Slices
Prepare
Quietly repeat these words from Psalm 63:1 as you prepare to encounter God in the Bible: ‘You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you.’
Bible passage
Peace and hope
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Explore
Peace with God (v 1). Now everything is all right: right? Well, yes and no. Standing in the free flow of God’s grace (v 2), we are not immune to the suffering inherent in human existence (v 3).
Yet, as grace works through suffering, our struggles can become a tool for God’s work in our lives (vs 3,4). Ultimately suffering itself is transformed by future hope (vs 5,9,10).
Two things sustain hope through the challenges of life. One is internal and subjective: the experience of God’s love in our hearts (v 5). The other is historical and objective: the death of Christ which has achieved our ‘at-one-ness’ with God for all time (vs 9,10). The experience of God’s love may take a hit when suffering comes, but the fact of God’s love in his Son can never change (v 8).
Suffering is real, but it does not have the last word in our lives. The last word is God’s eternal welcome, achieved for us by Jesus and made real by the Spirit.
Respond
Ask God to fill you again with the Spirit of his love: ‘O Breath of love, come breathe within me, renewing thought and will and heart; come, Love of Christ, afresh to win me, revive my life in ev’ry part’ (Bessie Porter Smith, 1920, adapted).
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Exodus 27,28; Matthew 28
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the Scripture Union Board of trustees as they meet today, giving thought to the budget for the next financial year. Pray for wisdom and that they will have a clear understanding of God’s priorities for the mission of the movement at this time.
