Aches and Praise Two Hundred & Ninety Four

Posted on 2017-04-27 in English |

Dear friends,  

 

As we near the end of the fourth month of the year, if you are still maintaining your New Year’s resolution, you are doing well. By God’s grace, I managed to read a book a week until last week. I could have had time to read more if I had gotten up earlier, but I did not. The reason for that can be traced to staying up later than I should have.
 

As believers, our example is the Lord Jesus, who rose early to pray and commune with His Father. As we read the gospels, we see that Jesus determined to do the will of His Father, including going to the cross to die for the sins of mankind. After some soldiers gambled for the garments that Jesus would leave behind, a sign that read “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” was put over His head. The reaction of people then was the same as the reaction of people today: some respond with faith and others do not.

In “The Power of the Cross” Bill Crowder writes: “The preaching of the cross may be foolishness to the world, but to those who are saved it is the power of God. No wonder Charles Wesley declared in his anthem of praise for the death of Christ, ‘Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God, shouldst die for me!’”

He goes on to tell this story: “General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate armies during America’s Civil War, was attending a church service some time after the end of the war. At the conclusion of the sermon, Lee went forward to pray about things in his life that he had been convicted about during the message. As the general knelt praying, a former slave likewise stepped forward and knelt beside him – praying for his own spiritual needs. Once he had finished praying, Lee rose to leave and was stopped by a Southern former slave-owner who bemoaned the fact that a black man would be allowed to kneel beside Lee. The general, however, would have none of it and responded, ‘The ground is always level at the foot of the cross.’”

It has been said that only eighteen inches (less than half a meter) separate you from heaven. That is the distance between your knees and the ground. We will all bow before the Lord (Philippians 2:10), but only those who bow to Him in this life will live with Him in the next.

Scripture for the weekend:“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV)

Thought for the weekend: “If it were not for what Christ did on the cross, we would all stand guilty before God and hopeless in the face of death. But through faith in Him, we receive the forgiveness of all our sins and the assurance that death cannot hold us.” – Herb VanderLugt
 

By His grace,

 

Steve

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