2017 Belmont University Lenten Devotional GuideSample

If we are honest with ourselves, I think many of us struggle to believe the words of the prophet Micah we read in today’s passage. Deep within our souls, we do not fully trust that God delights in showing mercy and has compassion toward us. Maybe we believe that He pardons our sin, but does so begrudgingly. We do not believe that God is actually for our good and delights in demonstrating mercy and grace.

This lack of belief that God is for us leads to a lack of true repentance. When we have an image of God as a cantankerous old man waiting to reprimand us for the unreasonable expectations He has set then we find it very difficult to turn toward God in obedience. The ways of God, or the “law,” as Paul puts it, become a place of stress and anxiety, reminders that make us feel as though we are a disappointment to God. Often we create an unnecessary dichotomy between law and grace and feel as though we must submit to one over the other. However, Paul reminds us that God’s grace is not opposed to His commands, but instead grace brings God’s way of living into new light.

Fundamental to Paul’s argument in Romans is the fact that God is merciful and for our good, inviting us into something sacred and beyond anything we could ever hope for. We read in Psalm 121 that God is our keeper and works tirelessly to keep us from evil. God wants us to become whole people who experience the abundant life. When we believe that God is fundamentally for our good and not simply waiting to damn us to Hell, then our disposition toward His commandments shifts. Repentance, then, is not coming to God with our proverbial tail tucked between our legs bracing ourselves to be wacked with a stick. Rather, repentance is a joyful return home and willing embrace of the rhythms of grace God mercifully invites us into.

JOSH RIEDEL
Assistant Director of Spiritual Formation
University Ministries