Life as a Christian Woman

When my little girl was three, we were at the pool with some friends and their son, who was also three. The two little ones were standing on the steps of the pool, with moms close by.

Suddenly, we heard splashing and we saw our kids in water that was nearly up to their noses. They were holding on to each other tightly. We ran to them and grabbed them, pulling them up on the pool deck. Both started crying (and we moms were very close to tears, ourselves!).

Later, I asked my daughter what had happened.  According to her, “Wes saved my life. I was drowning and he held on to me!”

Wow!

I couldn’t wait to tell Melanie how brave her son had been. I called her, relayed my little one’s story… and she started laughing. It seems that Wes had a slightly different version. According to him, “Emi tried to drown me!”

One event, two very different stories, but both very real to the two involved (although at the ripe old age of five, neither remembers it ever happening!).

The point is, the same situation can affect people very differently. If you ask 100 people their opinion on a topic, you likely will get 100 different ideas.

But God isn’t like that. There are no shades of gray, it is black and white (and red if you have a red letter edition Bible). His word is true, His word is faithful. Jesus tells us in John 14:6,

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This scripture is only slightly less known that John 3:16, which also lays it on the line.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Not through good works, not through bargaining. No room for interpretation or opinion. You can’t receive eternal life in any other manner, but to accept Christ as your savior. Rituals are nice, and can be compelling in their method to bring us closer to our Lord. But they can’t save your soul if you are lost.

Scholars claim that the Bible is open to interpretation. Often we hear claims that, while the Bible says THIS, it really means THAT. Or we are told that we must do this or that to be accepted into Heaven, yet there is no scriptural reference.

Our reality as Christians is built around John 3:16, and John 14:6.

No interpretation needed.

Magnificent Obsession

Lord, You know how much
I want to know so much
In the way of answers and explanations
I have cried and prayed
And still I seem to stay
In the middle of life’s complications
All this pursuing leaves me feeling like I’m chasing down the wind
But now it’s brought me back to You
And I can see again

This is everything I want
This is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You, Jesus
Be my magnificent obsession

So capture my heart again
Take me to depths I’ve never been
Into the riches of Your grace and Your mercy
Return me to the cross
And let me be completely lost
In the wonder of the love
That You’ve shown me
Cut through these chains that tie me down to so many lesser things
Let all my dreams fall to the ground
Until this one remains

You are everything I want
And You are everything I need
Lord, You are all my heart desires
You are everything to me

You are everything I want
You are everything I need
I want You to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You
I want it all to be for You

We become obsessed with so many things in life: family, job, cars, sports, clothes… the list goes on and on. But our one true obsession should be, must be, God.

We don’t need to cut other things out of our life. But everything we do, everything we are, should be centered around Him and His will.

He cares about everything in our lives. God is, in fact, obsessed with US! Yet so often He is an afterthought in our busy lives. A church down the road from me has a sign in front that reads “Tomorrow is going to be the busiest day of the week.” And that sums up our lives. “Tomorrow” is always busy. But if we live our lives obsessed with pleasing our Father, the busy-ness will take its proper place behind the One who gives all for us.

He is everything we need, but often we fail to make God everything we want.

Click HERE to listen to Steven Curtis Chapman sing Magnificent Obsession on YouTube

Anonymous:  Adj:  Not known or lacking marked individuality

Are you an anonymous Christian?

Do you show up once a week for your “duty” trip to church, sit for an hour or so, sing, listen, then leave?

If you are, it’s time to step out of that anonymity and into the life that is the real church!

It is so easy, especially at larger churches, to become one of the faceless masses. It’s so easy to sit there in your pew, read through the bulletin, see the ministry needs and figure that someone else will do it.

But that isn’t always the case… in fact, it rarely is.

The idea of a large church that most of us have is that there is a huge staff and everything is handled. But guess what? There is much to do. Nurseries need folks to hold (and change!) babies. Sunday School classes need teachers and assistants. Phones need to be answered. Guests need to be greeted.

