Holy Week: “Good” Friday

Matthew 27:45-46

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Not every culture refers to Good Friday as “good”.  To the casual observer, God being crucified cruelly on a cross is not a good thing.  The day when God the Son chose to be rejected by God the Father in order to save the entire world is not adequately described by the word “good” either.

In His justice and righteousness, our Holy God exacted a punishment and a consequence for sin.  The wages or cost of our sins was death.  We were in need of an intermediary, but the perpetual slaughter of animals could not cleanse us of our habitual sin pattern.

In the middle of that desperate need, God provided Himself as the sacrificial Lamb. Bearing all of the abuse, infirmity and suffering in all the world, He, for the “joy” set before Him, chose to pay our debt.

How is it that we should obtain such grace?  That the One Who made us and saw every sinful inclination of our hearts would look on us with love and choose to die, knowing we were enemies and cheering on His death?

One of my biggest pet peeves is fake people – when people pretend to be my friend but talk about me behind my back or secretly plot harm against me.  They think I do not see. Christ was not fooled, either.  We are all just as guilty of unfaithfulness before our God Whose costly sacrifice was given on our behalf, even while we faltered in our devotion to Him.

Jesus did not entrust Himself to any man, but He gave Himself for every man.

The most powerful Being was the most humble, lavishly loving those Who were not worthy of such love.

With such a sacrifice offered for us, may God help us to die, too – to sin – and live Holy lives to bring Him glory and others to salvation.  His death seemed like an end, but Christ conquered death in dying when He overcame the cross and the grave.  Now that is not just good news, but the best news ever.

Lord, thank You for dying for us.  We can never thank You enough.  Help us to live grateful lives, spent sharing the message of the cross and the empty tomb.  You are Good, God, and all You do is good.

Holy Week: His Name is Truth

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Living a lie to be politically correct is never as satisfying as living in truth.

Scriptures of the Day:

Isaiah 53:9

“He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

John  14:6

“Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.”

John 18:23-24, 37-38

“²³ “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. ³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” ³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.”

Ever been lied to?  Silly question, I know.  There is something about deceit that is painful. It is a betrayal, an intentionally masking of truth to keep it hidden and people ignorant. Why go to all that effort?  What makes truth something people would want to hide from? If knowledge is power, than the person with knowledge is able to help others see or keep that insight to him or herself.

Sometimes we avoid truth because it is not popular or politically correct.  Sometimes we would rather avoid it because it is painful and sometimes we want to pretend we are unaware because we would then be accountable to the truth we know.

Jesus did not beat around the bush.  He not only spoke the truth, He WAS and IS Truth.  He knew how desperately His people needed to hear truth.  Being in the dark is not really living – it is existing a false life.  Why live in darkness when we can walk in the light?

When Christ walked that road to Calvary, He did not waver in telling and living the truth, even though it cost Him dearly.  When Pilate looked Jesus in the eyes and asked him what truth was, Jesus was not concerned with freeing Himself, but instead steadfastly told the truth, wanting Pilate to understand.

We are unacquainted with truth and unable to see or understand it until God mercifully reveals truth to us.  Something innately within us bursts with peace when we hear God’s Holy, sweet truth.  His truth convicts and liberates the sinner, setting the captives free from the bondage of lies.  As we consider the celebration of Easter, I am so grateful for God’s revelation of truth that would open our eyes to see such a great salvation.

Lord, help us to walk in truth at the very core of our inner being and to shine Your Truth for all to see.

Holy Week: The Wealthy King Who Became Poor

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

“He became poor to show us what true wealth really was.”

Scripture of the Day:

2 Corinthians 8:9

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you by his poverty could become rich.”

Matthew 8:20

“Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.””

Luke 18:22

“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.””

It is easy to get lost in the mentality of this world system – money and belongings are necessary to make it in this world.  Modern day rulers and politicians try to solve the problem of poverty by many means.  Distributing wealth from the privileged to those less fortunate, welfare, etc.  These approaches are flawed in many ways; the wealthy did not choose to share, the poor do not necessarily appreciate it, and providing merely for physical needs does not change the condition of our hearts before a Holy God.

We flee financial problems like the plague.  It is not comfortable to be in want nor to be so dependent on anyone else for basic human needs.  Being poor is not a coveted position, yet our God Who owned it all chose to surrender His position of prominence to give all He had to those who receive it.

Sometimes when we have all we need, we do not see that we have nothing apart from Christ.  He did not have any trappings to hold Him back from His mission and gave all He had to accomplish the purpose to which God the Father had given Him.  How humbling to consider that all he gave us we will be accountable to Him for how we spent it – all for His glory.  Like Schindler, the German business owner who wept at the end of WWII over how many more precious lives he could have saved with the belongings he owned, may God help us to examine the wealth He has given us now and help us spend it for eternal purposes.  More than that, may we be open and ready to see the spiritual poverty all around us and feed God’s people with His Word.

