Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to another Mornings with the Masters, where we

devote ourselves to the Lord, daily with you. Good morning, you guys. Good morning, indeed.

We're picking back up a new morning mercy so Tories can take it from here. Yes, y'all,

let's do it. Today's devotional says this. The Cross of Jesus Christ stands as a beacon of hope,

and a world gone bad. Life, hope, forgiveness, and change really are possible. The Cross doesn't

stand stained with the death blood of the Messiah and the darkness of moral defeat. It is not the sad

symbol of a plan gone wrong. It doesn't preach that the good gets smashed at evil's hand. It doesn't

suck salvation hope out of those who would believe. The Cross isn't a grand symbol of

redemption's embarrassment. The Cross shouldn't make you ashamed. No. It should stand at the

epicenter of your boasting. Hear the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 614,

but far be it for me to boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world

has been crucified to me and I to the world. In a sin scarred world, there really aren't many

things worth boasting about. As sinners, rescued from ourselves by powerful grace, we don't have

many valid reasons for puffing out our chests. We are all more case studies of mercy than heroes.

The world around us groans under the weight of its fallenness. The history of humanity would be

a sick and dreary story if it weren't for the roughhune tree of death on the hill of Galgotha.

It was an unlikely place for a scene of history changing triumph. The place where they executed

criminals seems to be the last place to go to find hope. The scene where they killed the world's

only innocent man doesn't seem to be a place that excites celebration. But such is the paradox of grace.

Death is the doorway to life. Hopelessness is the entrance to hope. Weakness is the place to find

strength. Injustice is where mercy flows. Life comes to those who deserve death. Defeat is

actually a victory. The end is really a beginning. Out of sorrow comes eternal celebration.

...