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Lent Devotions
March 17, 2016: Don’t Give Up
“And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” (v. 7)
At day’s end a salesman was finally admitted to see the boss, and he proceeded to make a big sale. “Consider yourself lucky,” said the boss. “Five salesmen tried to meet with me today, and I refused to see them.” With tireless enthusiasm the salesman smiled and said: “I know. I am them!” Persistence pays off.
The widow persists, sustained by a belief that she has been wronged. She refuses to accept injustice, because she knows that there is justice. She refuses to accept wrong, because she knows that there is right. She knows that she is right. She believes that what has been denied to her is also available to her, and the reality of the coming vindication helps her to endure the reality of her present poverty. The widow refuses to be defined by her present circumstances.
Don’t allow your present circumstances to define you. There is a judge who will hear you. Not an unjust judge, like the one in the parable. That judge gave the woman justice, after all, not because he saw the merit of her case but because the woman wore him down. If a scoundrel like that will give the woman justice, how much more will God hear the pleas of his people!
Prayer: Lord, hear my pleas.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
| March 16, 2016: Where Are the Nine?
Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?” (v. 17) My mailman says that every year, in the weeks prior to Christmas, his post office gets hundreds of letters addressed to Santa Claus, but that in the weeks after Christmas there is not a single letter addressed to Santa. So it goes. Many say “please”—few say “thank you.” Our petitions always outrun our gratitude. You can hear disappointment in Jesus’ voice: “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?” Only one man gives thanks—a Samaritan, no less. Beyond that, only one man understands that he has done business with God, in the person of Jesus Christ. When the ex-leper falls at Jesus’ feet and praises God, he’s making the right connection. He realizes that Jesus has done for him what only God can do. Ten lepers find their healing, but only one finds the healer. If we count our many blessings, but fail to recognize their source, then we still don’t get it. God is looking for a faith in us that will recognize the giver behind the gift. For that will be a sign that we have received the best gift of all—Jesus himself. “Get up and go on your way,” he says to us, “your faith has made you well.” Prayer: Forgive my ingratitude. Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org. |
Lent Devotiond
| March 14, 2016: The Road to Forgiveness
If the same person sins against you seven times a day…you must forgive (v. 4). It’s hard enough to forgive someone once. But seven times? Little wonder the disciples say, “Increase our faith!” Of course, some injuries don’t require forgiveness. I’m thinking about that parade of little hurts and humiliations that are just a part of life. A friend failed to send you a card when you were hospitalized. A coworker has idiosyncrasies that annoy you. Your neighbor’s Doberman answers the call of nature on your lawn. To make every minor irritation an occasion for forgiveness is to trivialize a vital issue. But some offenses are anything but trivial. Some wounds are deep and painful. Can we really forgive? Forgiveness is not an event; it is a process. Think of forgiveness as a long, winding road. If you even want to forgive someone, you’re already on the road. You haven’t yet reached your destination, but you’re on the road. You may wander off the road now and then. The resentment may come seeping back into your soul. But don’t give up. Get back on the road. Keep asking God to help you. Keep praying for your enemy. Keep confessing your own sins, and in the knowledge that God forgives you, you will find yourself more and more able to forgive those who hurt you. Prayer: Lord, increase my faith. Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org. |
Lent Devotions
March 13, 2016: The View from the Seesaw
At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus (v. 20).
One day, while riding a seesaw with my daughter when she was a small child, she got a thoughtful look on her face, and she declared: “When I am up, you are down!”
When it comes to food and resources, all the world rides a seesaw. One side is up; the other is down. One side is like the rich man; the other side is like poor Lazarus.
The seesaw runs pretty much along north-south lines, the fulcrum being the equator. With one or two exceptions, affluent countries are in the northern hemisphere—America, Europe, Japan. That’s the up side of the seesaw. Poorer countries tend to be in the southern hemisphere—Africa, Asia, the Indian subcontinent. That’s the down side.
The difference in lifestyle and consumption of resources from one end of the seesaw to the other is mind-boggling. Compared to most of the world’s peoples, Americans live like sultans.
Wealthy nations are not at fault for world hunger. It is not wrong to be prosperous. Affluence doesn’t make you bad. It makes you blessed. But there is something dreadfully wrong if those who are affluent can look at Lazarus starving at the low end of the seesaw and do nothing to help him.
Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to see the poor. Open my hands to help.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 12, 2016: Forge Your Future
And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly(v. 8).
The dishonest manager isn’t ethical, but he sure is shrewd. Before walking out into the cold, hard world of unemployment, this scoundrel creates for himself a lot of friends who now feel more indebted to him than to his master!
“And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” Jesus is not praising the dishonest manager for his dishonesty. He praises the man because, when faced with a catastrophe, this rascal doesn’t passively accept his fate. Rather, he rolls up his sleeves and goes to work, determined to forge for himself a better future.
When catastrophe happens—when the boss tells us to go and clean out our desk, or when we are diagnosed with a debilitating disease, or when a cherished relationship is shattered—we hang our heads, stoically accepting our fate.
But Jesus tells the story of an outrageous manager who does outrageous things because, catastrophe notwithstanding, this guy actually believes that his future is still throbbing with possibility and not at all fixed or final. Your future is in God’s hands. Whatever bad news life dishes out to you, God is still in control, which means your story is not over, your future is not finished. Don’t just accept your fate; forge your future!
