Devotional for March 12

Today's cross: A pewter crucifix on an olive wood disk. The inscription, INRI, is the Latin abbreviation of the the charge by the Romans and placed upon the cross of Jesus: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."

John Fawcett, 1782

SINNERS, the voice of God regard;

‘Tis mercy speaks today;

He calls you by his sacred word

From sin’s destructive way.

Like the rough sea that cannot rest,

You live, devoid of peace;

A thousand stings within your breast,

Deprive your souls of ease.

Your way is dark, and leads to death;

Why will you persevere?

Can you in endless torments breath,

Shut up in black despair?

Why will you in the crooked ways

Of sin and folly go?

In pain you travel all your days,

To reap eternal wo.

But he that turns to God shall live

Through His abounding grace,

His mercy will the guilt forgive,

Of those that seek his face.

Bow to the scepter of his Word,

Renouncing every sin:

Submit to him, your sovereign Lord,

And learn his will divine.