Monthly Archives: March 2021

Lent Day 27: Cover Me

19 Friday Mar 2021

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And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.” Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. The Lord God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them. The Lord God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life. — Genesis 3:17-24

When the world was created, God designed paradise for Adam and Eve. But unfortunately our beautiful paradise was destroyed by the introduction of sin. God pronounced judgment on sin, thus leaving us to feel consequences such as shame. In Genesis 3:21: “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

God looked at their clothes and said, “Nope. That’s not going to work.” The clothes that Adam and Eve had made for themselves were not adequate covering to face the new fallen world in which they were now living. Sin had opened their eyes, but not in a good way. Sin laid them bare, left them feeling exposed. For the first time, they realized they were naked. So, they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths, single-piece garments. And ever since, the human race has engaged in an enterprise of self-covering that always falls short.

How often do we try to cover ourselves so that others cannot see our sinfulness? Covering sin is not simple, quick, and easy. Covering sin is costly, painful … bloody. Sin produces suffering and death, so the cost of covering sin involves suffering and death. It involves sacrifice.

Did Adam and Eve think they could just sweep things under the rug, tidy up the disastrous mess they had made without any cost, without any price being paid? Do we think that? When we try to cover our own sin, we are engaging in a futile self-salvation project. We are essentially saying, “I can atone for my own sin.”
God makes it very clear that sin requires the ultimate sacrifice. And then because of His profound love, he sent that sacrifice. Jesus Christ suffered and bled and died so that we could be adequately clothed—clothed in his righteousness. The blood of Jesus is our covering. Just like Adam and Eve, we can’t cover our own sin. God must do that, and he has made that possible with the costly sacrifice of his own Son. In light of this: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Is. 61:10).

Are you ready to have your sins covered by Jesus Christ? If so, let’s talk.

Lent Day 26: Promises Kept

18 Thursday Mar 2021

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Abram was ninety-nine years old when the Lord appeared to him again and said, “I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right, I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted.” Abram bowed with his face to the ground, and God said: I promise that you will be the father of many nations. That’s why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham. I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings. I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. — Genesis 17:1-7

Can we know for sure that God keeps his promises? It’s very easy to say, “I promise,” but then waffle if it becomes too difficult to keep. Could this ever happen with God?

God made a series of promises to Abraham: He promised to give him many descendants and make him into a great nation, to bless him and make his name great, and to bless all the families of the earth through him. He also promised to give the descendants of Abraham a particular land. But Abraham, like any of us, was unsure. How could such promises be kept?

Abraham asked God some questions: “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless,” and, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess [the land]” (15:2)?

These are fair questions. Wouldn’t you wonder the same? In answer to these questions, God did something that seems strange to us in our cultural and historical context. He had Abraham sacrifice some animals. He was told to cut them in half and then lay the pieces of the animals across from each other. Then Abraham fell into a deep sleep. During this sleep, a smoking fire pot and flaming torch passed between the pieces. This ceremony, common in the ancient Near East, was called “cutting a covenant.”

Two parties entering into a binding agreement or covenant with one another would cut an animal in pieces and pass between the pieces to inaugurate the covenant. The ceremony signified that the two parties were promising to fulfill the terms of the covenant. If they failed to keep the promises of the covenant, they were saying, “May we become like this animal.” It’s like they were saying, “I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.” The sacrificial ceremony was literally a pledge of one’s life to keep the promises of the covenant.

That’s quite a promise! So when the smoking fire pot and flaming torch (which were symbols of God’s presence) passed between the pieces of dead animals, God himself was assuming responsibility to make sure that all the promises of the covenant were kept. O. Palmer Robertson writes, “The solemn ceremony of self-malediction provides the Lord’s reply [to Abraham’s questions]: ‘I promise. I solemnly commit myself as Almighty God. Death may be necessary. But the promises of the covenant shall be fulfilled’.”

Y’all! That thought should have chills running up your spine! God was saying, “May I be torn to pieces like these animals if the covenant between me and Abraham’s descendants is broken.”

Abraham’s descendants would be unfaithful to God and his covenant. But, God kept his promise. He had sworn on his life to bless Abraham. So, the blessing for Abraham and his descendants (which includes us as Christians) was made possible by the curse of death that fell on Jesus.

In Jesus, God the Son took on flesh, and his flesh was torn apart in order to keep his covenant promises to Abraham (and us). Jesus, the covenant- keeper, sacrificially offered himself for us: “Take, eat; this is my body. Drink of this cup, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28). The blood of Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb of God, is our assurance that God keeps his promises.

Lent Day 25: Holy Discomfort

17 Wednesday Mar 2021

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I’m posting a devotion from Louie Giglio today. It is so beautifully stated. Enjoy.