In short, lots of jobs need to be filled, yet even in the largest of churches there are needs that aren’t being met.

I loved being an anonymous Christian. No work, no pressure. I would feed off the blessing of the service each week, then go home, revived and revitalized in my walk. But there was a problem… I wasn’t giving back.

There were a few missteps along the way. I signed my hubby and I up to lead a two year old children’s Sunday School class. Bad idea. Let’s just say that isn’t our gift. But after prayer and time spent listening to what God wanted, we each found our ministry, the area we are meant to be in.

It might not be easy. You may actually break a sweat. You may have to show up for more than one hour a week.

And (GASP!) you may actually meet people and they will know you by name!

But you will be a blessing, and be blessed. You will be appreciated by those around you. You will form friendships within the body of Christ that will carry through this life and into the next.

Being anonymous is highly overrated!

Don’t you just love it when God tells you to do something that you just don’t want to do, or don’t know how to do, don’t even WANT to know how to do?

It’s like building a house. You work with an architect, you tell him just what you need. You plan out the number of bedrooms, baths, a garage, size, etc. And then the plans come back looking nothing like what you asked for. You tell the architect that this isn’t what you wanted, this design is wrong. He tells you that you may not realize it, but this will be better for you in the long run, better for the neighborhood, other people, you name it.

God is like that. We tell Him what we want, what will work for us. Then He gives us what He wants us to have, what we really need in the long run.

“But that’s not what I asked for,” we huff.

“Yes, but that’s what you need,” He replies.

You may remember the story I relayed last year about God speaking to Beth Moore at an airport (click HERE to read the blog). Well, I am having one of those Beth Moore “God is bossy” moments. I have a friend who is driving me mad and breaking my heart all at the same time.

You see, this woman is destroying her family. I don’t say those words lightly. She is ripping them apart. She has told me, and others, on several occasions that she “didn’t get the family that she wanted.” She belittles them, yells, pits them against each other.

This past Friday, I hit the wall. I’ve had enough. I can’t take it anymore.  I told my husband that I was done, I can’t save the world, and there is too much stress in my own life to keep butting my head up against the wall. I couldn’t sleep at all that night, seeing this mother’s young children tiptoeing around her.

“I can’t fix it,” I thought. “I give up.”

Only the Architect upstairs said, “No, you aren’t.”

So, as I planned to walk away and quit dealing with it, God let me know that this wasn’t an option for me. No, I need to be this woman’s friend (!), pray for her, pray with her. But I also need to be direct with her, straightforward, and try to help her.

You see, my friend isn’t a bad person. And God sees that. He knows her heart. And if He hasn’t given up on her, how can I? I need to try to help, with love. Not with recrimination, not with anger or guilt trips. With His help, through His love.

I am not very good at confrontation. I don’t even like to send a bad meal back at a restaurant. And as I told God I was not the right person to confront her (with love!), He reminded me of Moses, how he tried repeatedly to opt out of the whole saving Israel thing. But God had an answer to every question Moses had. And that whole thing turned out pretty well.

Now, I’m no Moses. I’m not even a Mrs. Moses. But we are all servants of God. And as His servants, we must do His bidding. He has His reasons for choosing us for the works that He has us do. And who knows, maybe I am the one that will be learning the lesson.

Even if I don’t like the floor plan!

What constitutes a blessing?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of blessings this week. It’s so easy to simplify the idea of a blessing as just asking for and getting something. Even dictionary.com says as much in one of it’s definitions of the word:

A favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness.

So is that it? A blessing is anything that brings you happiness? I mean, sure, it’s easy to look at your sleeping child and feel the blessing that God has given you through that little one. But that little one is going to grow up and become a teenager, and odds are that you are going to have some disagreements (which is probably a nice way to put it). Teenagers often bring their own level of angst and worry to the table, with a dose of “I think my parents are dumb” with it. Far from happiness!

