Forgiveness/Healing through God's Servant (Christ)


For the season of Lent I'll be sharing devotions from Grace Lutheran's devotional book: "Forgiven." 

While these devotions are not my words and may not represent my own faith or theological understanding, they are valuable personal faith perspectives of 40 of Grace's members and I am so grateful for their generosity in sharing them.

Part One: Forgiveness & Wholeness


Isaiah 53:4-6 (forgiveness/healing through God’s servant/Christ)

Surely he has borne our infirmities
    and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
    struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
    crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
    and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.


If you didn’t know that Isaiah was a prophet who lived 800 years before Jesus, this passage sounds straight out of the New Testament. There are messages of transgression and redemption – forgiveness – throughout the Bible. How lucky for all of us – our world sure is full of sheep going astray! 
But through Jesus’ undeserved suffering for OUR sins, and through his resurrection, we know that God’s promise of peace and eternal life is real, if we choose it. We know that God forgives us anew constantly, if we ask it. 

Prayer:

Loving Father, 
Thank you for your endless capacity to forgive my endless straying. Each new day, sometimes each new hour or even each new minute, I find myself in need of your forgiveness. Thank you for the countless blessings you shower on me despite my countless transgressions! Thank you, Jesus, for enduring MY punishment. Please help me see you right here beside me through every step I take today, so that I can be more of you, and less of me, to all I encounter on our walk together.
 Amen.

~ Mindy

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