"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me."
(Luke 9:23)
Have you ever come to the end of your rope, proverbially speaking? Have you come to a place where you have exhausted every option, and tried everything you can think to do. When you run out of options and you run out of a sense that you can fix it, you are probably at the place where God can use you.
God is not so interested in our abilities. He is God, after all. He created all of this universe, the billions of galaxies and stars, and all that this universe contains without our help. He doesn't need us. We are dispensible. So it is not a matter of whether I am able or not, because the truth, is, "I can't." The Scripture tells us, however, that God is able. God is able to do more than we are able to imagine or even ask. (Eph. 3:20). And He is able to do all that He does without ever straining or struggling, and He doesn't even break out in a sweat.
What God is interested in is not our abilitilies, but rather our availability. And when we are willing to die to self, and to surrender ourselves to Him, then He can and will use us. Then we are truly ready to follow Jesus. Why not lift your hands in surrender to Him through Jesus today? I heard someone say it this way, "I can't; God never said you could. He will, He always said He would." Trust Him with your life. Wait on Him, He can handle it.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Born to Die
"But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." (Isa. 53:5)
As early as the garden of Eden when God prepared to punish sin by dispatching Adam and Eve from paradise there is prophecy of the coming Savior. Here in Isaiah's account, hundreds of years before Jesus is born, God tells of the sacrificial death of Christ for the sins of mankind. When Mary and Joseph took Jesus as a small boy for presentation in the temple, Simeon had foretold of the suffering Mary would endure because Jesus would die.
He was literally born to die in the place of lost mankind. It is an incredible account, this story of God. The Word of God says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son."
(John 3:16). When you read the Gospel accounts it is easy to say, "Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross." It is easy to say, "Religious leaders turned Jesus over to be crucified." But ultimately, we must be faced with the reality that Jesus gave His life willingly.
"Though he was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross." (Phil. 2:6-8)
Even while He was on the cross we remember that He could have called for help from God and the scripture says God would have sent legions of angels to rescue Him. But He came to die in our place and to bear the penalty of our shame, our guilt, our sin. Passion week tells of amazing love that our God would bear our punishment that we might have new life in Christ. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6). Thank you Jesus, for taking my place.
As early as the garden of Eden when God prepared to punish sin by dispatching Adam and Eve from paradise there is prophecy of the coming Savior. Here in Isaiah's account, hundreds of years before Jesus is born, God tells of the sacrificial death of Christ for the sins of mankind. When Mary and Joseph took Jesus as a small boy for presentation in the temple, Simeon had foretold of the suffering Mary would endure because Jesus would die.
He was literally born to die in the place of lost mankind. It is an incredible account, this story of God. The Word of God says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son."
(John 3:16). When you read the Gospel accounts it is easy to say, "Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross." It is easy to say, "Religious leaders turned Jesus over to be crucified." But ultimately, we must be faced with the reality that Jesus gave His life willingly.
"Though he was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross." (Phil. 2:6-8)
Even while He was on the cross we remember that He could have called for help from God and the scripture says God would have sent legions of angels to rescue Him. But He came to die in our place and to bear the penalty of our shame, our guilt, our sin. Passion week tells of amazing love that our God would bear our punishment that we might have new life in Christ. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6). Thank you Jesus, for taking my place.
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