2026 Lenten Season - Day 31 - Victory for Us

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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There is no defeat in the cross. Only triumph is to be found there.

The life of Jesus was a death march. The life of Jesus was a victory parade. Both are true and must be held together. There was no defeat in the righteous life and sacrificial death of Jesus. 

The birth of Jesus was a victory. 

The escape from the hand of Herod was a victory.

The humanity of Jesus was a victory.

The perfect life of Jesus was a victory.

The triumph over temptation was a victory.

The public baptism of Jesus was a victory.

The teaching of Jesus was a victory.

The healing ministry of Jesus was a victory.

The arrest in Gethsemane was a victory.

The trial and torture of Jesus was a victory.

The crucifixion with criminals was a victory.

The separation from his Father was a victory.

His death on a cross was a victory.

The resurrection was a victory.

His post-resurrection appearance to his followers was a victory.

His ascension was a victory.

Everything in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, even those things that appeared to be defeats were victories. Each was a victory because each was done in fulfillment of God’s plan. Each was a victory because it was done in fulfillment of prophecy. Christ did all these things as our substitute. He did them all on our behalf. He lived, for us, the life we could have never lived. He won, for us, battles that would have led to our defeat. He suffered for us, so we would not suffer God’s anger over sin. He conquered, for us, the final enemy - death. 

Yes, it was a life of suffering and death, but in it all was victory after victory. He came to conquer, and conquer he did. He came to reverse the course of human history, by victory after victory, until he could say, “It is finished.”

The apostle Paul talks about the victorious life of Jesus in Colossians 2:6-15: Read it right here.

New Living Translation
"6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross."

Paul wants you to know that right here, right now, your life is rooted in the victories of Christ on your behalf. He wants you to know that when you are built up and grow, it is because of the victories of  Christ on your behalf. He wants this identity to be the motivation behind everything you do. The Son of God left his lofty place and came to earth to suffer and die victoriously so that you would have not only a brand-new identity but also brand-new potential. 

If you are God’s child, you are more than a husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, neighbor,  friend, male, female, young person, older person, worker, retired, and so on. You are a child of a conquering King. You are a son or daughter of a victorious Savior. You have been raised and made alive. You have been forgiven; that is, your record of debt has been cancelled. Your penalty was nailed to the cross once and for all. This is who you are. This is how you are now welcomed to live, all because of the victory of Jesus on your behalf. 

You don’t have to live in timidity and fear. You don’t have to give way to temptation. You don’t have to surrender your desires to the things of this world. You don’t have to chase after idols. You don’t have to fear God’s rejection when you have failed. You don’t have to fear being honest about your sin, weakness, and failure. You don’t have to look for identity where it can’t be found. You can say no to the enemy. You don’t have to fake righteousness you don’t really have. You don’t have to let anxiety rule your heart. You can rest in the unshakable love and forgiveness that is yours because of the victory of Jesus on your behalf.

I leave you with Paul’s crescendo sentence: "In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross." On the cross, Jesus was robbing the enemy of its weapons. As Jesus was on the cross, the enemy was being put to shame. The cross was a triumph. 

Sin defeated. 

Forgiveness granted. 

Acceptance with God assured. 

Eternal life guaranteed. 

Victory now and in the world to come. 

This is your identity. Now go live it out.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. In what areas of your life are you experiencing defeat? Where do you feel stuck?

2. How can the truth that “[Jesus] won, for us, battles that would have led to our defeat” help you in your battle against sin and spiritual failure?

3. What fears do you need to claim Jesus’s victory over? Do that now, in writing, and put them to rest.

Reread Colossians 2:6–15, and rejoice in Jesus’s victory on your behalf.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 30 - Confessing Our Need

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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You can’t repent of what you haven’t confessed, you can’t confess what you haven’t grieved, and you can’t grieve what you haven’t seen.

