Heavenly Father, help us this week to walk with you so that our hearts and minds are changed and everything we do is in your name and your power. May you be exalted in the mighty works you do in and through us. In the name of Yeshua Hamashiach – Jesus the Messiah, amen.
It is just into the first century. The roads are dusty, the work is back-breaking, the nights are long. The religious leaders are corrupt, and the Roman Empire rules the region with an iron hand. Taxes are exorbitant and punishment is cruel. Beheading, strangling, being buried alive, and among the worst: crucifixion. Being hung on a cross. The people are afraid, looking for a savior.
A man called Jesus has risen from among them and has garnered a following. He teaches in the Temple, raises the dead, makes the blind to see, and feeds thousands from five loaves of bread and two fish.
The people begin to have hope, especially the twelve who are His constant companions, those He’s taken under His wing.
But He begins to talk of suffering. That He “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Luke 9:22
And then He drops a bombshell.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Those with Him look around at one another with a stunned and confused look on their faces.
Take up our cross? Daily? What is he talking about?
Jesus would predict His own death two more times. He would lead the way.
Still, His friends couldn’t grasp what He was saying.
The night comes and He is betrayed by one of them and dragged before Herod Antipas, the son of Herod of Great who was responsible for killing all the boys under the age of two when he heard that men had come to worship the one who was born King of the Jews. Herod Antipas sends him to Pontius Pilate, and Pilate sends Him first to be flogged, and then to the cross.
Jesus carries His cross until near collapse from exhaustion and pain. He is nailed to it, and lifted up to a punishment reserved for the worst of criminals. A punishment designed to not only torture and kill, but to shame and send a message to all those watching.
His friends scatter. Their minds are reeling from the events they’d just seen. They think back to the time Jesus said they must take up their cross.
Are we next?
Darkness comes over the land. Jesus dies and is buried in a tomb.
And that is that. Hope is lost. Death is the end.
But then the morning of the third day comes.
It is evening now and the disciples are gathered together in a room with the doors locked for fear of facing their own torture, grieving over the death of their friend and the hope He’d given them for a better life, when suddenly they hear –
“Peace be with you!”
It’s Him! Wait..is it? Is it a ghost? No! It’s Jesus! And their joy comes flooding back.
And again –
“Peace be with you!”
They laugh and hug and rejoice, and they realize death was not the end.
It was only the beginning.
Maybe the understanding about what He meant by denying themselves, taking up their cross and following Him came as slowly to them as it does to us. But He had given them a stark picture.
It doesn’t mean reluctantly accepting a disease, or a difficult relationship. It doesn’t mean sacrificing any one thing.
It means dying. To everything.
Sacrificing oneself.
Willingly, wholeheartedly, just as He had done.
The word Jesus used when He said “deny” themselves is aparneomai – to deny utterly. To disown.
If we want to follow Christ, to be His disciple, the only way is to follow Him all the way to the cross. Not a literal cross, of course, but a cross for the flesh, the self will. It is saying to the Father what He said in the garden: “Not my will, but yours be done.”
Christ might have in mind for us to go and do and say what we wouldn’t dare. Will we follow? Will we die to our desires, let go of our fears, and go with Him?
Dying to our wishes and desires, giving up the life we had in mind, is not the end!
There is the glorious morning. A new beginning.
It is the beginning to a bigger, better life than we had ever imagined. Infinitely bigger than a life of catching fish.
We will become fishers of men, and women and children and neighbors and family.
When we walk with the risen Christ, we are filled with Life ourselves, and all that He is and has for us.
Peace be with you!
Lord, please remind us throughout the week that we are here for your good pleasure, and that nothing can separate us from your love. Please give us the strength and courage to live for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
In Jesus Christ, nothing goes to waste. Not one trial, not one loss, not one rejection, not one tear. It will all be lifted up to Him in praise to His glorious name.
We praise you, Lord Jesus, for your finishing work and our glorious future to come with you.
“So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and He’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.” James 4:7-10 The Message
Praying you have a blessed week!
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” Luke 2:14
I had always set up our nativity scene on a buffet table right by the front door. Everyone who came and went saw it. Anyone in the living room or kitchen could see it. And I liked it that way. I always wanted Jesus to be front and center of Christmas.
Then we moved to a new house and the best place for the buffet was in the front living room. You know, that room no one ever goes into. The one that gets passed by on the way to the family (tv) room and the kitchen.
