the Israelites that the city has heard about. She recognizes Him as “the God in heaven above and on earth below.” She hides Israelites spies and gets them to agree to spare her family since she aided them. The crimson chord she later ties to her window to signal her security is a symbol of faith.

I love this passage because it is a statement of faith from a woman who perhaps had not know of God before, had not worshipped Him. She sees His power and has faith that He truly is the God of all, and so the Israelites will be victorious in taking the city. Rahab is a woman who was kept to the edges, a prostitute – someone looked down upon by society for doing what she had to to survive. We see her humanity and dignity, her courage and faith for her and her family. And many generations later, she will be included in the lineage of our Savior Jesus! The Lord is faithful to the people we might not expect Him to be. We might think we don’t deserve God’s faithfulness. Yet, He is the God above and the God below, and that is something we can count on. When all else crumbles around us, when we feel so lowly and on the edges, God sees us, lifts us up, and transforms our lives where we do not remain where we are.

Take a listen to today’s music for a cover of “Rahab’s Lullaby (God Above, God Below) from the FAITHFUL album!

Luke 13:22-30

22 Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. 29 Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

Have you ever waited to see how something turns out before making a decision, only to discover it’s too late when you finally make that decision? I’m sure there are plenty of little or big things in our lives that we wish we would have been more proactive about, more decided, and less wishy-washy, more attentive and less distracted. I think that is one sense we can gain from today’s passage. While this passage is possibly not directly about eternal salvation (see NT Wright’s New Testament for Everyone for a more detailed explanation if you’d like), it still carries immense significance for how we can understand God’s calling to everyone to follow Him.

Jesus is the final messenger of God. He is the last chance for the people to repent and be reconciled with God. The shocking part of Jesus’ response is that the people who might have hung out with Jesus, ate with Him, and listened to Him teach are not automatically “saved”; there were perhaps people who wanted to wait and see how this whole Jesus thing turned out before they decided to give their lives to follow Him. On the flipside, there were some who thought that they were “the few” that would be saved – the pious, the super-religious. No dice there either. The door is narrow because following Christ is not an easy thing to do. The Christian life forces us to see the eternal significance of how we live our lives here on earth. We can’t be “lukewarm” in our love and devotion. And that’s HARD, friends! Just saying we “know” Jesus isn’t the point. Showing up the church on Sundays (while as a pastor, I highly encourage you to do) isn’t the main point. I could list so much else. The point is that we recognize Jesus as the Savior and Lord, as God Incarnate, that we love Him with all our being, and that love is poured out through our actions towards others. Additionally, those who were not of the original group are many who will be part of the Kingdom of God – those from the north and south, east and west – the Gentiles. Here we get a glimpse of Christ’s stunning inclusion and gracious transformation of those unexpected people. People like you and me!

This Lent, in whatever practices you picked up or put away, renew that devotion, that fire for God. If you have been someone who has waited to make the decision to follow Christ, pray and give your heart to Him now. If you have been the one who thinks you have it all figured out by going to church, having a step by step plan of reading the Bible, and giving to a charity occasionally, then I challenge you to dive deeper and allow the Spirit to move within you once again. May our hearts grow ever nearer to the Lord and truly grab hold of the hope of His Kingdom.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of the hymn “Just As I Am.”

1 O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

It is easy to give thanks to God when things go our way. It is easy to go to Him when we need something. But how often to we go to God…simply for God? Do we ever go to God because our souls thirst for Him, or because we want something from Him? Take a moment to truly reflect on that. See where you land. It’s good and necessary to be honest with ourselves so that God can meet us where we are!

David provides this beautiful song to the Lord that I think points us in the right direction. Everything is to God first. David, in a wilderness mindset, seeks God. Not food. Not drink. Not shelter. But God. David’s entire being longs for the Lord! I think through the many times I have called upon God in my life, out of gratefulness, longing, provision, need, hurt, repentance, praise. We call upon Him for so many different reasons, and we are invited to by the One who loves us. Yet, I have to ask myself “Has my flesh fainted for You, Lord, and You alone? Has my soul thirsted for You without expecting anything out of it except Your holy presence?”

