Week 3, Day 20 - Getting Out of the Cave

"We wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." Titus 2:13,14

REFLECT

At the height of his singing career, Johnny Cash was one of the most recognizable faces and voices in the world. But Cash became an out-of-control drug addict and loathed himself for it. One day he decided to end it all. He went to a cave system by the Tennessee River called Nickajack Cave. He crawled, walked, and shimmied deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, determined to go on until his flashlight died - which it did. Later, Cash wrote: "I was as far from God as I have ever been. My separation from him, the deepest and most ravaging of the various kinds of loneliness I'd ever felt over the years, seemed complete." But then something happened in him. With a sense of utter peace and sobriety, he realized that he was not in charge of his own destiny. He started crawling in the direction he had come from; and hours later, feeling a breeze and seeing light, he realized God would save him from that grave. As he emerged into the light of day where he had abandoned his Jeep, there his mother and close friend were waiting.

In Christ, God has made redemption possible. It is never too late for us. We are never too far gone. God is never too far away. As Titus 2 says, Christ was given to redeem us "from all wickedness and to purify us". Johnny Cash knew that someone greater than he needed to break him free. Somebody stronger needed to supply the price to set him free. A lot of people do not hit rock bottom the way he did, and so they do not have a sense of the nearness of "wickedness" or the need for "purification". But the cave starts getting dark just a few steps in. Now is the time - everyday is the time - to accept by faith the redemption from wickedness and the purifying power of Jesus Christ.

MAKE IT REAL

Sometime today take a few minutes to pray and think in a very dark room (the darker the better). Ask God to show you where you need the light of his truth, where you need his guidance. Meditate on the "glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."

Day 21