Journey to the Cross

Pause

You are here. God is here.

God meets you right where you are – in a place God has been before.

God calls you into a place of promise, a place of blessing, a place of grace.

Stay here awhile. Stay here with God.

Listen

The promise to Abraham and to his descendants, that he would inherit the world, didn’t come through the Law but through the righteousness that comes from faith. If they inherit because of the Law, then faith has no effect and the promise has been canceled. The Law brings about wrath. But when there isn’t any law, there isn’t any violation of the law. That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. As it is written: I have appointed you to be the father of many nations. So Abraham is our father in the eyes of God in whom he had faith, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that don’t exist into existence.

Romans 4:13-17

 

Think

I live in Minnesota, where we joke about having two seasons: winter and road construction. The brilliant foliage of autumn never lasts long enough to fully prepare me for the rapid decay of winter. Then winter seems to hang on forever. We’re still shoveling the driveway and layering against the cold well into Lent — and sometimes right up until Easter. It’s rare for us to have lilies, crocuses, and tulips blooming in the garden in time to illustrate the new life we celebrate.

But still we have faith. We have faith to see beyond the lingering snow banks and dormant blossoms. We have faith in the warming grace that awaits us even in the lingering cold. We have faith in the God who gives new life to the dead, who calls things into existence. We have faith that God is active even in our times of dormancy.

Peter Hanson

Pray

God of grace, give me new life. Open my eyes to see you at work in, with, and around me, even while I sleep. Amen.

Go

Walk with God, trusting in God’s promises.

Be convinced that God will do what God has promised to do.

Live in that trust, in that conviction, in that faith.

Walk with God and be trustworthy.