Daily Devotion

“The path of missionary work is never smooth, just as the Lord's salvation was revealed on the cross at Golgotha. When the door seems blocked, it is a reminder to kneel in prayer and wait for God to open the way.”

Thomas Barclay · Letters from Barclay to the Mission Committee of his Mother Church

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 We are attacked on every side but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. Rather, we carry in our body the death of Jesus, that his life may also be shown in us.

Reflection

On the path of missionary work and daily life, setbacks and difficulties are often the truest touchstones of faith. Barclay reminds us that when a door seems blocked, it is not a dead end, but an invitation to kneel; as 2 Corinthians says, being attacked on all sides but not crushed is because we bear the mark of the cross of Jesus. The hardships of our circumstances cannot extinguish the light of life; rather, they strip us of our reliance on ourselves. Every seemingly stagnant moment is God sculpting our lives so that the power of Christ's resurrection and the peace from above may be fully revealed in our fragile vessels.