Faith thrives in holy discomfort. The greatest moments in life can often result from some of the most uncomfortable decisions being made.

In fact, the gospel is rooted in a place of discomfort — Christ’s discomfort. The cross brought pain to Jesus in the same breath it brought freedom to us. We are alive because of Christ’s discomfort. We can fully live because of the rugged cross. Christ endured what was uncomfortable so we could become the sons and daughters of God. This is our story. People ask, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” It means to put our faith in the work of Jesus. What is the work of Jesus? That He came to the earth. He lived. He was crucified. He was resurrected. He ascended into heaven. He sent the Spirit of God, and He’s now living inside of us. This is the gospel. This is what we believe, and it all hinges around a very uncomfortable moment.

Somehow as a people of God, if we’re not careful, we can sing songs about the uncomfortable moments of Jesus while we live in the very comfortable moment of us. Thank you, Jesus — you took it all. But we forget what it truly means to identify with Christ. The Bible tells us that as Christ followers, we identify with His crucifixion just as much as we identify with His resurrection.

Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” That means our dreams and plans become merged with Christ’s when we remember that death and life are both part of Christ’s work.

Can you name anything in the life of faith that’s completely comfortable? Resisting sin? Nope, not comfortable. Being transformed into the image of Christ? No, not comfortable either. Joining with Christ on His mission? No. Wondrous, but not always comfortable. That’s why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Lent Day 24: Hope Lives

16 Tuesday Mar 2021

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“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill out hearts with His love.” — Romans 5:3-5

Today, I was privileged to hear life stories of a couple of people. Both had experienced trials. Both had experienced hopelessness. And both had recently given their life to Jesus Christ. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection changes everything. Everything! His life gives us hope that suffering and trials will end. It gives us perseverance to go through hard times. It gives us assurance that when we do wrong, we have a loving Father who brings us home again. It gives us the knowledge that our lives can be transformed when we say yes to him.

Desmond Tutu said of hope, that ‘hope is the ability to see that there is Light despite all of the darkness’. What a statement considering the world in which we live! Darkness may be all around us but our hope and light is Jesus Christ. He came into this world to bring light and life to all those around. His hope and the hope in Him changes everything. There is more, there is better, even through the storm and in the midst of the darkness. Soon we will encounter the single darkest day in human history — Good Friday. But oh death, where is your sting? Praise God, our hope lives!

Lent Day 23: Today’s Hope

16 Tuesday Mar 2021

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And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. — Jonah 3:4

We know that the Bible is a book of hope. But let’s be honest, there are stories throughout the book that make us wince. Sometimes they leave us asking God what He was doing.

When the prophet Jonah entered Nineveh, he gave a message of hopelessness — in 40 days your city will be destroyed! What?? That can’t be right. Unfortunately he did not say, Nineveh will be destroyed “unless“, but emphatically prophesied destruction to the people of the city — seeming to say their situation was hopeless.

Hearing a prophecy like that could cause anyone to throw up their hands in surrender. Yet hearing this message Nineveh repented, and because their repentance was genuine God spared the city for a season. Many lives were saved.

Jonah’s prophecy of judgment was averted and Nineveh’s destiny was changed by their response to the deep conviction from a message of doom. In other words, Nineveh recognized just how sinful they had become and found conviction to repent. That’s how it is with God. He is so compassionate, so longing to forgive and restore people to Himself, that He gladly offers mercy to those who genuinely seek it.

Is there a “prophecy of doom” over your life? Do you feel like our world is dangerously close to the sinful Nineveh? Are our sins piled so high that God’s judgment seems irrevocable and imminent? Don’t despair … repent! With our compassionate God, there is hope even when it seems all is lost. If Nineveh, a pagan city, hardened and ripe for judgment and “hopelessly” heading toward destruction, could be saved, shouldn’t you also have hope? Turning to the Lord is not difficult. But only you can make that decision. Make this Easter a resurrection of your life in Christ Jesus.

Lent Day 22: Celebration Sunday

14 Sunday Mar 2021

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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. — 1 Peter 1:3-5

A little boy born with Down syndrome attended his third-grade Sunday School class faithfully each week. As you can expect, the other children did not readily accept the boy because he seemed different.

The Sunday after Easter, their teacher brought in small boxes–one for each child. The children were told to go outside, find some symbols of new life, and put them in their containers. So the children ran wildly throughout the property looking for something to fill their boxes.

Once they returned to the classroom, they began to share their discoveries with the class. One by one they opened their boxes to show flowers, butterflies, leaves, and more. Each time the class would “ooh” and “ahh.”

Then the child with Down syndrome opened his box to reveal nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid! It’s not fair! He didn’t do the assignment right!”

