We encourage you to sign up for the 40-40-40 Lenten Challenge, a challenge with our partner Southeastern Iowa Synod to participate in Lenten practices, including these daily devotions. Just signing up counts as participation! More info here.

For the most part, living as we do in a wealthy country with virtually anything we could want within a click, it is easy to get lulled into a sense of self-reliance. In fact, self-reliance has become a value in our culture, as we hear of people living the American dream wherein they start with nothing and become anything they want to be through hard work and persistence.

Unfortunately, we all experience times in our lives when the lie of self-sufficiency is unveiled for what it truly is: an idol that places faith in the self over and above all else. But in the face of tragedy or death, in the face of violence or hate, in the face of uncertainty or plans gone awry, and every time that we cannot avoid sin and evil or explain away our feelings and experiences – we realize that God, the maker of heaven and earth, is the one in whom we can fully trust.

It can be difficult to reimagine faith not as something that we have or possess or speak, but as a way of living and being in the world, a posture of trust in someone, not ourselves. And this Someone – God, the maker of heaven and earth – has conquered sin and all evil, has broken down the gates of hell, and declared that love, forgiveness, and reconciliation ultimately win. So whether your faith is like that of Abram, just taking the next right step, or whether it’s like that of Nicodemus, brave to admit you’re uncertain and facing the hard questions, or something that is all your own, your faith, life, and actions when placed in God will continually bring you to life and salvation.

Prayer

God of everlasting promise, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus you have called me to a life of grace and faith. By your Spirit empower me to believe and so believing to act, that living in your salvation I might leave behind all that no longer gives life and step into a future you are calling into existence. Join my faith and gifts with others in my life so that together our faith becomes your gift living in the world. Amen.

Journal Prompt

Lent calls us to practices of faith. Reflect on your own life of faith. When has God called you to take a step into something new? How did you respond? Or, ask yourself if God is currently calling you, like Abram, to leave something behind so that you can start something new, even if that new thing has yet to be revealed. How does that call make you feel?

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Week Two Devotions by Rev. Erika Uthe, uthe@seiasynod.org