Devotionals

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Scripture Reading
Matthew 5:21-28 Romans 3:10-26 I Corinthians 13:3-8a
Matthew 5:43-6:6a Romans 5:6-10
Matthew 23:1-7; 23-28; 37 Romans 6:23


Loveshed


I don‘t know when awareness first awakened or when it began to peel away the darkness layer by layer that wrapped ominously like a shroud around my soul. Ragged gasps tore through silence as air, sucked into burning lungs, brought with it a chilling foreboding. A living fear, born deep within my being, began to grow inside my heart fueled by each relentless throb coursing through my arms, echoing the erratic pounding in my brain.

My arms felt unnaturally heavy, but an unwanted knowing began to dawn. Unbidden images flashed across my mind. Images of torn flesh….of mocking laughter….of a thorn-crowned brow. Unrelenting images…..of jerking limbs….of pierced palms dripping blood. Blood…..everywhere…..splattered from the innocent….upon the guilty.

Inescapable truth pushed open my eyes and they turned unwillingly towards my own blood-splattered hands. Hands not empty. Hands not innocent. Hands tightly clasped around a terrible burden.

I longed for the blissful darkness to return….to hide the horror in my heart. Instead, cruel light shone first from the hammer then the nail...each seemingly an extension of myself. Inexplicably my gaze lifted heavenward. Eyes, seeing to the very depths of my soul, met mine. As the last drops of life-giving blood dripped heavily at my feet, life-giving words flowed from heaven’s heart to mine.

Father, forgive him, for he knew not what he did.


At Love’s true voice I collapse….only to be enfolded in His arms…..to be drawn tightly against His heart.

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