Morning Devotional 042125 To God Be the Glory

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

  April 21, 2025

Romans 3:21-26

21 But now God’s righteousness has been revealed apart from the Law, which is confirmed by the Law and the Prophets. 22 God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no distinction. 23 All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, 24 but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus. 25 Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that happened before, 26 during the time of God’s patient tolerance. He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous.

Good Morning. Create in us a clean heart, O God!

23 All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, 

24 but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace

 because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus.

God’s grace frees all who believe in Jesus! No one took Jesus’ life, not the Pharisees, nor Pontius Pilate, nor the crowds who shouted, “Crucify him!” Christ gave himself to death, so that we might be freed from the bondage of sin. 

As Christ freely gave of himself, we are called to freely give to others, so that all will know the love and power of God. Our God is merciful, yet we treat others without employing the same mercy toward them. 

Jesus calls and accepts us as we are, so that we might grow into our righteousness. Who goes to a doctor? The sick! Who seeks forgiveness? The sinner! Who asks for help? The weak! We must let go of our pretentiousness and humble ourselves before Christ. Through our humility, our path toward righteousness begins. 

We will encounter setbacks and obstacles along the way, but Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to guide us through our trials. Hallelujah! Amen! 

Loving Lord, Maker of all things! We, your not-so-humble children, ask for your mercy as we appear before you this day. Thank you for seeing past our flaws and focusing on the good you created within us. Thank you. We love you, Lord! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: With God, we can have a pure heart!

Sing praise to our Risen Lord! Pastor Liz