Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus Christ gave His followers a pattern for prayer that includes seeking forgiveness daily. The invitation to regular repentance is not a means of renewing our salvation, but rather a maintenance plan for our fellowship with the Lord. When we trust Jesus as our Savior, our sins are forgiven forever. The stains from our past, present, and future wrongs are wiped from our record; however, we’re a fallen people so we do continue to commit sin.

With the exception of Jesus Christ, no person is perfect. Sin is simply a fact of human life. The Lord’s payment for our transgressions means that we can look forward to an eternity spent in God’s presence instead of getting the punishment we deserve. On this side of heaven, though, we still have to contend with our tendency to do wrong–and we must also deal with the consequences. The Lord’s admonition to seek daily forgiveness is a reminder to confess our sins and turn away from them because we are forgiven.

God’s grace is not a license to sin; instead, it’s a reason to pursue righteousness. Bad attitudes, thoughtless actions, and unkind speech do not fit who we are as children of light. We’re new creatures in Christ, bought for a price and set free to live as partakers of His grace.

Salvation makes a way for us to enter God’s presence, while regular confession and repentance keep the pathway well maintained and free of obstruction (1 John 1:9). The so-called “sinner’s prayer” need be said only once, but a saint will tap into God’s forgiveness every day of his or her life

No one wants to be left alone. Sure, we sometimes like to get away and spend some time by ourselves, but no one likes to be abandoned. The fear of loneliness is one of the most powerful in human experience. Babies cry when their mothers leave the room. A teenager’s worst nightmare is having to eat lunch alone. Neglected children will often misbehave, because even punishment for them is better than feeling abandoned. And, although locked away already, many prisoners still fear being thrown in isolation. While we experience it in different ways, we all know what it is like to feel loneliness, and it is one of the most painful parts of our existence.

This feeling of abandonment is at the root of many complaints against God about the evil of the world. Why do you put up with injustice and oppression?  Have you just left us alone?  The prophet Habakkuk called out many years ago:

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’
but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds” (Habakkuk 1:2-3).

This year some good friends of mine had their first child. However, what should have been a time of great joy was immediately overshadowed by the news that he was born with a serious genetic illness. Requiring a great deal of medical care, he was unable to go home and was sent to the hospital in Toronto near where I live. I spent time visiting over a period of several months as his loving parents watched him, prayed for him, hoped for his healing. While his dad worked long days and travelled back and forth several hours from their hometown to Toronto every week, his mom hardly ever left the hospital room, often sleeping on the end of the baby’s small hospital bed. For eight long months, they watched their little one suffer. As he experienced one painful procedure after another, unable to understand the ‘what’ or the ‘why’ of his pain, his parents loved him, made tough decisions, and prayed for his life. Sadly, before his nine month birthday, his struggle ended as he died in the arms of his parents.

In the face of tragedies like this one, we want to cry out against God for not fixing things, or at least to call out and demand answers—why? But this experience reminded me again of one of the beautiful truths of Christian faith. Because, although he knew pain and suffering, that sweet baby, unlike any other person I’ve ever met, never knew what it was like to be left alone. And, the Christmas season reminds us that although we do not understand the ‘what’ or the ‘why’ of all of our pain, we are not left alone either. Our God is like a father watching over his children, like a mother longing for their healing and bearing their pain as if it were her own. This God does not abandon us to our fate, but has come among us, to be one of us, to experience the very depths of our condition.

It is costly for God to be with us in this way, just as it was costly for my friends to be so close to the pain of their child. But when you love deeply, you want to be with the beloved, whatever the cost. And since we live in pain, brokenness and sin, God’s coming among us meant descending into the depths of that pain, brokenness and sin. Now, like that little one, we can be assured that we are never alone, that even when we do not understand the suffering in our lives, we do not bear it by ourselves. And even though my friends were unable to heal their child, this God promises ultimate healing and resurrection to all who will receive it. Like the angels announced, Jesus’s birth is good news of great joy for all people.

The manger and eventually the cross are the supreme reminders of God’s involvement and intimacy. When we turn to cry out in abandonment to God, we find ourselves face to face with a tortured, bloody man on a cross, in whose death we are accomplices. Before we can even utter the words, we hear him cry them first: “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” While we rarely ever know the answer to this question—’why?’—the very fact that Jesus asked it is meaningful. It was not about information. Jesus knew more about the reasons for his suffering than most of us ever do. Information does not take away the pain anyway. However, if you believe that God has truly come to us in the person of Jesus Christ, then Jesus’s anguished cry tells us something far important about God. Jesus’s cry tells us that even in feelings of ultimate abandonment, we are not alone. The gospel message—that God has come among us—is absolutely transformative. There is no longer any place where God is not because this God has gone with us all the way. Even in the deepest moment of abandonment, we meet the one who is called ‘God With Us.’

