March 30
During Lent, our weekly e-devotion will be taken from the “God Acts” devotional booklet. Please follow along in the booklet for a new devotion each day.
Hebrews 12:1-3
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, 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.
Oftentimes people ask how God could have possibly required Jesus to endure the suffering of the cross. I find that it is helpful to reframe that question. To me, the greater question is why is humanity so quick to inflict suffering on one another? This carelessness towards the wellbeing of others meant that for Jesus to live out a life of complete faith – that is, complete trust in God and following the ways of God – meant that it was inevitable that the people around him, following the ways of the world, would inflict suffering upon him. To follow the way of God means to run counter to the forces of destruction in this would, the ways of sin. While the resurrection shows that God’s ways of creation have the final say, the destructive power of sin are still real and can cause great harm. To follow the way of Christ, then, inevitably leads us down a similar road. Struggles and opposition will be present, even if we have the ultimate promise of creation and new life in Christ. Jesus calls us to the way of the cross, and it is not an easy path. It is, however, the path of life.
After your heart has thus become firm in Christ, and love, not fear of pain, has made you a foe of sin, then Christ’s passion must from that day on become a pattern for your entire life. – Martin Luther
March 30
During Lent, our weekly e-devotion will be taken from the “God Acts” devotional booklet. Please follow along in the booklet for a new devotion each day.
Hebrews 12:1-3
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, 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.
Oftentimes people ask how God could have possibly required Jesus to endure the suffering of the cross. I find that it is helpful to reframe that question. To me, the greater question is why is humanity so quick to inflict suffering on one another? This carelessness towards the wellbeing of others meant that for Jesus to live out a life of complete faith – that is, complete trust in God and following the ways of God – meant that it was inevitable that the people around him, following the ways of the world, would inflict suffering upon him. To follow the way of God means to run counter to the forces of destruction in this would, the ways of sin. While the resurrection shows that God’s ways of creation have the final say, the destructive power of sin are still real and can cause great harm. To follow the way of Christ, then, inevitably leads us down a similar road. Struggles and opposition will be present, even if we have the ultimate promise of creation and new life in Christ. Jesus calls us to the way of the cross, and it is not an easy path. It is, however, the path of life.
After your heart has thus become firm in Christ, and love, not fear of pain, has made you a foe of sin, then Christ’s passion must from that day on become a pattern for your entire life. – Martin Luther