The little boy exclaimed, “I did so do it! It’s empty…because the tomb where Jesus laid was found empty!”

I love Sundays during Lent. Did you know that each Sunday is considered a mini-Easter? That means Sundays are meant for celebrating! But what exactly are we celebrating?

So many times when we talk about Jesus Christ, we only focus on his death. How sad. You see, Good Friday didn’t last forever. Friends, Jesus did die but death could not keep him! That’s what we celebrate.

If Jesus had not risen from the dead, our faith would be foolish and fake. But He did rise from death, confirming His life and message. The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for our hope of life eternal beyond the grave. It’s the essence of why we follow Jesus Christ. It’s the reason we repent of our sins. It’s the reason for Easter!

Don’t ever forget to include the resurrection of Christ from the dead when speaking of His death on the cross. For because He conquered our sin on the cross and death through His resurrection, we can have unmistakable hope in Him for eternity.

The journey to the cross is long but Sunday is coming!!! Hallelujah!

Lent Day 21: What’s The Cost?

13 Saturday Mar 2021

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“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” — Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2 says this of Jesus Christ: “He made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death”. While his death was a clear sacrifice, the fact is that Jesus’ entire life was marked by sacrifice—giving up his rights as a King for the sake of others.

From the moment he was born, his feet were always walking toward the ultimate sacrifice of that brutal Roman cross. Have you ever wondered why sacrifice is so central to God’s plan of redemption and reconciliation? Why couldn’t God just forgive people of their sins without sacrifice?

If you think about what it means to bring about reconciliation in a human relationship, you can see how sacrifice is always part of the process.it forces a personal cost. If you get angry at someone over some issue, to reconcile means work. It will cost you something to forgive because you have to absorb the pain of the offense. You will have to sacrifice your right to be angry and move toward forgiveness. Actually, both parties have to pay a price. The bottom line is that without sacrifice there is no reconciliation. There is only hardness of heart and death of relationship.


In a very similar way, we must sacrifice in order to move toward God with confession and repentance. We must come to the end of ourselves, killing any sense of pride and self-righteousness. But we are not the ones who move first. It is not our sacrifice that saves us. God’s plan of redemption is primarily about his sacrifice, not ours.
I read once that redemption is a term of value, so there must be a cost involved. To redeem means to buy back, to regain possession of something in exchange for payment. Because we are created in the image of God and he loves us, he considered us worth the cost of redemption. However, the full cost of redeeming a human being is staggering. What does it cost to buy a person back from the realm of sin and death, from the reign of Satan? The cost is commensurate with the destruction that sin, death, and Satan have brought to humanity. The cost is beyond our ability to pay. No amount of sacrifice on our part would enable us to cover the cost. Thankfully, the full cost fell on Jesus. All of the curses of the Fall, most notably our sin and the resulting death, were placed on Christ. His sacrifice makes our reconciliation with God possible. Thanks be to God!

If you are still hanging on to the sins in your life, my friend, it’s time to allow God into your life. Nothing in this world is worth the eternal salvation Jesus Christ offers us!

Lent Day 20: Repentance and Grace

12 Friday Mar 2021

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And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal
life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” — Mark 10:17-31

We are now over halfway through Lent. Throughout the journey so far, a lot has been said about sin and repentance. It’s not a fun, lightweight topic. No one likes to think about sin unless it’s someone else’s. But we’ve been called to repent as a way to take ownership of our sinfulness. It’s not a suggestion. Rather, it’s a directive from God.

Martin Luther said the Christian life is a walk of repentance and faith. But why? Why is it so important?

Repentance is a response to God’s grace. It leads to joy and restoration. Not frustration from trying harder, and not despair from beating yourself up. Those are forms of penance. Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1-4). Repentance is motivated by love for God and a desire for fellowship with him.

King David said, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:1-3). David was not a man without sin. He, like each of us, succumbed to the world. Only when he came clean with God did he experience the grace of God: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (32:5).

Repentance is taking responsibility for our sin. The problem is not just the sin, but that each of us is sinful. It would not be enough to clean the outside of the cup, which is why we must seek a deeper cleansing: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being … Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow … Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm51:6-7, 10).

Repentance is turning to God in faith. In everyday language, repentance means to “change your mind,” to reconsider how you are living your life in light of your new identity in Christ. Left to our own accord, we are prone to pursue life on our terms, and to locate our sense of worth and joy in places apart from God. So the call to repentance is a standing invitation to give up our idolatrous pursuits, and turn to the one true God who restores us to the life for which we were made. We cannot save ourselves.
Repentance is initial and ongoing. That’s why you must be in humility and seek God’s grace.

If you are in a place where the old you is ready to be cleansed, it’s time to repent of your sins, and say yes to God.

