Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

April 11
Saturday


THE DAY WITH
NO NAME

READ:
Romans 8:18-25
___________________________________________________

If we hope for what we
do not see, we eagerly
wait for it with
perseverance.
__Romans 8:25
____________________________________________________

In Louisiana, a woman lies buried beneath a grove of 150-year-old oak trees in the cemetery of an Episcopal church. Only one word is carved on her tombstone: "Waiting."

A friend of mine knows an elderly pastor who delivered a stirring Good Friday sermon titled "It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'." In a cadence that increases in tempo and volume, his sermon contrasts how the world looked on Friday--when the forces of evil seemed to have triumphed--with how it looked on Sunday. The disciples who lived through both days never doubted God again. They learned that when God seems most absent, he may be closest of all.

The sermon skips one day, though--saturday--the day with no name. What the disciples lived through in small scale, we now live through on cosmic scale. It's Saturday on planet earth; will Sunday ever come?

That dark, Golgothan Friday can only be called good because of what happened on Sunday. Easter opened up a crack in a universe winding down toward decay. And someday God will enlarge the miracle of Easter to cosmic scale.

Meanwhile, we wait in hopeful anticipation, living out our days on Saturday, the in-between day with no name.

It's Saturday. But Sunday's comin'. __Philip Yancey
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`````````````````Dark was the night--sin warred against us!`````````
````````````````````Heavy the load of sorrow we bore;````````````
`````````````````````But now we see signs of His coming--`````````
``````````Our hearts glow within us, joy's cup runeth o'er! __Camp```
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God took the worst deed of history
and turned it into the greatest victory.

*****************Today's Bible Reading __ Romans 8:18-25********

18 For I consider that the
sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in
us. 19 For the earnest
expectation of the creation
eagerly waits for the
revealing of the sons of
God. 20 for the creation was
subjected to futility, not
willingly, but because of
Him who subjected it in
hope; 21 because the
creation itself also will be
delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the
children of God. 22 For we
know that the whole
creation groans and labors
with birth pangs together
until now. 23 Not only that,
but we also who have the
firstfruits of the spirit, even
we ourselves groan within
ourselves, eagerly waiting
for the adoption, the
redemption of our body.

24 For we were saved in this
hope, but hope that is seen
is not hope; for why does
one still hope for what he
sees? 25 But if we hope for
what we do not see, we
eagerly wait for it with
perseverance.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The sovereign Creator has judged all of creation for man's sin of
rebellion against Him (Gen. 3:14, 17-19). As a result, all living
things must ultimately die. yet God did this with the end in mind
of redeeming what He had made, as paul writes in this section of
Romans, "The creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (v.21).
__Dennis Fisher