[MARCH 15] Last Line of Defense

Read: Romans 8:31-39

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

--Romans 8:37

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of a battle of America's Civil war. One of the focal points of the conflict was a rocky knoll called Little Round Top where Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the men of the 20th Maine Infantry stood their ground. Had the Confederate troops gotten past Chamberlain's men, some historians believe the Union army would have been surrounded--possibly leading to the loss of the war. The "20th Maine" was the last line of defense.

Followers of Christ are also engaged in a vital war. As the battle "the wiles of the devil" (Eph.6:11), we are called to wear the armor of God and to stand firm in the conflict (vv.10-18).

And like Gettysburg soldiers, we have a "last line of defense." For us, though, this defense is greater than any human force. In Romans 8:31-39, Paul says that our ultimate confidence is in the undying love of Christ. So complete is our protection that nothing can "separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (v.39).

When the enemy seems overwhelming and all seems lost, remember, we have an unbeatable last line of defense: "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (v.37). --Bill Crowder

We are more than conquerors

Through Him who loved us so;

The Christ who dwells within us

Is the greatest power we know. --Carmichael

REFLECT ON THIS:
God's plan always leads to victory.

[FEBRUARY 11] The Other Side

Read: James 4:13-17

"What is your life? It is even a vapor" 

--James 4:14

When someone said to my friend, “See you in a year,” it sounded odd when he replied, “Yes, see you on the other side.” He meant that he’d see him on the other side of a one-year deployment for the US Navy. But because the phrase is often used of heaven, it made me think about the uncertainty of life. I wondered, Who will be here in another year? Who might by then be on the other side—in heaven?

We certainly don’t know what the next year—or hour—will bring. In his epistle, James wrote about this uncertainty. He rebuked the greedy merchants for boasting about what they would do that day, the next day, or even the next year (4:13). Their sin wasn’t that they were making plans; it was forgetting God and arrogantly boasting about those business plans.

James reminded them: “What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (v.14). Commentator Peter Davids says that James was pointing out their foolishness and saying, in essence, “Come now, you who make plans—you don’t even understand how little control you have over life itself.”

No part of life is outside the control of God. So when we make plans, we need to remember, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” (v.15). --Anne Cetas

Tomorrow's plans I do not know,

I only know this minute;

But He will say, "This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it." --Ryberg

REFLECT ON THIS:

Write your plans in pencil and let God have the eraser.