Ocean of Grace (22): WEDNESDAY – Today We Have Clean Escaped (p77ff)

 Lent Book: https://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/an-ocean-of-grace

 

My jottings:

 

(Comments welcome)

 

Ocean of Grace (22): WEDNESDAY – Today We Have Clean Escaped (p77ff)

 

Today’s reading is a vivid evocation of that Passover night, isn’t it? We can perhaps imagine something of the horror in Egypt and the wailing at the death of the first-born sons, whereas Israel was kept safe, sheltering under the blood of the Lamb. That scene shows us afresh the horror of sin and the terrible judgement it deserves, and the wonder of salvation by the death of God’s own Son as our substitute.

 

The Bible gives a rich description of slavery to sin and the redemption God provides, setting us free to serve him. Let’s give thanks that we have been set liberated from the tyranny of sin and death and hell to serve and worship God. Sin might seem to offer much, but he is a cruel task master who will ruin us. We might reflect both on what we are set free FROM and what we are set free FOR: a life of worship as God’s forgiven people.

 

God’s people sometimes grumbled during their Exodus journey and seem to have recalled their slavery in Egypt as if it were a luxurious holiday camp with abundant food which compared favourably with their privations in the wilderness. We might pray for grateful hearts that we might not grumble against Christ. Give thanks for his provision for you. And if you are tempted by the allure of sin, pray for a clear vision of its cruelty and oppression. Though sin might seem good and desirable, as Adam and Eve found, it does not lead to The Good Life but to guilt, shame, pain, curse, death and a downward spiral of broken relationships.  

 

As we think about offering ourselves to Christ in response to what he’s done for us (Romans 12:1-2), we might be helped by the Post-Communion prayer from The Book of Common Prayer:

 

“… we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that all we… may be fulfilled with thy grace and heavenly benediction. And although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Jesus Christ our Lord; by whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.”

 

Hymn: Christ Once Was Sacrificed

 

Words: https://jubilate.co.uk/songs/christ_once_was_sacrificed