We started unpacking Christmas decorations and the nativity scene automatically went on the buffet. But I still wanted Jesus to be front and center, so I walked around the house looking for a more suitable place for him. Nothing seemed right. I didn’t want it where it could get broken. Some places weren’t big enough. Some were too high.
“But people will have to go out of their way to see it” I thought.
Yes, yes they will.
There was a lot going on that first Christmas in the little town of Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding regions. The first census had been ordered by Caesar Augustus, and there was a lot of traffic as people made their way to their tribal towns to be counted. Joseph and Mary traveled 70 miles…70 miles, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, while Mary was very pregnant.
They came into town, dusty and thirsty and exhausted. Maybe the birth pains had already begun. All they wanted was a place to lie down and prepare to give birth to the King of kings.
But there was no place for them. They knocked on doors, but everyone had gotten there ahead of them and every room was filled. Joseph and Mary found refuge where they could, somewhere near the animals, away from the crowd.
No one knew they were there. Not one person in that small but suddenly bustling town knew that just around the corner, in the still of the night, under the stars, was the center of the universe.
Those who heard were the shepherds out in the quiet field, suddenly hearing from a host of angels that the Messiah had been born. They left their lives for a moment, and went out of their way to see the Savior of the world, the One God’s people had been waiting for.
Some time later the magi left their lives for a moment, and went out of their way to follow a star to worship and bring gifts to the King of the Jews.
Christmas is a busy, bustling, noisy time of year. But really, when are our lives not that way? For most of us, not very often.
Our lives are full of busyness and running here and there. The world is full of chaos and anxiety, and is as short on peace now as it was then. It always will be. Funny though, how we can try looking for peace in the world, right in the middle of all that chaos.
But God calls us to come away.
Like the shepherds and the magi, when we come away from the noise, away from the hustle and bustle of the season no matter what season that may be, to worship the King, to see and hear from the Savior of the world, the Savior of our own lives, we will again find a miracle, wrapped in humility and joy and peace.
When we go out of our way to meet with Him and give Him our whole heart’s attention, He will be there, waiting, and we will be ready to receive Him and all He is and has for us.
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. John 16:7-11
Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. John 16:23b,24b
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7b-10) ~Paul the apostle
There are days, weeks, lifetimes that I feel overwhelmed by my weaknesses. My sins. Regrets.
And I think how in the world could I ever expect God to use someone like me?
I have nothing. I am wholly inadequate. I live with daily constraints of fatigue and pain. I am constantly thinking and saying and doing things I don’t want to. Things that are contrary to the nature of a loving and forgiving and gracious God. I look at who I am and I’m disappointed. How could God not be?
If I were Him I’d run in the other direction in search of someone better.
But here’s the thing: I’m not God – praise the Lord.
And here’s the other thing – I may be inadequate, I may be sinful, but I love my Jesus.
It’s those very weaknesses that had me running to Him in the first place, and keep me running back because I know how much I need Him.
Spending time with my gracious Lord brings into focus even more how great He is and it is humbling. I compare myself to Him and I see how short I come up in the godliness department. My weaknesses and sins are more evident when I’m in His presence.
And I see again just how very much I need my Father.
When I need Him I call on Him to do in and through me what I never could. I leave room for Him to do the miraculous, because I need a miracle, every single day.
There are those who would have Christians believe God doesn’t want any of His children to be sick. I would refer them to Paul. And there are those who believe their sickness must mean they are being punished by God. I would again refer them to Paul, and Job, and the many others who found themselves weak in some way, yet we clearly see God’s hand was on them.
Yes, God heals. Yes, God still does miracles. When it suits His purposes.
But don’t limit God. God uses all kinds of people in all kinds of circumstances for all kinds of things.
Our weaknesses, whatever they may be, don’t disqualify us from being used by God. In fact they can be the road leading right to it.
We are all weak in some way, most of us in many ways.
The world tells us Be strong! Be powerful. In doing that we refuse the power of God in our lives, and we remain in our weakness.
But acknowledging our weaknesses, taking them to the throne room of God and putting our life in His hands out of sheer desperation, knowing we have nothing good in and of ourselves, is the very thing that will make us useful. He’s then able to fill us with His strength and do great things through us, not because of who we are, but in spite of it.
And all the glory is His.
The prayers prayed out of desperation tend to be stripped of all pretense. The mask comes off, the formality is laid aside, and we get real with God. That kind of realness leads to an authentic, personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. Our Abba. And that unleashes His power in us.
It’s not the strength of our bodies, or the intelligence of our minds, or the skill of our hands.
It’s the willingness of our hearts.
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9