This Lenten season, a season of wilderness, fasting, examination, and even trial, I invite us all to ask ourselves these questions. Seek first our wonderful God! He does provide what we need for the day. He quenches our soul’s thirst. He fills us with daily bread. He provides shelter within Himself. And we are invited to behold Him, in all His glory and power and love. So let us keep our eyes – indeed, our very souls, our very beings – turned to Him in all seasons, in all places, at all times.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of Hillsong Worship’s “Desert Song”!

Psalm 63:5-8

5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6 when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

I love going to sleep with a full belly! Whether it’s a nap from a “food coma”, or going to bed for the night after a delicious dinner, I love the simple creature comforts like the satisfaction and fueling that food gives our bodies. Satisfaction. Being satisfied through food, fulfilling dream jobs, having a home. That feeling of a job well done at the end of a long day of work or home projects. All these things are daily times where we can sit back, see our work, and say “I’m good. I’m satisfied.” We go to bed content. But are we satisfied in the One who truly makes us content?

David has these words of finding satisfaction in his soul, because he is satisfied not in the earthly things (though those are good too, like feasts!), but in the Lord – the One who provides it all. That is true satisfaction that cannot be taken away from us! We are invited into considering all that God has done and give Him praise. In His provision, His protection, His watching, His help, His steadfast love. In the dark of the night, God is our light. In the times of distress, God is our comforter, our help.

God reaches out His hand daily to us, asking us to start our day with Him, walk with Him, and end with Him. His hand upholds us, keeping us steady when everything else might threaten to knock us over. So during your Lenten time, I encourage you to cling to the Lord. Have you very soul cling to our God, our Savior, our Hope. In Him and only Him can we ever be truly satisfied, for everything else will fade away. Be satisfied in the Lord, my friends, and take His hand!

As part of this devotional, listen to the cover of Thomas Dorsey’s hymn “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”!

Isaiah 5:1-7

1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed; righteousness,
but heard a cry!

I like to cook…when I’m cooking for others. I like to carefully pick the ingredients, figure out what goes well together, figure out the timing of everything so that all the food arrives to the table nice and hot at the same time. You can imagine the frustration when things don’t go as planned. The timings get off, food gets cold (or burned). Or, worse, the ingredients I had picked out somehow didn’t play nicely together, and the meal tastes bland or downright terrible. I spent all that time in the kitchen, and it feels like it was for nothing. Enter in stress and frustration. Or, another take on it, especially if you’re a parent, you create this fantastic meal that your children want absolutely no part of. Frustrating. Irritating. Kind of, sad? Hurtful?

The keeper of the vineyard does everything right – perfect soil, no stones to trip over, a watchtower to keep it safe, preparations for making wine from the harvest, pruning, watering, caring. Talk about TLC! And yet, all for nothing – wild grapes. Useless. Sour. You cannot make good wine out of wild grapes. The keeper did all that he could to give the vines the best chance! And we are left with the unresolved question of how in the world wild grapes grew instead of good grapes?

God takes such care for us. He has carefully planted, nurtured, and watered His people. And yet, we so often turn into these wild grapes – unexpected, sour, ungrateful, the complete opposite of what God desires us to be. Imagine God’s lament over His people when they rebel against His love. How do we turn out this way?? He expects justice and love from His people towards one another, and gets violence instead. He requires righteousness, but hears cries and rebellion against Him.

God desires good fruit from His people who say they follow Him and keep His commandments. In Jesus, He has given us a keeper who longs to care for us, watch over us, and prune us so that we may bear good fruit, not wild fruit. May we accept the Lord’s love, care, and commandments that we might see His mercy in sending Jesus to save us from our wildness.

As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to Matt Papa’s “His Mercy is More”.

Luke 10:38-42

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

As another busy week begins, I am tempted to be overwhelmed by all the things to be done! I tend to let myself get extremely packed in my schedule; if I think my calendar is too blank, I feel like I am not doing “enough”. Anyone who knew me in college and seminary knows that I usually ran on about five cups of coffee, four hours of sleep, and lots of faith to get multiple jobs, classwork, and social time done! But eventually that pace had to stop. I was burning out – fast. I wasn’t taking the time to enjoy things or take care of myself the way I should have, even not spending as much time with God as I otherwise would have. I was distracted. I can still get distracted and stressed by all the things piling up on the to do list.

