Devotionals for the Heart: Good News

The Good News About Sin
A devotional by Christa MacDonald

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” 

– Romans 3:23-24 (NIV)

I’ve written before how Romans is probably my favorite book of the Bible. I return to it again and again. Reading Romans steadies my steps when I’m feeling spiritually depleted, when my thoughts get clouded with too much cultural chaos, when I'm getting too much of this world and not enough of the next.

Consider Romans 8:38 (NLT): “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” How is that for a game-changer? When I’m desperate to grab some peace in the storm of a crisis or the quiet of existential dread, I remember this verse and know that, irrespective of all that, God is Provident and I am His.

The verse above is another foundational truth, one that I think is easy to gloss over. Many of us first came to faith in Jesus Christ at Vacation Bible School or Sunday School. We grew up “Christian”, so it was easy to assume that the adults around you were sinless superhumans who were naturally good. You may have even gotten the idea that there were “good” and “bad” people in this world. But it’s a lie. We’re all bad. It’s only through God's free and gracious gift of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that any of us are redeemed. Even the most good, nicest person at your church was drowning in sin when God brought them to faith.

There is no way that we can rescue ourselves from sin. No one is immune from sin no matter how well they were raised, how hard they work, the number of good things they do—sin is in all of us. Paul here is addressing the belief that Jews were somehow closer to redemption than Gentiles. His point is clear: We are all sinners. I find some peace in that when I look at heroes of the faith. They struggled with sin like the rest of us. No one is born into this world naturally good. But Jesus can save any of us.

The other foundational truth here is that it’s by Grace alone that we are saved. There’s not a single redeeming quality in my person that leads God to save me. No, Christ’s sacrifice alone can save the human soul. 

There is a scene in C.S. Lewis’s book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, that has stuck with me for years. Near the end, we find Eustace, transformed into a dragon and desperate to return to the boy he once was, clawing at his scales. Regardless of how hard he scrapes, and the obvious pain that he causes himself, it’s only Aslan’s claws that can free him. It’s the same way with garden-variety sin in our lives. Only Jesus can free us. And there’s great freedom in that. We can give up our pathetic efforts and throw ourselves on His mercy and be saved.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for the sacrifice of your Son (Jesus Christ) to save us from sin and death. Help us to share this good news with the world. In Jesus's Name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Christa MacDonald is a 2017 Carol Award finalist for contemporary Christian fiction.

She began her writing career at the age of eleven, filling a sketchbook with poems and short stories. After publishing a few short pieces in her college’s literary magazine she took a long hiatus during which she embarked on a few different careers, got married, had three kids, and renovated an old barn masquerading as a house.

Her most recent work, The Redemption Road, finished the Sweet River Redemption series published by Mountain Brook Ink.

When not working or writing Christa can be found ferrying her kids around, reading, or attempting something crafty. She and her family live along the coast of New England.

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Connect with Christa:
Website: www.christamacdonald.com
Newsletter: https://christamacdonald.com/connect-with-christa/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1538432676468229/
Amazon: https://amzn.to/33uk329
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CricketMacD
Christa's book publisher: http://mountainbrookink.com/about-us/authors/christa-macdonald/

Devotionals for the Heart: Chains

Remember My Chains
A devotional by Nathan D. Maki

The Apostle Paul was by nature a free spirit. He refused to be bound by physical limitations, geographical difficulties or borders, or social prejudice. In his missionary journeys, he traveled approximately 20,000 miles, relentless in his mission to push the Gospel to the far reaches of the Empire. Yet as this man who preached and exercised liberty and freedom prepared to return to Jerusalem, the Spirit and men of God began to warn him that chains awaited him there.

But Paul was bound before he ever set foot in Jerusalem.

Before the riot broke out. Before the Romans came crashing in with shield and sword and clamped chains on his hands and feet. He was bound in the spirit because God had told him to go. So knowing that a chain awaited him, still, he went. Why? Because he wanted to finish his race with joy, testifying the gospel of grace.

Paul was determined not to be disqualified by veering off the God-marked course to take a shortcut or an easier road. That’s why at the very end he could write to Timothy with confidence from the dungeon beneath Rome. He wrote these words, “I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness!” ~2 Timothy 4:7-8, KJV

That is not the last, relieved sigh of an old man glad his suffering is over. No, that is the victorious shout of a marathon runner, who has shunned the easier road, has pressed toward the mark, broken through the finish line, and is ascending the victor’s podium.

Chained in Rome, Paul sat and wrote to the church at Philippi, these beloved believers who had recently sent a love offering to pay for his food and lodging.

“But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ.” ~Philippians 1:12-14 (NKJV)

Paul planned on going to Rome as a preacher, not a prisoner! He could have proclaimed his innocence, decried the injustice of the Sanhedrin, described the abuses of the Roman justice system, and lamented his long incarceration. He could have become bitter and angry.

Paul’s chain could have become something that he constantly tripped over in his walk with God.

It could have become a symbol of failure or he could have taken it as a sign that God had forsaken him. But instead, Paul saw his chain as an opportunity. A ministry tool.

So my question for you today is this. What is your chain? What physical or mental or emotional or spiritual chain does it seem like you just can’t break free from? We always view chains as negative, but Paul consecrated his chain to God to use it for His glory!

Do you believe God could free you from the chain that binds you? God could have freed Paul. In Philippi, the very city Paul was writing to, Paul and Silas were bound in prison when God shook the earth, opened the doors, and broke off their chains. Paul might have even cried out to God, “Why not this time?”

But God was shaking the earth!

Shaking the very foundations of Roman society, as even the Praetorian Guard and Caesar’s household were being converted right under Nero’s nose!

God was opening doors!

Paul’s chain was a key that opened doors that nothing else could have. What else besides a chain could have ushered him into Emperor Nero’s presence to preach the gospel?

God was breaking chains!

All over Rome, chains of fear were dropping off believers. Encouraged by Paul’s boldness, they too began speaking the Gospel. And all over Rome, chains of spiritual bondage and sin were falling off new converts and shattering!

What if you surrender your chain to God to use it for His glory? Remember that what you see as a chain might just unlock a realm of ministry, anointing, and opportunity unimaginable and unattainable by any other means.

“Remember my chains.”

Not, then, a plea of an Apostle afraid of being despised and forgotten because of those chains, but a three-word challenge to all believers, everywhere and throughout history.

“Remember my chains.”

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Author Bio:

A life-long love for historical fiction and a passion to create high-intensity, realistic novels from a Christian worldview has propelled Nathan into his writing career. 

He is the author of the War Within series of novels set in Ancient Rome and most recently The Keeper's Crown, a novel of the Apostle Paul. 

A recent trip to Rome to walk the ancient streets, explore the Catacombs, and stand in the Coliseum plunged Nathan even deeper into the ancient world he brings to life for his readers.

Nathan's novels combine the faith and romance of Francine Rivers's Mark of the Lion trilogy with the action and adventure of Bernard Cornwell or Conn Iggulden.

Nathan lives in Ontario, Canada, with his wife, son, and three very spoiled dogs. He pastors a church and manages his own business in addition to his writing. Sometimes he even sleeps.

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Connect with Nathan:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NathanDMaki/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NathanDMaki
Email: NathanDMaki@hotmail.com
Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/2JcRuwc
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6507494.Nathan_D_Maki