Daily Devotion

Maybe it’s the clear skies we had today in Cincinnati, or the strong breeze, or the warmer weather. Whatever it is, it is reminding me of God’s promise that all things are being made new. I don’t have a good explanation for this feeling besides the fact that creation seems to sing loud and clear that God does not seek to work us woe. God is making something in the midst of this. God is always creating, it seems.
 
The only thing that I can think of which explains this kind of optimism or sense of promise in the midst of such uncertainty and feelings of isolation, is the presence of God’s Spirit. Maybe it’s the wind. But, when I feel it’s presence I am struck by a feeling of gratitude and a powerful sense of trust. Trust that, through this, we are being remade into something sturdy, resilient, adaptive, and most importantly driven by an abiding love of Jesus Christ and the world He loves.
 
I’m thinking of the 1st Chapter of I Peter.
 
21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
 
After we are born anew as a gathering congregation in the not so distant future, I hope we will feel a sense of being imperishable. Not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual one. We are all facing our mortality in very real ways in the midst of this crisis. However, in the aftermath of this time apart, I hope we will be transformed--confidently loving our neighbors and one another with an abiding hope and enduring confidence in the promise of God. I’m looking forward to that day. So much so I’m going to try to practice for it now. Love one another deeply from the heart, Good Shepherd.
 
Peace,
Pastor Alex. 
 

2 comments on article "Daily Devotion"

Tracey Long

This makes me sing!! For those moved by music: https://youtu.be/oyPBtExE4W0

4/22/2020 12:22 PM

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Pat Grimes

Pastor Alex,

Like you I have felt God's presence in the cleansing winds.

Appreciate your devotion.

4/22/2020 10:45 PM

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