Consider Jesus!

 

The scenes from the streets of Ukraine are hard to look at, aren’t they?  The horror of war is even worse when it involves murder of civilians. I cry “why, Lord?”   Though I hear no audible response, I do find this in the Gospel record – “I suffer, too.”  Before we get to rejoice on Easter Sunday, we must walk to the cross and for good reason.  

 In an era when so many Christians want only victory the Bible takes us to the awfulness of the Cross to explain God’s response to evil, sin, and brokenness. We have so little patience these days. Along with faster internet and instant oatmeal, we want an instant maturity, a fully developed character in a day.  We want the ‘kingdom come’ now.  I love miracle stories, but mostly our God prefers to let us walk among sinners, just like He did:  loving, hoping, caring, being light in the darkness.

Isaiah saw the mission of the Messiah and described it this way: "He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5, NLT)  God entered into His creation, born a baby to Mary, lived in the real world, felt hunger and pain, and ultimately suffered an ignominious death on a Cross.

Our God allows us be fully human, gives us freedom to choose, and even when our choices -as well as those of a sinful world- are crushing us, He does not usually rush in to change everything. Instead, He stands alongside of us, offering to lead us to lead us to life in the middle of a dying world.  Somehow in all that, we are transformed.   

By the Cross, we are lifted and in the hope of the Resurrection we learn to live with tears, while we hope for the moment we are revealed as eternal children of God beyond the reach of pain. Our wise Father knows that we could never be who He desires us to be, we would never love Him as He desires us to love, we could not grow into mature saints without fiery trials. We, like Him, are called to ‘take up our cross’ where we die to Self, to this world, so that we can be raised to a new life. 

There simply is no Easter without Good Friday, no celebration of an Empty Tomb without a Full Cross!  Meditations on the Cross are so gruesome, so unpleasant, so bloody awful – we want to rush on quickly to the Resurrection, but we must not.

Yes, Christian friend, the suffering is part of this broken, fallen world. God leaves unexplained the ‘why’ of evil, but clearly calls us to renewal through the suffering Savior. There is purpose in the tears, though I am not filled with pleasure in the discovery. But, as He leads, as I accept the Comforter (the Holy Spirit) I will find “green pastures, quiet waters, and a restored soul.”  (Psalm 23)  

 The way of discipleship sometimes descends into darkness, leads occasionally through searing pain, does not evidence great triumph in every circumstance, but the disciple who humbly seeks is always led by the Spirit as he is ‘made into the likeness of Jesus.’  God’s ultimate desire for us is not blue skies and untroubled minds. It is that we would love Him more than life itself and find our Hope in His embrace.  

So, in the middle of Lent, the season of suffering before the Victory, here is a word for suffering followers of the suffering Savior.  Jesus "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:6-11, NIV)

God lead us to the Cross, even as we keep the Empty Tomb in view. Give us strength to walk steadily in faith, growing in grace so that the glory of God shines brilliantly through us in this very dark world. In the name of Jesus, Amen

(Video of this blog at this link)

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In The Cross Of Christ I Glory 

In the cross of Christ I glory
Tow'ring o'er the wrecks of time
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime

When the woes of life o'ertake me
Hopes deceive and fears annoy
Never shall the cross forsake me
Lo it glows with peace and joy

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day

Bane and blessing pain and pleasure
By the cross are sanctified
Peace is there that knows no measure
Joys that through all time abide

© Words: Public Domain

Eternity

Yesterday, the lesson for my Awana students was about Eternity.  We talked about sand castles on the beach erased by the waves as the tide comes in an illustration of the impermanence of life in this world.  I spoke of the hope we find in God’s love guiding us through our days so we are ready to step into eternity. Heavy stuff for 5^th and 6^th graders, isn’t it? That lesson was brought into sharp focus when I, on the way home, went to the home of an older woman from the church to check on her and found that she had stepped into eternity some days previous.  Do you consider Eternity, my friend?

Pondering the brevity of life and recognizing the shifting sands of our existence we could fall into despair! 
Or, we could take the way of those who choose to ‘eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.’  

Solomon’s Ecclesiastes can be a difficult part of Scripture to understand. That rich king forgot eternity and made life about building great cities, gaining great wealth, and indulging every sensual pleasure.  When advancing age no longer allowed him to ignore mortality, he looked at his life and saw only emptiness. "When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 2:11, NIV)  

He did not suggest that we defer all living to some time beyond our present world. That famous part of his book says "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1, NIV)  Yes, we can find joy in our successes, in family, in accomplishments great and small – and we should.  

But, his conclusion is great wisdom. "Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and no longer enjoy living. … Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad." (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13-14, NLT)

Christian, as we conclude the season of Lent, a time of reflection in our lives, we begin to look toward the empty Tomb and the bedrock hope assured by the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Lord.  This is the great hope of life.  We enjoy the best life possible in this temporal world when we live in the light of Eternity, our choices framed by the fact that these brief years will be followed by a timeless existence in the Presence of God.

A Christianity that remembers Heaven and Eternity will be richer, right now in this world! Paul writes "if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again." (1 Corinthians 15:19-20, NLT)

Are you tempted by despair as you realize just how quickly life is passing?

Are you tempted to try to create immortality with grand schemes?

Choose instead to know, love, and serve Christ Jesus who is the proof of Eternity, Who has opened the way from death to life.  Receive the gift of eternal life and make His Way your way today.

The word from the Word encourages us.  We can live as eternal creatures, entering into life without end – even now in this world that is passing away. That’s no riddle. It is a fact! "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (1 Corinthians 15:55-58, NLT)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Be Thou My Vision (Slane)

(Selah sings this beautiful, heart-felt prayer. Pray along with their song)

Be Thou my vision
O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me
Save that Thou art
Thou my best thought
By day or by night
Waking or sleeping
Thy presence my light

Be Thou my wisdom
Be Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee
And Thou with me Lord
Thou my great Father
I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling
And I with Thee one

High King of heaven
When vict'ry is won
May I reach heaven's joys
O bright heaven's Sun
Heart of my own heart
Whatever befall
Still be my vision
O Ruler of all

Eleanor Henrietta Hull | Mary Elizabeth Byrne
© Words: Public Domain