Faithful Fridays ~ If You Must Look Forward, Do So Prayerfully.

Good afternoon!  :)  I'm back from a wee break and ready to share something with you guys that I've been learning lately.  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

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"If you must look back, do so forgivingly.  If you must look forward, do so prayerfully.  But the best thing you can do is to be present in the present...gratefully."

-Maya Angelou

I've always classified myself as a worrier.  I think a lot, and a lot of that thinking involves thinking about the future--fantasizing, dreaming, or worrying, depending on the subject.  It's just my default mode, and I think a lot of people are the same way.  It seems to be in our programming; we want to know what's next, and when, and how it's all going to play out (okay, maybe a part of that is a woman's curse ;)).  So we spend time mulling over the future and all its unknown details.  And so many times, that leads us into worry.  Which is really just a lack of trust in God; a lack of faith.  

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

-Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything.  

That's a command, and it's a pretty crazy one, isn't it?  

Do not be anxious about anything.

Not your health, or your job, or your career, or your dreams, or your future husband, or your friendships, or your relationship with God, or if people will like you, or how good or strong of a person you are.  

Instead, in every situation, by prayer and petition (or supplication, the kind of prayers where we let God know what we need), with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough."

-Francis Chan

It's not that we aren't supposed to think about the future at all.  In fact, over and over again, we're told to keep our mind's eye fixed on Jesus' return, and our homecoming to Heaven, where our lasting citizenship lies.  But it's how we look at the future that matters.  Do we look at it through the lens of trying to figure out what's going to happen and how we're going to handle it?  Do we look at it with the thought of, "Well just in case God decides not to act, I will....."?

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

-Hebrews 11:6

That is how worry and anxiety come to fill up our souls, to take over our minds and make our lives miserable.  The key to living without fear of the future, to look forward and still battle away worry and anxiety, is to look forward prayerfully.  Not living it out in our heads in our own strength, or over-planning, but by praying.  By bringing that issue that's nagging at our minds, however big, small, strange, terrifying, or petty it may be, straight up to God.  Laying it at His feet in trust.  Because you see, He is sovereign.  Omnipresent.  Always there, everywhere, eternally and completely in control.  He truly has the whole world in His hands.  Whatever is happening or could happen to you is not a surprise to Him--He doesn't come rushing onto the scene afterward to do damage control and clean up.  His hand is on it all; and it's not your response or ability to circumstances that matters, but your response to His ability.  He cares enough about you to not want you to live your life in anxiety or fear, and He's waiting on you to give those things to Him in trust.

Prayerful looking forward is when we start to feel ourselves stressing out over our next grade, our college choices, that one relationship that is on shaky ground, or even our distant future life choices--and we choose to turn our minds instead to God's perfect sovereignty and love for us.  

"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.  ...Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.  If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."

-1 John 4:16 & 18

Whatever it is in the future--or the present--that strikes fear and anxiety into your mind, bring it to your Father, the one who created, loved, and paid the price for you to live entirely in Him and His life of freedom.  Look forward prayerfully, with thanksgiving, too--thanksgiving went before God's miracles so many times in Jesus' walk on earth, so thank God in remembrance for what He's already done and in anticipation of what He will do.  Look forward prayerfully and do not be anxious about anything--He's waiting to take those burdens from you.  

"For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.  He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.

-Psalm 33:4-5

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This is my last Faithful Friday post--more explaining about that to come soon!  I want to bring my blog back to a place where I simply spill out my thoughts and what happens in my life, unconfined by a certain time (I'm always late :)) or name.  Don't worry, though, the content of Faithful Fridays--sharing what I and others learn in our personal relationships and walks with Jesus with one another--is something I definitely want to keep up through blogging, and I won't stop sharing those things here!  :)

Have a lovely week and God bless you guys,

Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Servant.

Good afternoon, and happy Friday!  :)



Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

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"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45


Have you ever stopped and thought about that?  Really thought about it?  It's dawned on me afresh lately just how humble Jesus was, just how much of a servant He made Himself in love.  Can you imagine?  God, coming down to the lowness of earth--the very lowest--and living out a very average human life--up until the last three years--in preparation for a horrible death.  And for what?  A world full of people who had turned from Him and would ignore, insult, deny, betray, bash, doubt, ridicule, scorn, beat, and eventually kill Him.  
And yet somehow, He loved them.  Marvelously.  Ferociously.  Sacrificially.  Genuinely.  His love is the kind of love you can take to the bank.  