Does that mean that they are no longer a blessing in your life?

You have a job that you enjoy, that puts food on the table and a roof over your head. You tell everyone how blessed you are.  But you get laid off. Does that mean you aren’t blessed anymore?

See, when we over-simplify ideas, we miss some of their beauty. That teenager is still a blessing, albeit one that keeps you up at night! And even though you may suffer a job loss, the path that God is laying out may be filled with blessings you can’t imagine.

Several close friends of ours were laid off in the last few months. But they are still blessed. They have families that love them, and friends ready to help if needed. They have the prayers of their church family. There is struggle, but they are blessed.

Sometimes the struggle is a blessing unto itself.

Remember Stellan, the baby boy with heart problems that I wrote about? (Stellan’s Story) His family is going through a really tough time. Mom is with Stellan in Boston at a hospital while Dad is back home with the other three children in the midwest. They are exhausted and broken. And yet, blessed. And they know it. They look at their little boy and know that God is smiling on them.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, don’t just assume all blessings are easy, wonderful things. Sometimes the road to a blessing is the blessing itself!

To quote the old Almond Joy commercial, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.

Today, I feel like quite the nut!

So, today I thought I would simply pass along a joke that made it’s way to me via a friend. While the story may not be true (I checked!), it’s still timely.

Enjoy the laugh!

In Florida, an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover Holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel.

“Case dismissed!” he bellowed.

The lawyer immediately stood to object, saying “Your Honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas and Easter. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah. Yet my client, and others like him, have no such holidays!”

The judge leaned forward in his chair.

“But you do,” the judge said. “Your client is woefully uninformed.”

The lawer said, “Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.”

The judge said, “The calendar says that April 1st is April Fool’s Day. Psalm 14:1 states ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’ Thus, it is the opinion of this court that if you client says there is no God, he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day.”

Court adjourned!

The alarm went off. After hitting the snooze button a couple of times, I got up. Time to get ready for church.

I stood in my closet for a few minutes, in the middle of all my clothes, and thought “I’ve got nothing to wear.” I rushed down the hall to start getting my little girl dressed for church. I wondered where my husband was… turns out he was downstairs immersed in SportsCenter on TV. I yelled… “Time to get ready, we need to leave in 10 minutes!” I was irritated. How come he had been up for two hours and still hadn’t started getting ready?

I grabbed an outfit for my daughter and hurriedly got her dressed, brushed her teeth and ran a comb through her hair. Where were her shoes? She didn’t know, which probably shot my blood pressure up about 50 points. “Find them!” I barked.

I pushed past my husband in the bathroom to get to the mirror, combed my hair and huffed that we needed to get moving. He said not to worry, we’d be on time. “Hmph,” I thought. On time for him is before the preacher starts the sermon. I want to be there for the music, too.

We got in the car. Dead battery. Figures. We jumped into our other car, but my husband had to go in to get his glasses. “Hurry!” I yelled angrily.

“Yeah, daddy, hurry up!” my five year old said.

“Don’t talk like that to your father,” I said.

“Why not? You do,” she answered.

The alarm went off. The young woman, in her early 20’s, jumped up. Time to go to church. She dressed quickly, then set out into the darkness. She looked over her shoulder a few times as she hurried down the streets. It was a couple of miles to her destination, and she quickened her step. She wanted to be on time.

We pulled into the church parking lot as it started to rain. “Great,” I thought. I grabbed my daughter and pulled her along. My husband went to get seats in the sanctuary as I took our little girl to Sunday School. I pulled her swiftly through the hallways and to her class, put a nametag on her and took off. I heard the guitars and drums playing, the choir singing.

“I knew we would be late,” I thought to myself. I snuck in the back and found my husband. He smiled, but I was too stressed to smile back.

