Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 14th June 2022 || The Exchange

Joni and Friends Daily Devotional 14th June 2022 || Tuesday Message

Read Joni and Friends Daily Devotional 14th June 2022 2022

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Topic: The Exchange

I’m intrigued by the crosses people wear around their necks.

My niece has a delicate little cross of pearls and gold. An Episcopalian friend of mine has one of those big chunky crosses made of brass. My brother-in-law favors a silver cross, with turquoise bits on it, hanging from a leather necklace.

What fascinates me most is the idea of wearing a cross at all.

Why would we?

After all, a cross is an instrument of torture. An execution machine. Some might say it would be the same as wearing a little silver guillotine, a gilded hangman’s noose, or an electric chair made of tiny pearls.

Sounds strange, doesn’t it? What makes a cross different from other devices of torture? I once heard Elisabeth Elliot say that Christians have exchanged its meaning for something entirely new and wonderful. To us, the very contrivance which killed our Lord Jesus has become the trademark of our hope and salvation. What was once a symbol of horrible death miraculously becomes a symbol of eternal life.

Maybe that’s what happened with this wheelchair of mine. To many, it’s something which symbolizes confinement, alienation, illness, weakness, and suffering. But because of the grace of God in my life, its meaning has been exchanged for something new and, yes, wonderful. This paralysis of mine has drawn me so much closer to Christ. It has given me a richer experience of his grace, encouragement, and sustaining power.

Perhaps something similar has happened in your experience with Christ as well. Your symbol may be a back brace instead of a wheelchair. A cane, a hearing aid, or a pair of thick glasses. Or perhaps a birthmark, a prominent scar, or a disfigurement of some sort. Maybe an event or a series of circumstances. Perhaps even a child with a disability.

Suffering in itself, of course, is a distressing, negative experience. Who likes it? Who wants it? Even so, when Christ exchanged the meaning of the cross for something new, he was able to open up a whole realm of possibilities in our suffering. Through the victory of the cross, he enables us to gain victory in our suffering. So much so that we, too, can ascribe radiant new meaning to otherwise hurtful and sorrowful circumstances.

I don’t need to go so far as to wear a little turquoise wheelchair around my neck. But the principle is still the same. My disability…your heartaches and hardships…can take on new meaning through Christ.

Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 14th June 2022 | Wayside Interlude

“As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in the world died long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead.” Galatians 6:14, NLT

Only God can turn our most devastating trials into trophies of his grace. Only the sovereign Lord can take our darkest days and use them to bring us to pathways of brightest light and joy and kingdom service. Read Psalm 40:1-3, then tell someone how the Lord lifted you from a pit, placed your feet on solid ground, and put a new song in your mouth.

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