Tag: Cross

Public Display of Love

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion AppLeave a comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/3797/day/2

When my husband and I were dating, it was the 70’s, the era of free love, hippies and doing what felt good. Nevertheless, we did not show each other a lot of public displays of love. We were quickly enamored with each other, but we shared kisses and cuddles privately, out of the view of a majority of others. Both of us were raised to believe that our love was between us, not to be gawked at by those who may or may not be commenting on our affectionate shows of love. Nowadays, some fifty years later, we kiss in restaurants or on sidewalks or wherever we feel like, and we sometimes hear others say, “Aww. How sweet!” We don’t kiss to get a reaction. We do so because our love for each other bubbles over and out.

About 2000 years ago, Jesus gave us a model of selfless love when He went to the cross willingly and died for us there. He hung on that cross in front of a multitude of believers and scoffers. He was not afraid to show His love for us in a very public and humiliating way. Now, every day, we have the opportunity to demonstrate our love for Him by telling others about His great sacrifice and how it has changed our lives. We cannot just hide His love in our hearts, but we need to take it to others. His model showed us that it was meant t be public, meant to be shared. And if others ridicule us because of our sharing our faith, then we are compelled to share anyway. Our words may mean the difference between their suffering or rejoicing for eternity. It’s a public display of Jesus’s love for us and for all mankind.

Choice or Requirement

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

We make choices every day, starting from the moment we open our eyes in the morning until we close them to go to sleep at night. Think about it. You choose to praise God for a new day before your feet hit the ground, or you choose to get out of bed grumbling because it’s a new day. You choose to have a devotional time with God or you choose to sleep later and rush around and out the door with a quick acknowledgement that He is there whenever you call out to Him. And so it goes all day long. How do I know this? Because I, too, have made wrong choices and had to turn around, confess and start again making right ones. But one choice that I made many years ago was absolutely the right one and I never have turned from it.

I like the wording of this verse, especially the word “refuse.” That shows a choice to me…it is up to me daily, all day, every day, to take up the cross and to follow Jesus where He leads me. Only in constantly and consistently making that choice am I considered worthy of being His child. He does not insist, require or punish me when I refuse…He just lays out the truth of the consequences. The choice is clear for everyone, sinner and saint. Accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior is just the beginning of our way to the cross. We need to daily commit ourselves to following Him and then do it. God is always there to pick up the pieces, comfort and forgive me when I fail, but it is up to me to make the right choice to begin with. The choice is up to each of us, individually and daily. God is waiting for us to make the right choice, so let’s try very hard not to disappoint Him.

Sunday Is Coming!

On By vickleaIn Scripture, SongLeave a comment

Today is Good Friday and we will see crosses everywhere today to commemorate the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But the cross is not a symbol of death; rather, it is a symbol of new life and hope for each of us who has accepted Jesus into our lives as the Son of God.

If the Roman soldiers who mocked, flogged and spat upon Him can then recognize His deity, how can we deny it?

Jesus left His heavenly home and became a man so that He could die for our sins and destroy the power of Satan once and for all. Satan’s last stronghold is death and Jesus took that away from him. Jesus holds the power over death and the grave and by accepting Him and His power, the chokehold of fear that death has in our lives is vanquished. The last enemy of mankind was destroyed on the cross!

Jesus not only paid for each of our transgressions, purifying us once and for all before the Father, but He also was beaten, wounded horribly, so that we can be healed: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We are made whole because of His sacrifice!

No one made Jesus go to the cross. As he said, He could have called legions of angels to save Him. But He chose to go to Calvary, to die on that wooden stake of torture so that we could be saved. Jesus was obedient to His Father, even unto death. He trusted that God would do just as He said and He would be raised from the dead. Death is coming for each of us…it’s an inevitable fact of life. It is our choice to die knowing that we will live again with Jesus or to face eternity separated from our Creator. Jesus obeyed the Father because He knew and trusted Him. Can we do any less?

Sunday Is Coming-Phil Wickham

Equality and Adoption

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

There is a lot of talk in the media these days about equality and making things right and reparations and all things divisive. In the Scriptures, I read what Jesus thought about equality and it has nothing to do with race or reparations and everything to do about sacrifice. And Jesus’s sacrifice unites instead of dividing.

Jesus is and was God, before the creation of the earth. He left His rightful place in Heaven to come to earth as a humble man, born into the family of a carpenter and one hundred percent human as well as one hundred percent God. His humility led Him to the cross and thank God for His sacrifice because it is through Him that we become adopted into the family of God. Jesus paid the “reparations” for all of us to be accepted by the Lord God.

We are not a servant in God’s household, but rather, we are His children, calling Him Father and able to cry out to Him freely at any time. That is what Jesus’s sacrifice provided for us. Jesus did not seek equality; He created it for us.

It is because of the Father’s great love for us that He gave His Son, thus making us all His children. Amazing love, indeed!

Have a blessed and wonderful day, realizing your status before God and how very much He loves you!

True Obedience

On By vickleaIn Scripture5 Comments

True obedience is doing the will of our Father in Heaven. Jesus knew and practiced that truth, being willing to sacrifice Himself for our benefit.

May we be ever mindful during this Holy Week of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

Have a blessed day, my friends.