Daily Devotions
By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Hebrews 10:14
A dramatic moment occurred during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. All-around competition in women’s gymnastics reached a climax in the vault event. America’s first opportunity for a gymnastics gold medal rested on the shoulders of 94-pound Mary Lou Retton, a 16-year-old West Virginian. She needed a perfect score of 10 to capture the individual title. With confidence and dynamic energy, Mary Lou exploded on the vault into not one but two perfect 10s. Her clutch performance has been labeled as “the vault without fault.”
Young gymnasts throughout the country aspire to achieve like Mary Lou Retton, but few succeed. We would like to accomplish in our lives at home, in school, and on the job a “vault without fault,” but we also fall far short. How many dreams are shattered, goals unreached, and opportunities lost!
The writer to the Hebrews, though, points us to a high priest who brings hope to us all. Other priests, themselves weak and sinful, offered daily sacrifices in the temple for their own sins and the sins of the people. But Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, came down from heaven to earth and lived among us without fault. He was tempted as we are, yet was without sin. In a climactic moment on Calvary, with the future of the whole human race at stake, He needed to make a perfect sacrifice for us. And He did just that!
Now, through His sacrifice, we are perfect in God’s eyes – forgiven and cleansed. Now, like Mary Lou Retton, we seek to reach our God-given potential. Therefore, as the Hebrews writer suggests, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).
PRAYER: O Lord God, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to make the perfect sacrifice for us. Guide us to bring this knowledge to others so we may all live with You eternally. Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)