Thinking About Good Friday

If you are a Christ follower, one of us who has been bought with the blood of the Lamb, I pray you’ll pause for just a minute today (maybe now) and reflect on all that it took for God to redeem you. I would submit to you that as painful as the beatings were, as humiliating as the mocking was, as gut wrenching as the nails and the crown of thorns were, perhaps the most devastating thing for Christ on that day was bearing the weight of my sin and your sin. Think about it.  Jesus had lived 33 years and had never felt guilt over something He’d done.  Not even once did He have a reason to be ashamed.  He never suffered the feeling of embarrassment about a stupid mistake.  But, suddenly, on this day some 2000 years ago, He felt the weight of the fall.  He felt the guilt of my sin.  He experienced my shame.  He suffered the embarrassment of my stupid mistakes. (And not just mine, but yours and everyone else’s.)  And because He went through all that, I no longer have to be chained to guilt and shame and embarrassment.  He took all that and crucified it on the cross and gave me freedom and life and a newness that permeates everything in me.  That makes this Friday awfully good!

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. - 2 Corinthians 5:21

Life is Discipleship

Have you ever said, "If I can only make it through this week," or "I'm just trying to make it through the day!" I can't tell you how many times I've said those kind of things. But I think when we say those things, we are living unaware of what God is doing. Could it be that when we are focused on the daily grind or the rat race or whatever you call it that we miss important opportunities for God to develop us? Could it be that God's discipleship process is more than a Bible study or a church service (not that I'm against those things!)? Maybe "life" is God's discipleship process. Jesus discipled 12 men by experiencing life with them.

So the next time you find yourself saying, "that's life," maybe its not just part of "life." Maybe its God's discipleship process for you. Maybe He's trying to make you more like Jesus. Maybe there's more going on than "life."

nowhere to hide

This morning I read Proverbs 15. Verse 11 really jumped out at me. I'm not sure why. The truth in it is not something I don't know or haven't heard - it just stuck out.

"Death and Destruction lie open before the Lord -- how much more the hearts of men!"

A scary thought. Even the very mystery of Death is no mystery to God. He knows the inner workings of the process. And in his infinite knowledge, just as he knows all about Death, he knows every part of me. Sometimes I wish he didn't. Sometimes there are things in there I'd rather him not see. I can hide from my wife. I can keep things from my kids. I can put an image out there for my church to see. But God sees it all. He knows. Nothing is hidden from him. Just like Adam, my soul is naked before him, no matter how I may try to put leaves on top of it. I'm an introvert anyway, I don't like being that open, and its frightening.

But its also empowering! God sees all the gunk in there and yet he still wants to use me in his kingdom and has gifted and enabled me to do so. While I don't like that he can see all that is not right with my heart, I think he can probably see some good stuff in there that I haven't even seen yet. Things that he put there when Christ came to live in me. And he put those thing there because he had a plan for me - and he will complete it. That's exciting!

May God reveal our hearts - both the evil we need to purge and the good we need to grow in.