Lent Day 19: Suffering

11 Thursday Mar 2021

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Moses went to the mountain of the Lord in the Sinai wilderness and stayed there for 40 days and nights in prayer and fasting (Exodus 24:18). Elijah, after he was fed with bread from heaven, journeyed through the wilderness without any food for 40 days to the mountain of God (1 Kings 19:8). Jesus was without any food in the wilderness for 40 days to prepare himself for the mission that the Father had sent him to accomplish.

Forty days shows up a lot in scripture. And often, it involved suffering. The forty days of Lent parallels the forty days that Jesus went without food in the wilderness. It is one of the ways we identify with his suffering through the practice of self- denial. Whether it’s food or TV or “me-time,” we deny ourselves particular comforts and pleasures as a way of remembering what Jesus endured for us. The point is not to manufacture suffering, as if we could earn some kind of righteousness through self-denial. The point is to rid our daily lives of anything that takes more precedence than our Savior.


“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry” (Luke 4:1-2).

The striking thing in this story is that Jesus went into the desert under the direction of the Holy Spirit. He chose this suffering. Indeed, his whole life was a choice to enter into our suffering. Why? Because God loves us so much! The testimony of Scripture is that Christians need to embrace suffering as part of our calling and endure it as part of our witness:
» “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12).
» “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29).
» “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Our wilderness is not literal, but it is very real. We are tempted – perhaps even determined – to sustain ourselves, to escape our vulnerability, and to chase our aspirations without thought of others.

But Jesus offers us another way. Despite the suffering he reveals to us what it means to embrace our humanity without short cuts. A minister wrote a book called What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be A Christian. It’s a portrayal of the very thing Jesus taught us not to do. Don’t give just a little to God in order to check a box. Give your entire life. All of it! There are no shortcuts because Jesus took no shortcuts.
“The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread’” (Luke 4:3). Certainly Jesus could have done this, but the lack of bread revealed a deeper hunger for God, and a deeper satisfaction of being sustained by God.


“And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him … worship me, it will all be yours’” (4:5-7). It would all be his eventually, but to have it now would be to have it without suffering and death. How often do we worship whatever promises to give us what we want now, without inconvenience or discomfort? But Jesus worships God alone, not because it is easier, but because it is truer and far better.

“And [the devil] took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you’” (4:9-10). Had Jesus done this, he could have ended all this temptation and trial. How often do we call upon God for miraculous solutions to our suffering, not because we trust him in our circumstance but because we want out of it? But Jesus would not put God to the test.


We live into our identity by surrendering to the Holy Spirit, wherever he may lead us. This season is about waiting, maybe even suffering the loss of things that have come to define us, because we know that our life is dust, and because we are looking forward to resurrection life.

Lent Day 18: Light thy way

10 Wednesday Mar 2021

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Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” — Mark 4:21-23

Do you ever look at social media posts and think, “They have best life”? It’s easy to compare our insides to other people’s outsides. Unfortunately, the outside doesn’t always show the real truth. When we bring our lives into the light, they aren’t as pretty as we thought they were. But that is the authentic truth we need to own. It truly is our friend because it points us to God, who “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The primary means by which we walk in the light with God is the simple act of confession. And let’s be honest, confession is not something we race to do. Confession does not secure forgiveness, but rather facilitates the power of forgiveness and its cleansing effects in the life of the believer. The acting agent is the blood of Jesus, his sacrificial death on the cross (1:7). Jesus is willing and able to cleanse us and restore our relationships if we will just get the real us into the light.

To walk in darkness means to neglect or even deny the truth about God, or about ourselves. A toddler may close his eyes and believe that he cannot be seen, but only because he does not see. So it is with the one who walks in darkness. He thinks his way of seeing things is in fact reality, but nothing could be further from the truth. He will not be able to have fellowship with God or with others until he sees according to truth only found in the word of God. In the realm of truth, he will be able to relate to God and others on the basis of what is real, and experience the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood.

That sounds great, but when it comes to our actual lives, we are not always so eager to be authentic. Instead, we deal with reality in other ways. We distract ourselves with the artificial lights of work, entertainment, and hobbies. We let the world tickle our ears with distorted scripture. When ordinary busyness doesn’t work, we take it up a notch and give ourselves to something so completely that it consumes us. These are our addictions. Pretense, excuses, busyness, addiction, and despair are not our friends. They turn us in upon ourselves, which leads to death. An honest look at reality, with God’s help, gives us insight into the way sin works and how God can bring healing and transformation to those areas of our lives. We can only repent of what we are able to see.

Search us, O God! Every dark corner and every hidden place. During this journey to the cross, are you ready to confess your sins, the sins that Jesus died for?