Daily Devotional for Friday 19th July
Humility of God
As we draw to the end of the week, we read just a few short verses that speak volumes.
We see here how Jesus is taken away by the soldiers and He is tortured and humiliated before being crucified. He is physically beaten, made to wear a crown of thorns and mocked. These soldiers mock His title of the Messiah.
Throughout the whole process of His arrest, Jesus has remained mostly silent. I’m sure there will have been times in our lives when we have heard untruths about ourselves, and we have naturally wanted to correct those people in order to set the story straight. In this instance, Jesus has committed no crime, He is, after all a perfect being. Yet He doesn’t jump in to defend Himself. He does the hardest thing, and remains silent.
This act of silence can show us the depth of love that our God has for us. Because Jesus is fully human and also fully God, He knows He must die and be resurrected in order to save humanity, although at this present moment, the people Jesus is saving are committing such horrible acts of violence towards Him.
The soldiers didn’t need to subject Jesus to the mistreatment given. They demonstrated what was wrong with the world and the human race and why God needed to sacrifice His only Son in order to save us.
Sadly, what we read about with the soldier’s actions happens still today with the unjust treatment of those who are marginalised within our society. The encouraging news however is that we can help be the voice for those who are being oppressed. We can show others God’s love and tell people how God loves them too! We are called as Christians to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
Time to reflect…
1. As we draw to the end of another week, what steps in our lives can we take to help those who may need it? It doesn’t have to be a huge commitment, but if each one of us made a small change, imagine what we could achieve together.
2. Have there been times in our own lives where we have seen mistreatment of others, by actions or words, and stayed silent? Moving forward – what can we do to prevent this further?
Pause to pray…
Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for allowing us to delve deeper into Your word this past week. We pray and lift to You those who are struggling in this world who don’t seem to have a voice. For those who are being treated unfairly. We pray that You give them strength and peace through Your Holy Spirit.
We also pray and thank You for the unconditional love You give to us, even though it isn’t always deserved and our behaviour isn’t always perfect, your love holds strong and firm. We pray for Your light to shine through us for others to see and our actions and words reflect that to those who meet us.
In Your Holy name we pray – Amen.