I can be very much like Martha. She did her best to be a good hostess, to get things done that need to be done for hospitality. I can understand why she got frustrated that her sister Mary wasn’t helping. We sometimes drag Martha and think that she didn’t understand. But she was simply getting the daily things done! What is so wrong with that?

Martha was distracted by important things, but she was missing out on the most important person right in front of her. It’s easy to do in our culture of go go go, produce produce produce. We aren’t encouraged to sit still and simply be. There is are times to be Martha – things cannot be left undone. But there are times to be Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Soaking in his presence. Listening. Learning. Allowing Him to fill us, instead of thinking we have to do it all. It has been my goal and prayer the past few years to be more like Mary now. To allow myself to sit still and leave the weight and burdens of tasks at the feet of Jesus. It’s only after I am refreshed in His outpouring of the Spirit that I am able to stand up and go about what needs to be done in the right attitude to give glory to God.

My prayer for you today, at the start of another week of full schedules, responsibilities, and somewhere in the middle of it all finding time to be with God, is that you take time to stop. Just be. You do not always have to have something to show for how you spent your time, because sometimes the work that is done is the God within you! And that will show itself in time! Let go of control (that’s a daily challenge to myself as well), and allow God to speak into you, to empower you with His Spirit. And may you learn and grow at the feet of our Savior.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of Hillary Scott’s “Still.”

There is no devotional for this day. Apologies!

Luke 13:18-21

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

20 And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Small but mighty. It might be a cliché, but it can be oh so true. Small but mighty. That’s how a touring Christian choir I was in for six years described ourselves as our numbers began to dwindle. I think one summer we went on tour with maybe 15 singers, when we used to have over 70 (or even more). Yet, we went to Saturday morning practices; we went on our tour; and we still touched people’s lives and did mission with our tiny force of faith.

Small things can have big impacts, lasting impacts. The Kingdom of God, Jesus says, is like that. It might start out small, but it continues to grow into the largest phenomenon the world will ever see. The Kingdom of God does not rely on big faith, but perhaps small faith. What I mean is, that God desires us even at our smallest grains of faith. Our small little acts of trust in Him. Our belief in Who He is and what He has done and will do. God takes the smallest thing of this earth and turns them into mighty vessels for His mission of love and salvation!

My prayer for you today is to not discount the little things. Don’t discount your quiet prayers – God hears them. Don’t discount the everyday ways you serve God and others – God sees you. Don’t discount the hurts of this world either – God weeps with you, and carries you in His arms. Through faith, we are able to be bold and act, showing the love of Jesus Christ. May we remember Whose Kingdom it is, and that we do not build it, but God builds and we get to join in.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of Rend Collective’s “Build Your Kingdom Here”.

Psalm 32:1-7

1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah

Repentance. Forgiveness. This is an overarching theme of God’s love and salvation plan. We are called to repentance – that’s what Lent focuses on, what we cannot get away from. It is a turning away from sin and turning towards the holiness of God. And He forgives us. The Psalmist write that our sin is covered through forgiveness. We understand forgiveness through Christ as being covered by His blood and His righteousness. God remembers our sin no more, which means He doesn’t hold it against us but gives us a fresh start!

Yet we cannot experience the joy of God’s forgiveness, or even other people’s forgiveness, if we keep our sins tucked tightly within ourselves. When we keep silent about the things we have done that we know are wrong, it can have mental, emotional, and physical tolls on us. Have you ever had to keep a really big secret? It can become almost physically impossible to function for fear of bursting out! It can cause us pain. Our bodies can waste away under the stress of it all.

When we acknowledge sin for what it is, we can begin the journey to healing. Not before, or else we fool ourselves because we haven’t gotten to the root of the problem. That’s why in the Christian faith we have special prayers that we pray for “confessing of sin”, that makes us acknowledge both as the Church and as individuals of our sin and our need for our Savior Jesus Christ. That’s why we are encouraged to have a small group of Christian brothers or sisters who we can be brutally honest and vulnerable with, and they can help us in healing and accountability. That’s why we are taught to admit to someone when we have hurt them. That is why we are told to acknowledge our sin before God Himself. All so that we can know the joy and freedom of forgiveness! The Lord is the One who we can run to for deliverance from ourselves. Let us remember that even though it can be scary to admit our failures in morality, accountability, and even humanity, it is better for us to root it out rather than allow ourselves to waste away. For we are not called to be a waste, but to have life springing forth from Life Himself!

