envelop spinner search close plus arrow-right arrow-left facebook twitter

Broken and the Blessed, Lent Day 40

by David Joynt on April 09, 2017


PALM SUNDAY

DAY 40

MARK 8:32-33

 

Are you as good as I am at generating excuses for things you don’t want to do? Imagine if you were Jesus on the brink of Holy Week. How many reasons were there not to enter the city and endure the suffering to come? If He avoided the confrontation, He could continue to heal, help, and teach. He was only 33, and His disciples had only had a few years to prepare for their coming responsibilities. None of His friends thought embracing the cross was a good idea. The coming events were going to be manifestly unfair, with unsupported charges, false witnesses, and motivations built on fear, jealousy, and expediency. But Jesus understood that the Kingdom He was founding was built on sacrifice and forgiveness. He cast aside excuses and headed for Jerusalem.

 

 

What is your favorite excuse for not doing something?

 

 

Try and avoid using this excuse as long as you can.

 

 

FAMILY TIME:

When was the last time each of us made an excuse for doing something wrong?

Why do we make excuses? 

 

Tags: sacrifice and forgiveness

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

More from Pastor Joynts Devotionals

return to Pastor Joynts Devotionals