It's Friday ... but Sunday's Coming!

Yesterday was my favorite day in the church's calendar year — Maundy Thursday. We set aside this day to remember what happened the day before Jesus died. We remember the humility and vulnerability of Jesus wrapping a towel around His waist and stooping down to wash His disciples' feet. We remember the command He gave us on the night He was betrayed — to love one another. 

I've often wondered ... did any of them get up and offer to wash His feet? Probably not. They were likely too stunned to think of that.

With clean, fresh feet, the disciples then enjoyed one last meal with their Rabbi, though they didn't comprehend the depth of what was taking place. In the Last Supper, Jesus shared with His disciples a heavenly secret they'd not grasp until later, after His resurrection. Jesus would leave behind a way to abide in each of them (and us!) in the mystery of the Eucharist.

After these moving acts of grace that were so packed with meaning, Jesus went to Gethsemane to engage the forces of evil in an unequaled spiritual battle. Through agonizing prayers, Jesus gave up His will entirely to His Father, reminding us that the victory against temptation begins in the mind and heart and is fueled by prayerful surrender to God. 

Yes, Jesus would go to the Cross for you and me. Why? Jesus deemed us worthy! 

The perfect, blameless One would give up His life for broken, imperfect, sinning you and me.

The spotless Lamb of God would fall so that this fallen race could rise.

Nothing in all of life reveals our exceeding worth as human beings like the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God Himself, would choose to give His life for each of us. 

This certainty fills me with the desire to give my life for Him, becoming a living sacrifice like Him.

This knowledge makes me want to live a life worthy of Christ's great sacrifice.

And, thankfully, the Spirit that comes to live within me as I receive Christ's sacrifice on my behalf enables me to live a life worthy of His sacrifice. As John 14:18 assures us, He did not leave us as orphans, but He left His Spirit to empower us to live for Him.

I can only imagine what it must have been like for Jesus' disciples to suddenly see Him hanging on the Cross He freely chose. This short video brings it home and points to the Hope of Easter. Before you go watch it, ponder this great truth with me:

Jesus thinks you're worthy of His death. 

How does this change you?

Worthy!
Dr Mari

For if, by the trespass of the one man (Adam), death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 

Romans 5:16-18

 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

2 Corinthians 5:20-21

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

Philippians 3:7-9 

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:9-14 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  

Romans 12:1-3

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.

1 Peter 2:4-5

For more Lent reflections, read What's So Good About Good Friday?

He Is Risen! So What Does That Mean to You and Me?

These words from Hillsong United's song The Stand summarize the response of a heart touched by God's grace, 

"So what can I say, what can I do, 

but offer this heart, O God, 

completely to You."

When Jesus died on the cross, eternal life was made available to all. His sacrifice was perfect. His self-giving love unmatched. 2 Timothy 1:10 tells us that, on the cross, Jesus "destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." In 1 Corinthians 15:26, the apostle Paul calls death "the last enemy to be destroyed." What Jesus did for you and me on the cross impacts everything. His unequaled sacrifice deserves a response.

As I reflect on the depth of Christ's love,  Paul's prayer to the believers in Ephesus intrigues me,

"I pray that out of His glorious riches 

He may strengthen you with power 

through His Spirit in your inner being, 

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 

may have power, 

together with all the saints, 

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep 

is the love of Christ, 

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

(Ephesians 3:16-19)

According to Paul, we need power to grasp Christ's love for us! Perhaps he means that, if we grasped it fully, it would blow us away. We couldn't take it. If we could assimilate the magnitude of Christ's love, it would surpass every experience we've ever had and all the knowledge an eternity of books could hold.

Christ's love is a river of mercy and grace - precisely what we need most! Because of His sacrifice on that lonely cross two thousand years ago we can live free from the grip of sin and safe from the power of death. Christ's love is stronger than death itself. And His love endures. His love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8). His love never ends (Psalm 106:1).

So what can I say to that? And what can I do? I can give Him this thankful heart - completely, surrendering all to the One who is trustworthy and good.

When I open my heart to Christ's river of mercy and grace - by the Spirit - His enduring love pours in like a flood. When I say yes, He moves in. Even death could not hold Him and, since He now lives in me, that means death cannot hold me. That means sin has lost its grip on me. That means I have a new life.

Indeed, when I say yes to Him, I am born again!

Jesus is risen! With Him and because of Him, we can rise and walk out of every grave unto new life. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Because of what He has done, I am a new creation! Alive. Made new. Loved.

And so are you.

He is Risen, that we may have life! Hallelujah!

May we all have a blessed and meaningful Easter celebrating our Savior and our Lord!
Dr Mari

For more Holy Week reflections, read What's So Good About Good Friday?

Jesus' Birth... Our Life!

I have been intrigued by the theme of my recent blog posts. From the joy of the Lord to a dying newborn to the martyrs of the faith, the topics have been varied and not necessarily Christmas-like. I think I understand why. There is no Christmas without Christ, and there is no Christ without the Cross. If we come to Christmas thinking it's just about a cute baby in swaddling clothes, we've missed the point of His coming.

Jesus is totally other; there is not one like Him. But the story has become too familiar. It helps if we reflect on it anew as if hearing it for the first time.

A heavenly king took on flesh and became human. Jesus left His throne to descend upon a dark and dangerous world as an innocent child. The One who laid the foundations of the world, Wisdom Incarnate, the Alpha and the Omega, chose to dwell in a human body with limits - suddenly, vulnerable. Surrounded by dirty animals, He was born in a dark cave and laid in a feeding trough for cattle. Lowly shepherds and kings alike came to honor and worship Him, for He came for all, regardless of creed or social status. Though perceived by only a chosen few, His glorious light dispelled the darkness for all.

This Savior of the world who chose an infant's body as His home came for one reason: to die for us. His shadow is the Cross.

Beyond the highly unusual circumstances of His birth, this Advent I've reflected much more on Jesus' purpose for coming. On that very first Christmas day, He was already destined to give His life for sinners that we may partake of His glorious life. Apart from Him, we are dead in our sin; period. As author CS Lewis noted, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

As we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth, I invite you to join me in this prayer. Lord Jesus, I thank You for coming into this broken world to show us the way of life. I am sorry for all the ways that I deny and reject You, and I come to You asking for the free gift of life that comes as I open my heart to You. Thank You that You will reveal Yourself to me as I surrender my life to You, for that is why You came.

Have a blessed Christmas full of the life, love, and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! In Him, there is life - abundant life!

His!
Dr Mari

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Risking the Temporal for the Eternal

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep

to gain what he cannot lose."

- Jim Elliot 

During this third week of Advent, I celebrate all those people who risk their life to share the hope, peace, and life that we gain as we place our trust in Jesus. Philip James Elliot (Oct 8, 1927 – Jan 8, 1956) was an evangelical Christian who, along with four other missionaries, was killed while sharing the Gospel message with the Waodani people of Ecuador. His words remind us that we can live for today, which is finite, or we can choose to live for eternity, impacting lives in ways that add value and endure.

 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, 

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
   the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.'"

(1 Corinthians 1:18,19)

*Photo from atanycost.org.

“'For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, 
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but to save the world through Him. 
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, 
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 
because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 
This is the verdict: 
Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light 
because their deeds were evil. 
Everyone who does evil hates the light, 
and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, 
so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done 
has been done through God.'”

(John 3:16-21)