Personal :: Relational

Sometimes, I get caught up in thinking of God in the Sunday school way. He is some great God who performed miracles and, because He realized we needed some rescuing, sent Jesus.

Yeah, I pray. Yeah, I believe He hears and answers.

But there is a distance. He is up there. I am down here.

. . .

Do you ever feel that void?

Sometimes, I struggle to feel God's love and care because He isn't here physically.

Gary Chapman's famous Love Languages seem to miss something. God doesn't spend quality time playing games and chatting with me. He doesn't call me with words of affirmation when I feel down. He doesn't physically touch me and give me a hug when I feel the world breaking apart. He doesn't go wash my dishes for me in an act of service. He doesn't bring me a present "just because".

Or does He?

The four gospels often repeat the same stories from different perspectives, and sometimes the authors throw in a story that is not in the other books. Recently, I was struck with the realization that the authors wrote from a personal relationship with Jesus. They walked with Him. He did spend time teaching them. He encouraged them with actual, spoken words. He physically washed their feet. He provided them with food and calm the storms for them. He surprised Peter with money to pay their taxes.

So, when they wrote about His works, they remembered actual events. They wrote out of personal experience. They realized that Jesus did care about every little detail of their lives. They had a relationship with Him.

Three of the gospel writers chose to tell the story of Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:29-31; Luke 4:38-39). As I read these accounts, I realized this was not some stranger to the disciples. This was someone they knew and cared about.

And, Jesus cared too.

All too often, I find myself seeing Jesus' works for the beggars in the street, or even for the hypocrites in the churches. But, aren't they for me? Aren't they for you?

He desires so much to be in relationship with us! He came and lived this human life - and we all know that is not easy! Because He wanted to be in relationship with you and me!

Wow.

Maybe, it is me who isn't putting the effort into the relationship...

When do I spend quality time with God? Just reading and listening to His words of affirmation? When am I conduit of those words to others? When do I become His hands and feet and reach out to His body of believers, or the lost? When do I go and do some simple service for another person, or allow them to do something for me? When do I open my eyes and see how He daily graces me with glimpses of His glory, "just because"?

When do you? He is waiting.

Sunday: Oh, Death, Where is Your Sting?

Death is something that is feared. It is unknown. No one we know has died and lived to tell about it. There is an element of mystery about it. It always claims, and never gives. We are left mourning the loss of a loved one.

The pain strikes deep.

The score ends with Death in the lead and humanity falling behind.

In life, we struggle to find significance before the inevitable Death comes and claims us too. It is a constant battle.

We live. We die. That seems to be the sum of it.

Why?

"The sting of death is sin..." ~ I Corinthians 15:56

Sin.

"For the wages of sin is death..."~Romans 3:23a

We get what is coming to us. There is only one way to get around it.

"According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission." ~ Hebrews 9:22

Blood. Pretty hopeless...

Except...

Good Friday: "Christ died for our sins..." ~ I Corinthians 15:3
Saturday: "...and He was buried..." ~ I Corinthians 15:4a
Easter! "...and He rose again the third day..." ~ I Corinthians 15:4b

And now...

"...once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself... Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many." ~ Hebrews 9:26-27

There is hope!

"...the gift of God is eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~ Romans 3:23b

Life!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." ~ John 3:16

And not just life; ETERNAL life! There is more than life on this earth!

"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable." ~ I Corinthians 15:19-22

Death, where is your sting?

"But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." ~ I Corinthians 15: 57

All because of one Sunday two-thousand and fifteen years ago...

"...He is not here; for He is risen, as He said..." ~ Matthew 28:5

"...He is risen! He is not here..." ~ Mark 16:6

"...Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!..." ~ Luke 24:5-6

The final score? Death and sin have lost. and Jesus has won the victory!

Saturday: Silence

Jesus died. He was buried. And...

"On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation... They went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard." ~ Matthew 27:62-66

The tomb was shut.

Silence.

What must His followers have thought? Did He let them down? Could He be trusted? Was He really all powerful? What was going on? Why didn't He do something?!

What do you think? Do you stay paralyzed in fear? Do you mourn? Do you question? Do you doubt?

I do.

Perhaps it is because we are afraid to ask?

"For He taught His disciples and said to them, 'The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.' But they did not understand this saying and were afraid to ask Him." ~ Mark 9:30-32

"...He said to His disciples, 'Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.' But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying." ~Luke 9:43-45

Perhaps He is not so silent after all...

Listen.

Knock.

Seek.

Ask.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." ~Matthew 7:7-8

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." ~James 1:5-8

Good Friday: The Veil Was Torn

High Priests.
Sacrifices.
The Most Holy Place.
The Veil.
Separation

"You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen... And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony (this was the dwelling place of the Lord, Exodus 25:22) in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy." ~Exodus 26:31-34

Then came Friday.

Darkness.

"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit." ~ Matthew 27:50 

"And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last." ~ Mark 15:37 

"...And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice., He said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.' Having said this, He breathed His last." ~ Luke 23:46b

But...

"Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom..." ~ Matthew 27:51

"Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." ~ Mark 15:38

"Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two..." ~Luke 23:46a

In death, came REDEMPTION!
Christ became our Mediator!

"But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (YES!!) For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (What better sacrifice than a perfect Savior?) And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant (No more veil!!), by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance." ~ Hebrews 9:11-15

Now, I am adopted!

Now, I am redeemed!

Now, I can boldly go before the throne of grace!

The veil was torn! 

It was a GOOD Friday!