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Jesus Christ:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!  
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." -Philippians 2:5-11



The Bible says that Jesus is basically the glue of everything in the world.  He is sustaining all things by his powerful word (Heberews 1:3).  He is the image of the inviible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15).  In Him and for Him, all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible.  He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17).  Not to mention that He's the head of the church, the glorious groom that's coming for His bride, the church, with a major celebration to follow (Colossians 1:18).  To put it plainly, in everything, He has supremacy (Colossians 1:18).  

So Jesus is a pretty big deal, right?  

And yet at the supper table he takes on the position and the appearance of a servant, a common slave.  He kneels at the feet of every disciple and washes their dirty, dusty [man] feet.  

And here's the clincher: Jesus washed Judas' feet.  

Wham.  

I'm not sure why that never dawned on me before.  Perhaps I've heard the story so much that I've become numb to it.  But He knew.  He knew Judas.  The Bible tells us that God knows the heart, or "always knows a person's thoughts" (Acts 15:8).  Jesus knew full well that Judas had been sneaking money out of the money bag (John 12:6).  And He knew full well that Judas would be the one of His close group of followers that would betray Him with a kiss--a kiss that would lead to His death.

And yet He got down on His knees and washed Judas' feet, the perfect picture of humility, kneeling at the feet of, and loving, the man who was technically His enemy.  

"'A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another." -John 13:34

We all have enemies.  Not in the sense of them betraying us to death, of course.  But they're the ones that are always bringing us down.  Dragging us into the dirt.  Always making us feel insecure.  Always one-upping us.  Always getting under our skin.  Always ruining our days.  Always bringing out our worst sides.  
Thing is, Jesus loved those people.  He bled and died for them.  The lips that gave His kiss of betrayal were created by Jesus Himself.  The hands that arrested Him, dragged Him into interrogation, flogged Him, and nailed Him onto a cross were created and sustained and powered by Him.  He could have stopped it all at any time; called down armies of angels to slay all His attackers (Matthew 26:53).  But instead, He allowed it all to happen for a greater cause, because He. Loved. Them.  And He calls us to come follow Him and love the same kind of people in the same way--truly, genuinely, humbly, with the kind of love you can bank on.  
It's rough.  It's not the natural response to that kind of person, nor is it the easiest.  But that's what Jesus did, and if we're choosing to follow Him, we have no choice than to do otherwise.  
So today I dare you--no, to clarify, I dare myself--to try it, to have Jesus' mindset in our relationships with others.  You know the person (or people) I'm talking about, the one that makes you want to turn your head and walk away, or maybe on the flip side, walk over and smack them in the face; or maybe they just make you want to throw a fit and go hide in your bedroom.  We're humans; we do that.  But Jesus was a man, too, and He chose to love those kinds of people.  I want to have that same mindset in my relationships with others.  I want to follow His lead.  

Faithful Fridays ~ {Psalm 42}

Happy Friday, everyone!  :)  My apologies for disappearing on you last Friday--we were getting ready to head out of town to see my aunt, who is doing much, much better.  She's walking (without a walker) and talking, and slowly getting better.  We all appreciate your prayers so, so much, once again!  :)







Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)


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I wanted to share a chapter of the Bible with you guys that has made an impression on me--it's something I bring to mind often when I'm facing something tough.  I was reading it in my NIV/Message side-by-side translation Bible and the Message version just really stuck with me.



A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep draughts of God.  I'm thirsty for God-alive.  I wonder, 'Will I ever make it--arrive and drink in God's presence?'  I'm on a diet of tears--tears for breakfast, tears for supper.  All day long people knock at my door, pestering , 'Where is this God of yours?'


These are the things I go over and over, emptying out the pockets of my life.  I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd, right out in front, leading them all, eager to arrive and worship, shouting praises, singing thanksgiving--celebrating, all of us, God's feast!



Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?  Why are you crying the blues?  Fix my eyes on God-soon I'll be praising again.  He puts a smile on my face. He's my God.  