To those who followed him, He announced he had no home.  To those who were hungry, He fed.  To those who were poor in spirit, He made the richest of all.  We typically want to hide our need.  The shame of exposure of being or owning less than we had hoped is seemingly unbearable, but recognizing our spiritual poverty opens our eyes to see our need of a Savior Who is rich in grace and mercy.

Lord, You own everything.  Thank You for leaving it all to ransom our souls so we could be with You forever.  Forgive us for being so focused on temporal provisions and concerns and not trusting Your provision and seeing our greatest need of all – You.

 

Holy Week: Palm Sunday Irony

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Sometimes salvation comes in a way we least expect.

Scriptures:

Zechariah 9:9, 11

“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.”

Hebrews 13:20-21

“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Isaiah 46:16

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

Exodus 24:8

“Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Happy Palm Sunday!  I confess I have missed blogging and look forward to blogging each day this week after taking an unannounced spring break.  🙂

I brought a liturgical element into our worship service this morning, palm branches for Palm Sunday.  Ok, let’s be real.  The palm branches ended up being limpy leaves, not branches.  But burdening my heart was a desire to help the worshipers at my church get a sense of the awe the people must have felt, waving palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey.  500 flimsy leaves did not quite capture that emotion for me.

Nonetheless, I pressed on in Scripture and chose songs that would hopefully evoke the rich symbolism of these leaves representing victory.  What victory were these people hailing?  Though they thought He was coming to conquer world governments, instead He captured our hearts and ultimately achieved victory over death.

Christ’s entrance was a fulfillment of the prophesy spoken 500 years earlier by Zechariah. How amazing that God would communicate to His people how He would come into the world.  He did not want them to miss it.  Even though they could not understand fully God’s purpose in coming to them at the time, the groundwork of God’s covenant promises laid a path toward this salvation.

The blood covenant could not be paid by an animal or an ordinary person.  God had to bear the transgression of His people, Himself.  This Savior, their King – came humbly – riding on a donkey.  This manner of salvation appears so foolish to man – that a King would come riding in on a borrowed donkey – to die – rather than in a majestic array of splendor as a hero riding in to demonstrate incredible power.

He owns everything, yet He borrowed a donkey.  He lacks for nothing, yet He chose to lack. He is All Powerful, yet God chose to come in weakness.  This does not make sense until we see that He became weakness, infirmity and sin and chose the place of suffering to bear it all in our place.  He did not save us while He himself sat in a lap of luxury.  He spared no expense or detail, but simply rode in humbly.

These same fickle people who praised Him passionately as He entered Jerusalem, begging Him to save them now (Hosanna), would kill their Savior by week’s end.  Christ’s mission might have seemed like a failure, but the very people He came to save brought about their salvation unknowingly, by condemning Christ to His death.  The wordplay is hard to miss in the Scriptures above.  God inscribed His people on His palms and His people waved palm branches to their Savior.  Ultimately it would be nails driven into his palms (wrists) that would forever set His people free.

Lord, thank You for Your salvation, offered freely to sinners.  Thank you for showing us how to live and for providing for a debt we could never pay.

 

Worshipful Wednesday: Our Guiding God

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Following God’s guidance will never lead us astray.

Scripture of the Day:

Psalm 25:12-14

“The LORD shows his faithful followers the way they should live. 13 They experience his favor; their descendants inherit the land. 14 The LORD’s loyal followers receive his guidance, and he reveals his covenantal demands to them.”

I thank God for my GPS, even though it often can lead me astray.  It is hard to remember a time without a GPS.  Our fast-paced world is navigable by this small device which guides us to our destination without a lot of planning.

My husband thinks I can be too dependent upon it, though.  He is probably right.  Perhaps it feels easier on the intellect to not have to exert a lot of effort to determine which way is right.

So it is with our lives.  Often arriving at forks in the road of life, it can be difficult to discern the LORD’s will and to do what is right.

We can gauge man’s opinion, circumstances, our own desires or follow someone else’s direction, but ultimately we are daily faced with the fact that we have to choose a path.

More like we GET to choose.  We are given free will and are responsible for the choices we make.  But the awesome thing about knowing God is that He has not left us without directions.  Internally we hear His voice, like a GPS, guiding us.  Reading His Word further shows us which way is pleasing to Him.

World religions point us to a list of rules given by an absentee god or a statue of a “god”. These requirements remove relationship from the equation and make us slaves to a law we could never fully keep.  But God, rich in mercy and understanding, reveals His will and purpose to us.  Out flesh might not want to follow His precepts, but we find life and joy in resisting our flesh and seeing the wisdom in God’s plans.

Sometimes the road is hard and the boundaries uncomfortable, though comfort as our aim causes us to become disoriented and get lost.  We may have to tarry long and wait on Him, putting patience to the test, but the peace that comes from abiding in His will far surpasses going my own way.

Lord, thank You for showing us how to live and for Your precious favor and promises given to those who seek to obey You.  Thank You that You have not abandoned us and will never forsaken us.

