March 22, 2008

What is the purpose of The Heavy Cross?

Last night we watched the Passion of the Christ again as a reminder of the importance of Easter. I feel as though God really spoke to me as I watched it.

The same people who acknowledged Him as The Christ as he rode into town were some of the same people yelling "crucify him"!

Think about this...these were people who believed in Him, loved him, cheered for him, celebrated him...yet they were caught up in the emotion of what was going on around them (their society) and ended up mocking Him, spitting on Him, and throwing rocks at Him while He was carrying the instrument of his dramatic public death!

I realized that our society today is full of people (professed Christians), including myself, who believe in Him (even the devil does that), say they love Him, cheer for Him (when it is convenient or need something), and celebrate Him (on holidays or even once a week).

If we examine our lives we must ask ourselves: Do we really...love Him?

Did He die for us so that we could say a salvation prayer, say we're sorry, acknowledge Him once a week, ask for His help when we're desperate...and then continue to feed our fleshly desires by spending more time on the internet, in front of the tv, playing sports, doing crafts, etc.?

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with these things; however, are we not mocking Him when we justify our idols, which I believe is anything that we give more attention and money to than we do Him? Were we really born again if our heart is to defend everything that brings us pleasure instead of a willingness to remove anything in our lives that separate us from intimacy with Him.

When we say we love Him and then give Him a our last bit of time, our last bit of money, and most importantly the last available room in our heart; we are placing ourselves right there on that fateful day on Calvary. We become the man or woman yelling "crucify Him". We are picking up the lead tipped whip, striking his body, and pulling away flesh! We are taking the hammer and driving the nails through his hands and feet!

Is it enough to say a prayer? Is it enough to believe? Is it enough to be sorry?

Let us consider this: Sure a few verses say believe and you will be saved; however, there are many that add to that and say we must repent!

Have we forgotten what repent means? One definition is to "turn away". So if we say we are sorry and continue to live in sin once we have heard or know the truth, have we turned away or repented at all?

EXAMPLE

I can say I love you, but how do you KNOW I really do? You know by by my actions! There is NO way to prove to someone that you love them by simply telling them…you must show them.

What about if I say I love you...my actions seem genuine for a while...then I start to spend all my time with someone else, I avoid your calls (His voice), tell you what I need before I go to bed, and no one who knows me has a clue that I have any sort relationship with you.

What if I say I'm sorry? That makes it alright right? What if I say I'm sorry but I still make no time for you, still avoid your calls, always ask you for help but never ask you what you want. Would you think I meant it when I said sorry?

Repentance is not just saying you're sorry! It is something we MUST do every day!

Were you really born again if your life doesn't look any different than it did before you accepted Christ? Were you born again if you use your salvation as a blank check to live any way you want?

You see, there is nothing we can do in our own strength. Jesus paid it ALL. I just think we should all examine our lives and ask ourselves are we truly saved just because we fit in to the requirements of what our pastor says, our family says. What does the Word of God say?

I have recently realized how dangerous it is to base your salvation on someone else's interpretation of salvation and of the Bible. Beware of a false sense of security!

Is it not worth taking the time to examine for yourself?

Has the Christian "majority", throughout history, ever been the group that was walking in the truth? Are we Christians that look like the rest of the Christians in our society? Does that make you feel safe?

How about this…is our life something that is worth Christ dying for? Are we living a live that is worth Jesus being so brutally murdered on our behalf? Does He know we love him by what we say or by what we do? Would our check book and appointment book prove that we have no idols before Him?

I realize these are all tough questions, and I am sharing what God has put on my heart because of my own recent personal convictions. Christianity is not easy! There is a cost that no one talks about anymore!

We have a short period of time on Earth. As a matter of fact, we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Grace is not a blank check as I’m sure we would all agree. Every breath we take is an explicit example of God’s grace…giving us the opportunity to repent from our sinful nature before we sit before the judgment seat of Christ.

You see he is a fair judge. He became flesh, he was tempted, he felt pain, anger, shame, and even subjected himself to death on a cross. We will have no excuses on judgement day. We can cry out to him and say “but Jesus…I believed in you, I asked you into my heart, I was even baptized like you said”. He will say, “You asked me into your heart verbally, but did you repent and make room for me in your heart? Even the devil and his demons believe in me and tremble at my name! When you were baptized, were you truly born again or did you continue to live in blatant disobedience while mocking me by saying that is was ok because of grace? Did you become a new person or did you stay the same? Were you a faithful bride or did you say you love me and then have continuous blatant affairs with the world? You did have grace, I gave you chance after chance to love me…but remember that love is a verb. It requires action and words just are not enough.”

Do you carry heavy cross or do you leave it at home? Do you give anything to your savior that costs you something or just what you have left over?

This is the time of year to reflect on the sacrifice and on Easter we celebrate the VICTORY!

May Jesus get all the glory He deserves! I challenge everyone to think long and hard this Easter holiday about the sacrifice and victory.

Three days later he rose and the tomb has been empty ever since!

Happy Easter!

Below is a powerful video that is a MUST SEE this holiday season!



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