When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you, from Jordan depths to Hermon heights, including Mount Mizar.  Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of whitewater rapids.  Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me.  Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night!  My life is God's prayer.


Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God, 'Why did you let me down?  Why am I walking around in tears, harassed by enemies?'  They're out for the kill, these tormentors with their obscenities, taunting day after day, 'Where is this God of yours?'


Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?  Why are you crying the blues?  Fix my eyes on God--soon I'll be praising again.  He puts a smile on my face.  He's my God." -Psalm 42


This psalmist knew trouble, you guys.  He knew what it was like to feel abandoned God, to feel like God was either not present or remaining silent.  He knew what it was to long for God; for His action, His presence, His comfort.  He knew what it was to be tormented by voices that taunted him, asking where his God was in that time of trouble.  


And in the midst of all that, he reminded himself of God.  He rehearsed everything he knew of God, all he had seen Him do, all God had done in his life.  He rehearsed what he knew of the power of God; His majestic creation, the heavens that proclaimed the glory of God.  He rehearsed the ups and downs of his life, and how God had opened up doors and led him through the seasons.  


And he finished it all with a reminder once again--"Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?  Why are you crying the blues?  Fix my eyes on God--soon I'll be praising again.  He puts a smile on my face.  He's my God."


He rehearsed everything he knew of God, reminded himself of why he could trust Him, and then he took up his song of faith, his song of joy in the Lord, and he made it through.  May we do the same.

Faithful Fridays ~ What Exactly Is Church?

Hello, everyone!  :)  I'd like to ask you guys to be praying for my aunt again--she went back into the hospital a little over a week ago, and she's had two seizures.  They're unsure what to do for her.  She was doing really well and then something just happened and she was back to not doing so well again.  We'd really appreciate your prayers!  :)






Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
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I think the concept of church has changed a lot in our minds from the way it originally was supposed to be.  Church often becomes a place, rather than a people, as Jesus treated it.  It sometimes seem to become something we do to keep our good Christian status and image rather than a place where we build each other up and do life together, following Jesus.  

I've had a lot of misconceptions about church but I've realized in the past year or so that church isn't always the people in your church.  It isn't an activity.  It's a people.  

The church is described as the bride of Christ--He takes joy in us, and loves us.  Husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church.

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."
-Ephesians 5:25-27

Christ didn't lay Himself down in love for a building, or an activity, or an idea.  He loved a people.  A people who believed what He said, took Him at His word, and laid down everything to spend their whole lives following Him.


Paul would write letters to God's church in Corinth, or the church in Ephesus, or in Philippi--and when we think in terms of today's churches, it's easy to envision that as a place where people met.  But it wasn't.  It was a group of people.  Paul wrote to "all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons."  (Philippians 1:1).  He wrote to "God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful to Christ Jesus."  (Ephesians 1:1).  It was a group of people that were pursuing Jesus with all that was in them, their whole lives.  They were a collective community of Jesus-followers, trying to do life God's way, together. 


I think a lot of us have lost that.  We come to church, we say hi, we sing songs, we sit in our seats and listen to the pastor, we say bye, and we leave and continue on with our lives for the week.  That's not how it's supposed to be.  Church is supposed to be a people that are in love with Jesus, totally and completely immersed in Him, faithful to Him, pursuing Him, together--sharing the joy found in the love of God, sharing our struggles and leaning on each other for support in the middle of them, teaching each other, helping each other, building each other up.  That's what Paul emphasized in the church over and over and over again.  And I get that that's hard.  I'm an introvert.  Believe me, I know.  :)  It can be hard to really get in there and get along with everyone, to really open yourself up and share things and be honest and open and vulnerable.  And I think sometimes we get a little bit of a guilt trip put on ourselves when we don't do things with the church we're a part of.  But one thing I've learned a lot lately is that church isn't always found in the people in your church.  Do you know what I mean?  If the church is the body of believers in Christ, then my best friends that live across the country, the ones that I have a Bible study with over FaceTime?  They are my church, too.  When I'm discussing stuff in my own faith and walk with Jesus with my parents?  That's church.  The friend that lives an hour away, who I only get to see every once in a while?  When we get together and talk about life and Jesus and the problems we face and encourage each other, we're having that community that Jesus called on us to have.


