Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
SATURDAY, April 17
John 16:16-33. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!
Be assured of one thing: life has a goal. The story of your life, like a novel, has a plot. There are times when it seems true that "life is one darn thing after another." Or, as the Gospel of John says, "In the world you face persecution." Experience teaches us that Murphy's Law is quite correct, "If anything can go wrong--it will."
There are two orders of time, and we live in both at the same time. One is circular, cyclical. Things recur. Progress is absent. But time also moves in a straight line from a beginning, through a midpoint and to an end, a logical and fulfilled conclusion. At that end everything comes together. God's will is done.
Therefore, we are pleased to know that in the love and power of Christ, the ultimate reality is: "But take courage; I have conquered the world." Life has a goal and a direction, as it has been created and redeemed by God in Christ. No matter what happens now--and it will--we are going somewhere. And the somewhere is new life in Christ. Easter is neither a blip nor an aberration. Easter is what life is really all about. (1996)
PRAY for the Diocese of Central Buganda (Uganda)
Ps 20, 21:1-7(8-14) * 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117; Exodus 17:1-16; 1 Peter 4:7-19
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