Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale Daily DevotionalSample

Covered by the cross

Let's go back to the Garden of Eden, back to the initial and immediate fallout of man's fall. Overcome with shame and stripped of their innocence, they suddenly became aware of their nakedness and tried to cover themselves.

Pause there for a moment, because this is a trait that extends well beyond Adam and Eve and into the life of every man and woman. Whether we realize it or not, we all wrestle with the same sense of guilt. Our conscience tells us we're not right, that we should be ashamed before God. And so we spend our lives trying to silence it by covering ourselves.

We work and strive to please man and God because we think it will somehow make us right. If we just do enough good things or make enough good impressions on others, maybe that sense of guilt will go away.

But it never does, because our guilt is greater than any attempt to cover ourselves. It needs to be covered by someone and something greater than ourselves. That Someone is God. Notice how He covered Adam and Eve in spite of their efforts to cover themselves:

Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21 NKJV)

In essence God was saying, "Stop trying to cover yourselves and let Me cover you instead!" He makes the same statement to us through the cross, which is the only thing powerful enough to cover our guilt and shame. If we're striving to cover ourselves, we need to stop and simply accept that the cross is where God covered us in a way we could never cover ourselves.

Our guilt is greater than any attempt to cover ourselves. It needs to be covered by someone and something greater than ourselves. It needs to be covered by God.

Think about it...

What does this passage reveal to me about God?

What does this passage reveal to me about myself?

Based on this, what changes do I need to make?

What is my prayer for today?