Maybe for you, it's your closest friends that follow Jesus.  Maybe it is your local church.  Maybe it's some other followers of Jesus that you really admire--maybe you read their devotionals, listen to their music, watch their videos.  Maybe it's someone you haven't met in person yet; someone that encourages you and that you encourage back through the wonderful use of technology.  :)  Maybe it's your family, those closest to you--your parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents. 


The church is the body of believers, the faithful followers of Jesus, who stick together and pursue Him together, loving each other, teaching each other, and building each other up in Jesus.  It's lovers of Jesus doing life together, doing everything they do in light of what Jesus said and did for us.  The church is what Jesus laid His life down for.  The church is what God loves and takes joy in. The church is the hands and feet of Jesus, the ones who are to show His love to the rest of the world; live out the love He's shown for us in our own lives.  Is it hard?  Yeah, it can be.  But it's also beautiful.  So go do church--whether it be in the local church building in your area, with your best friends, over email or phone, with family, or whatever.  Get into the Word and chase after Jesus together.  


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God bless you guys and have a great week! Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ You're Blessed When.....

Hello, there, everyone--hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend so far!  :)  This week's been a busy one for us as we've been wrapping up school, but I wanted to pop in and share these verses that I've been thinking about lately.


Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

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"When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

'You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

'You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

'You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

'You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

'You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

'You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

'You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

'You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

'Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble."

-Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus never said, "Come to me when you have it all together."  He said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."  He never said, "I'll show Myself to you when you perform well."  He said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."  Jesus has always called those who are imperfect, weak, tired, weary, lost in sin, alone, at the end of their rope--because it doesn't matter where you are or who you are, so long as you come to His feet with that need, that desire for more of Him, that childlike love for Him and trust in Him.  So know this: No matter where you are, no matter what your condition is right now--good or bad, strong or weak, on top of the mountain or in the valleys--He's always waiting with love.  Just come to Him.  These are the people and these are the times that He uses to grow beauty.  Let Him do whose work.  Come to Him.  

**************************************************************** God bless you guys and have a great week!  :) Love, Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Good Friday.

Hi, everyone!  I hope you're having a good Easter weekend!  :)



Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
************************************************************** "Good Friday was the worst Friday until Sunday." -Mike Donehey

This really struck a chord with me today.  Because on this day about 2,000 years ago, a group of disciples and followers of Jesus, people who loved Him and trusted Him dearly, were in the depths of despair.  It seemed as if all was lost.  It seemed as if God had failed them.  I imagine they felt let down, and immensely disappointed.  They probably felt like the ground had been snatched up from under them.  Their Jesus, the one they believed to be the Son of God, had been brutally tortured.  He had been beaten bloody, executed, mocked, betrayed, forsaken.  He had been killed, and buried, cold and dead, in a tomb, a heavy bolder rolled in front.  So seemingly final, and permanent.  It must have seemed like all their hope was buried with it.  "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.  A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming.  He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd.  And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.  The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father.  So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold.  I must bring them also.  They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.  The father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.  No one can take my life from me.  I sacrifice it voluntarily.  For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.  For this is what my Father has commanded." -John 10:10-18 

But little did those around know that in just three days, their doubts would be wiped away, their faith in this great Jesus confirmed.  They didn't realize then that God was about to show His mighty power clearly in His Son, by raising Him from that cold, dark finality of death that sin brought on.  They didn't realize that when Jesus cried out, "It is finished," He meant it.  He meant that in Him, sin and death no longer hold power over us--He meant that with His resurrection, He had conquered it, and in Him, we are free, and we are conquers ourselves, through Him who loved us!  And when that temple curtain split in two--the curtain that divided people from the inner presence of God--He was showing us that separation from God no longer exists.  We're face-to-face with Love Himself!  He will give His Spirit to us, God alive in us, living and moving and working in us!  He was showing us that the chasm between God and sin-stained man had been bridged--forever.  From that moment on we no longer had to worry about being fit for God.  By simply placing our trust in Jesus and laying ourselves at His feet, with all our sins and shortcomings and weaknesses and doubts and failures, we were made fit for Him.  Because He loved us.  He didn't need us.  He didn't have to sacrifice Himself, but He did.  He chose to.  He chose us.  He knew us, long before we were born.  He wanted us.  He loved us.  He pursued us.  He had a crazy love for us.  
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last--and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you." -John 15:16 No, the disciples didn't know all of this then, but they soon would find out.  They would find out that despite their doubts and their despair and the darkness that had seemed to overcome, God would show His power.  He wouldn't leave them in the darkness.  He wouldn't go back on His word.  He would keep His promises.  He would restore.  He would show that He always does what He says He'll do.  God is love, and "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."  (1 Corinthians 13:7.)

