A Devotion for Holy Week: Living for Christ
Because of sin’s influence on our hearts, we find it natural to live for ourselves. Plus, so much in our secular culture affirms this approach to living. But there is another way: the way of Christ, the way of the cross. Even as he gave his life for us through his death, so we are invited to give our lives for him, not by dying literally, but by dying to ourselves and living for Christ, for his purposes and glory.
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A Devotion for Holy Week: Living by Love
Paul is saying that the love of Christ is not just something he receives with gratitude or admires with awe. It is also something that grabs hold of him and moves him forward. It presses him on. It urges him to act in a certain way. For Paul, the love that Christ has for him and for all people is the fundamental motivation of his entire life and work. You and I may not be apostles, but we can also be compelled by Christ’s love for us and for others.
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Leaders Come Near the Pain of Others
The Christmas story we know from popular culture can be so sanitized that perhaps the ideas of sickness, isolation, and hopelessness sound foreign to you—perhaps even sacrilegious for the Advent season. But Jesus chose to be born into a broken world and to take on our pain in order to make us whole. Leaders who come near to the pain of those they lead will find they are emulating Jesus.
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