I must admit, I dislike the hardship of confession. I avoid grief. I don’t like painful moments of regret. I don’t like thinking about my sin. I want to follow you, but free from the need to admit failure. Your grace isn’t a backroom, under-the-table, secret-handshake deal you’ve made with me, where you gloss over my sin and I walk away relieved.

You didn’t make a deal; you endured the cross. You wouldn’t call sin nothing when sin is a big, dark, horrible, rebellious, destructive, idolatrous, self-aggrandizing, law-hating, death-producing something. Any deal you would make would empower the enemy, encourage falsity, violate your holiness, negate your justice, crush your grace. Rather than a backroom deal, you went public on a hill outside the city where criminals die. You put the ravages of sin, my sin, on display.

In a moment of gross injustice and public torture, you hung between heaven and earth, suspended there by justice and grace. You not only took the thorny crown, the hard-driven nails, the sword to the side. You carried my sin and the rejection of your Father, as life seeped out of you.

You weren’t accepting sin’s victory; you were declaring sin’s defeat. There is no denial permitted at the foot of your cross. The nails don’t allow me to think that sin is nothing. Your tomb opposes any notion that sin is okay. Your suffering and death call me to do what is unnatural for me: to grieve, to mourn, to regret, to confess, to come out of hiding, to admit my need for your grace, to repent, and to do all of these things again and again, with the knowledge that a debt paid is better than a bad deal.

Sin forgiven is better than sin ignored. Grace given is better.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. How much of your prayer time is devoted to confession? Are you satisfied with that?

2. What could you do to make your times of confession more specific and meaningful?

3. How might meditating on Christ’s sacrifice change your confession?

Walk through the passion account in Mark 14:1–15:39 (included below), picturing the scene as if for the first time, and let it lead you into a time of confession.
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14 It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. 2 “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”

3 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.

4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. 5 “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.

6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? 7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

The Last Supper

12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?” 13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”

19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”

20 He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

22 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”

23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. 25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

27 On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,
‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

28 But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

29 Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.”

30 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

31 “No!” Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

32 They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 34 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

35 He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 36 “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

37 Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 38 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

39 Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. 40 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.

41 When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested

43 And immediately, even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders. 44 The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.” 45 As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.

46 Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. 47 But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.

48 Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? 49 Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there among you teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me.”

50 Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. 51 One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, 52 he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.

Jesus before the Council

53 They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered. 54 Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.

55 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But they couldn’t find any. 56 Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. 57 Finally, some men stood up and gave this false testimony: 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.’” 59 But even then they didn’t get their stories straight!

60 Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 61 But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? 64 You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!”

65 Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. “Prophesy to us,” they jeered. And the guards slapped him as they took him away.

Peter Denies Jesus

66 Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by 67 and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.”

68 But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.

69 When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!” 70 But Peter denied it again.

A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”

71 Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time.

Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.

Jesus’ Trial before Pilate

15 Very early in the morning the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law—the entire high council—met to discuss their next step. They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

3 Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes, 4 and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?” 5 But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.

6 Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner—anyone the people requested. 7 One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising. 8 The crowd went to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.

9 “Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked. 10 (For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.) 11 But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. 12 Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

13 They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

14 “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”

But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

15 So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

16 The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. 18 Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 19 And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 20 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) 22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). 23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.

24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

29 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. 30 Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

31 The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

The Death of Jesus

33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

Promise for Today - No Coupon No Discount

Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 The Message

Here's what we think. If we bought it, and we paid for it, and we have the scars to show for it, it's ours. We can do what we want with it. But the Truth of the matter is, we didn't buy it, and we couldn't pay for it, and although we may have scars from the battles we've chosen to be part of IN our lives, our scars are not part of or proof of the purchase price paid FOR our lives.

Only Christ did that. He bought it. He paid for it with His own blood, and He has the scars to show for it.

I love the way 1st Peter 1:18-20 reads in The Message: "Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew He was going to do this for you."

God ALWAYS knew He was going to do this for you and for me. It cost God plenty, and He paid in full.