When Jesus cried out, "It is finished," He was also showing that yes, sin and death are finished.  They're conquered.  He's brought life--real, lasting, eternal life, for anyone to take up in Him.  And He was showing that yes, separation from God and being at odds with Him was finished.  Completely.  We can now boldly approach His throne to receive His mercy and find grace to help us when we need it most.  And I'm so very, very thankful for that.   And when Jesus said, "It is finished," He was also showing me that He's not finished with me yet.  I am not my own; I have been made new!  I am a new creation in Jesus, and He is always doing a new thing.  Whatever I'm facing or struggling with, whatever storm or trial or doubt or weakness or test--He's not finished with me yet!

No surrender, no retreat
We are free and we're redeemed
We will declare, over despair
You are the hope!

"'I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!" -John 15:9-11 You bled Your heart out, Now I feel love beat in my chest. How wonderful! You gave Your beauty In exchange for my ugliness. How wonderful! You left Your perfection, And embraced our rejection! You put on our chains, Sent us out through the open door.  How wonderful! You took our sadness,
Crowned us with joy and real peace, How wonderful! You left Your perfection, And fought for our redemption! How marvelous, how boundless Is Your love, is Your love for me! How wonderful, sacrifical is Your love for me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! How wonderful! Yes, Jesus loves me! This is love, You gave Yourself! How marvelous, how boundless Is Your love, is Your love for me! How wonderful, sacrificial is Your love for me! -"You Bled," Rend Collective Jesus left His perfection, His spotlessness and joy in perfect purity in Heaven with the Father, and came down to be humbled as a man, a mere human, born to a poor family in a stable, amongst the animals, in an animal's food trough, a manger.  Because He. Loved. Us.  He grew up, ordinary, passed over, human.  He faced temptation just as the rest of us did.  But He never sinned; He was perfect.  Because He. Loved. Us.  He embraced the deepest "sinners," the ones that the religious ones scoffed at and looked down on and rejected.  He washed dirty feet.  He came not to be served, but to serve, even though He was the Son of God and should have been served and worshiped completely.  He endured brutal torture and death and mockery and being betrayed and forsaken and executed, crucified, so that He could rip that curtain between us and God, because He. Loved. Us.  He exchanged the life He had for the death that was ingrained in us, because He. Loved. Us.  He freed us to live in Him, Because He. Loved. Us.  He left His perfection and embraced our rejection--our rejection of Him, and the rejection that He should have had for us.  Because He. Loved. Us.  And He rose and conquered sin and death once and for all, because He. Loved. Us.

"The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,

    a scrubby plant in a parched field.

There was nothing attractive about him,

    nothing to cause us to take a second look.

He was looked down on and passed over,

    a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.

One look at him and people turned away.

    We looked down on him, thought he was scum.

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—

    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself,

    that God was punishing him for his own failures.

But it was our sins that did that to him,

    that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

    Through his bruises we get healed.

We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.

    We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.

And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,

    on him, on him. 

He was beaten, he was tortured,

    but he didn’t say a word.

Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered

    and like a sheep being sheared,

    he took it all in silence.

Justice miscarried, and he was led off—

    and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare,

    beaten bloody for the sins of my people.

They buried him with the wicked,

    threw him in a grave with a rich man,

Even though he’d never hurt a soul

    or said one word that wasn’t true.

Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,

    to crush him with pain.

The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin

    so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.

    And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul,

    he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.

Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,

    will make many “righteous ones,”

    as he himself carries the burden of their sins.

Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—

    the best of everything, the highest honors—

Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,

    because he embraced the company of the lowest.

He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,

    he took up the cause of all the black sheep."

-Isaiah 53

This Easter, Lord, thank you.  *******************************************************************