The Joy of Glory

2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2 (click here)
…we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

Reflection
Have you ever heard God tell you that he loves you?

One of the deepest struggles we all have as human beings is believing that there is anyone out there who actually loves us. We may have people in our lives who tell us of their love regularly, but one way or another we rationalize these professions of affection away… believing there is no way someone could actually, truly love us.

If we are able to do this with people present and speaking their love into our lives… how much easier is it for us to doubt the love of God who can seem so distant and mute! God doesn’t speak his love into my life… and I know why… because he sees, more than any human, all the reasons I should not be loved! He sees everything about me that is unlovely!

I think so many of us feel this way, even though most are unwilling to admit it. So allow me to speak directly to your feelings for us just a moment…

God loves you.

That is not me saying that! That is the Lord speaking truth into your life! I can make that claim not because I am God, but because of 2 Corinthians 5:20, “…we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us…”

Our God does speak! He does it through his people proclaiming the Gospel! Every time a believer in Jesus declares to you the good news… that is God speaking his love into your life! He is imploring your heart through his people!

And yes… he is showering his love upon you in this way even though he sees everything about you and me that makes us unlovely! He does that because the good news is precisely this… he has taken our unloveliness upon himself and given us his own loveliness!

2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This is the news of God’s love that he announces to you through other believers! This is the good news he is announcing through me to you right now! God is imploring you right now with his love!

Have you ever heard God tell you he loves you?

Hear him right now! HE… LOVES… YOU!!!

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Romans 3:21-26 (click here)
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26)

Reflection
How can God forgive sinners?

That’s a question nobody is asking and everybody should be asking it! We all just expect God to forgive… that’s kinda his job isn’t it? And, aren’t I worth it! I mean… deep down, I think we all believe that we actually deserve forgiveness. We ironically believe that we deserve grace.

In reality, not only do we not deserve grace, but giving grace is actually a real problem for God! For, how can he graciously forgive sinners and still be righteous? In other words, how could he sweep sin under the rug and still be doing what is right?

How can God forgive sinners?

None of us would think a judge is just if he or she simply let all criminals go free. That would not be right! None of us would think an employer just if they simply let one of their employees take advantage of everyone else by skipping work all the time and blaming their unproductiveness on others. That would not be right! None of us would think our parents were just if they let our siblings get away with everything, especially if it meant we had to take responsibility for their mistakes! That would not be right!

In an infinitely greater way, it would not be right… God would not be righteous if he simply swept sin under the rug. No! He treats sin justly, rightly… it all bears the wrath it deserves! So the question lingers…

How can God forgive sinners?

God himself answered that question by taking on flesh! Jesus Christ served as our substitute and bore our sin along with all the wrath it deserved. God’s righteous justice was poured out upon our sin at the cross! There… God was just! AND at the cross God was the justifier, making sinners right with him so that they may be forgiven!

“This was to show God’s righteousness” declares Romans 3! This was to show how God can forgive sinners! Not by sweeping sin under the rug, but by sweeping it onto himself! This is the heart of the Gospel good news… God substituted himself for you!

We serve a righteous God who deals justly with sin… and he does so in the most loving way so that we get him!

How can God forgive sinners? By being the only one who is just… AND the justifier!

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Acts 17:16-34 (click here)
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “In him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:24-28)

Reflection
What has God given you?

That question reminds me of a book I used to read to my daughter, Talitha, nearly every day. It was about the moon boasting about his own brightness.

By the end, the moon realizes that he possesses no light of his own, but simply reflects the light of the sun.

Are we not just like the moon?

Everything we have is a gift! Everything! Every breath… every movement… every ounce of our being. Truly, in HIM we live and move and have our being! And if everything we have is a gift, then we have nothing in which to boast! 1 Corinthians 4:7, “…What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

This reality should lead us to worship! Not because God needs something from us! He is the giver, not the “getter” in this relationship. That is Paul’s point in Acts 17 as he preaches to the Athenians on Mars Hill. God has given us everything… he is not far from us… he is our everything… he is our boast!

We are just like the moon. We have no light of our own. We are made to reflect the sun.

What has God given you and me?

EVERYTHING!

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.