The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Category: Lent

March 15, 2015

Lent Devotional: Jonah 3:5-10

Jonah 3:5-10 (click here)
Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:8b-10)

Reflection
All are called to repent by a God who lovingly relents.

God is not required to forgive us.

Repentance is not a quarter that we insert into the divine vending machine in order to purchase the forgiveness we’d like to receive. That’s not how repentance works.

Repentance does not force God to do anything. It does not earn or purchase our forgiveness from God. No. Repentance is the God given means by which we receive the forgiveness that he has purchased!

God forgives because he is simply that kind of God! He is loving and merciful and kind. He is not required to forgive a sinful people…even if they repent! The fact that he does so just reveals his merciful heart.

Think of all the mercy we see in Jonah 3. God shows mercy to Jonah by giving him a second chance to repent and obey. God shows mercy to Nineveh by sending them a prophetic warning concerning the consequences of their sin (he didn’t even have to do that). God shows mercy again to Nineveh by relenting of his wrath and extending grace!

Mercy upon mercy upon mercy…grace upon grace upon grace. And God is this way toward you and me. It doesn’t matter if you are like Jonah and you have hardened your heart toward the Lord, or if you are like Nineveh, completely unaware of the Lord and just living a life of self-centered, sinful indulgence…either way, Jonah 3 declares to us that God is merciful toward us all!

We are all called to repent…to turn from ourselves and turn to the Lord. Will you repent? I’m not asking if you think it is possible, if you think you need to, or if you think you are too far gone… I’m just asking if you are willing to repent. Do you have a heart that longs to turn from trusting in yourself to trusting in the Lord.

No matter who you are…Nineveh or Jonah…God is a God of grace and will lovingly extend his grace EVEN to me and even to you.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 14, 2015

Lent Devotional: Matthew 5:33-37

Matthew 5:33-37 (click here)
…do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. (Matthew 5:36-37)

Reflection
We like to think we are in control. We like to think we can determine what is going to happen. Yet, we cannot even make one hair on our head white or black (excluding modern dying practices…we’re talking about really changing the color of our hair as it grows…we can’t do that).

Swearing an oath is rooted in the assumption that we can control what is going to happen. Invoking things to guarantee our oaths (like “I swear to God”) actually dares to assert our authority over the things by which we are swearing. It is like we need to add the authority or character of something else to our word because somehow we are not trustworthy without this added authority.

The purpose of Jesus words here in Matthew 5 are not to prevent us from making promises, but to simply be the kind of people who do not need to reinforce their word because we already exude trustworthy character.

So far as it depends upon us, we keep our word. We recognize that we do not have ultimate control, but we mean it when we say “yes” or “no” and we will do all we can to keep our word.

Ultimately, we are a people of our word, because we serve a God who keeps his word. The way to honor the Lord in all our promise making is not be “swearing by him,” but by being faithful to what we say as he is faithful to what he says.

Our God keeps his word. As his people, we are to keep our word in so far as it depends upon us. As a faithful people, we are pointing to our faithful Lord.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 13, 2015

Lent Devotional: Zechariah 14:6-9

Zechariah 14:6-9
On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

Reflection
On that day…

The prophet sees a day coming in which the Lord will recreate everything. Just like in the original creation, when there was yet neither day or night, God shall remake everything to be the way it should.

There will be everlasting life!

Flowing water is known as living water and is a great Biblical symbol for life. The prophet sees such life giving water flowing out from the city of the Lord to the farthest reaches of the earth in both directions!

God himself is enthroned over all and his name alone is on the lips of people. All the names of every false god have faded away…his name is one!

We have been promised this day. Yet, amidst the world we inhabit, such a day seems like a far-off, fanciful dream. Our world is covered in anything but God’s life giving water and people use their lips for anything but praise of the one true God.

How are we to have faith that God will fulfill such massive promises of grace?

The cross.

The cross is the darkest moment this world has ever seen…and yet…it is the brightest moment in which God brought forth eternal life through death itself! The cross serves as the our constant reminder and guarantee that we serve a God who can take all the darkness this world can muster and bring forth light and life and beauty.

When you need a guarantee that God will bring about every grace he has promised…cling to the cross.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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