Welcome to a Special Edition Daily Digest!
During Holy Week we have six special Daily Digest Devotions for you. These devotions will be posted at 6am daily from Monday, April 11th through Saturday, April 16th. In addition to the Daily Digest, tune in to Facebook Live each day at noon for a discussion of the day's topic.
Scripture Reading
Romans 5:6-8
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Devotion
Let’s face it, for most of us, we are more experienced with how our days and weeks look when bad timing is in the mix. Whether it’s a poorly timed conversation with a spouse, a misjudgment in our timing between appointments, or the coffee spill on your shirt before you step into the office. We are all too familiar with what bad timing looks like.
When it comes to God’s timing, however, He has an impeccable record of being right on time. Every time. Why? Because our God doesn’t make mistakes. Romans 5:6 says that 6 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Galatians 4:4 also says 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. Further study in 1 Tim 2:6 and Titus 1:3 continues to reinforce this incredible truth.
Unlike us, God’s timing is always perfect and His plans are never an afterthought or last-minute decision to patch things together when things aren’t going as expected. Understanding this is so important because if we aren’t careful, we can misjudge God’s character and nature when things don’t line up as we’d hoped. So one prime example of this is on a Wednesday over two-thousand years ago when tradition says that there was a man named Judas who had spent several years with Jesus watching him set the world ablaze with love and hope of a better future. But as the time drew near for Christ to bear the cross at Calvary, he realized that things weren’t unfolding in the way he envisioned it. According to Judas' timetable, Jesus was supposed to set up his earthly kingdom right then and there and he would be there to reap the rewards of this new political position of power. But God’s timing and ways are not always our ways. Verse 7-8 shows just how different this God we serve is. It says…
7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners
As Easter Sunday approaches and we continue to reflect on the tension of this holy week, may we never forget God’s timing. A timing that reflects a love that is holy unlike ours. 100% intentional and purposeful. Demonstrating the depths of his love to a world so undeserving and in the most unlikely of ways. The question we must ask is, are we willing to trust him with our lives even when things don’t line up with our timetables?
Would you consider yourself to be someone who is typically on time or running behind when it comes to your appointments? How important is it to you to keep a set schedule?
Take a moment to reflect back on a time in your life when you were "waiting on God" to move in a specific area of your life and the timing didn't work out the way you wanted. Knowing what you know now, what decisions did you make during that situation that you would change now?
Romans 5:6-8 says that it was in God's perfect timing to love us at our worst. While we were rebels against him. Spiritually dead in our trespasses and without hope. If that is true, how does that change the way you see his love for you and the world around you this Easter season?
Join Pastor Matthew today at noon on Facebook Live for a discussion of today's devotion.
