Who is my neighbor? Is it the family living next to us…or the couple down the street…or the lady working with me everyday? It really doesn’t matter to the Lord who exactly I think my neighbor is…what matters to Him is how I treat them. God wants me to be kind to those I have contact with daily – not ridiculing and mocking – but displaying wisdom and discretion.
II Corinthians 1:9 ” Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”
Our confidence can’t be in ourselves. For to paraphrase Jeremiah 17:5-7, ” Cursed is the one who trusts in man and his own strength.” Our reliance and trust can only be in the Lord… who can overcome what we are unable to.
Jonah 4:4 ” But the Lord replied, ‘ Have you any right to be angry?’ “
My indignation towards God is never justified. My view on the situation is never complete…my opinion, never unbiased. Only God can see from beginning to end, and every detail in between. Only He can “see around the corner”. I am so very limited in my scope of reality, that I really have no right to be angry at God.
Matthew 28: 5-6 ” The angel said to the women, ‘ Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.’ “
Are you looking for Jesus just like those women that early Easter morn? He wasn’t where they expected Him to be…the grave couldn’t keep Him…the devil couldn’t restrain Him…the world couldn’t contain Him. No, He had risen just like He promised. If you’re looking for Jesus today…don’t bother to look among the dead…for He’s alive!
Luke 23: 52-53 ” Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in whom no one had yet been laid.”
Jesus was dead. The Disciples had fled into hiding. The World was in disbelieving silence. But Sunday was coming.
His body was hidden behind a rock. His Followers were in mourning. The World waiting. But Sunday was coming.
If you find yourself today as good as dead. If you’re searching for answers. If life has handed you more than you can handle. Sunday is coming.
If the world is closing in – grieve and pain over whelming. If life is getting too hard to continue on, and you’re thinking of ending your life. Sunday is coming…and with it peace, healing, and restoration for your mind, body, and soul.
Sunday is coming!
Mark 14: 22-24 ” While they were eating, Jesus took bread, giving thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, ‘ Take it; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. ‘ This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’ He said to them.”
This was the first Communion Service…or Eucharist. The Greek word actually means thanksgiving, and that’s what we should be doing each and every time we celebrate Communion. Thanking Jesus for His sacrifice – His shed blood, and broken body for all. Jesus didn’t have to come to earth and die an unspeakable death…but He did… and every time we hold those elements in our hands we need to thank Him for that obedience. For without Him, we’d be lost. This Passion week, celebrate your own personal Eucharist of thanksgiving.
John 13:37 ” Peter asked, ‘ Lord, why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.’ “
Jesus had just told the Disciples that where He was going, they couldn’t go with. Was Simon Peter hurt, or smugly contending that he would proudly die along side Jesus when he asked why? Peter was one of Jesus’ closest Disciples, a big, loud man who had a habit of speaking first and thinking later. Was his outburst a show of hurt feelings, or brash vibrato…of concerned protection, or a foot in the mouth quip?
John 13: 5 “…He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.”
At a wedding recently, the couple washed each others feet in a lovely symbol of unconditional love and servant hood in their new marriage. The difference between the two Greek words for wash and bathe have great significance in our walk with God. Louo, means to bathe the entire body and is done by God when we’re made right before Him…justified, once for all. Where, Nipto, means to wash part of the body, symbolizing our daily, ongoing journey of sanctification. Jesus washed the disciple’s feet to not only demonstrate humility, love , and holiness…but then He dried them with the towel tied around Him…the towel tied around God.
Mark 14: 10-11 ” Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priest to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand Him over.”
Jesus saw promise in him…his fellow disciples saw honesty, and entrusted him with the group’s money. So what really happened to Judas? He was the only non-Galilean among the twelve, so did that make him feel outside the group, not really belonging, not part of the inner circle? Or did he feel frustration and disappointment that Jesus wasn’t taking over the Roman Empire by force as the disciples had envisioned? What prompted Judas to abruptly change from an ardent follower to the most infamous betrayer in history? It’s difficult to say, but we all possess that same willful sin nature Judas did, and all of us could make that same treacherous choice.
John 12: 12-13 ” The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!’ ” ‘
Instead of being astride a fiery stallion, coming to make war…He came to Jerusalem riding a donkey, a sign of desiring peace. Instead of being surrounded by multitudes of troops, He came with a rag-tag group of twelve men, who didn’t have a clue what was happening. Yes, Jesus could have rode into Jerusalem with all the pomp and glory befitting the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but He didn’t. However, He did ride in victorious, as signified by the symbol of the palm branches… victory was already His.
Safetypinlove 