All in Christian
When God sends a messenger to you in times of trouble are you comforted? When an Angel stands beside you and reassures you when you are frightened do you take heart? When you are in a bad spot, and God’s Word leaps from the pages of the Bible telling you not to fear, and that all will be well, do you have faith in that message? What about the whispered words of His will that come when all is well, and the night is still? Are you listening?
Is there an open road between you and God, or must you traverse the wilderness each time you want to visit, or speak with Him? When we become a frequent visitor somewhere, we look to make a straight road to our destination, and pave it with smooth stones. This is what incessant prayer does for us... it takes a rugged and wild way, and builds a road through that wilderness of sin; it makes our traveling towards God, and His return visits to us smooth and easy.
Do we who are sinners mock Jesus as we carry forth our sins towards imminent death? In these, the final days before Easter, do we look at the sacrifice of Jesus and forget that it isn’t just He who hung on that cross, but we as well? Jesus didn’t instruct us to pick up our own cross, and follow Him, simply as a symbol, but by it we will suffer, and die to this world, as He did... and if faithful, be resurrected alongside Him as well.
Do you make excuses for your sins? Do you try to justify them in some concocted way hoping that God might have been looking the other way when you transgressed? Well, you might convince those around you, but the fact remains... their judgement of you counts for nothing. You might tell the lie long enough that you even forget the truth, but God’s memory is perfect. So now is the time to honestly face your sins, and go to your knees before God.
Are you afraid to leave home and travel with Jesus? When He calls out to you how do you react? If you were standing on the street corner and Jesus walked by saying “Follow me!” What would you do? Would you pretend you didn’t know Him? What if He only wanted you to go downtown, and serve a meal at the local soup kitchen? Answering the call of Christ means leaving our comfort zone... it also means changing something about ourselves so that we become more like Him.
When we suffer it is natural to want that pain to be gone. Some, in the midst of their travail, will ask the Lord to remove that burden from them, and even question His motive, or goodness. They say “Why would a God of mercy and love do such a thing to us? Why would Jesus tell us to take up our cross?”, and their experience with suffering and death shakes their faith. Yet we are meant to suffer alongside Jesus, and the cross we bear leaves a crimson stain across our backs... His. This is our mark of faith, and promise of eternal glory.
Are you fretting over your lack of spiritual perfection? Are you standing on the verge of abandoning your faith because you feel like you keep tripping over the world, and can’t live without sinning? Well, take heart, because you are no different than Peter, Paul, or John, who also sinned, yet just like them you are made perfect... not by your own works and doing, but by the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ. Jesus has shouldered your sin so that you have become pure in God’s eyes.
There is sin in the life of each of us, and we struggle with it. What are we to do with this albatross that hangs around our neck? How can we free ourselves from the stench of it? With such a detestable burden, we are fortunate that God sent His Son Jesus to relieve us of it, but the cost to Himself was enormous. When we look at the passion of Christ do we see the enormity of the effort... the true grace revealed in His suffering?
When you are praying, and the Lord is speaking to you concerning His will, what do you say? Whenever God speaks; do you talk over Him? There is a time for us to speak, and a time for us to hush and simply listen. Do you know when to speak up, and when to remain silent in prayer? There is an art to conversation... especially with God.
Do you say that you have already done God’s will, and are resting for a time, that you are presently doing God’s will, or that tomorrow you will set out to earnestly do God’s will? In so saying we need to understand time, and what it means when we say these things... one is gone, one is active, and the other a dream. Where do you serve God? Where do you tend to His will? Where do you live your life?
Some hold a crucifix, or gaze upon a painting of our Lord hanging in agony or death upon the cross, and shield themselves from the intensity of His suffering, and thus of the true extent of the price that was paid... they miss the sweet peace we should accept from His dying hand. Heaven forbid that we, like them, should look dismissively upon our salvation, or take it ever so lightly into our lives. Have you taken your gift of redemption, and turned your face from the wound of that moment, and the life it took to secure it; do you drink the watery sap from His side without weeping in a combination of sorrow and gratitude at the spectacle? Do you miss what should come to be the syrup of your faith?
Are you living an exemplary life of faith, and do you take pride in this? Do you look down on those who are less perfect, and lord over them in piety? Let me ask you one question... at what point has Jesus made you feel like less? As He walks with you, a sinner, He doesn’t talk down to you, or gloat about His perfection, He speaks to you with His arm around your shoulder, or while sitting at your table; so who are we to elevate ourselves?
Do you suffer and not understand why God allows it to happen? Do you experience misery in your life, or see it in others, and ask God in prayer to remove this from you, or from those you intercede for in prayer? Well, as men it is natural for us to wince and withdraw from pain, but as faithful creatures it brings us to perfection in our faith, obedience, and prayers for the suffering and afflicted. How perfect are you being made? How perfect are your prayers?
Do you wake up every morning feeling like you are trapped in a dying body, a body steeped in death? How is it that a war so violently rages within you between the spiritual within and the physical that is without? You are not alone in this conflict between righteousness and sin, but there is assurance of your victory in Jesus. Do not feel like a prisoner of the world when our savior Jesus Christ has set all captives free.
When things get tough regarding your faith how do you go about handling the situation? If challenged or threatened because you are a Christian do you stand by your faith, go to your prayer closet, or run away from it altogether? Not all threats are of bodily violence or death; some are merely the fear of being ostracized, made fun of, or maybe being passed over for promotion at work. Fear of ridicule and failure can be just as effective as bodily harm to the steadfastness of our faith. Are you one of the apostles that ran away, or more like Peter who denied Jesus?