Lent
February 27, 2015
Scripture Reading: Romans 4:13-25
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. – Romans 4:20-25
Do we have faith in God or not? I must confess I am stunned by legislation that is drafted, considered, and sometimes made into law that purports to do what the author seems to think God cannot do without the help of a civil law. Isn’t that interesting? Are we wasting precious moments of our time devoted to God doing futile things that may only cause more division? Is it more important to us to prove that God is on our side than to demonstrate that we are on God’s side?
Our scripture continues today Paul’s analysis of Abraham’s faith. Abraham was convinced that God was able to do what God had promised. Now that is faith. In all honesty Abraham did not live to see the culmination of God’s promise, but he knew it would happened. The sure and certain knowledge of God’s fidelity is the anchor we need in the chaotic seas of our world today.
This does not mean that we are to sit back and do nothing while we wait for God to make all our problems go away. Jesus instructed us to love God, love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and to go into all the world and make disciples. Let’s just commit ourselves to doing those three things over the next few years and see what God can do when we are on God’s side.
Prayer: Lord, I want to wave a magic wand and make all evil go away, I want to end poverty and child abuse, I want to bring justice to the oppressed and assure that mercy is made available for those who need it, I want to shut down the pipeline to prison, and open the doors of opportunity for all our children, and I want it now! Grant me the measure of the patience of Abraham, the persistence of Hannah, the courage of Esther, the vision of Isaiah, and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ I need to fulfill my role in loving you and my neighbors and making disciples. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.