The young woman arrived at a small, non-descript house. After checking over her shoulder one last time, she knocked on the door. It opened, she went in, and was greeted by nine others. All were smiling, welcoming. Hugs all around. She had arrived at church. After a few moments, the group began to sing. No piano, no guitar. Just 10 voices singing to God. Hands lifted to the Lord. Smiles. Praise.

Time for the offering. As the plate was passed, my husband and I realized in our rush we had forgotten our tithe. “Oh well, we’ll make it up next week,” I thought. Besides, with the economy the way it is, skipping a week is understandable. A soloist began singing. I’m sure it was a great song, but I was lost in my thoughts. Had I remembered a jacket for my daughter?

As soon as the preaching began, the woman in front of me pulled out her cell phone. I glanced over and noticed she was playing the game Pac Man. I couldn’t believe she was so obviously not paying attention. Of course, I wasn’t either, but nobody could tell.

The young woman and her friends began studying scripture. They read from the Bible, then discussed what they had read. There was only one Bible for the group. They took turns reading from it, passing it around the room gently, reverently.

Finally, the hymn of invitation. I noticed several people go to the altar to pray as we sang. Then it was over. We picked up our daughter, loaded up the car and went to lunch. Once we got home, we went in three different directions, my husband out to mow the yard, my daughter to play with the little girls next door, and I sat down to pay bills.

Another typical Sunday.

After several hours, the group had a snack. Then it was time for them all to go out into the world around them, the world that said that if they were caught praising God in their “House Church,” they would be sent to jail. They hugged, said a final prayer, and entered out into a land that was hostile to their faith. The young woman walked home, filled with the spirit of God. Full of His love.

Another typical Sunday.

The bold/italicized lines above are fiction, yet also very true. Throughout China, “House Churches” are the only way that Chinese Christians can meet to worship God. They are illegal. While Christianity, itself, is not considered illegal, it is only the official “state” version that is allowed, and it is far from scriptural.

The other story, sadly, is true. It is my story from this past Sunday. I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit it, but I need to admit it. I am far from perfect, but I take so much for granted. If I lived in a country where I had to sneak to worship, would I appreciate it more? Or would I even try?

It may be your story, too.

We can do better. We need to do better.

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…
Jeremiah 1:5a

¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?  Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
Job 31:15

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Psalm 22: 9-10

Today I am angry. Very, very angry.

A friend recently asked me to pray for a young woman that she had heard about. This woman is pregnant, currently at 34 weeks, and the doctors have determined that her child, a girl, will most likely die in utero. Even if the baby makes it to delivery, the likelihood of survival is virtually nil.

The young mother is a Christian with a strong faith. She is broken and broken-hearted, but knows that God is with her and will carry her through this, and stands ready to take her daughter to live with Him.  The mother is active in her church.

And unmarried.

She became pregnant outside of marriage. But this isn’t why I’m angry. I’m angry at what a few of her fellow Christians, her brothers and sisters in Christ, have put her through.

When she found out she was pregnant, more that a few suggested… strongly… that she get an abortion.  When it was determined that her baby would not survive, several suggested that this was God’s way of punishing her.

But she has persevered. And her faith has grown as she has worked her way through this crisis. I would like to excerpt some of her words regarding her feelings, as they are so pure and heartfelt, I could never improve upon them:

We all make mistakes, but God doesn’t. And like I have previously said, I do not believe that God punishes people with babies. I also do not think the answer is ever abortion.

We can’t be “pro-life” but simultaneously shun the girl in the church pew who has repented, but yes, is pregnant (I would go as far as saying we can’t even shun the unrepentive girl in the church pew who is pregnant…). I believe that if we are “pro-life” then we need to make more of an effort to impart life as a core value among our friends, community, churches, etc.

