Day 301

Lamentations 1:1-2:6, Titus 3:1-15, Psalm 119:113-120

As we start Lamentations we are going to be in for a little bit of doom and gloom. The clue is in the title and Jeremiah puts into words a lot of the complaints of the people, so there is a lot of complaint. Prepare yourself. I struggled a little bit with it, trying to find the light in it, but then that is why we read the New Testament alongside the old for I found this:

But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life

I couldn’t decide which bit of this to copy at first because it is all such a good summary of the Gospel message of Christ at work within us. I was going to go for the bit I made bold, then I saw the bit before … then I saw Grace, the most amazing gift of life given us by the Grace of God through the life of Christ.

If Oxygen is our most basic need for life, then Grace is the Life Blood of eternal life, we would be dead without it but we are made alive through Christ. No matter what our lamentation is, Grace is the answer. In all that they went through in the Old Testament, the Jews lacked the life and death of Christ and the unimaginable Grace that it brought.

Receive the Holy Spirit and the gift of Grace again today.