Truthful Tuesday: Carrying the Torch

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

We help our children carry the torch of faith by living out our faith honestly and in humility.

Scripture of the Day:

Judges 2:10-12

“That entire generation passed away; a new generation grew up that had not personally experienced the LORD’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel.  11 The Israelites did evil before the LORD by worshiping the Baals. 12 They abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods–the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped them and made the LORD angry.”

Some have said that the upcoming generation is leaving the church.  The foundation laid is purportedly not firm and the future generation left the faith of their predecessors.

Nothing scares me more than the faith of my children fading and being replaced with a worldly counterfeit.

I have a jealousy for their souls and a desire for them to see this walk with Christ is not mere religion, but a vibrant, cherished relationship with the Lover of our souls.

But I cannot make that choice for them.  They have to pick up the torch and choose to carry it.  As the character Sam Wise said in the movie, “Lord of the Rings”, “‘I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you.”

Praying for them and daily sharing God’s word and living it out has a much more profound effect than rules aimed at external behavior only.  So it is with us, the predecessors.  We each had to face the poverty of our own souls, grapple with sin and not allow it to master us on the inside.  We still do.

When our children see our need of God, there is no greater demonstration of active living faith.  Confessing our shortcomings yet not yielding to them shows them how to carry the torch.

Ultimately, if the faith of the future generation was dependent upon our perfection, faith would fail.  Thank God that faith is a gift from Him, nurtured with time spent with Jesus in His word and prayer.

Lord, help us to never grow weary of seeking You and discipling the precious next generation for Your glory.  May righteousness sweep across our nation and the hearts of the children return to You.

 

Mundane Monday: Folly’s Wisdom

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

The world might think we are foolish when we go against our flesh and worldly wisdom, but that death produces real life and wisdom in Christ.

Scriptures of the Day:

1 Corinthians 1:18

“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent. 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.  22 For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, 23 but we preach about a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 24 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

1 Corinthians 2:7-8

“Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

In a moment what seemed to be foolishness, what appeared to be a colossal defeat – the greatest victory was won.  The wisest, most astonishing act of sacrifice was presented on the world stage and it did not make sense.

Being murdered, spat upon, falsely accused and dying in front of everyone the most grueling painful death can hardly be described as a coveted position, yet the King of all chose this suffering which appeared to be a meaningless tragedy at the time.

How could a cross spell victory, when it’s sole purpose is to condemn and defeat?

The victory won that day was over the wisdom of this world that trusts in itself and does not know God.  In all its wisdom the world cannot know God – unless.  Unless God would come down and do a seemingly foolish, risky thing like die for His own people that He made.

His precious life laid down accomplished the forgiveness for every sin for all time.  One act resulting in complete forgiveness and restoration conquered every heart.

If His death were the end of the story, we would indeed be fools, but Christ has risen and will come again – and next time He will come to take His bride.

Lord, thank You for the victory you accomplished by dying for all mankind.  Help us to walk in Your wisdom and never forget Your sacrifice so we walk faithfully before You.

Truthful Tuesday: Judging Judgment

Romans 14:12

“Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister.”

1 Peter 4:17

“For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the house of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?”

Judgment.  No one wants to be the recipient, but all have been participants in either judging others or being judged themselves.

In His perfect wisdom, God designed a system of justice in place to judge our actions.  Man sets up his own system of judgment, too, to condemn one another.

At the root of judgment from any human being is pride.  Pride in our own sinful, myopic condition that we would think we could ever be in a place to pass judgment on another creation, made in God’s image.

There are so many more motivations in the act of judgment, though. Sometimes we want to make ourselves feel better about our decisions, or we manipulate others with judgment to try to get them to do something we want.

Sounds pretty ugly.  That’s because judgment from man is going to be man-centered, but judgment that Christ gives is perfect and redemptive.

God judges our hearts to bring us to repentance and show us our sinful condition.  Man judges to prove a position, inflict pain, manipulate or inflate self.

Man cannot judge other’s motivations, for we cannot see the heart – only God can.  Still, the default sinful condition of man is to presume and judge brothers or sisters in Christ.

Despite out corrupt nature, we do not have to give in to judgment.  The heart of man is deceitful, but God.  He is gracious and able to help us lay down our judgments and put on forgiveness.  Sometimes people can hurt us and boundaries have to be put up so they cannot hurt or condemn us further.  Sometimes we have to lay down our desire to please man in his faulty judgments, too.

Maybe some of us feel we deserve judgment – we all do.  But Christ bore that judgment for us all.  In this world we have relationships that are broken from sin and ensuing consequences, and people will judge us until the day we die, but all of those judgments fall off our shoulders and are laid at the feet of our Savior – the One, perfect, Righteous Judge.

Lord, thank You for the sweet victory You give to walk in freedom and forgiveness.  Thank You for bearing our judgment.  Help us to consider others better than ourselves and to discern others in the light of the grace that we have been given.