And while I say this being in this situation, I believe it needs to be said regardless. We (meaning specifically the body of Christ/sisters in Christ/fellow mothers/pro-life individuals) need to let those carrying the life know they are loved. The personal discouragement that I felt from “friends” and some within my “church community” this past year was enough to (thankfully, only) almost move me in a different direction. I strongly believe that when a girl is alone, or an unmarried couple is struggling with an unplanned pregnancy - they need support, not judgement. We need to be willing to set aside our own judgements and simply meet them where they are at, not make them feel worse off, less forgiven, more judged than they already feel from within.
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In short, we can’t claim to be “pro-life,” and then be the first to throw the stone at the pregnant woman/unmarried couple facing this kind of situation. Life won’t be valued and had, if the life-carrier (aka the mom), feels no support.

It is true, we make our own choices. I made mine. It is also true that God doesn’t wait until the “crisis” (yes, I did consider my pregnancy such) to warn us. God speaks the truth and His intentions are always clear. He wants to save us from our sins. He tells us as it is, explains how sin will hurt us, and then He offers us a better way. I knew having sex could mean pregnancy. I didn’t listen to Him and I did find myself in crisis. What a lesson in the misunderstanding of the severity of consequences and the power of prevention, right?
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But even in the crisis God is there. All it ever requires is us going back to Him and/or repenting. I think as Christians, we also need to be there. And while I say all of this in regards to being pro-life and pregnant, I think the lesson can be applied across the board. Who are we to judge? Who are we to shun? Who are we to gossip about? When our sin is right there alongside the next persons? Visible, invisible, big, small; sin is sin.
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Truth be told, I am completely incapable of living this life without completing falling on my face, but praise God I have a Savior who died for me. The very blood I made Him bleed, He used to cover me, and you. All our sins. All of them. So… “Knocked up?” … No, just a sinner. Saved by grace. Praise Him.

The scriptures that I included at the top of this post make it clear that the minute, THE VERY SECOND, that our lives are formed, we are His. He knows us. He loves us before our parents even know of our existence.

Yet there is another scripture that I find equally compelling. It is a story so familiar that we skip over it. An adulterous woman brought before our Lord by the leaders of the church. They want Jesus to condemn her. His reaction? Anyone without sin feel free to throw the first rock.

And the leaders skulk off, beaten once again.

But the story doesn’t end there. He looks the woman in the eye. And he tells her that he doesn’t condemn her, either.

¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.

³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, ⁴they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.

⁵“Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?”  ⁶They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.

⁷But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

⁸Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.

¹⁰Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”

¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
John 8: 1-11

I don’t know what the future holds for this young mother and her unborn child. Miracles happen, and I, along with many others who have read her blog, are praying for a miracle. But should God call the little one home, how wonderful that this young mother rests in the arms of our Lord, allowing Him to comfort her.

And how wonderful that her love of and trust in God was not destroyed by those who condemn her.

Click here to read this young mother’s blog, or visit littleoneapril.blogspot.com

⁷We live by faith, not by sight.  2nd Corinthians 5:7

¹Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1

In industry, there is a phrase called “Planned Obsolescence.” The idea is that at some point the consumer will be driven to replace an item to get a newer, better version of the original. For instance, you purchase a car. You buy the car “fully-loaded” with CD player, power windows, heated seats. But in just a couple of years a new model comes out… with a built-in MP3 player, DVD player, satellite radio, hot new body styling.

Suddenly that car you bought just four years ago feels horribly outdated. Instead of being happy with what you have, you crave the new vehicle.

Our faith is like that.

Now, before you think I have lost my mind, think about it.

Our faith is built on something that we cannot physically touch, although we know it is very real. We have an overpowering faith that our God is real, that Jesus is real, that his resurrection is real. While others may doubt, we KNOW! Yet it is still based on faith. Compare it to being pregnant. A mother-to-be can’t look at her tummy and see the baby in her womb. But she feels the kicks, the flips, and sometimes even the hiccups. She has faith that she is not possessed by some alien being, but that a baby is growing inside her.

Faith in God is similar. Maybe we can’t touch Him in a physical sense, but we feel Him, His presence. We have faith.  And yet, at some point that faith will become obsolete.

