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Bellingham, Wa

Day 42: Exalt, Exalt, Glorify!

April 11, 2017  /  Garret Shelsta

[If you want to know how and why this devotional came into existence feel free to read this]

What you will need:

(Here is the week 1, week 2,  week 3,  week 4, week 5 and week 6 sheets if you want them)

Day 42.png

Theme: Praise and Repentance

Passage for April 8th: Matthew 21:28-32

Bars from “How Great”

Exalt, Exalt, glorify
Descend upon the earth with swords and fortify the borders where your shorties lie

A Thought:

At the farmers market on Saturdays there are few gentleman who stand on a corner with a big sign. It reads, “Repent or Burn in Hell.” It nor the reaction it generates is very subtle. One time, they even came and stood out side the community I help facilitate. To this day I say that with a tone of pride. One of the many things these street preachers get wrong is the causation they draw between repentance and the afterlife life. One is a secondary outcome of the first not the primary cause of it. 

Biblically we are not motivated to repentance because hell exists. We are motivated to repent because of God’s kindness. This would be like trying to motivate someone to eat a meal because you get take a poop later. That would be a very strange way to get entice someone to eat. “Hey… eat this meal because then you get to take a crap!” We eat meals because they give us energy and fulfill an internal craving. We eat meals because they are enjoyable. The God that is revealed to us in Jesus does not motivate us out of fear but love. 

We see this in today’s passage. Jesus protects and defends the outcast and the tossed aside. No matter what we have done, all creation is his prized possession. This protection, gentleness and love is what motivates the “Tax Collectors and Prostitutes” to come into God’s kingdom. God is calling all of us to turn to him and imitate the life of His son. We do this because it is the best life possible and every other life is a shadow compared to what God is offering us in Jesus. 

It is the most beautiful life. The most satisfying life. It is and exalting and glorifying life. 

Here is the thought I am contemplating today: In what ways can my life today exalt and glorify our God?

Mediation: Psalm 71:1-3

So as you prepare for Jesus last days read the meditation passage slowly and deliberately today asking God to prepare you heart for Jesus last days. Lock in on a phrase or a word that seems to be sticking out to you. As you color today, ask God why is this phrase sticking out to you. Listen to what he is saying in response.

 

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