Tag: jesus cross

Lent 2022 | 5th Sunday in Lent: Celebrate!

Every Sunday in Lent is a time of celebration. And in our journey through this season of Lent, we have been focusing our attention on God’s grace. Today we celebrate the volume of God’s grace. By volume, I mean the sheer amount of it as God has given it to us.

Several weeks ago while serving on a spiritual retreat for youth, I was reminded of the fact that God has withheld none of his grace from us. We may experience God’s grace in different ways because of where we are on our journey with God. It could be a result of our immaturity or lack of discernment keeping us from fully appreciating God’s grace. But God is not stingy with us regarding his grace.

I’m always surprised by the way many people think of God’s grace. God has never withheld from his people anything he has promised. This may seem odd to think about but it is no less true. In particular, when God gave his grace withheld none of it from us. What makes this statement difficult for many is that we do not always feel it or even know how God’s grace is at work in our lives. That topic alone would take far longer than we have room for in this devotional. But I would like to offer a thought as to why we should reconsider any thought that leads us to think God has kept back any of his grace from us.

When I think about God’s grace the first place I look to understand the nature, scope, and volume of it is at the cross of Calvary. On the cross we see the wrath of God poured out upon Jesus for the redemption of the whole world. In that encounter and through Jesus’s death a great exchange takes place. The wrath of God is satisfied by the sacrifice of the Son and the righteousness of Christ is extended to all who surrender in trust and faith to him. It is in this exchange of wrath for righteousness that God’s grace is manifested.

Jesus’s sacrifice is not only offered once but it is offered completely. Never to be repeated because it was perfectly satisfying the requirements of redemption. It is in these particular and unique qualities of that moment that we must assess the volume of God’s grace. In light of Jesus’s sacrifice, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, we must consider God’s grace as being at least equally as effective as Jesus’s sacrifice. To think any less is to make a mockery of the entire thing.

We can rejoice in God’s grace because there is no sin that escaped Christ’s offering of his life. That means that regardless of where we find ourselves on life’s road God’s grace is there waiting for us. Because Jesus’s sacrifice can never again be repeated God’s grace will forever be available to all who trust in his Son.

What a glorious thing to consider, that God’s grace can never run out for Christ’s sacrifice can never be diminished. These two realities exist in a perfect relationship and in perfect proportion to each other. And it’s not until we understand this and accept it that we will find clarity and peace about the volume of God’s grace.

Let us rejoice today in the volume of God’s grace. It is immeasurable. It is indescribable. It is undefeatable. And it is every beautiful superlative we could ascribe to it. Thanks be to God!

Only Jesus Can Make Sense of Disease and Pain

I came across this video of Kari Jobe singing “Healer” to a young girl who, from the video, is obviously suffering from something. I don’t know what it is. I don’t need to know. What I know is that only Jesus can make sense of this.

There are many reasons, now after 13 years of dedicated service to Jesus, that I believe that Jesus and the faith that he calls us to is the one true faith available to all mankind. Christianity is the only religion that calls us to accept and trust the dying and humiliated prophet INTO death as the means of passing through from this expression of life to the next.

Probably the most remarkable conversion story related in the bible is found in Luke 23. Why do I say this? I say it because the man that “accepted” Jesus couldn’t have made a bigger mistake. It had to have been the most irrational decision he could have made. Look at it for yourself.

39One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43, ESV)

Where was the man when he placed his faith in Jesus? He was on the cross right next to Jesus’ cross. The image that must have been before him was not an inspiring one. As graphic as Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was, it did no justice to the reality that the robber witnessed. The idealized images of Jesus are not what converted this man. It wasn’t even the hope of resurrection that motivated the wish of redemption (it could hardly be categorized as hope).

This is the same criminal who earlier had joined in with the crowd to make fun and mock Jesus!

44And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. (Matthew 27:44, ESV)

I am getting to place where I am running out of clever arguments for why someone should believe in Jesus or that God exists. I am starting to understand why the cross is foolishness to some.

20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:20-25, ESV)

I am more convinced that only Jesus can make sense of the insensible. And I have made some peace with the fact that I will never fully understand all that takes place on this earth. As a matter of fact, I am growing to enjoy the fact that I don’t know everything and that everything doesn’t need to be explained to me.

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