Devotion for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, 4 July
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for the week following the Fifth Sunday after Trinity is taken from the Epistle to the Ephesians, Chapter Two verse 8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift from God,” (NRSVB). Trying to create faith and hope from within ourselves, when we are facing desperate situations, will drive us deeper into despair, for where will we be able to find, from within ourselves, this source? Because we are mortals with wavering thoughts, given to doubt, we cannot trust in the faith that we try to infuse within ourselves. Faith that tries to tells us that we can do what is required of us to do, in all and any circumstance is not faith in God, but faith in our faith and works. God knows that we are dust people, and being dust people we will react like dust people. We are swayed from one outrageous thought and one kind of extreme emotion to another, causing doubt and fear. Praise God that we do not have to find our faith, and grow our faith through our own grace. We know that our grace and mercy towards others, as well as ourselves, quickly reaches the limit of our capacity. God’s grace is the unconditional grace exuding from the gracious being of God. This is the grace that deals mercifully with all and forgives and forgets all iniquities, because God was, is and shall be mindful of his children. He loves them with a never-ending inexhaustible love.
None of us can boast of our work to earn grace and faith, we can only boast of the work that has been imputed in us, by our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Vine and we are the branches, through his work on the Cross for us, he attained for us righteousness before his father. God has accepted us through his Son and accepts us as heirs and children in his kingdom. He has given us freely the grace and faith to be called children of God, through the gift of his Son, this is the source of our faith. What we receive freely, has been a costly gift. Christ was given on the Cross, broken, his life-blood being poured out for us, the precious fragrant sacrifice of his eternal “Yes!” for us. God’s grace has been spoken over us from the beginning of the Ages. God has planned our redemption and Christ achieved redemption on the Cross for all. We live therefore by this grace, and this faith in Christ, it is renewed in us daily. Our faith wanes and waxes as the waves of life pours over us, but we can call on the Lord and ask, like the father of the sick boy, “Lord, I believe! Constantly help my weakness of faith,” Mark 9 verse 24, (Amplified Bible).
The watchword for this Sunday is taken from Psalm 71 verse 16, “I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of your righteousness, of yours only,” (NRSVB). The psalmist reminds us of the strength that the Lord bestows on his children, that declares them righteous in his sight and clad them with strength and power to be up to the tasks of the day and the hour. The tasks that are set before us are God ordained tasks and he gives his power to his children so that they can jump over a wall, and fulfil their ministries to the glory of God. God equipped his children with super-natural powers to be able to conclude super-natural duties, think of David and Goliath, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, Moses leading the Israelites in the Desert and Joshua walking with this group of men around the Walls of Jericho. The disciples saw Jesus being given powers over nature when he calmed the storms and walked on water, when he miraculously fed the crowd of thousands with two fish and five loaves, when he raised the dead and healed the sick, and when he gave them his blessing and equipped them with power to go on their mission journeys. This is our Lord, and this is his grace and gift to us today, he gives faith, and establishes his promises to us in the face of our enemies, so that we can fulfil the tasks has given us.
Out of thankfulness we bear fruit that matches the plant that we are grafted in. We are grafted in the Vine, the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore we can bear good fruit, for it is not out of ourselves, but out of Him that is within us. “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life,” Ephesians 2 verse 18, (NRSVB). God has planned our lives to be a fragrant and good gift to nourish those around us with hope and joy as we point them to the source of our Grace and Faith, Jesus Christ. We are known by the fruit we bear, the fruit that brings healing and hope for all in this dark world,
Father, we thank you that you have given grace and faith to all, like you bestow rain over all. Help us to grow in grace and faith as we look to Christ our gift and example, Amen.