Prayer:

Father,
           Open our eyes to see the great price that was paid for our redemption. Open our hearts to recognize and know that, apart from You, we have nothing and are nothing. Help us to walk in the fullness of life that You have provided for us through Christ Your Son. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

2026 Lenten Season - Day 29 - Temporal Eternity

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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Jesus was born with a cross in his future so that there would be such a thing as forgiveness for sin.

I have had some really bad jobs. One Christmas vacation, I worked as a garbage collector, and between the cold, snow, and rodents, it wasn’t my best celebration of the season. I worked one summer during college as an intern at a factory, cleaning the rust off exhaust systems with acid. I worked for a while as a “brickie,” carrying concrete blocks to masons and mixing concrete when it was so cold outside that we had to add antifreeze to it to keep it from freezing before it could be used. I worked one job that was so dirty my mom made me undress on the back porch before I was allowed to enter our home. But the thing that made those jobs tolerable was knowing I wouldn’t be doing them forever. They were hard, uncomfortable, unattractive, and physically exhausting, but I knew they were temporary.

I regularly think with sympathy about the people who have those kinds of jobs as their life's work. I have deep appreciation for them; our lives are made better by their work. But when I think of them, I almost always think of someone else. I think of the one and only perfect person who ever lived whose job description was to die. Think about that for a moment. What if you knew that you would not just do dirty and uncomfortable work for a season or have a hard labor job for your whole life, but that the ultimate purpose for your existence was to die a cruel and unjust death?

What was in Jesus’s future was not a surprise to him. The shocking nature of his capture, trial, and death was not a personal defeat. It was not a failure of God’s plan. It was not a triumph of the enemy. No, the death of Jesus on the bloody cross was a personal victory and a public indication of the complete success of God’s plan! From before his first breath on Earth, the plan was that Jesus would enter this broken world, suffer its brokenness, live a completely perfect life in every way, and then die on that cross.

There simply was no other way. Because of the moral rebellion of sin, righteousness had to be accomplished, and an acceptable penalty had to be paid. Christ’s death and resurrection had to happen so the righteousness of Jesus could be given over to the account of those who could never be righteous on their own, and so that forgiveness could be granted because a suitable penalty had been paid for their sin. In this way, sinners could be forgiven and accepted into relationship with God in a move of amazing grace that did not at the same time violate God’s justice. Listen to how Isaiah talks about this plan - reading Isaiah Chapter 53. 

"Who has believed what he has heard from us? 

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment, he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."

What was in Jesus’s job description as Savior?

• to be despised and rejected

• to have a life of sorrow and grief

• to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows

• to be stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God

• to be pierced for our transgressions

• to be crushed for our iniquities

• to take our chastisement

• to be wounded for our spiritual healing

• to carry our iniquity

• to be oppressed without defending himself

• to endure oppression and judgment

• to be cut off

• to have a grave with the wicked

• to experience anguish of soul

• to pour out his soul to death

• to be numbered with transgressors

This is what your Savior was appointed to do. This was his redemptive job description. This was the only way for forgiveness to be granted, eternal life to be given, righteousness to be granted, acceptance with God to be guaranteed, and saving grace to be unleashed. He came willingly, and did it all without the faintest grumble or the smallest complaint. Jesus knew that his suffering would be temporary, but the fruit would be eternal, and he was willing.

During this Lenten season, stop and consider the depth of the love of your Lord, that he endured this for you. He suffered the unthinkable so we could experience the unreachable. Now that’s amazing grace!

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. What was your worst job?

2. How do you think knowing he had come to die affected Jesus’s life and ministry?

3. How does the purposeful sacrifice of Christ transform your approach to your work and ministry life?

Reread Isaiah 53, and meditate on all that Christ did for you.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 28 - The Humanity of Christ

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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In order to pray with confidence and hope, you need to know who you’re praying to.

Imagine that I have something embarrassing, humiliating, and potentially anger-producing to confess.  Imagine I have been dreading having “the talk.” Imagine that I have had nervous days and sleepless nights ruminating about what I would say and how I would say it, and wondering when would be the best time. And then imagine that I have two people that I have to confess to. The first person I do not know at all. I do not know what he thinks of me, so I can’t anticipate how he will respond to my confession. The second person I know very well. I know that she is gracious, kind, patient, and forgiving. But most importantly, I know that she will love me and continue to love me no matter what.

