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WHILE EVERY WORD OF GOD IS OF ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE, THERE ARE SOME THINGS JESUS, THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND THE APOSTLES EMPHASIZED ABOVE OTHERS. A fearless, searching question: are the things they emphasized the same things we emphasize in our faith?
"Glory be to Jesus, / Who, in bitter pains, / Poured for me the lifeblood / From His sacred veins!" (Galli/Caswall). It is the antithesis of earthly glory, the grotesque picture of a scoundrel hanging from a tree bleeding for the lost lot of humanity. Jesus would die at the hands of the very men he created, whose might he bestowed, and breath he first breathed. Yet it was Jesus who prayed that God would glorify him in John 17. This was no self-serving prayer, but one of purpose, hope, and vision. He knew that the road to his glorification led through the cross.
IN THE UTTER BLACKNESS OF BITTER SORROW, THE FOUNDATIONS OF EVEN THE STRONGEST OF CHRISTIANS ARE SHAKEN. Unbroken Christians often struggle to relate to the psalms of lament and to the grieving... Many of us know all too well that there is a time when it seems all we can do is to weep, and amidst the weeping to wonder, “Why?”
When it comes to baseball, we know the player is practicing hitting, even when he strikes out. But when it comes to faith, we sometimes think a slipup is a sign that his heart isn't in it at all.
If our goal is merely to stop sinning, we will find that we cannot achieve it. Likely, we will slip deeper and deeper as though mired in quicksand.
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised" 2 Corinthians 5:14,15 God has richly blessed me … Continue reading Jesus meets my deepest need
