The Lent Project | Day 41

Today’s Lent Project devotional is by Jonathan Shelton. He and his wife, Candi, are members of our Leadership Team and host the Alpharetta North Table Group.

I love a good A/B comparison. I loved reading the verses from the Old Testament that longed for hope and deliverance while accurately observing the immediate pain and grief of their circumstances. This, contrasted with the idea of finding purpose in our sufferings for the sake of Jesus, is like a megaphone from the cross and the resurrection. The cross is the pivot-point that delineates hope from hopelessness, trust from fear, laser-focused purpose from aimless wandering.

We no longer ache for our salvation because it has already been granted freely. We have been invited to abide in his love and grace and power. We are able to know him as Savior and a friend and to live without fear knowing that he has conquered death and the grave and that our sufferings are temporary and for his sake.

We can live  today with the confidence that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is in us  (Rom. 8:10-11) and that nothing can separate us from his love (Rom. 8:38-39). We have strength today not because of our list of merit badges, but because of who he is and what he has done.