"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." - 2 Cor. 5:21
After my last post, God did something He is prone to do in my life: He called me on what I said to you. You'll recall I blogged about the challenge of seeking to be devotional rather than just focusing on what to write or teach. Well, the rest of Holy Week was definitely about what God wanted to say to me ... and to make sure I didn't forget it, He kept the circumstances just enough out of my control to keep me off the computer and away from the blog.
It's not that He doesn't want me to write ... I've had confirmation after confirmation, most notably through my husband, that I should be writing. It's just that He didn't want me reading those significant words for any reason other than relationship with Him. He wanted this Holy Week to refocus me on the cross and away from my own efforts - because even those efforts that are God-glorifying, Christ-honoring, and Spirit-led can easily become "works", especially in our results-oriented society.
But for 2 1/2 years now, God has been teaching me that a relationship with Him and me joining Him in His work is a lot more about process than it is about results. Oh, results happen. But as my life verse at the top of this blog reminds me, they happen because of Him, not because of me! I have to focus on the process and what He wants to teach me and where He wants to place me and who He wants to connect me with and what HE is doing that He wants to invite me to join. For a task-oriented person like me, that is incredibly hard. I'm so grateful that He knows when to intervene more radically and protect me from my own tendencies ... like this week.
I have really had an amazing Holy Week. God has spoken to me in dramatic ways through each day's readings. This year, He seemed to give me an overall "theme" for each day, which He allowed me to see threaded throughout that day's readings. This helped me tie together sometimes large chunks of Scripture around one central lesson. Here are the "themes" for the days since I last wrote:
* Tuesday of Holy Week: "What am I doing with what He has given me?" We are all given truth and resources. What am I doing with them? Jesus took what He was given and served. Luke 22:27 "For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves."
* Wednesday of Holy Week: There are no readings for this day. This has been called Jesus' "silent" day. But it's a reminder that the silence is always only from our side. He is always at work.
* Thursday of Holy Week: "My great need and His great supply." The disciples had a great poverty of understanding, of love, of strength to stay awake. As I read this day I realized how much of it reflects the needs of humanity. Jesus' teaching and prayer in John 14-17 especially underscore this truth.
* Friday of Holy Week: I can say it no better than C.J. Mahaney: "We never move on from the cross, only to a deeper understanding of the cross." As I read all the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion at one sitting, I was hit with an incredible sense of the injustice of it all. The one perfect man, God in the flesh, beaten and mocked and spat on and rejected and betrayed. Everything in me wanted to stop it, to say it was wrong. Imagine how the Father felt. And yet Scripture tells us that on the cross, God demonstrated His justice. Why? Because a holy God cannot ignore sin. He loved us enough to make a way for relationship with Him, but that way had to deal with the sin that stood in the path. He dealt with my sin ... with your sin ... with the sin of the world ... on the cross. If Barabbas had been executed instead, none of us would say it was injust. He earned execution due to his crimes. Jesus' crucifixion would have been injust -- except for the fact that He bore our sin. All the sins of the world were heaped on Him and God's justice - the justice due every person in the world - was satisfied. And He went beyond justice - after judging our sin on the cross, He gives those who embrace the work of Christ on their behalf His righteousness. He makes us new. As the Scripture above says, He became our sin so we would have the chance to become His righteousness. That should take our breath away and cause us to fall to our knees in worship. My sin is what kept Jesus' crucifixion from being an injustice and instead, made it a demonstration of God's perfect justice.
* Saturday of Holy Week: The women, ah the amazing women. They couldn't wait to get to the tomb! After Sabbath was over (about 6 p.m. Saturday evening), they got things ready to go to the tomb. I'm not sure exactly what all this looked like, as we know they discovered the empty tomb at dawn on Sunday. But what spoke to me was their eagerness to get to Jesus. They didn't know He would be risen. They just wanted to do what they could for Him. Mary Magdalene represents so many of us who have been forgiven much and so love much. May I awaken every morning with her eagerness to get to Him!
I can't wait for tomorrow. Here's a little secret: I am happy to have friends who live where it's already resurrection morning, so I can send them greetings tonight a little ahead of time. But there will be something special about those early morning hours tomorrow. I want to look ahead in my Bible to the empty tomb. But that isn't how it works. Tomorrow, along with millions around the world, I'll turn to those timeless words and discover that the tomb, nearly 2000 years later, remains empty.
For tonight, I close with one of my favorite modern hymns. The lyrics are below. Tonight, remember the wounds which marred the Chosen One are the wounds which brought us to glory. Hallelujah.
How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulder
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
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