That’s right. Our God gave us the ability to have faith in Him, with the goal of someday making that faith obsolete.

Because someday our risen Savior will return. We will be able to touch him. We will see the nail-scarred hands. We will look him in the eye. And we will be able to worship at the throne of God. Faith will become sight.

Planned Obsolescence at it’s finest.

Grace Alone

Words and Music by Scott Wesley Brown, Jeff Nelson

Every promise we can make
Every prayer and step of faith
Every difference we can make
Is only by His grace.

Every mountain we will climb
Every ray of hope we shine
Every blessing left behind
Is only by His grace

Grace alone Which God supplies
Strength unknown He will provide
Christ in us, our cornerstone
We will go forth in grace alone.

Every soul we long to reach
Every heart we hope to teach
Everywhere we share His peace
Is only by His grace.

Every loving word we say
Every tear we wipe away
Every sorrow turned to praise
Is only by His grace.

©1998 Maranatha! Music.

As I reflect back on Easter, the real meaning of Easter, I am humbled. When I think about my life, who I am, I am amazed that God loved me… ME! enough to send His son to wash my sinful record clean.

I am a “good” person. I try to be a good wife, mother and friend. I do no intentional harm. I love others, treat everyone with respect. But I am a sinner. A worthless, good for nothing, sinner.

Only God doesn’t see me that way. He doesn’t see me as worthless. He sees me as worth everything! He doesn’t see me as good for nothing. He sees me a good enough to send His only son into the depths of Hell for my salvation, followed by a resurrection so glorious that I am in awe.

How eternal is His wonderful Grace!

It is truly by God’s grace that we are saved. His grace surrounds us. His grace strengthens us when we don’t even know we need that strength. His grace empowers us to overcome obstacles that appear insurmountable, to reach goals that seem unattainable.

God doesn’t have to shed His precious grace on us, but He chooses to do so. And that is where I am humbled. I don’t know why He chose to pour grace onto a world such as ours. I don’t know why He thought we were worth the torment of His son.

But He did.

And He does.

The song Grace Alone is a soft, gentle tune with lyrics that are humbling. Often I listen to it when I am lucky enough to have a moment of study in the word, or even just a quiet few minutes alone in my car. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Click here to listen to Grace Alone on YouTube.

¹After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

⁸So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Matthew 28: 1-10

What a glorious day that was, and is. Jesus Christ, our risen Savior!

Imagine the disbelief of the disciples, followed by amazement and awe at the appearance of Jesus.  If any had lingering doubts, they were erased immediately.

“He is not here,” the angel said.

Sweeter words have never been spoken.

I pray that all Christians today will step back from the garbage that the world has attached to this day, and remember the REAL Easter. The empty tomb. The angel announcing that Christ had risen.

The inescapable fact that our filthy, dirty sins have been washed clean by the blood of the lamb.

Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

⁶²The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Matthew 27:62-65

Imagine what was going through the minds of the disciples on the day after Jesus was crucified and buried. Their beliefs were being tested to the core. Their world had been shaken, perhaps beyond repair. And their lives were in danger.

I imagine them in hiding, wondering where it all went wrong. Even though Jesus had told them that he would rise up again on the third day, they had to have doubts. I imagine a room, a very quiet room. In the course of just a week, they had seen their Saviour enter triumphantly into Jerusalem. They were sure at the time that this was to be his coronation as “King of the Jews.” The main concern among them was who would be Jesus’ second-in-command.

Just a few days later, the same folks that had lauded Jesus upon his arrival were screaming “Give us Barabas!” and “Crucify him!” One of their own, Judas, had been the one to turn Jesus in, for a bagful of silver coins. And now he was dead, too, having hung himself in shame.

And the man they had followed, now he was buried in a tomb, having been murdered in such a monstrous way. Were they next? You know that fear must have been coursing through their bodies and minds.

