Tag Archives: Cross

Access

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A couple of years ago, Holly and I went to the Holy Land. I’ll be honest with you, I was never a person that really wanted to go.  I know lots of folks that went and said it was the greatest thing ever. I’d heard all that. And while I was excited to go – it wasn’t something I’d really ever desired.

But when you get there, wow. It’ really is something else. It opens up your eyes to some many things in Scripture that you didn’t see before. It really makes thing make sense in a way the didn’t before.  It really is a power experience.

One of the cool things we saw was in the south part of Israel the ruins of an old army fort that dated back to Solomon. I know, cool. But, the cool thing was to go inside of it and see how it was all laid out. And inside of this fort, there was a replica of the  Temple in Jerusalem.  And, inside that replica of the Temple was it’s on Holy of Holies. The most sacred place in the Temple. The very place the presence of God was believed to rest. The very place where the priest would tie a rope around their ankle so if God struck them down, they could be drug out. It was the most Holy place in all the land. And each outpost had their own, which was just as holy.

In the picture to your left, you see Holly standing in that Holy of Holies. And notice, she is not struck down.  It’s 3 years later and she is still with us and still alive. God did not strike her down at point.

Why?

Because of what happened in today’s text

50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

In the death of our Lord, the curtain was torn. And we have access. We are welcomed into the presence of God.  No longer is God separated from us, but He is with us.

No longer do we have go through an other means of access. We can each go directly to God. We are each welcomed in. Each of us.

Today, you have access to the created of heaven and earth.  Your prayers are heard by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  You are welcomed in!

Wow!

Take advantage of that.  Seek after Him.  Seek His face.  You have access to the King!

May we know how blessed we are.  And we spend time each day seeking after Him!

Different

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This morning as I was reading through of the passages of scripture that we all have heard a lot and that we know pretty well, the Fruit of the Spirit, I was struck by the last verse in that section in a way that’d I’d never noticed before.

Paul writes this:

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

and this:

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

As I read this, I began to think about that notion of crucifixion. This notion of putting to death these things.  That we are supposed to die to our sinful passions and desire.

In short that we are supposed to be different.  As Christians, as those that follow Christ, we are called to be different that the world.

We are called to be different than the culture.

We are called to live, to love, to serve, to be different than the culture we are in. Different from the world.

We have a different Lord – so we have a different calling and a different way that we are supposed to live.  Not a life of self righteous judgment, mind you, but a life of love and service.

But, it comes back to that truth. We are called to be different. To put to death the past and it’s desires and live in the newness of life Jesus offers.

Today, are we different? Are we different than the world?  Do folks notice something different about us?  Do folks wonder what makes us different?  Why we have hope, peace, and joy?  Why we love?

Are we different?  If we are led by the Spirit and have put to death the old, we will be.

May we be different for our Lord in this day!

Crucified with Christ?

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I don’t always want what is best for me. The things that I desire are not always in my best interest and for my best life. They may look really, really appealing, but in the end, can be my doom. Today, Paul talks about the need to understand how our desires might not always be best.  In Galatians, he says:

I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

What does that mean, to be crucified with Christ? That’s a nice phrase that sounds good and holy and Christian, but what does that mean?

I think, or at least I’ve found out for me, that in some ways, it just means realizing that life is not about me.  Life, in the end is not about what I want or what I desire, but it is about what God wants.

In life I, and you, have two choices. We can spend our lives chasing our desires and our “stuff,” or we can spend our lives chasing God’s desires and God’s dreams for us.

The more we chase our “stuff” the more we will find a joyous, abundant life slipping through our fingers like sand. The more we chase God’s dreams, the more we will find life, even if it isn’t the life that we “want,” we will find that life that is abundant.  Life giving. Amazing.  Fulfilling.

So, which life will we chase? Will we chase ours and maybe, get what we want, but not what we need?

Or will we be crucified with Christ, and chase after His dream and His vision and His life?  In that find life?

Which life will we chase after today?

Yes, it’s Friday. But Sunday’s Coming

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Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.

To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.

All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;

“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;

my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;

I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;

they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!

Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!

Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.

I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise theLord. May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,

and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

This was the Psalm that Jesus quoted upon the cross. This Psalm shows His pain, His hurt, His fear.

We forget that Jesus was not just fully God.  He was fully human.  He felt pain.  He felt hurt.  He felt loss. He felt abandonment.  He felt all this.

Let us never forget all He endured.  Let us never forget the depth of His love.  Let us never forget all He gave.  Let us never forget.

And, let us remember how this Psalm ends. With rejoicing. For while the Psalm begins with abandonment, it ends with God’s victory and redemption.

So does today.  Yes, it’s Friday.  But Sunday’s Coming.

The God of Repentance

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Today as I was praying through today’s Morning Office, one of the prayers really hit a cord with me.  It’s a passage from the Apocryphal Book the Prayer of Manasseh.  It says this:

And now, O Lord, I bend the knee of my heart, *
and make my appeal, sure of your gracious goodness.

I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, *
and I know my wickedness only too well.

Therefore I make this prayer to you: *
Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.

Do not let me perish in my sin, *
nor condemn me to the depths of the earth.

For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, *
and in me you will show forth your goodness.

This is Holy Week, the week we focus on the passion of our Lord as He was in Jerusalem, the week when we hone in on the cross and the price that the Lord paid for our freedom and forgiveness.

This can produce two emotions within us. First, a sense of great guilt and conviction.  Iunderstand this feeling. It was for me that Jesus came. It was for my sins He was given.  I was because of what I’ve done that He gave His life.  That is true for each of us.  He gave Himself for each of us.

That’s one reason, in my opinion, as Christians we must be forgiving, Jesus died for the sins of the world. But, also for my sins.  I don’t need to worry about what you are doing.  I need to worry about what I am doing. How am I living?  How am I being faithful.  How am I being who God has called me to be?  If we each live with that sense of awareness of our own sin, I imagine we’ll be more forgiving of each other’s sin.

The other emotion it produces is thankfulness. For, God is a God of repentance.  He is a God of those that turn to Him, that ask forgiveness.  That ask for new life. That turn away from the old.  That understand what they have done.

Today, God is a God that longs to forgive you. And me. He is a God that longs to offer each of us a fresh start. Today.  He longs to forgive us.

Repentance is a gift.  It allows us to make a new, fresh, and clean start.  Today.

And, repentance is not just for those that are not Christian.  It’s for each of us. For we all have sin and we all need to repent and turn away from it.  We all need to turn from our sin and turn to God.

Today, will you repent?  Will you turn away from your sin and turn to God?  Will you make a fresh start?  Will you have a new day?  God is the God of Repentance.  May we find His grace for that, even today.