UPDATED Today’s AMI QT Devotional, provided by Cami King who serves as associate pastor at Remnant Church in Manhattan, is an updated version of her blog first posted on April 2, 2014. Cami is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania (BA) and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.).
Devotional Thoughts for This Morning
“Our God the Deliverer”
Galatians 1:3-5
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
I love these few verses because they give us a snapshot of some pretty awesome revelation regarding what God’s been up to for the last . . . I don’t know . . . many thousands of years.
I’m a bit of a sermon junkie, and I recently listened to a sermon series discussing the reasons why God would become a human and die on a cross (essentially the pastor asked, “Why in the world would God do that?!”). I mean, really . . . if we think about it, it seems a little absurd. I sometimes imagine I could come up with a slew of other ways to save the people I created from the mess they created (and none of those ways requiring me to be so utterly inconvenienced, to say the least, and certainly not brutally murdered as Jesus was). But our infinitely loving and wise Creator has ways and plans that far surpass our own. And in this passage we see them pretty well laid out. God became a person and died on a cross for the purpose of delivering us. That’s it right there. From incarnation to crucifixion to resurrection to ascension – God did it all to deliver us together with all Creation from our present evil age.
We live in a world more concerned now than in the centuries past with the plight of oppressed and marginalized people. So, we are empathetic (and hopefully outraged) when we learn that the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacts Black and brown and poor communities, where social distancing is often impossible, healthcare inaccessible, and pre-existing conditions the legacy of a history of oppression, leading to more infections and a significantly higher rate of death. And we hear with indignation (and deep lament) of the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man killed in broad day light by two White men empowered and emboldened by law and history to play judge jury and executioner. And in the midst of all these things, with heavy and grieving hearts, we can find comfort and courage in knowing that our God is a deliverer and righteous judge. And that’s Good News!
God not only did the profoundly difficult work of freeing us from the bondage of sin in our hearts, God is also delivering us from its effects in our world – from all forms of injustice: sickness, racism, poverty, hunger and the like. And that deliverance is sure. Praise be to God our Heavenly Parent, to Jesus our Victorious Savior, and to the Holy Spirit our Comfort and Help – for God has come to set us free!
Are we taking hold of the freedom that our loving and merciful God has done so much to make available to us? Are we participating in the redemptive work that our just and righteous God is actively doing in the world today? Are we living in the newness of life that the Spirit of God is empowering us to live? God has already made a way; may we walk therein.
Prayer: Thank You God for being my deliverer! Thank You for making victory over the sin in my life a possibility. Help me to walk in the freedom You have for me and the life Christ died to give me. Help me to be an agent of that freedom in the world around me. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 20
Lunch Break Study
Read Romans 6:16-19: Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Questions to Consider
- What is the contrast between slavery to sin and slavery to obedience?
- Why does Paul make it a point to say he is speaking in human terms?
- How does Paul call us to become obedient/slaves of righteousness?
Notes
- Slavery to sin leads to death. Slavery to obedience (to God and God’s word) leads to life.
- He is explaining the reader’s relationship to sin and righteousness in terms of something with which they were familiar with – slavery. We formerly deliberately yielded to sin (although many of us thought we were free in our sinful lives when our behavior only led to bondage), but now we must deliberately yield to Christ (which may seem like slavery, but it is not – we do have a choice, but obedience is the only road to make that choice).
- He says, “Present your members” to God. In other words, we don’t need to have everything figured out or always know just what to do, but we must be open, willing, and committed to being led daily by God into righteousness (that which is right and just).
Evening Reflection
When was the last time you thanked God for deliverance from sin? Are there ways you still live enslaved to sin? How can you instead present yourself as a slave to righteousness in those areas? Pray and ask God to free you from sin, and lead you into the freedom that comes through obedience to God.
Throughout the biblical narrative you see people lamenting. The psalms are filled with honest poetry about their suffering, pain, and anger. Even now, it still surprises me how honest and raw they are in their writings.
Take some time to come before the Lord with honesty. We are feeling many emotions and oftentimes the temptation is to numb those emotions through binge watching and social media. Take time to process and surrender them to Lord tonight.
During this shelter-in-place time, I have also had the chance to reexamine my habits. Two weeks ago, I realized my tendency was still to rush through things (though I had nowhere to be). I rushed through cooking, so my meals were still mediocre after weeks of cooking every day. I rushed to get ready in the morning and still wouldn’t use my electric toothbrush for its two-minute preset. Yes, I admit it – until two weeks ago, I didn’t think I had time to wait for my toothbrush to run its full course.
How was your time today? Did spending more time considering who God is and extending your time of adoration bring joy and gladness? Let’s ask Him for the grace to continue and have our souls be satisfied as we consider who He is.
In our culture—at least before the calamitous arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic—people have bucket lists: a list of great, fun, and exciting things to do, like skydiving or kayaking off of a waterfall before you die or “kick the bucket.”
*Following God’s judgment that broke out against Israel, King David was looking to purchase a plot of land to build an altar to the Lord—as he was commanded by God—but when Araunah offered the king his land for free, David insisted on paying for it.
When I learned that shelter-in-place would go into effect, one of the first things I did was make a to-do list. I wrote down chores and hobbies that I “didn’t have time” for before. It turns out that having time was not the problem. Six weeks later, the bulk of what I’d hoped to achieve remains untouched. Instead, I have slept a record amount and watched more TV in several weeks than I did in the last several years. Subsequently, one of my most difficult challenges became processing the deep sense of guilt and shame I’d acquired for wasting this time.
Take some time to think about today’s topic. How do you feel about accepting God’s love? Are you more freed from guilt and shame? Let’s ask Him to continue to reassure us of His love and make it more of our reality for the days to come.
No one wants to be the last person chosen for a pick-up game.
A day can go by so quickly.
I will let others argue over whether the COVID-19 pandemic is God’s judgment—maybe it is or maybe it isn’t.
As you have been spending time confessing and repenting, are you experiencing the Lord’s grace—the freedom and victory that comes through His Spirit?
Returning to what we talked about this afternoon, at times, it is difficult not to feel like a hypocrite as we try to live out our faith.
There are many ways to respond to stress or sadness.
As you begin another week, what “distractions” or “noise” can you put aside this week so that you can better hear His voice?