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Lenten devotions 2008

FEB. 14 - TO A PLACE WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE
By Bryce Bow, a junior physical education major from Muncie, Ind.

SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

DEVOTIONAL:
Imagine (Yes, I'm asking you to really focus, really use your imagination!). Imagine, right now, you are a homeless person, living under a bridge in, say, downtown Chicago. It's cold out, extremely cold. Your clothes are tattered and dirty. Your hair is nappy, you haven't showered in a long time and you're hungry because it's been days since you last had anything to eat. You're in pain, more than physical pain. A deep, throbbing pain circulates through your whole body, almost as if your soul hurts. It starts to rain. A cold wind sweeps through and blows your small fire out. All you can feel is pain, the cold and the tears running down your face. Stop for a second and really put yourself there.

Just then, a limo pulls up and the door opens. A man is sitting inside and he invites you in. You accept in hopes that whatever is in the limo is better than your current situation. The man inside offers you a hot beverage and some warm clothes. His smile warms the deepest parts of your soul. You laugh together and drive; time has lost its importance. When the limo stops, you look out the window. There is a beautiful, sparkling lake, almost from a book. The man hands you a set of keys.
"What's this?" you ask, with a smile.
"It's yours," he says.
"What's mine?"
"Everything," he says, with a chuckle.
You look closer at the keys: for a boat, a house, a car. For the desires of your heart.
"Do you accept?" he asks, with a smile.
No words will come out. "Why? What did I do?" you ask yourself. "I don't deserve this. You slowly take the keys.
"I'll be right next door if you need anything," the man says, smiling still. You have too many emotions: confusion, excitement, joy, love.

Grace. Our Creator loves us so much that he wants to spend eternity, the rest of forever, with us. Yes, with us. "Me?" some may ask. Yes, everyone; there are no exceptions. Our God wants to take us "out of the depths," to a place words cannot describe, a place that our minds cannot conceive. Why? Because of love. Yes, love. It's really that simple. It's a free gift. We cannot "earn" it, but can only accept it. Take the keys. Accept the gift. You'll be glad you did.

SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (NRSV)
What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.' Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations') -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Posted at 16:43 #