Day 87 | Sunday, 14 June 2020

Day 87  |  Sunday, 14 June 2020      
2nd Sunday after Pentecost Today: inner peace

 The assigned scriptures for today are: Genesis 18:1-15; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; Romans 5:1-8 and Matthew 9:35-10:8.

Romans 5:1-8 (CEB) Therefore, we have peace with God
5 Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory. 3 But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 5 This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  6 While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. 7 It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. 8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

The Message
1 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us - set us right with him, make us fit for him - we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus.

2 And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand - out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

3 There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us,

4 and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.

5 In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary - we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

6 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway.

7 We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice.

8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

 This section has been given a title of “Therefore, we have peace with God.”  This past week was filled with ups and downs for many of us.  We all want justice for everyone.  We have witnessed peaceful protests throughout the world.  We have watched as some individuals decided that rioting and looting needed to happen in the midst of the peaceful protests.  We are seeing an increase in the Covid 19 cases in many states.  Is it because of Memorial Day observances where social distancing was thrown out of the equation?  Has our government moved on from the pandemic?  No wonder we are suffering.  In the midst of the brokenness around us, trusting God to provide us peace is a whole lot better than worrying.  I like verse 5 from the Message.

 God of Love, thank you for continuing to work in us and use us for your purposes even if we are damaged.  Thank you for giving us your peace when we need it most.  Lord, hear our prayers.  Amen
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