Now think with me. Which person do you think is the source of my reticence and anxiety? The question is not hard to answer. It is obviously the person whom I do not know. Humble confession is always stimulated and ignited by the character and commitment of the person you need to confess to. It is his or her love for you that propels the honest transparency that fear crushes. It is not only pride that keeps us from admitting what we need to admit and confessing it without excuse or shifting blame—fear does too. So in this season of honest self-examination and humble confession, it is vital in those prayers to have a clear understanding of who is hearing your confession.

Listen to how the author of Hebrews talks about the one to whom you make your confession:

"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16.

It is hard to find more comforting words than these. You and I are welcomed to come to one who not only knows us, but who is personally acquainted with everything we face. Let me unpack the logic of this hope-giving welcome.

1. Your Savior sympathizes with you. 

Read the previous sentence again. The King of kings, the Creator of all things, the sovereign Lord of glory sympathizes with you. He doesn’t look on you with irritation or impatience. He isn’t mad at you. He never looks on you with disgust. He is tenderhearted toward you. But there is more. The passage above says that he sympathizes with your “weaknesses.” It’s an all-encompassing word, covering weaknesses of every kind. Let’s be honest. You and I are a collection of weaknesses, held together and protected by grace. We all have weaknesses of mind, heart, soul, and body. None of us is independently strong. None of us is self-sufficient. The writer of Hebrews is telling us that our Savior sympathizes with our humanity. Why? The answer is clear: because in his incarnation, he took on humanity. Jesus took on weakness so that weak people could run to him and know that they would be understood and

tenderly cared for.

One of the most amazing and comforting aspects of Jesus’s work is his humanity. He became what we are, so that we could find what we need in him. The humanity of Jesus is a significant part of what he offers us. He knows our weaknesses, he knows them deeply and personally, and he meets us in our weaknesses with a tender and understanding heart.

2. Your Savior went through what you are now going through. 

Not only did Jesus become human just like you, he also willingly subjected himself to this fallen and dysfunctional world. He knows where you live, and he understands what goes on there. He is not surprised by what you face, because he faced it. He is not shocked by the temptations that greet you every day, because he faced them too. There is no troublesome situation or relationship that you and I will ever face that he is unacquainted with. He came to the world we live in knowing what he would face. He was willing to be tempted in all the ways that you and I are, so that in our temptation, we would have a place to run to where understanding and help would be found. Here is what this means. Every temptation that Jesus faced, he faced for you. Those temptations weren’t in the way of God’s redeeming plan. No, they were an essential aspect of it.

3. Your Savior went through what you went through without sinning.

Notice how the writer of Hebrews is building a case, stone upon stone, that our confidence that help is to be found in Jesus is well placed. Jesus sympathizes with who we are because he became like us. He understands what we are dealing with because he dealt with it too. But those two things would be hollow comforts without the third foundation stone that the writer lays down.

You see, we need more than sympathy and understanding; we need help. It is wonderful to know that we come to one who is tenderhearted, but it’s even more wonderful to know that he withstood what defeats us, he resisted where we give in, and he succeeded in places where we regularly fail. His track record is without blemish. He faced what we face without any wrong in thought, word, or action. He did what we could not do so that we would have help in our time of need. Every time he resisted temptation, he resisted for us. Every victory over sin was accomplished for us. He conquered sin, so that in his strength we would have the hope of conquering it too. His sympathy and his victory together are to cause us to run to him in our times of need.

4. When you come to him, he meets you with mercy and grace fit for that moment of need. 

Because of Jesus’s understanding, sympathy, and victory, we can rest assured that when we come to him, we will get just the help we need, in just the way we need it, and at just the right time. This means that no matter what you are dealing with, no matter what you need to confess, no matter how hard it may seem, no matter how weak you may feel, and no matter how many times you may have failed, you are never without help or hope, because you have a high priest, and Jesus is his name.

