Romans 5:5b; 8-10 - God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us ... [and] God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.

This devotion pairs with this weekend's Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lutheranhour.org.

Paul had spent a lot of his days being mad—mad at the people who were ruining the world. And Paul had plenty of reasons to be mad, just like us. And Paul knew that God had good reasons to be mad, too. Paul knew that God had announced that a Day of Judgment was coming—a Day, just around the corner, when God's righteous wrath would be poured out, a surge of justice that breaks steel cables like cobwebs, a flood of fire that would crush and tear loose and carry away everything in its path, all the nonsense and wickedness and carelessness that's ruining the world. God was angry. And Paul was, too.

But somehow Paul's anger had gotten him turned around, like anger often does to us. Paul found himself mad at God. Paul didn't know it at the time, but he was mad at God, because God Himself was right in the middle of the thing Paul was most mad at—those Christians, those followers of Jesus who kept saying that Jesus is the One who is fixing all that was wrong with this world. But at the time, Paul could only see Jesus in the way lot of people see Jesus today—just a guy from Nazareth. So what can He do? What did He do? Fed some people. Taught some, helped some. Then got Himself crucified.

Shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus, things changed for Paul. He was raging mad, chasing down Christians, locking them up, when Jesus, risen from the dead, met Paul, like a roaring river meets a tiny tributary. And Paul got swept up in this Jesus movement. He was baptized in this flood, this mighty current that carries things away, and brings something new.

One of the new things it brought to Paul was a more profound understanding of God's love. God wasn't just an angry judge. God is a loving Father who gave up His only Son. The crucifixion of Jesus reminds us that there is much about the world and much about us that needs to be crushed and torn loose and swept away. Much that needs to die. But the cross of Jesus also shows us that the way God did this, so that He wouldn't have to destroy us, was to give up His Son in our place. And when God raised Jesus from the dead, He reconciled Himself to us. He put us right with Him.

Recently, I was walking in my neighborhood, puzzling over Paul's words in the Letter to the Romans. A stranger started walking alongside me, and before I knew it, I was swept up in the flood of God's Spirit at work in a place just around the corner from my house. I'll tell the story on this weekend's Lutheran Hour message, if you'd like to hear it. But for now, how is God carrying you along? He is still sweeping away the old, you know, bringing the new creation in Christ, carrying all in Him to a place, just around the corner, where the love of God is being poured out and all are welcomed in.

WE PRAY: Holy Spirit, pour out Your love, and sweep me up in Your work, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour.

Reflection Questions:

1. What about people makes you mad these days?

2. Paul speaks of God's wrath (see Romans 1:18). What gives God the "right" to be angry?

3. God chose to enfold His righteous wrath in love. How does this train us to channel our anger?

Today's Bible Readings: Proverbs 16-18    Acts 2:22-47

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