Good Devolution

Today's devotion from Goshen College:

FEB. 14 - TO A PLACE WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE


By Bryce Bow, a junior physical education major from Muncie,
Ind.

SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

DEVOTIONAL:
Imagine (Yes, I'm asking you to really focus, really use
your imagination!). Imagine, right now, you are a homeless
person, living under a bridge in, say, downtown Chicago.
It's cold out, extremely cold. Your clothes are tattered and
dirty. Your hair is nappy, you haven't showered in a long
time and your hungry because it's been days since you last
had anything to eat. You're in pain, more than physical
pain. A deep, throbbing pain circulates through your whole
body, almost as if your soul hurts. It starts to rain. A
cold wind sweeps through and blows your small fire out. All
you can feel is pain, the cold and the tears running down
your face. Stop for a second and really put yourself there.

Just then, a limo pulls up and the door opens. A man is
sitting inside and he invites you in. You accept in hopes
that whatever is in the limo is better than your current
situation. The man inside offers you a hot beverage and some
warm clothes. His smile warms the deepest parts of your
soul. You laugh together and drive; time has lost its
importance. When the limo stops, you look out the window.
There is a beautiful, sparkling lake, almost from a book.
The man hands you a set of keys.
"What's this?" you ask, with a smile.
"It's yours," he says.
"What's mine?"
"Everything," he says, with a chuckle.
You look closer at the keys: for a boat, a house, a car.
For the desires of your heart.
"Do you accept?" he asks, with a smile.
No words will come out. "Why? What did I do?" you ask
yourself. "I don't deserve this. You slowly take the keys.
"I'll be right next door if you need anything," the man
says, smiling still. You have too many emotions: confusion,
excitement, joy, love.

Grace. Our Creator loves us so much that he wants to spend
eternity, the rest of forever, with us. Yes, with us. "Me?"
some may ask. Yes, everyone; there are no exceptions. Our
God wants to take us "out of the depths," to a place words
cannot describe, a place that our minds cannot conceive.
Why? Because of love. Yes, love. It's really that simple.
It's a free gift. We cannot "earn" it, but can only accept
it. Take the keys. Accept the gift. You'll be glad you did.

SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (NRSV)
What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our
ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was
justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not
before God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.'
Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but
as something due. But to one who without works trusts him
who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as
righteousness.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not
come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but
through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents
of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the
promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there
is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the
promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his
descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also
to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the
father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the
father of many nations') -- in the presence of the God in
whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into
existence the things that do not exist.