Since sin is never defeated by denial and since confession is the doorway to getting help that really helps, fight fear and discouragement by reading Hebrews 4:14 –16 over and over again. Commit it to memory. Keep reminding yourself that you don’t need to be afraid, because your Savior is tenderhearted. And you don’t need to be discouraged, because he has what it takes to defeat what has left you discouraged.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. When was the last time you confessed to someone? How was that experience different from confessing to Christ?

2. How does God’s sympathy toward your humanity affect your prayers?

3. How does knowing that Jesus faced all the same temptations you do and overcame them help you to better face temptation?

Read Hebrews 4:14 –16 again, memorize it, and let it help you in your struggle against sin.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 27 - The Strength to Look Up

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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What allows you to humbly and honestly look back is the invitation to look up at the same time.

I wish I could say I asked you, but I didn’t.

I wish I could say I reached for you, but it didn’t happen.

I wish I had thought that I needed help, but my mind was elsewhere.

I wish I had sought your wisdom, but I saw myself as wise.

I wish I had leaned on you, but I thought I was standing up straight.

I wish I had cast myself on your grace, but in the mirror I looked like someone who didn’t need it.

I wish I’d begun each day with you, but I was too busy.

I wish I had ended the night with you, but I was too tired.

I wish I had spent more time in your word, but I had people to see, places to go.

I wish I had looked ahead to a pathway I couldn’t traverse alone, 

but I was too focused on the here and now.

I am older now with more life behind me than in front of me.

I mourn my assessments of strength, 

my appraisals of wisdom,

tagging myself righteous,

my quest for independence.

I regret the moments lost, opportunities gone, dreams now faded.

If it were not for your grace, I would spend my last days in the cloud of despondency, 

beating myself up, hoping to get back what is forever gone.

I would not be able to look up as I look back.

You went to the cross knowing every choice I would make, 

all that your mercy would need to cover.

I can be honest about my choices.

I can confess it all,

and I can rest because your grace is that thorough and your love has that much power.

Through the years, I have learned that to find the strength to look back,

I need the grace to look up.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. What are some of your biggest regrets in life? As you answer this question, do you consider spiritual regrets first, or as an afterthought?

2. Which of the regrets listed do you most resonate with?

3. Write your own “I wish” poem.

Read Acts 3:17–20, and let it refresh your heart as you repent and receive God’s forgiveness.

17 “Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. 18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. 19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 26 - Bad News First

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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Lent teaches us that sorrow is the only pathway to a life of true joy.

If someone called you on the phone and said, “I have very bad news for you,” you wouldn’t say, “Oh,  thank you, I love bad news!” No, your heart would sink as you waited to hear what you didn’t really want to hear. No one longs for bad news. We all dream of a life that is an endless stream of good news. But the storyline of Lent is counterintuitive: if you want to receive the best news ever, you have to accept the worst news ever. Lent teaches us that sadness is the only road to deep abiding joy. It confronts us with the reality that hopelessness is the only doorway to sturdy, unshakable hope. Rick and Emma’s marriage was a big, chaotic, and often conflictual mess. They were in debt, and their house was in disrepair. Their communication went back and forth between dysfunctional and nonexistent. Their relationship with their children was adversarial. Their spiritual life was a series of cold, formal religious habits. When they had sex, it was a physical act lacking in intimacy. When I first sat with them, I was aware that there seemed to be little warmth between them. The only reason they had asked to see me was the debt. It had grown and grown until it had become nearly impossible to handle.

As I got to know them, what blew me away was that their marriage and family had been this bad for a long time. They had learned to live with the mess. They had become masters at working their way around the dysfunction and keeping it all together. In fact, as I listened to them talk about their life together in matter-of-fact tones, I was impressed that they looked at the mess and didn’t see a mess. What should have stood out as abnormal and dysfunctional looked to them to be normal and functional. They weren’t crying out for help; they just didn’t like having all those big bills to pay. They weren’t desperate for change. In the middle of the mess, with bad news all around them, this couple was satisfied. If I had a magic button that I could have pushed that would have made their debts vanish, they would have been satisfied for everything else to stay the same. This dear couple did not see the evidence of the bad news that was all around them, so they were not hungry for the message of good news that could have transformed it all.

