Devotions

As Christians we know Jesus is the only hope for the world.

Paul speaks of this hope when he writes: “Remember . . . that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens . . . strangers from the covenants of promise, having NO HOPE and without God in the world. But now . . . you . . .  have been brought near by the blood of Christ. FOR HE HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE” (Ephesians 2:11-14, my caps).

The lost generation today is like the multitude in Jerusalem over whom Jesus wept. The people of Christ’s day lost what he had wanted to give them. They missed true freedom. They lost the peace that comes from the assurance of having all sins forgiven. They missed the healing touch of Jesus. They lost a hiding place from the storm. They missed the abiding, comforting, guiding presence of the Holy Spirit.

It was over these lost masses that Jesus wept and cried, “If only! If only you had known what I wanted for your life. If only you had taken what I offered you. I wanted to shelter you, to spread my wings of comfort over you. If only you had listened. If only you had known my love and mercy toward you” (Luke 19: 41-42, my paraphrase).

Christ was saying, “If only you had known the provision made by my heavenly Father for you, you would have known the peace that passes all understanding.” The Bible offers up this same cry, “If only!” from cover to cover. Today we who believe have this refuge, one to turn to in our deepest struggles. Assured that the same power passed up by those who rejected him is freely given to us who have received Jesus’ offer by faith. 

Brokenness is to give up all hope of attaining heaven by any measure of personal goodness. It is to lay down all trust in our own efforts. It is turning wholly to the victory of the cross of Christ, believing he is the only way. Finally, it means trusting him to empower us through his Spirit to live up to his claim on our lives.

We need brokenness and humility to keep walking in faith: “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

“Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’” (Isaiah 57:15).

No matter how I may feel, Christ is my righteousness. No matter how many doubts may arise, Christ is my righteousness. No matter how many accusations I hear from the devil during the day, I stand on this: God sees me as righteous in Christ!

“On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).

Where is the Lamb of God now? He is in heaven, seated on his throne, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace. One day all the religions of the world will bend their knees before Jesus and confess he is the Lord. “Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that he was — he is — the everlasting Lamb of God” (see Philippians 2:10-11). Behold, the Lamb of God!

Jesus was resurrected as our only righteousness — our only way to please God.

The Father said of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). The apostle Paul reminds us of this again and again throughout his epistles, teaching that Christ alone is our righteousness in God’s eyes.

“Now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21-24).

The apostle is saying, “My own righteousness is of the law, but the righteousness that is of Christ comes on the basis of faith.”

We can give to the poor and needy; we can be kind; we can think good and honorable thoughts. And we may convince ourselves that these good works will help save us on Judgment Day. Not so! Even if I lived for years without breaking God’s Word in thought and deed, it would avail me no credit. “Not by works of righteousness . . . but according to his mercy he saved us” (Titus 3:5).

I do not say any of this lightly. It is devastating for any person to hear, “Your good deeds won’t save you.” Indeed, we can’t convince anyone of this. Such convincing requires a miracle of God’s mercy and is a work that must be done by the Holy Spirit.

In obedience to God, Abraham took his son Isaac to a mountain to offer a sacrifice. Along the way Isaac asked his father, “Where is the lamb for sacrifice?” Abraham answered with faith: “My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8). And God did, leading Abraham to find a ram caught in a brush.

Abraham’s faith speaks clearly to us today, just as it spoke to Isaac: “If only you had been looking, you would see God provide for the sacrifice.”

If only God’s people had believed the words of John the Baptist. Here was one of their own prophets, revered and trusted, who said of Jesus: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Later, John again identified Jesus this way: “Looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’” (John 1:36).

God provided his own lamb for a sacrifice: Jesus, his only Son. And when Christ was crucified, buried and raised from the dead, he became our atonement, our peace. Jesus willingly took on himself our sin, guilt and shame. He died and rose again to set all men free.

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:18-21).

Just like the church two thousand years ago, we are reminded of this glorious truth: “Christ is our hope!” 

Scripture shows us four ways the Holy Spirit moves in our lives. First, as Jesus says, no one comes to know him unless they are born again of the Spirit. Therefore, God’s Spirit dwells in every Christian. Second, we are called to abide in the Spirit, to remain intimate with him in prayer. Third, we are to be continually filled with the Spirit, constantly drinking from his well of living water. None of this means the Spirit leaves us but, rather, that we have a part in our relationship with him.

Finally, there is an outpouring of the Spirit that fills us with power, something that is beyond our ability to generate. You may wonder, “If I’m born of the Spirit, and the Spirit abides in me, and I continually drink of the Spirit, why would I need the Spirit poured out on me?” Because it helps us understand our need for God. We could never do the works of his kingdom in our own passion or zeal. It must come from him.

Sometimes we get it backwards in the Church. We think God chooses the fiery person, the one who will get everyone else zealous for God. But the Lord isn’t looking for a fiery heart; he’s looking for a hungry heart — one he can fill with his very own mind, heart and Spirit. That means even the meekest among us qualifies.

Note the word Jesus uses to describe the outpouring of the Spirit: “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). This suggests an external move of the Spirit in our lives, something that comes from outside us. All other moves of the Spirit in us are internal — being born again, abiding, drinking our fill. But this is an action God does for us. We depend on him to bring it to us.