During the Lenten season, members of Faith Lutheran Church have written our daily devotions. Today’s writer is Pastor Junfeng Tan.
8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For 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 2:8-10
On August 2, 1943, John F Kennedy’s Patrol Torpedo boat, PT-109, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Despite the injury to his back in the collision, Kenney towed the injured McMahon Harris by a life-vest strap and swam four miles before they reached an island.
On Good Friday, Jesus Christ has done for all of us what Kennedy did for McMahon. Humanity is hurt and incapacitated by sin and becomes incapable of “swimming to the shore of safety” on our own. We are so self-centered and self-absorbed and have failed to live the good life that God intends for us. We do not and cannot love God with our whole heart, whole mind, and whole strength. Neither can we love our neighbor as ourselves. We are all “curved in on self”. We are all spiritually dead.
Jesus comes to rescue and liberate us from sin’s concentration camp. What is so amazing is that he accomplishes the mission through the Cross. Paul says, “One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own” (2 Cor. 5:14, 15, The Message).
Let us pray: Jesus our liberating King, my boat is shattered to thousands pieces and I am sinking. Pull me into your unsinkable boat and make me into a fisherman/fisherwoman in your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Daily Devotions 
April 18, 2014 at 8:55 pm |
A Men Blessed Good Friday