Rachel Tulloch is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Toronto, Canada.

Morning     “That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.”    Hebrews 2:14

O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil’s power over it is

destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by

an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Redeemer’s death, thou mayst be

strengthened for that dread hour. Living near the cross of Calvary thou mayst

think of death with pleasure, and welcome it when it comes with intense delight.

It is sweet to die in the Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus.

Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the

many mansions where the loved ones already dwell. The distance between glorified

spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but

it is not so. We are not far from home–a moment will bring us there. The sail

is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How

many wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in the port

of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to

that sea which knows no storm? Listen to the answer, “Absent from the body,

present with the Lord.” Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its

haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there. Like that ship of old, upon

the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said, “Peace, be still,”

and immediately it came to land. Think not that a long period

intervenes between the instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the

eyes close on earth they open in heaven. The horses of fire are not an instant

on the road. Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death,

seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? and

now it is but a Jacob’s ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top

reaches to glory everlasting.

 

Evening   “Fight the Lord’s battles.”    1 Samuel 18:17

The sacramental host of God’s elect is warring still on earth, Jesus Christ

being the Captain of their salvation. He has said, “Lo! I am with you alway,

even unto the end of the world.” Hark to the shouts of war! Now let the people

of God stand fast in their ranks, and let no man’s heart fail him. It is true

that just now in England the battle is turned against us, and unless the Lord

Jesus shall lift his sword, we know not what may become of the church of God in

this land; but let us be of good courage, and play the man. There never was a

day when Protestantism seemed to tremble more in the scales than now that a

fierce effort is making to restore the Romish antichrist to his ancient seat.

We greatly want a bold voice and a strong hand to preach and publish the old

gospel for which martyrs bled and confessors died. The Saviour is, by his

Spirit, still on earth; let this cheer us. He is ever in the midst of the fight,

and therefore the battle is not doubtful. And as the conflict rages, what a

sweet satisfaction it is to know that the Lord Jesus, in his office as our great

Intercessor, is prevalently pleading for his people! O anxious gazer, look not

so much at the battle below, for there thou shalt be enshrouded in smoke, and

amazed with garments rolled in blood; but lift thine eyes yonder where the

Saviour lives and pleads, for while he intercedes, the cause of God is safe.

Let us fight as if it all depended upon us, but let us look up and know that

all depends upon him.

Now, by the lilies of Christian purity, and by the roses of the Saviour’s

atonement, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, we charge you who are

lovers of Jesus, to do valiantly in the Holy War, for truth and righteousness,

for the kingdom and crown jewels of your Master. Onward! “for the battle is not

yours but God’s.”

 

The words of the Amen.    Revelation 3:14

The word Amen solemnly confirms what went before, and Jesus is the great Comforter ; immutable forever is “the Amen” in all His promises. Sinner, I would comfort you with this reflection. Jesus Christ said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”1 If you come to Him, He will say “Amen” in your soul; His promise shall be true to you. He said in the days of His flesh, “A bruised reed he will not break.”2 Poor, broken, bruised heart, if you come to Him, He will say “Amen” to you, and it will be true in your soul as in hundreds of cases in years gone by.

Christian, isn’t this very comforting to you also, that there is not a word that has come from the Savior’s lips that He has ever retracted? The words of Jesus will stand when heaven and earth pass away. If you get ahold of but half a promise, you will find it true. Watch out for those who ignore the promises and so miss much of the comfort of God’s Word.

Jesus is Yes and Amen in all His offices. He was a Priest to pardon and cleanse once; He is Amen as Priest still. He was a King to rule and reign for His people and to defend them with His mighty arm; He is an Amen King, the same still. He was a Prophet of old, to foretell good things to come; His words remain trustworthy and true—He is an Amen Prophet. He is Amen as to the merit of His blood; He is Amen as to His righteousness. That sacred robe will remain most fair and glorious when nature shall decay. He is Amen in every single title that He bears; your Husband, never seeking a divorce; your Friend, sticking closer than a brother; your Shepherd, with you in death’s dark vale; your Help and your Deliverer; your Refuge and your Strong Tower; the Vessel of your strength, your confidence, your joy, your all in all, and your Yes and Amen in everything.

1Matthew 11:28 2Matthew 12:20

The family reading plan for April 19, 2012

Ecclesiastes 6 | 2 Timothy 2