DAILY DEVOTIONAL – October 2, 2020
“Brass Tacks”
Prayer: Jesus, You are our victorious King. You have conquered the grave and died our death and risen to give us new life. Lord, strengthen our faith and keep us forever mindful of the short time we have here, of the incredible opportunity we have to live this life in Your forgiveness and mercy. Amen.
Scripture: Romans 5:12-17
12 Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many… 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Devotional – “Brass Tacks”
“Let’s get down to brass tacks.” Have you ever heard or used that phrase. To “get down to brass tacks” means to get down and dirty in the details, to discuss the most important details of something, to make the rubber meet the road, or to deal with something or a situation as it really is.
I did a little research into the origins of the phrase, “getting down to brass tacks,” and what I found was that there is not a clear answer as to where it came from; though most etymologists agree that it probably has its first attestation in 1863. There are several different theories on where the saying came from. One theory suggests that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units. Another theory suggests the phrase arose from the practice of adorning one’s gunstock with brass tacks, as was common in the early American West. The third theory on the origins of the “brass tacks” phrase, and the one that reminded me of our text for today from Romans 5, is that it came from the 19th-century American practice of using brass tacks to spell out the initials of the deceased on the top of their coffin. Paul said in our text that all mankind, every man woman and child, dies, because all have sinned. If that isn’t “getting down to brass tacks”, I don’t know what is.
At least in my experience thus far as a pastor, I think there are only 3 ways to respond to the brass tacks of death, of our own death. You can live like a nihilist and turn life into an all-out grab fest, trying to satisfy every desire and living with pleasure as your god and idol. You can be more fatalistic and live willfully ignorant to the conscience that has been put in all of our hearts, believing that it’s all about the survival of the fittest and that death is just a natural part of life and that this life is all there is. Or, we can listen to our God-given conscience, that voice that tells us that death isn’t right, that we shouldn’t have to die, that there is more than just this broken life and a purpose bigger than this fleeing earthly existence. We can seek out our Creator God and receive the Good News of the salvation from death He has provided for us in Christ Jesus.
God promised from the very beginning that death would be the consequence of sin. We have all sinned against God. We will all die. Our only hope is in the death and resurrection of Jesus, who died as the perfect Son of God in our place, and who rose again from the dead to conquer the grave and give us new life, eternal life. By grace through faith in Christ, death is no longer an end but an eternal beginning; a passage way from this finite and sinful world into the eternal and perfect presence of God Himself.
Without Christ, there is much to be afraid of. Not only death in this life, but a second spiritual death and condemnation. But there is no need to be afraid. There is no need to fear when you know and receive the love of God in Christ Jesus that has provided forgiveness and salvation. 1 John 4:15-18 says, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts our fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
We have no need to fear death, because the truth is, for all who have been baptized into Christ, we have already died and already been raised to new life! As it says in Romans 6:4-5, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
For now, until that final day comes when all who have been called by God have been saved and Christ returns in judgement and salvation, we do not yet see with our eyes the new life we have already been given by faith in Christ. For now, in this world as we await our Lord’s return, we still see and suffer death. However, that final day is drawing ever closer – that wonderful day when we will behold our victorious Lord Jesus, when we will behold the glory of God, and when we see and know in full the salvation we know that we have even now in Christ. As Paul says in our text for today in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Thanks for spending time with me again in the Word of God. Remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