I am convinced that, for most human beings, satisfaction is a much bigger problem than dissatisfaction. Let me explain. We sinners have a scary ability to be satisfied with what shouldn’t satisfy us. Or let me say it another way. We are all too easily satisfied. We are able to be satisfied with conditions that are way less than God’s original design for us, or what grace now makes possible for us. We are often okay with living with things that are not the way they were meant to be. We are like the family that has lived three years with a broken toilet or with a car that has leaked oil for months. We live with the messed-up ankle or the overly sensitive stomach. Instead of fixing things, we find ways to use them even though they’re broken.

We see bad attitudes in our young children, but we excuse them away, telling ourselves that our kids are tired, teething, or a little bit sick. Bad things happen in our marriages that get dismissed as a misunderstanding or the product of busyness. We cut moral corners or step over God’s boundaries, telling ourselves that what God says is not okay, will be okay after all. Like the couple who came to see me, we all have the ability to look at the mess and not see a mess. We all have places in our lives where we’re all too easily satisfied. And here is how this is spiritually dangerous: when you are satisfied, you don’t reach out for help.

The cross of Jesus Christ yanks us out of our satisfaction. If things were okay, God would not have planned all that he planned and controlled all that he controlled, so that at a certain time in history his Son would do for us what we all desperately need but could not do for ourselves. The cross of Jesus  Christ is the result of God’s dissatisfaction with the condition of the world that he made and of the people that he placed in it. God was unwilling to be okay with what was not okay. So he moved, but not with the agenda to condemn but rather to redeem. God sent his Son to fix what was broken, to restore what had been destroyed, and to make dead things live again.

The cross is bad news for each one of us. It confronts us with the fact that there is something fundamentally broken inside us that we have neither the desire nor the power to fix without divine intervention. The cross calls us to admit that the greatest danger in our lives is to be found inside us, not outside us. Jesus came to be the perfect Lamb of sacrifice, paying the penalty for our sin. Why? Because the worst news of all is the bad news that sin not only distorts everything in our lives and separates us from God, but it also leads to eternal death. Sin is the bad news we have to accept. Sin is the thing that we have to confess. It is the bad news about all of us, and no one is an exception. You cannot understand the cross of Jesus Christ and be satisfied with pockets of sin in your life.

But the cross is also good news. The dissatisfaction of God is the hope of humanity. The cross tells us that God is willing to do whatever is necessary to fix what sin has broken. It tells us that God is going to move in love and pour out his rescuing, forgiving, transforming, and delivering grace. The cross welcomes us to look inside and around us and be dissatisfied. It welcomes us not to the dissatisfaction that leaves us hopeless, but a dissatisfaction that leads us to the foot of the cross, where mercy and grace are found.

Lent reminds us that to be satisfied, to say you are okay, and without need of help, you have to close your eyes and shut your ears to the bad news of sin that somehow confronts you every day. Lent welcomes you to bring a dissatisfied heart to your Redeemer, one who has seen and accepted the bad news, and then to reach out for the help that he alone is able to give.

Only those who willingly receive the bad news will then seek and celebrate the good news. Are you too easily satisfied?

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. In what ways have you found this statement to be true: “For most human beings, satisfaction is a much bigger problem than dissatisfaction”?

2. What messes have you grown so accustomed to that you no longer notice them? What are you satisfied with that God isn’t? What would change if you became dissatisfied with it?

3. How can God’s dissatisfaction with sin and the resulting brokenness of this world lead us to hope and motivate us to action?

Read 2 Corinthians 5:16–21. 

How would these verses change your life if you let them inform you of your mess and brokenness?

16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.