The Lenten Journey Day 45

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit..” When he had said this, He breathed his last. Luke 23:46

“The last act of our Lord in thus commending his spirit at the close of his life, was only a summing up of what he had been doing all His life.” - George MacDonald

MacDonald was an author, poet, and minister. In this essay he paints a whole picture of Jesus’ last words that translate into a life call of worship. For MacDonald Jesus was stating at the end what He had been doing since the beginning, giving His life to God. With all the debates and strong feelings about worship, specifically worship styles, this is a bulls-eye center reminder. Worship is giving back to God what He has given us, not just material offering, but a total offering.

MacDonald beckons the reader to consider Christ’s life of worship and replicate it. By the power of His Spirit may we worship in all we say and do today.

The Lenten Journey Day 44

“The secret of deliverance from sin is not to do something but to rest in what God has already done.” -Watchman Nee

Nee is expressing the totality of what Christ accomplished on the cross. Not only for us but in us. There have been centuries of debate over how salvation happens and what role human decision plays in conversion. Part of the problem with the debate is that it often demands that God’s work and human freedom have to be exclusive. In God’s purposes those two things do go together.

My believe in Christ’s total and full power to save does not require my belief to be true, it is true because God has proclaimed it true. But my salvation does require that I believe in what Christ has done. Nee’s point is simply that we need to believe Christ has done the saving and trust Him. To “rest” in that truth is in fact doing something thought that runs contrary to our human reasoning.

There are great books and helpful strategies for changing bad habits. But only Christ can change sinful hearts and there is not a program for that. We must yield ourselves to God, trust and follow. Following Him might lead to some of those good books, but then those change of habits come for a heartfelt source. Once we surrender to Christ changing us from the the inside out, the outside becomes much more clear.

The Lenten Journey Day 43

Today’s reading comes from Alexander Stuart Baillie and is an excerpt from his work The Seven Last Words. In this portion Baillie centers in on Jesus’ cry of thirst from the cross. He demonstrates how humanity desires earthly status, wealth, and thrill while often the neglecting our greatest thirst.

He simply states that we need God. Baillie then pivots to say that when the individual begins to seek satisfaction of this greatest need that our lives are open and become less about us and more about others. This is the transformation that happens when we give ourselves over to the one who gave up Himself for us. Still our thirst is not for others our ultimate thirst is for Christ to be fully formed in us this is real life. From Baillie:

Humanity needs to get away from the world of “things as they are” into the world of “things as they ought to be.” This means that men and women must learn to live for others. It is only when we can live a life of self-forgetfulness that we get our truest joy out of life…. He cannot be satisfied until he attains unto the stature of Jesus, unto a perfect man, and ever thirsts for God.

I confess that sometimes I am satisfied with fleeting joy and temporary happiness. Yet that satisfaction is temporary and I thirst again and again. Christ’s thirst was quenched by the soldiers, for a moment. His truest satisfaction came with fulfillment of purpose and oneness with the Father. Giving of ourselves over to the giver of life who gave His life that all might truly live is where we find “our truest joy.”

The Lenten Journey Day 42

Today’s essay comes from preacher and activist Dale Aukerman. He takes the suffering of Christ to mean that Christ suffers with every human being, specifically those victims of nuclear warfare. Aukerman attempts to build the case for recognizing that when bombs are dropped that Jesus should be seen as one of the casualties. I am not totally convinced that his equation of an unjust crucifixion with the dropping of the atom bomb is completely accurate, but it is thought provoking and pointed.

One point that Aukerman makes that I find intriguing and informing comes back to the incarnation. He says that God “narrowed himself down into Jesus.” He is talking, of course, about the earthly form of Jesus who in reality has always existed. The narrowing down is the coming to earth. But paired with Christ’s divinity is his humanity. Aukerman says, “He was formed that our vision might rest not only on this focal expression of the invisible God but also on this singular image of the neighbors we have been too nearsighted to see and of the myriad of human beings we have no sight to see.” We speak, and rightly so, of seeking Christ but we think of that usually in terms of the divinity. But He calls us to seek Him and His kingdom which has and will always include people. When we fail to see the people suffering, mistreated, and alone we also fail to see Christ. Let us seek Him.

The Lenten Journey Day 41

Today’s reading is a combined effort of writings from Christian reformer Toyohiko Kagawa and missionary from India named Sadhu Sundar Singh. Both write about the blood of Jesus. Kagawa from the comparative perspective of blood’s restorative work in the human body and the restorative work of Christ’s blood shed on the cross. Singh speaks more directly about the spiritual blood and it’s complete work not just in the forgiveness of sins, but the restoration of the full, righteous life for which we were intended.

I’ve always been a bit squeamish about talking about the blood of Jesus. I am turned off by horror movies and sensationalized tales of the blood rituals and sacrificial ceremonies. When I accepted Christ, had I had to be a part of anything with real blood present I am quite sure that I would not have participated in the least.

Christ’s blood was really given, his earthly life was brought to an abrupt and excruciating end. The purpose in His pain was to unleash His love to all humanity and as both writers say to offer redemption for what is lost. So, the invitation is not to a bloody ceremony but a surrender to love unleashed and life given. This cannot be fully accepted in a stroll down the sanctuary aisle. It is a lifetime walk out of sin into life. As Sing writes, “Indeed, he came to us for this very purpose.”