TAKE YOUR WORRIES TO THE CROSS

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20 NIV)

What do we do with worries? Take your anxieties to the cross -- literally. Next time you’re worried about your health or house or finances or flights, take a mental trip up the hill. Spend a few moments looking again at the pieces of the passion.

Run your thumb over the tip of the spear. Balance a spike in the palm of your hand. Read the wooden sign written in your own language. And as you do, touch the velvet dirt, moist with the blood of God.

Blood He bled for you. The spear He took for you. The nails He felt for you. The sign He left for you.

He did all of this for you. Knowing this, knowing all He did for you there and then, don’t you think He’ll look out for you here and now? 

-- Max Lucado 

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IT’S WHO YOU KNOW

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace.”  (Ephesians 2:4-7 NIV)

When it comes to spiritual knowledge, it's not what you know but Who you know.  I experienced the value of knowledge that is up close and personal during the 1996 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees.  The cleanup pitcher for the Yankees, John Wetteland, is a close friend and gave my son and me tickets to attend a game in Atlanta.  Because we knew John, his name was the key to untold opportunity wherever we went.  It unlocked a hotel room in a city that was overbooked.  It gained us entrance to the Yankee locker room.  It even provided seats on the team bus right next to Reggie Jackson!  My son, Nathan, and I kept pinching ourselves to make sure the whole experience wasn't a dream.  But it was -- a dream come true.

What personally knowing John Wetteland did for us in Atlanta, intimately knowing Christ does for a Christian in this life -- it opens the entrance to eternity; it reserves a seat in Heaven; and it unlocks the treasure house of God's wisdom. 

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in “Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians” 

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PURSUING GOD

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”  (Matthew 6:33 NKJV)

A number of years ago I met Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, so I decided to read his book “Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables.” The book documents the rise and fall of VeggieTales. After VeggieTales declared bankruptcy and the dream fell apart, Phil did some soul searching. And in the book he shares some honest thoughts and questions. Let me share one question and one thought.

Here’s the question: “What do you love more, your dream or God?”

Here’s the thought: “At long last, after a lifetime of striving, God was enough. Not God and impact or God and ministry. Just God.”

Alright, I lied. Here’s one more thought: “The impact God has planned for us doesn’t occur when we’re pursuing impact. It occurs when we’re pursuing God.” 

-- Mark Batterson 

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SOMETHING DEEP INSIDE US

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31

Something inside cannot quit hoping. Something inside keeps drawing us back to this rabbi. Something about His life, His works, His faith. Something about His belief that the universe is run by the kind of Father Jesus described and loved. Something about His power. Something about His peace draws us to Him as it has drawn people all over the world to Him for two thousand years and draws them still.

Something deep inside tells you that you are standing alone on the edge of a cliff, and the only alternative to Jesus is illusion or despair.

We can't see and know everything about hope now, but one day we will. Maybe it's like this, as written by a preacher named Bruce Thielemann:

"Imagine a colony of grubs living on the bottom of a swamp. And every once in a while, one of these grubs is inclined to climb a leaf stem to the surface. Then he disappears above the surface and never returns. All the grubs wonder why this is so and what it must be like up there, so they counsel among themselves and agree that the next one who goes up will come back and tell the others. Not long after that, one of the grubs feels the urge and climbs that leaf stem and goes out above the surface onto a lily pad. And there in the warmth of the sun, he falls asleep. While he sleeps, the carapace of the tiny creature breaks open, and out of the inside of the grub comes a magnificent dragonfly with beautiful, wide, rainbow-hued, iridescent wings. And he spreads those wings and flies, soaring out over those waters. But then he remembers the commitment he has made to those behind, yet now he knows he cannot return. They would not recognize him in the first place, and beyond that, he could not live again in such a place. But one thought of his takes away all the distress: they, too, shall climb the stem, and they, too, shall know the glory."

-- John Ortberg in “Faith & Doubt”

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IF PAUL WROTE A LETTER TO THE CHURCH TODAY…

If the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the modern church, I wonder if it might sound something like this:

“Grace and peace to you. I thank God for the ways the gospel is spread among you. Your generosity has reached far and wide; your worship is passionate; your ministries are impressive; and your influence is real. In many ways, your faith has been made visible to the world.

Brothers and sisters, I must speak plainly. You have learned how to gather crowds but you're forgetting how to carry crosses. You've become skilled at branding the gospel but less patient in baring one another in love. You speak often of freedom, yet many of you remain enslaved to comfort and endless distraction. You quarrel about leaders, ideologies, and tribes as though Christ were divided. Did Christ die for a party? Is anyone baptized into the name of a camp? Some of you are exhausted because you have mistaken activity for faithfulness. Others are confident because you have confused proximity to Christian things with obedience to Jesus.

Do you not remember that the Kingdom of God does not advance through spectacle but through surrender; not through dominance but through cruciform love; through repentance, confession, and obedience to the way of Jesus. You have many teachers but fewer are mothers and fathers in the faith. You consume teaching yet neglect the slow work of becoming like Christ.

Return again to the simple things: break bread together, carry one another's burdens, pray without ceasing, speak the truth in love, care for the vulnerable, welcome the outcast, love your neighbors and your enemies. Remember that the wisdom of the cross will always look like foolishness to the world but it is the power of God.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” 

-- Ian Simkins

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