Prayer Practice
Cup Prayer –
This prayer will help you pour your heart out to God (Ps. 62:8). Begin with
your hands folded together like an upside-down cup. Pour out before God all
your fears, anxieties, guilt, sin and shame. Tell Him what troubles you. Take
time to be specific. When you feel like you’ve poured out your heart, flip your
hands over, folding them like an open cup, ready to receive from God. Sit in
silence, asking God simply to fill you with His Spirit. If your mind runs back
to sin, shame, anxiety or concerns of the day, flip your hands back over and
pour it out to the Lord. When you are finished praying, read today’s Scripture
and listen as God shares His heart back with you.
DAILY READING
REFLECTION
"But Now"
Pastor Jeff Morlock
It’s amazing how two small words can make all the
difference. Today’s reading begins with, “But now.” Think about how we usually
use that phrase, and you can almost anticipate the sigh of relief that follows.
“He was unemployed and desperate, but now he has a new job”. “She
was afraid of contracting the virus, but now she’s been fully
vaccinated”. “He was stuck in a cycle of addiction, but now he’s
found sobriety”. “But now” signals that something has happened
to change life as we knew it.
Up to this point in the book of Romans, Paul has been making the case that human beings stand condemned before God, whose righteous goodness has been revealed through the Law of Moses – the law that we’ve been trying and failing to keep since it was given. But now God’s Son, Jesus, the One to whom the Law was pointing all along, has come to live the perfect, sinless life in and through those who have faith in him. That's good news!
Yet evaluating ourselves by performance and achievement is a hard habit for fallen people like us to break. In fact, it’s something of a default mode for descendants of Adam. We will always be tempted to comfort ourselves with the thought, “At least I’m kinder than him, or more honest than her, or not as greedy as them.” But of course, this is the wrong measure of goodness. It’s not how we stack up against our neighbor that matters, but how we compare to a holy God. In this regard, the Law is like a mirror that will never lie to us, but always reflect the truth. The Law will always reveal our deliberately selfish choices and show just how short we fall of God’s glory. To believe that we can measure up to the Law’s demands simply by trying harder will eventually lead us to despair. This is the human condition, the predicament we all find ourselves in.
But now… there is an alternative. We no longer need to fear the Law or run from it. We no longer need to let it lead us, either to unwarranted pride or paralyzing guilt. Instead, we can let the Law do its intended work in us. We can let it accuse and convict us, but most of all drive us over and over again to the waiting arms of Jesus. It is in him alone that we measure up. It is by him alone that the image of the Father is restored in us. It is through him alone that we are made whole.
Prayer: Father, thank you that you have already accomplished in us what your Word declares. Empower us to believe this truth that has power to set us free... "The righteous will live by faith." In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Up to this point in the book of Romans, Paul has been making the case that human beings stand condemned before God, whose righteous goodness has been revealed through the Law of Moses – the law that we’ve been trying and failing to keep since it was given. But now God’s Son, Jesus, the One to whom the Law was pointing all along, has come to live the perfect, sinless life in and through those who have faith in him. That's good news!
Yet evaluating ourselves by performance and achievement is a hard habit for fallen people like us to break. In fact, it’s something of a default mode for descendants of Adam. We will always be tempted to comfort ourselves with the thought, “At least I’m kinder than him, or more honest than her, or not as greedy as them.” But of course, this is the wrong measure of goodness. It’s not how we stack up against our neighbor that matters, but how we compare to a holy God. In this regard, the Law is like a mirror that will never lie to us, but always reflect the truth. The Law will always reveal our deliberately selfish choices and show just how short we fall of God’s glory. To believe that we can measure up to the Law’s demands simply by trying harder will eventually lead us to despair. This is the human condition, the predicament we all find ourselves in.
But now… there is an alternative. We no longer need to fear the Law or run from it. We no longer need to let it lead us, either to unwarranted pride or paralyzing guilt. Instead, we can let the Law do its intended work in us. We can let it accuse and convict us, but most of all drive us over and over again to the waiting arms of Jesus. It is in him alone that we measure up. It is by him alone that the image of the Father is restored in us. It is through him alone that we are made whole.
Prayer: Father, thank you that you have already accomplished in us what your Word declares. Empower us to believe this truth that has power to set us free... "The righteous will live by faith." In Jesus’ name. Amen.