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of Augustus Toplady’s hymn “Rock of Ages.”

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

6 So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

We walk by faith, and not by sight. These are very famous words for Christians. We walk by faith, not because we don’t have evidence of God (we do), but because of what God instills in us. We can follow Him, read and understand our Scriptures, and trust on God’s promises because of the faith we have been given by God. Even though it may feel like we are not “home” in this body, we have been placed here for a time and purpose. We continue to have faith and hope that we will be supremely reunited with God after this life. But we know God now, in this life, as revealed through His Son Jesus! Even though we can’t visibly see Him, He is with us!

What Paul gets at a bit here, I think, is that whether we are home or away from home (in heaven or on earth), we should aim to please God. We should live out our faith well now, not waiting to get to heaven to worship God always and forever. We can start now!

I think we can also apply this “home or away” concept in our daily lives. Do you only live a life of faith “at home”? Whether that’s your personal dwelling, or in your church home, we might live very differently from how others at work or at the store or school might see us. But that shouldn’t be the case. We honor God by living faithfully wherever we are. Our words and deeds should point to Jesus every time, in every place, to every person. Not just at home or in church. We should keep God in our vision – the first thing in our focus, not on the periphery, not kept for certain settings but for all settings. Be at home in your faith, friends. And be confident that God keeps His promises and enables us through His Holy Spirit to live out the faith He has instilled in our hearts.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of the hymn “Be Thou My Vision.”

Luke 15:1-7

1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Do you know the feeling of cleaning your room after it’s gotten a bit – ahem – too messy, and you begin finding things you didn’t even realize went missing? I get excited, and a bit distracted, when that happens. I immediately go “Oh, THAT’S where you’ve been hiding! I wondered where you went.” All other cleaning plans go out the window for a few minutes as I try to think of where to put my newfound item so it won’t get lost again. It is an oddly exciting time.

When we wander off, God doesn’t just forget about us. Unlike us, He doesn’t misplace us. He sees us wandering off, making poor decisions, sinning, and thinking we can handle ourselves away from the community He has given us in Him and the Church. And what does He do? He doesn’t shrug and say “oh well, I tried.” He goes after us, like the lost sheep who wandered away from the flock! He finds us, probably stuck in a ditch or hurt or caught in something, and says “That’s where you’ve been trying to hide! I’ll take you back to safety.”

Here’s the thing – there is rejoicing when we come back! God doesn’t shame us. He doesn’t roll His eyes or talk to the other sheep about what a nimrod this other sheep was. No, Jesus says there is rejoicing and excitement when even one person comes back to the love of God! It might seem silly to those who never leave why there is so much rejoicing – but God desires us all to repent from our sin and come back to Him. It might seem foolish or reckless to others that the shepherd would leave the other perfectly good sheep to find one lost one – but each sheep matters to the flock and to the shepherd.

Come back to the flock, friend, if you have wandered. And if you haven’t wandered, rejoice with others when a lost friend returns! I pray that we remember that even though we might feel lost because our own decisions, God doesn’t forget about us. He hasn’t misplaced you. He’s calling out to find you. He loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to the world to bring us back to Himself. And God rejoices over you!

As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to the cover of Cory Asbury’s “Reckless Love.”

Revelation 19:6-8

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready;
8 to her it has been granted to be clothed
with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Even though Lent is a time where we “bury our Alleluia” as we wait for Easter, I couldn’t resist this beautiful passage from Revelation. It gives us a glimpse of heaven – forever praising our God! Look at the realities of the multitudes singing:

God is Almighty
God reigns
God is full of glory
God welcomes us to rejoice
God welcomes His Church into His presence
God clothes us in righteousness and purity

We wait and prepare for such a scene. Sundays are called “mini-Easters” because we gather as the Church and experience the Resurrection each week, hearing the gospel over and over again. We sing God’s praises! In the wilderness, it might be easy to forget that God is there. Jesus has been where we are. He comes into our midst and preaches the good news to our souls if we seem to forget it.