If sleep came at all, surely it was restless and troubled.

But soon, in just a matter of hours, the unbelievable would become believable.

And the world as they had known it would never be the same again.

¹¹Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

¹⁵Now it was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. ¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” ¹⁸For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

²¹“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.

²²“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). ³⁴There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.³⁶And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁸Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”

⁴¹In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴²“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” ⁴⁴In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

⁵⁰And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵²The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

The Burial of Jesus

⁵⁷As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Matthew 27: 11-61

The cry that Jesus sent up to his Father on this very day, thousands of years ago, can still be heard coming from the mouths of believers:

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

But God had not forsaken His son. Be assured that His heart was breaking. But the Father knew that the Son must die, to save a lost world.

And God has not forsaken us. Through illness, job loss, death, heartbreak and agony, He is with us. His heart breaks for us. But He never leaves us.

Today, as you reflect on that dark day so long ago, remember that on our darkest days, our Father remains beside us.

There are certain things that you can count on occuring during Holy Week, the week that leads up to Easter Sunday:

Television networks will schedule the annual showing of “The Ten Commandments.” (Moses, an Easter tradition… who knew?)

• Churches will be on overload with extra seating, orchestral music, sunrise services.
• Normally sane parents will buy their kids ducks and chicks dyed pink and green.
• Stores will see an increase in the sale of women’s hats and fancy “Easter” dresses.
• Children will be eating chocolate Easter bunnies on Sunday afternoon.
• And one of the major news magazines will run a cover story heralding the death of Christianity.

Over the years we have seen articles asking if Jesus ever existed, if Christianity is just mythology on steroids, and the most famous headline “Is God Dead.”

Newsweek’s cover this week blares in red type “The Decline and Fall of Christian America.” Inside, the headline is even more bleak: The End of Christian America.

Wow.

We have talked here before about how this nation does appear to be moving into a post-Christian time. (Click here to read “Are We a Post-Christian Nation” from November 11, 2008). But what exactly does that mean? The article cites polls that show that people who identify themselves as Christians has fallen 10% in the last two decades. That’s a big drop. When you are about winning souls to the kingdom, finding out that many are turning their backs and walking away is not what you want to hear.

The focus of the article is not on whether Christianity is a dying faith. Rather it seeks to show that Christianity is no longer a major player in social and political life in America. The author, Jon Meacham, sees this as a good thing, believing that our political climate is charged enough without seeking to foist certain beliefs on everyone.

Somewhere, I fear, we have lost our soul.

We have become such a society of “inclusion” that the word has taken on a life of its own. There sometimes seems to be no right or wrong, just right and “those who never caught a break.” For every crime, for every sin, there seems to be an excuse that justifies, or at least attempts to soften, the evil.

Inclusion is a good thing. Jesus was himself inclusive. He didn’t see color, age, religion, or sex. He saw all as people he loved equally. But he also called sin, and sinners, out. We often forget that on Jesus’ visit to the Temple after entering Jerusalem, he called out the Pharisees for what they were doing… using God’s temple for profit:

¹⁵On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, ¹⁶and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. ¹⁷And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written:
” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

¹⁸The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

Mark 11:15-18

Jesus called them on their sin, and immediately the leaders knew he was a threat to them, and that he had to go (which, of course, fulfilled the prophecy from the Old Testament).

Today, when Christians speak out against sin, many times we are reviled, called rigid and uncompromising. But while Jesus calls us to “include” all, he at no point compromised when it came to sin.

We may indeed live in a nation that is “post-Christian.” The signs are there. But that doesn’t mean that we should meekly hide inside our churches and let ourselves be erased out of the equation.

If we want Christian leadership, if we want Christian values, we need to stand up and say so. We need to vote, challenge, and cling to OUR rights. For while the percentage of those who call themselves Christian has dropped 10% in the last 20 years, that leaves more than 75% that still call themselves followers of Christ.

Seems like a majority to me!