Friday, February 29, 2008

Lent Season Daily Devotional (Day Twenty One)

Pastor Latt

"Surely He has borne OUR grief and carried OUR sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for OUR transgressions He was bruised for OUR iniquities; The chastisement for OUR peace was upon Him, And by HIS stripes we are healed! ALL we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:4-6).


INSPIRATION: At the close of the Civil War in the United States, General John B. Gordon ran for the Senate in the state of Georgia. At that time, legislatures elected the senators. A former comrade of the General, who disliked him intensely, was a member of the Georgia state legislature. This man planned to vote against the General. When the day came for the roll call vote, the General sat on the platform watching. When the man who hated him rose to cast his oral vote, historians tell us that he stopped and stared at General Gordon's face. There was an ugly scar on the General's face, a war wound and a testimony to his devotion and suffering during the war. The legislator choked back tears and those near him were the only ones who could hear him murmuring, "I can't vote against him - I'd forgotten the scar!


REFLECTION: "Consider the scars of another Man... There is a scar in each of His hands left by nails driven through them into the rough timber of a Roman cross. There is also a scar in each of His feet where a single nail was driven through them, one on top of the other. There are scars upon his forehead and across his back. There is also a scar left by a soldier who pierced His side with a spear to make sure that He was dead.Through His death on the cross, this Man - Jesus Christ, the Son of God - paid the "price" for SIN. Those who place their trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), repent of their sin (Acts 26:20), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized in His name (Acts 2:38) have their sins washed away. Then those who to "walk in the light as He is in the light" will continually be cleansed by "the BLOOD of Jesus Christ His Son" (1 John 1:7).Someone has well stated: "The only man-made things in heaven, are the SCARS inflicted upon the body of Jesus, the Son of God."

MEDITATION: Remember those SCARS! Remember the reason why! Then think about what they SHOULD mean to each of us....Will YOU respond in trusting obedience to the Savior?

PRAYER: Pray God to open our eyes to see Jesus’ scars so that we may see His agape love. Pray God to open our ears so that we may hear His words. Pray God to open our hearts so that we may accept others with His love.

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