This Lent, don’t forget to worship and exult our Lord. Have those moments where you shout His praises! In church on Sundays, think about why we do what we do, and the songs we sing, and the words we say – they aren’t just for show, but are forms of worship. Little glimpses of the multitudes singing out how great and majestic and loving God truly is. See His splendor in the everyday, even after you leave formal worship services.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God.”

Romans 5:6-11

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

“Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God’s love for us.” These are familiar words to the liturgy for Holy Communion. As a pastor, it is a privilege and honor to lead the congregation in receiving Communion every Sunday because it is a constant reminder of God’s self-sacrificial love for us and His grace towards us. I love the sacraments as they are “outward signs of inward grace”, the elements pointing to the very real work and presence of Christ in our lives. As a new pastor, it still boggles my mind the ever present grace and mercy God extends to us; the sacrament of Communion doesn’t get old for me, even week in and week out, because I am reminded anew of Christ’s presence with us and His amazing work of salvation.

The radical thing about the story of the gospel is that it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) get old. Paul in these verses says very similar things, and yet so logically and beautifully that each verse to me is like an unfolding of God’s love. The gospel, as Paul writes, is for the weak, the ungodly, the sinners. Aka – us. Jesus is like us in His humanity, but so unlike us in His divinity that He died for the unrighteous, for the unbeliever, for the sinner. We hesitate to do right by even “good” people. God, through the Son, did not hesitate to die for the entire world who didn’t deserve to be spared. That is a story of true love. That is a story of good news that is retold every week. That is a story of a holy God who sets all things right and reigns in the hearts of those who have faith in Jesus.

We are saved through no effort of our own, but through Christ. His life was given so that we might have new life in Him who saves. It is a humbling thing, but also a renewing thing. God didn’t wait for us to get ourselves together. He died for us while we were (and are) still a good ol’ mess. It is only by His Holy Spirit empowering us that we are able to do right to God’s glory. I pray for you today that the gospel never gets old, that the words you hear each time you gather for worship don’t grow dull, but continues to ignite the fire within your heart for God. May we remember the good news: That Christ died for us while we were still sinners, so that we might be reconciled to God.

As part of today’s devotional, in reflecting on the outpouring of love and grace forever, take a listen to the cover of Robert Robinson’s hymn “Come Thou Fount.”

1 Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.” 2 Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.” 3 He said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. 4 Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.” 5 So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There are no more.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.”

In times of scarcity, are we able to hold out hope for abundance? In times are strife, can we hope for relief? In times of uncertainty, with God prove to be faithful once again? Against all other odds in the world, the answer is a resounding YES. For abundance, relief, and faithfulness through God may not look like what we expect, but we can trust in His provision. It does not mean we sweep our anxieties and suffering to the side, but that we fully acknowledge the reality of them while also knowing the reality of faith.

The widow in this episode with the prophet Elisha is indebted to creditors. She has no means to pay them, and they are fully within their rights under the law to take her sons to work of the debt. Something unfathomable today! God, working through Elisha, works with what the widow has – a small jar of oil. She is forced to rely on God and act out of faith. She has to possibly endure awkward questions from her neighbors as she asks for empty jars for no apparent reason. She has to have faith that the oil she has will fill up all these new vessels.

Out of scarcity, God gave a miracle of provision and abundance. With no other lifeline, the widow and her sons had to rely on the word of God through Elisha that all would be set right. During a time in our world of job loss, inflation, food and supply shortages, and more, we might want to resort to any means possible to stay secure and safe. These are very real struggles we face. Yet, when we hope in the Lord, trusting that He is the One who provides, we can pray that the Lord will “give us this day our daily bread” in ways that we might never have realized. I pray that we can still thank God for His good provision and abundance even as we feel the lack of other things in life. I pray that we can bring Him praise along with our need. I pray that we can find strength and hope in Him, that God will make a way through.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of Horatio Gates Spafford’s hymn “It is Well (With my Soul)”.

