Submission Complete!
It’s a Psalm of praise kind of night!
The Lord is close to all who call on him,
yes, to all who call on him in truth.
He grants the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cries for help and rescues them. Psalm 145:18-19 (NLT)
Mark 15:33-34 (<<click to read the passage)
I’m not sure that I ever understood that Jesus’ cry from the cross is actually a quote of Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? (AMP)
We are familiar with His cry in verse 34 of Mark 15 but do you know that there was more to this prophetic Psalm – quite a bit more actually but for this time together I just want to point out the last couple of verses.
30 Posterity will serve Him;
They will tell of the Lord to the next generation.
31 They will come and declare His righteousness
To a people yet to be born—that He has done it [and that it is finished]. Psalm 22:30-31 (AMP)
It. Is. Finished.
Sound familiar? Mark 15:37 states,
But Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed out His last [voluntarily, sovereignly dismissing and releasing His spirit from His body in submission to His Father’s plan]. (AMP)
The Apostle John in his account of the same incident proclaims,
…Jesus…said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] gave up His spirit. John 19:30 (AMP)
When the Amplified Bible inserts the term voluntarily it implies that Jesus voluntarily and sovereignly released His spirit from His body in submission to God’s plan.
Absolutely everything points to the fact that not one thing in this entire event caught God – and Jesus of course, being God in the flesh – off guard. It had all been known before the creation of the world. There was a plan in place. God knew we would reject his sovereignty from the very get-go. So, He set in place before the get-go a way that we could be set free from the bondage of sin that we would (and still do!) willingly take upon ourselves!
Sure, he could have created us without a will to choose whether we would obey Him or not. But what truly is love unless we are chosen… unless we do have the option to say no. It is all the more precious. Even we as human beings can understand that much!
If my wife had no choice but to love me, what kind of love would that be? Would it even really be love? But we choose to love each other in spite of our issues…in spite of our struggles…in spite of our imperfections. And it is all the more precious because of it.
Lord Jesus, may we realize that You loved us so much that You made a way for us to be brought back to You before we have even been born, much less before we ever turned our backs on You. May we realize that we are cherished by You, that our love is precious in Your sight. May our realization motivate us to love You all the more, to give ourselves over to Your lordship. For there is no better place to be. Amen.
Sept 8th, 2019, Sun, 7:05 pm
A Compassionate Application
It is the first day, outside of work, that I’ve not had something else on the agenda. Father, we had some time together this afternoon to begin work on preparations for Sunday in earnest. I have a ways to go and we will get it all together in Your time. Please bless our time this evening. Amen.
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Let me begin by saying my bus – that’s what I call it though I by no means own it or have any other legal right to it – but “my” bus broke down yesterday. I still had over three-quarters of my kids on board and had to wait for them to bring me a “sub” bus.
Now “my” bus – #25 – is just a few years old and only has a little over 77,000 miles on it. My “sub” bus – #9 – is quite a bit older and has over 236,000 miles on it! But at present #9 is servicing me far better than #25, regardless of the miles she has on her.
Now it is inconvenient to do without “my” bus. All of my elementary kid’s names are written in Sharpie on laminated buses above each one’s seat. All of my cleaning supplies were well stocked and in order, etc., etc. But out of necessity, for “my” bus will probably be sent out for service soon, I moved to bus #9.
So, what possible spiritually impacting reason do I have for sharing this event? Well, since you asked!
One thing I found on #9 was hand sanitizer. I don’t use it myself but I stuck it in with everything else. And I believe that God instigated it all to prepare for at least a portion of His plan.
I was almost done with my elementary route this morning when one of my kindergarteners came forward while I was at a stop. This was literally her first day on a bus, her first day in Kindergarten and unfortunately her first day to get sick on a bus. Her mother had dressed her in a beautiful, patterned calf-length brown dress and it was accompanied by a cream-colored, long-sleeved sweater. She had collected a good portion of what she brought up on her hands and sleeves.
I had her unbutton and remove her sweater and stowed it in a trash bag. We wiped her hands and dress off the best we could and then I thought of the hand sanitizer! We wiped both her hands and lower arms with it thoroughly and got her settled into another seat (her seat needed cleaning, too.)
Now I am pretty sure that God did not orchestrate #25 breaking down just so we could be on #9 for this unfortunate event. But…on the other hand, isn’t that like Him to do so?
He loves us – every single one of us – more than we can ever know. And isn’t one of the grandest things in life being able to do something special, to bring joy, or to bring comfort to someone we love? God knows this little girl and He loves her. He knew what would happen and set things up so that He, through me, could lovingly impact her life today. His name was not mentioned but I loved her as my own – tender and compassionate – just as He would.
Lord Jesus, give us the opportunity to be a part of Your plan. May we be ready to serve, ready to love when the opportunity arises. Amen.
Sept 5th, 2019, Thurs, 7:50 pm
Lash Out?
I’m weary of commenting on my weariness so here’s a Psalm of praise instead!
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the refuge and fortress of my life—
Whom shall I dread? Psalm 27:1 (AMP)
Mark 15:24-32 (<<click to read the passage)
I am pretty sure that none of us like to be mocked or ridiculed. Say we put hours of time and effort into a project near and dear to our heart, and when it is set out for people to see, they laugh, they jeer, the make derisive statements. They just plain make fun of our endeavor at our expense!
