Our Devotion for today is taken from: Amazing Grace Devotions for Lent by Michael Hoy.
Return to the Lord, your God, for the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
Joel 2:13 NRSV
RETURNING TO AMAZING GRACE
Grace is always a gift from God. It can never be earned or merited by us. Having grace – any grace, all grace, even the grace of creation and of our very being – comes from the hand of a “gracious and merciful” Lord. Through Jesus Christ, we get to return to our loving God and Father. Christ’s path of grace over sin and death for us all goes through the cross and on through the open tomb.
In spite of all the wrongs that we have committed, or even our failures to care and provide for others, Christ gifts us with God’s steadfast love. Repentance means returning to this Source of life, this Font of grace and mercy. Moreover, we even get to become witnesses of this steadfast love and grace for the whole world that languishes in disgrace and despair. Lent is our invitation. Return to the amazing grace of the Lord your God! And may all enjoy its happy returns!
Friends,
As we begin our Lenten journey, may we be determined to open our hearts and minds to our loving God. That this Lenten season shall become a time of revival, renewal, recommitment, and reconciliation. Let us, therefore, prepare to observe a Holy Lent, that at the end of this journey we might find our faith deepened and enriched.
-Pastor Anthony
Prayer
Lord, grace us to return to you through your steadfast love and mercy for us and for all of your creation. Amen.
-Michael Hoy