Isaiah 43:1-7

1 But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life. 5 Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
6 I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

In this life, we wonder about our purpose. What was I made to do? The world will say make a name for yourself, live your best life, be famous, be the best in your field, be happy. But the Scriptures say that we are made for God. Each life is made complete in God through Jesus Christ. Each life matters, and each life was formed for God’s glory and love. We are precious in God’s sight! We are His precious creations. We are made His own children when we acknowledge Him as our Lord and Savior, accepting the beautiful relationship He offers.

The beauty of the words of the Lord through Isaiah is that God shows us that He is not far off. He is not an arbitrary, random deity. He is not far off and absent. He is not uninterested and apathetic to our joys and sorrows. We see who we are through who God is. God reminds the people of Israel all that He has done for them, all that He is willing to do to restore and redeem them to Himself. He has called His sons and daughters to have life in Him, to have happiness in Him, to be joyful in Him.

You are called by name, friend. Do you hear Him? Our purpose is simple, yet so often hidden by the noises of the world: give God the glory! He is never far from us, but right there with us in the trials and hard things of life. He is with us in our shouts of joy and our tears of sadness and everything in between. God has been so good. That goodness culminates in the life and death of Jesus, who continues to beckon each one of us to receive redemption and wholeness. So there is no more wondering about what we were placed on earth to do. We have our gifts and talents and skills in order to point to the One who created us. Worship of God is what we were made for.

As part of today’s devotional, listen to the cover of Bethel Music’s “Goodness of God.”

Isaiah 43:10-13

10 You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
11 I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no savior.
12 I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses, says the Lord.
13 I am God, and also henceforth I am He;
there is no one who can deliver from my hand;
I work and who can hinder it?

I can sometimes be that Type A person. You know, the one who needs a plan and the why behind everything. The one who likes to be in control of their own life and what they do. Maybe you are or someone you know is a similar personality. Yet, we can’t control everything. We don’t get to control things that happen to us all the time; we can only control our responses, and even then not always well. The world will tell us that we can take control of our destiny, or the right job, enough money, family, and hustle will give us security. Salvation.

But the reality is that we are not in control. God is. God is sovereign. He is the ONLY God – there are no other gods. Anything else is an idol and a lie. God is the only one who can offer true and everlasting salvation. We are given such salvation through Jesus, God Incarnate! He is our Savior. But that also must mean that He is our Lord. We have to be willing to give everything – and I mean everything – over to God so that He can work in our lives for the good.

No one can hinder God’s work. It might seem like it, or it might seem delayed. But God always triumphs! We know that sin and death are conquered through Jesus. We know that God reigns in the hearts of those who believe. And we know He is sovereign and in control even when our lives seem totally out of control. Today, friends, surrender whatever you’re holding control over. Whatever that final piece that your heart has been saying “I need to control the outcome”, give it to God and see the wonders He will do to His glory! Let us let go of our idols and false securities, and run headfirst into the only One who saves.

As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to the cover of Natalie Grant’s “King of the World.”

Hebrews 10:19-25

19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

At the beginning of another week. Same routines, same schedules. Things might seem to have already piled on, and there doesn’t seem to be a way out from under the endless list of things to do. We begin to let certain things go – our meals planned at home, spending time with loved ones, taking care of our selves and others.

Yet we are reminded to persevere. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: in the middle of the mess and the everyday mundane, God is faithful. We have a mediator, someone on our behalf, in Jesus Christ! Because of Jesus, we have confidence that we are able to access our God at anytime for anything. Through faith, we have hope! When things become difficult or seem too busy, and we don’t know how to keep going, God is there. We have hope that we are empowered, we are equipped, and we are made new in Christ.

Because of this, we cannot forget the important things of relationships and care for others and ourselves. We move one another to keep going! We encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to meet together, to worship God, and to show God’s love to the world out of love for God. Let us continue to hold onto the hope in Christ and encourage one another in love, not neglecting our relationships.

As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to the cover of Chris Tomlin’s “Forever.”

`2 Corinthians 4:8-11

8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11 For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.

When we go through trials, suffering, and tragedies that seem beyond comprehension, we ask the famous question: where are you, God? We wonder why we go through the things that break us. And then we get scriptures where they say to count it all joy, or that we have all this life. It doesn’t seem to add up!

