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."

Risky Business

I'm certainly no thrill seeker. The thought of plummeting toward earth in a skydiving adventure really freaks me out (I've seen to many movies where chutes didn't open!). I don't really like to travel that fast or jump off things. Waterskiing is about as adventurous as I get - and last time I did that I strained my rotator cuff. But God seems to be speaking to me about risk. Our current sermon series The Great Escape...breaking free from the things that keep us in chains! is a study through the Exodus where Moses comes back to Egypt (after being chased out of town 40 years ago) to convince a king to just let all his slaves go! No armies. No secret weapons. Just the call of God on his life. Pretty risky, I'd say. I just finished reading The Big Idea from Dave Ferguson. Part of the premise is that we've got to take risks in our churches. The mission is too critical to just maintain the status quo. Besides, in eternity, what else should we risk more than connecting others to God? Then I read Perry Noble's blog this morning and he talked about the importance of taking risks as a pastor to advance God's kingdom. God is definitely working on me in that area. I'm not really sure where all He's taking me, but it's going to be a great ride. I just hope He doesn't lead me out of a perfectly good airplane!