April 9 (Romans 3:23)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
(ESV)
Spring is a time
to think of life, not death, right? It
is a time of bright sunshine, not darkness.
Stay with the darkness for a moment and consider death…your own. You can talk about its being unfair or just
an ancient belief all you want, but the simple fact is that you, your sweet
grandmother who never spoke an unkind word, and the toddler next door have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Oh, and the consequence for each one is eternal separation from Him.
Everything in you
rebels against that thought. It just
does not seem right. We would never be
so harsh or judgmental. Okay. I get that.
And a three-paragraph devotion does not have the space to discuss those
reasonable objections. Yet here’s the
thing. Stay with the anger and
frustration. Stay with the confusion and
worry. Now you are ready to appreciate
the unspeakable glory of Easter.
Next Sunday
Christians will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We celebrate because that event proved the
love of God beyond all doubt and removed all of the sin and all of the
punishment for each and every person who chooses to receive that gift of
grace. But you can’t come close to
appreciating the enormity of that gift and the sheer magnitude of the love
behind it if you don’t take a moment to ponder where you would be without it.
Father, I want to
take some time to consider where I would be without Your love. It is a scary proposition, but I need to be
scared, at least a little, so I can fully appreciate what Jesus did for
me. O God, I want You to have my full
praise as we move toward Easter. Help me
to see the full measure of what You have done for me. In the name of Jesus, Who made it all
possible, amen.
Copyright © 2017 by Steven R. Perkins
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