Yet, Paul writes that yes, we can have hope and life in Jesus, and we aren’t truly at our breaking point because God is there. Earlier in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul said that it felt as if he had been crushed, that he had sorrow, and being destroyed. We see his thought process as he looked back. With God, even though it may not seem like it in the moment, we will get through things. It is a reminder that it is God who has the power, not us. It is God who gets us through, and the reason that we are able to praise Him in every circumstance, not our own efforts alone.

So we go to God. We have hope in the life of Christ. We can lay it all down at His feet. Even as it feels like we have reached our wits’ end, God isn’t finished working. He may be working in ways we do not realize, but He is working and bringing us through the valley.

As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to Darrell Evans’ “Trading My Sorrows.”

Luke 18:31-34

31 Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. 33 After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.” 34 But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

We are just a little bit away from Holy Week – Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, His last meal with His friends, His arrest, and His execution on the cross. It’s very real now, if it wasn’t before. Jesus’ death should not have been a surprise to His disciples: He foretold His death multiple times. Yet, even when the signs were there, they didn’t actually put the pieces together until all of it happened.

Often we have all the information, but the meaning remains hidden from us. We can’t understand the significance. Perhaps we aren’t ready to know. God works in mysterious ways sometimes! Yet, as we draw close to Him and keep ourselves open, surrendering ourselves to Him, we can begin to understand. We may not immediately see how God is working, but He will show us.

With journey to the cross, it may seem as if it doesn’t make sense. Yet Jesus gives us the pieces! And as we come to the cross, laying ourselves down so that we may know God’s salvation, we see God’s faithful love. It’s a scary thing, but a beautiful thing to give ourselves completely over to the one who saved us from ourselves.

Today, listen to the cover of Jeremy Riddle’s “Sweetly Broken.”

Hebrews 2:1-4

1 Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, 4 while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

Do you ever feel like you’re just coasting along in life? As if you have gotten it pretty much figured out. You know what to do to get the job done, the task completed, and to be able to prop up your feet at the end of the day. It can be like that in our spiritual lives: we know enough to do what we need to do, coasting along in comfortability. Especially if we have grown up in a Christian family, like I did, it might seem as if the pressure is off. We’ve pretty much made it! We can go with the flow, and rely on others to do the serious business. Or perhaps we get caught up how we grew up that we end up going in the opposite direction of everyone else.

The Hebrews author has a strong warning – do not neglect the salvation that has been given! It is no time to ease up, no time to become complacent. Do not ignore the signs! The Lord first sent the Law and the prophets, declaring messages through angels, until the King Himself came down to earth. God works through many different agents and in many different ways. He answers prayers in ways we do not expect, even in “natural” or “ordinary” ways, making Himself known. Jesus shakes up our lives and the way we understand everything. If we think we know exactly how everything works, then we end up drifting along, not knowing we have abandoned our true salvation before it is too late.

We need to always be leaning in closer, listening more carefully. We should not take the stories, rituals, and signs we know for granted, but constantly delight in their depths of witnessing to God’s glory! Friend, do not be complacent in your spiritual life with Jesus. Do not coast along. Do not simply drift, but dive in! May we embrace our faith more fully, seeing our salvation through Christ Jesus more completely, and move ever on towards perfection in love through the One who loved us first.

For today’s devotional, take a listen to the cover of Adelaide Pollard’s hymn “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.”

Hebrews 2:14-18

14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. 16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

The unique thing about Jesus, who is God Incarnate, the Word made flesh – is that He is fully divine and fully human. He walked the life we walk. He lived with the full range of emotions. He laughed and wept, He had joy and sorrow and everything in between, He was tempted, He went through suffering, and He died. God had to become like us through the Son in order to save us. Yet, Jesus is totally unique because He is the Son of God, the “firstborn”, the only man to never sin, and He rose again defeating sin and death.

To be a high priest, as Jesus is, is to be a mediator, a liaison between God and humanity. The priest had to be a representative of the people. Jesus, to be our Priest, had to become like us in order to be a full representative and mediator for us before the Father. Because He lived a human life, Jesus is able to fulfill His unique role as Savior.

