Corie Steinke, assistant director of residence life and student activities
This week’s theme: Living Ink: The Plot Thickens
This week’s Scriptures: Isaiah 50:4-9a | Psalm 31:9-16 | Philippians 2:5-11 | Luke 22:14-23:56
We’re nearing the end of Lent and the beginning of Easter celebration. Right now, your Lenten promises may be Lenten regrets. I get asked by many of my non-Christian friends why people give up something for Lent. For me, it’s about sacrifice and perseverance.
I have a friend who faced extreme tragedy at a very young age. At age 12 or 13, his parents divorced and he and his mother moved to the other side of town. His father, distraught, entered through an unlocked door into their home and killed his mother before killing himself. The door that was unlocked was unlocked because my friend forgot to lock it, his nightly chore. In a split second, my friend’s world was changed. Despite that tragedy, he is now leading a very happy life. He has a family and works as a youth pastor. However, for as long as I have known him he has carried the guilt with him, believing these deaths were his responsibility.
How could my friend continue to worship God, especially when it can be so easy to be angry with God? The only solution I can muster is perseverance. Perseverance in the continuous clutch to the promise of God no matter what. Perseverance in the belief God does not cause suffering to prove a point. Perseverance in the reminder that sin causes suffering. Perseverance in strength when our heart seems weakest. If we have perseverance, with God, we will come out of tragedy alive.
This week, you will read about honoring and worshiping God despite the obstacles, challenges and complications. You will read about God giving strength to people to be encouraged. You will read about a desperate cry to a God who feels so absent. You will read about being swept up in worship, to honor God through selflessness and obedience. And finally, you will begin to read about the final days of Jesus, God’s sacrifice for His community.
My friend often cites Genesis 50:20 as the Scripture that saved his life.
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Friends, as the resurrection nears, pray that your perseverance is renewed each day. Ask yourself whether your life, however blessed it seems, is honoring God. Wherever you are in your walk, whether you are currently in a season of grace, a season of challenge, or somewhere in the middle, pray that your perseverance brings joy and you are complete.