Some may withdraw in that kind of environment but many lash out. They become defensive and angry. And most of us would say, “And rightly so!”
The almighty Creator of the Universe, the incarnate God, Jesus the Messiah, allowed himself to be put into a position where all the time and effort he had invested in us became a focal point for mockery and ridicule. He had the ultimate power to lash out. A thought passing through His mind could have eradicated them all in a nano-second! (That’s one billionth of a second!) And that would have been that…but…He didn’t…
Why? And to our finite minds, it makes absolutely no sense, He loved us. It is as simple as that. He endured it all because He loved them… even his enemies.
And they weren’t alone in their guilt. We had a significant part in the drama that dark afternoon because our sins were on the cross, too. Jesus died on that cross for us, and the penalty for our sins was paid by his death.*
No anger…only sadness. No retaliation…only forgiveness.
Lord Jesus, “forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].” (Matthew 6:12b, AMP) In accepting Your forgiveness for our sin, we must forgive others.
For if you forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others [nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with God], then your Father will not forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 (AMP)
May it be so. Amen.
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Sept 3rd, 2019, Tues, 6:44 pm
Take Up the Cross
Father, I can’t help but focus on tomorrow. We officially begin a new school year. There will be familiar faces and new faces as well. There will even be some faces that I saw regularly last year that I won’t see at all this year. May each of us – bus drivers, teachers, staff, and administration, have a good and fresh beginning. Amen.
Mark 15:21-23 (<<click to read the passage)
“A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.” v21
Can you image what Simon’s experience must have been like?
First of all, Cyrene wasn’t just down the road from Jerusalem. One source I read stated that by land it was roughly a 783-mile journey and walking 4 miles per hour for 8 hours a day, it would have taken him 32 days. Wow! A month-long hike to be in Jerusalem for the holiest of days in the Jewish calendar.
He may easily have been just a bystander waiting for the disturbing entourage to pass by. I would have made me uncomfortable for sure. Simon was there to worship and celebrate and then he had no choice but to watch the spectacle of blood and death as it passed by.
Then, minding his own business, he is suddenly pulled from the sidelines and thrust into the limelight! He was literally “forced to carry Jesus’ cross”! He had to have felt so many emotions! Fear – he hadn’t done anything wrong. Revulsion – think of what the cross must have felt like, dripping – completely saturated with another man’s blood. Pity – he probably didn’t know what Jesus was “guilty” of but His badly beaten body must have stirred sympathetic feelings. Loss – the moment Jesus’ blood touched him he became ceremonially unclean and would not have been allowed to participate in this special once a year only event, Passover. He had traveled so far…and now this.
Tradition holds that this was literally a life-changing event for Simon. We don’t know specifics but somehow, he must have come to accept Jesus as the Messiah. His sons are referenced in the passage in that they became well known in the early church. Rufus is specifically mentioned by Paul in Romans16:13.
All of us who have accepted Jesus as our savior has had to respond to Him being thrust upon us if you will. Initially, Simon had no choice but to obey but at some point, he chose to take up his own cross and follow Jesus…and we must take up our cross, as well.
Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 16:24-25,
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity]. (AMP)
Sept 2nd, 2019, Mon, 7:10 pm
Transition
Father, thank You for Your abiding presence through all the many facets of this past week. This weekend itself has been full. It has been good but it has also been draining. Fill me with Your strength and power as we come together tonight. Amen.
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I am no longer young – SURPRISE! If I would live to be 100 years old (be that good or bad) I have lived over half of my life. If I think of it seasonally, spring has passed, summer has passed and the onset of autumn is upon me.
I don’t think I am going through some sort of midlife crisis but this weekend, in a way, sits on the precipice of transition. We are fortunate to not have our local schools go into session until this week – last year they reverted to the old school idea of not starting until after Labor Day. So, a new year for me. I have so enjoyed spending basically each day with my wife – what a blessing! But now we will see each other a bit during the day but mainly it will once again be evenings and weekends (yay!) …transition.
Of course, Labor Day is associated with the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Flowers are dying. Leaves are beginning their descent. Pumpkin-spice everything is starting to pop up everywhere! …transition.
Yesterday I had the distinct honor of officiating at the graveside service of a husband and wife who were affiliated with one of my churches in years past. Some time ago they relocated their entire family to North Carolina…but their cemetery plots where here in Ohio. They had both been cremated and although she passed in 2015, he passed just this past spring and the family gathered for their internment. She was 88 and he was 94 at the times of their deaths. …transition.
It makes one think. When we are young, we have so many dreams. We want to accomplish so many things. We want to impact. We want to make a difference. We want to make a change. Not always on a huge scale but at least in our own lives and the lives of those who are close to us.
When I went to college back in the fall of 1981, I distinctly remember writing out Proverbs 16:9 and tacking it above my desk in my dorm room. That note is still in the Bible I used at the time which is packed away in our attic. But the Amplified Bible states it clearly,
“A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], But the Lord directs his steps and establishes them.”
It was on my mind then and it is on my mind now. I have done my thing. I have made my choices. Some of them, I am sure, were more me than God. But I know that many of my choices were more God and less me. He has directed my steps and used me in countless ways. My prayer is that I will continue to yield to His Lordship. That I will trust in a loving Father who has such a majestic view of the big picture…and I willingly follow – for Father does know best…through all the transitions.
Sept 1st, 2019, Sun, 8:27 pm