Lent Day 3
Lent Day 3
Each morning on KBEW am 1560 at 8:55 am I give a short devotional. Right now, they are these devotions. Most every day is just what pops into my mind as I sit in my car after dropping off my son, Lincoln, at daycare. My inspiration comes from Facebook posts, the confirmation class the night before, or something I read. It varies dramatically from day to day except for on Fridays. The theme for the Friday morning devotion is always the same. We take the time to give thanks to God. We pause for a moment of gratitude, and the invitation is for everyone listening to find at least one thing to give thanks for. I say it could be as seemingly small as not waking up to go to the bathroom the night before or that first taste of coffee. We are trying to build up our gratitude muscle so that when life gets hard, we can still sing God’s praises. Fridays are my favorite devotion so that we will be blending our Lenten Devotion with our Gratitude Devotion.
The favorite line from a hymn is from “Because He lives” UMH 365
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Crowder, Johnnyswim, Tori Kelly – Because He Lives (Easter At Passion City Church) (youtube.com)
This was submitted twice as a member’s favorite line, and one wrote this:
“It sums up the difference between Christianity and all other religions. He – Jesus Lives- conquered death and belief in him gives us hope for all of our tomorrows”
That sounds like a perfect statement for a Friday filled with gratitude. The assurance that because Jesus lives we are able to face tomorrow. The hymn continues and says “Because he lives I can face tomorrow; because he lives all fear is gone; because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives.” I couldn’t help myself. I had to write out the whole course because it is so so good. I love that it doesn’t tell us that life is going to go smoothly. It doesn’t tell us that there won’t be anything to fear. It almost makes the opposite claim. Tomorrow is scary, and the future is not going to be a walk in the park, sometimes life is going to feel too hard to go on, but because of Jesus, we can make it another day. Because of Jesus, those things that should scare us won’t anymore. Because of Jesus, we know that we can get through the hardest of struggles. Again, I say to you that this is exactly why we do gratitude Friday. We need to give thanks in the messiness of life for the one who died for our sins and has raised us up to new life. So today, what are you giving thanks for today? How would you finish the line “Because he lives _________________”? Wouldn’t that be a great thanksgiving? To name what we can do today because he lives.
So know that because he lives, you can face tomorrow.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Lee