Prayer: Lord, whatever happens to me, I trust you.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 11, 2016: The Elder Brother
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons” (v. 11).
One of the ways to read any story in the Bible is to ask two questions: What is God doing in the story? And, what should I be doing in light of this story? If we apply these two questions to the story of the prodigal son and his loving father, we get some remarkable results.
In this wonderful story, the living God is played by the father. The father of the prodigal son does not force his son to be obedient; he gives him his inheritance even though he knows it isn’t good for him. He also graciously receives back his penitent son and restores him to full status—over the objections of the ungracious brother! This is a portrait of our gracious God, and it ought to prompt us to return to him from whatever far country we may be in. The last word from our heavenly Father is not condemnation but forgiveness. Amazing grace!
And what should we be doing in light of this story? Certainly not pouting at grace given to others like the elder brother, but rather running long and hard into the outstretched arms of a loving and forgiving Father! When Christians rise to their feet in worship to say “I believe in the forgiveness of sins,” the story of the prodigal son and his gracious father is their justification for doing so.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 10, 2016: A Banquet for All Nations
From east and west, from north and south (v. 29).
Today’s question (“Will only a few be saved?”), like the last (“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”), has to do with the way to heaven. Here Jesus’ answer ignores the topic of “how many,” and becomes an urgent plea that we should make sure we are going there, not just assume we are.
But in doing this he gives us two mind-stretching glimpses of what heaven will be like. First, we shall “eat in the kingdom of God”! In chapter 14 he will also say a lot about banquets and compare life in the kingdom to a “great dinner.” Of course heaven will be pure and holy and free from all evil. Of course it will be filled with the glory and praise of God. But it will also be a party: the best party imaginable, “pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Secondly, people of every kind will be there. Jesus says that heaven will be filled with “Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets,” and every single Israelite believer, naturally; but also countless “outsiders,” “from east and west, from north and south,” the multitude “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” that John sees in the vision of Revelation 7. What an exciting prospect!
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the joys that await us in heaven.
Today’s devotional was written by Michael Wilcock, a retired pastor in the Church of England. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 9, 2016: The Treadmill of Acquisition
“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” (v. 15)
Take a child to a toy store for the first time, and you will not have to teach the child what to do. Thousands of hours of television advertising have already taught her that her calling in life is to consume, to possess, to amass. Take the same child to church for the first time, and she will be disoriented, confused. She will not know how to act. She will not understand the purpose of church and what it has to do with her. What does this tell us?
Greed—acquisitiveness—seems almost to be an inborn human trait. We live our lives on an endless treadmill of acquisition, frantically amassing more and more stuff. And then one day you die, and they give all your stuff away. What an odd way to live.
The rich farmer keeps racing on the treadmill, amassing more and more, oblivious to the source of all his blessings, until the voice of God comes whispering: “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (v. 20).
Get off the treadmill. It’s okay to possess things. But it’s not okay for things to possess you. It’s not okay to make accumulation the driving gear of your life.
Prayer: Father, forgive my greed.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 8, 2016: Say Yes
Luke 11:24-26
“I will return to my house from which I came.” (v. 24)
As a youngster in Sunday school I learned a song: “Have Courage, My Boy, to Say No.” Think of all the misery we create for ourselves because we lack the courage to say “No!”
But there is more to the Christian life than saying no. People talk about how they are against this vice and against that vice, how they oppose this sin and that sin, and you can’t help but wonder what they do approve of. You can’t get to heaven just by criticizing other people’s sins.
In Jesus’ parable of the empty house, the unclean spirit discovers that his former haunt has been swept clean, but no righteous replacements have taken his place. So he moves back in, and invites seven cronies to join him. “And the last state of that person is worse than the first,” says Jesus.
There is an affirmative quality to the Christian life. There is a “yes” at the heart of our faith. “In him [Jesus] every one of God’s promises is a ‘yes,’” says Paul (2 Corinthians 1:20). It is not enough to say no to what is wrong; we must also say yes to Christ. It is not enough to be delivered from the power of Satan; one must pledge allegiance to the kingdom of God.
Prayer: Lord, I say “yes” to you.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 7, 2016: Pray Without Ceasing (Part Three)
Lord, teach us to pray (v. 1).
How kind of Jesus to urge us to pray for the same thing over and over again! Following his model prayer is the parable of the persistent friend, the man who goes to his neighbor in dire need of bread only to be turned away. Apparently the old saying, “A friend in need is a friend in deed” doesn’t always apply! Jesus taught, however, that if you make a nuisance of yourself by asking over and over again, you might finally get the thing for which you’re asking. The logic is simple, and in fact Jesus’ interpretation of the parable follows. “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” (v. 9).
We are given permission by Jesus to ask the Father for the same thing over and over again. We all know that some prayers seem to go unanswered, and such is the mystery of God’s providence. But it never alters both the desirability and necessity of asking! This must be why Jesus compares God the Father to a loving parent who surely would never turn away from a child in need. “Is there anyone…who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?” (Matthew 7:9).
I served as a pastor for many years and have spent endless hours with people in deep need, encouraging them to take heart in this parable. The living God is not annoyed by our persistence. He encourages!
Prayer: Create boldness in us, Lord, to pray without ceasing.
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
St Croix Reformed Church 
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