If you’ve ever had to say goodbye to someone, you treasure the last words spoken. You remember what was said. You hold on to those final words. For Lent in 2021, we are focusing on the last words of Jesus from the cross. What did he say? What does it mean for us? How do those words change us? Today we focus on the word “trust.” Jesus called from the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk. 23:46). What does it mean to trust someone? Why do we often hold back? How do we know God’s hands are trustworthy?
Invitation Prayer
O Lord, your scars are your trophies, proof of your unfailing love for me. You have earned my trust. I come to you in faith. I cease my worry and mistrust. I set aside all fears and faltering. I place my life into your hands. Receive me. Amen.
Confession
It is hard to trust someone with the most vulnerable parts of our lives. We hesitate to share our secrets, sins, and shame. David gives us a model to follow. He said in Psalm 31:14, “But in you I trust, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’” We can trust the One who sees our sin and still stays. So we approach God in faith: Father, I confess all my sins and failings to you. I am haunted by the guilt of my past, the sins of my present, and my fear of the future. Forgive me, God. I trust you. Amen.
Word
“For we walk by faith and not by sight.” (II Cor. 5:7)
Meditation
The most significant things in life are invisible to the eye. Our sight fails us. Faith sees what the eyes cannot. Looking at the cross, it appears that all was lost. The Savior died. It’s precisely at this moment that Jesus committed himself to the Father. He saw a reality unseen to everyone else at Golgotha. Everyone saw him defeated by death. He saw death defeated. He saw victory over sin. Like one who plants a seed, he already had the harvest in view.
Paul wrote: “For we walk by faith and not by sight.” Faith means we see an alternative reality. We often overlook his most incredible work. The cross is our paradigm. Salvation came by suffering. Identify something in your life that seems like defeat. By faith, how might you look at it differently?
God, you are the object of my faith. Help me to trust you when I can’t see you, to walk when I see no path forward. Amen.
Sending Prayer
Into your hands, O Lord. We place our fears and failures.
Into your hands, O Lord. We place our present and future.
Into your hands, O Lord. We commit our bodies, souls, and all we have. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
*Today’s devotion is taken from It Is Finished by Jeff Cloeter, published by CTA – Christ to All at ctainc.com