NIV 365-Day Devotional Plan (2017)Sample

Meditation

All people are important to God. But all are deeply fallen. God’s original perfect creation included flawless creatures with a spiritual and moral capacity. In the garden, they were given the ability to choose, so that they would be responding to God in a meaningful relationship. But choice always involves responsibility, and they were warned there would be consequences if they chose to disobey. Despite the richness of their relationship with God, they listened to a powerful evil being who came into their home. They fell to his tactics of doubt and deception. And they fell into sin by choosing their will over the Creator’s. It is a mystery how beings who were created as moral and rational could succumb to the immorality of sin. But it happened, and it has left us in a constant battle and lifelong enmity with that serpent, that dragon, the devil.

The desire of the first two created beings to be like God led them to deny him and ignore his warning, and the consequences were heavy. There were ramifications in every area. There were physical and spiritual repercussions, and there was the separation —a great separation—from the Creator who had sustained them.

We are deeply fallen, yet we are greatly loved. The fall that took away our purity could not take away God’s love for us. Nothing can. And so the need for the baby who was born on Christmas became inevitable, and the great plan was set in motion. The response of our holy and loving God to the disastrous effects of wickedness is … surprisingly … love.

Prayer

Lord of all creation, I bow before you, recognizing that my deepest need is to be delivered from the bondage of evil that has ensnared me on account of my own sin. I readily confess that salvation is beyond my power. Thank you for refusing to leave me in this condition, choosing instead to send your Son, Jesus, to save me. Evil could not attach itself to him. He triumphed over the enemy and paid the penalty for my sin and the sin of all people with his death on the cross. I ask you to guide me in your ways and give me a clearer understanding of the blessings of obedience and the pain of the disobedience so that I will grow in trust and take the risks I need to take in order to follow you completely. In Jesus’ saving name I pray. Amen.

Taken from Once a Day 25 Days of Advent