The beautiful thing about Jesus is that, through His humanity, He is sympathetic to us. God is a wonderfully loving, merciful, and faithful God. He understands our emotions, our troubles, our joys, and even our temptations. He is able to be with us through anything. He doesn’t look down on us and our silly emotions or guilt us as we struggle with whatever life throws our way; but He understands and helps us through the mess as we turn our lives over to Him in faith and have Him reign in our hearts.

Today, listen to the cover of Casting Crown’s “Follow Me.”

Psalm 36:5-11

5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgments are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
10 O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart!
11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
or the hand of the wicked drive me away.

We are now into Holy Week. The week where we truly dig in deep and see Jesus’ road to the cross, all of the signs and preparation coming together in this culminating point. We don’t rush into the celebration of Easter next week. We can’t. in order to get to the Resurrection, we have to come to the cross – the ugly, scarring, sorrowful event that is the death of Jesus to cover our sin.

As we sit here though, not quite ready for the celebration of Easter, we are reminded of God’s love. That’s the stunning beauty of the cross as well – why we can call such an ugly, horrendous thing beautiful – because it is the ultimate show of God’s steadfast and faithful love to a faithless world. That love is precious. It is a saving love like no other. It is a love of abundance and refuge.

And we know that the cross wasn’t the end of the story. Yet it was the end of our guilt in sin because Jesus’ blood covered us, being the sacrifice we never could have been, even though we owed it. Through Jesus we are shown Light. Through the Light and Life of God, we see and reflect that light and life into this world so that others may draw near and hear the story. And not just hear, but experience, know, and believe. We turn our hearts to God over and over again each day to see Him working to bring His beloved closer in relationship, holiness, and perfection in love.

Remember God’s steadfast love each day. As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to “How He Loves” by David Crowder Band.

1 Corinthians 1:25-31

25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. 26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

You know the saying “There’s a method to my madness”? You know, when you’re doing something and other people look at you like it will never work…but then it works! What looked silly to others made sense to you, and ended up having an astonishing result. Christians get that same look sometimes. Our ways can seem odd to those who don’t yet know Jesus. The way we go about loving others, serving others, and doing life together looks (or should look) weird to the rest of the world. Our beliefs about who God is changes who we are. The fact that our identity and purpose comes from a source other than ourselves or culture is startling.

When we look at how God works, especially through Jesus, we see how He seems foolish. God’s way of saving us – sending His Son to die for our sin – would have seemed like the ultimate failure to the world! Yet, it is God’s seeming foolishness that is greater than all the wisdom we may have, because He has shown us who He is and who we are through Jesus Christ. Jesus wasn’t weak on the cross – He showed the strength of God’s love. Paul puts it well when he wrote that God chose the very things that are low and despised in the world to bring humility and love back into the world.

We learn that we do not boast to God about how great we are. But we can boast about the greatness of God! For He is wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption, forgiveness and perfect love. If we boast in anything, friends, let us boast in the Lord, and proclaim His greatness!

Today, take a listen to the cover of the hymn “How Great Thou Art.”

Hebrews 12:1-3

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

Perseverance. It’s that teeth-gritting, doubled-down, determined way of going about something that we desperately want. We often see it in athletes, where they train and train and train for their events. We see it in our jobs, in chasing our dreams, in just getting through the day.

Yet perseverance for the Christian is not even in our own strength. We don’t set out on our own path, gritting our teeth through every adversity. No, we rely on the example and grace and love of Jesus Christ. He makes it possible for us to even consider persevering in the faith! For our sake Jesus went before us, to make the way towards being complete in Him possible (even if it isn’t easy). He humbled Himself, took on a punishment He never deserved, and saved us. He shows us the path to God.

When we think about Jesus’ own perseverance in the face of the cross, we can find strength to carry on. Our faith informs everything we do – we should desire to hold tightly to it, letting go of anything else that holds us back. As we go through this life, we “run the race set before us” and we know that there is that cloud of witnesses cheering us on safely home. May we remember Christ as our example, but also our perfector in faith, our Savior and Lord. May we go through this life persevering not in our own strength, but by the grace of God empowering us!

As part of today’s devotional, take a listen to Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons.”