Alone, or Forgiven?

Scripture:
Matthew 27:45-46 (ESV)

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Devotional:

How many times have you felt alone abandoned.  Even God was not around?  There have been a few times in my life I have felt that way.  As Jesus hung on the cross God had left.  He died hanging there utterly alone.  His death upon the cross is what paid the price of our sins.  Through Him we have direct access to God and will live for all eternity in Heaven.  Without Him we will live completely separated for all time. 

The good news is that we do not have to be alone.  In fact God is with us.  Romans 8:38-39, ESV:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Not even Satan can tear us apart from God.  With Christ in us we are never alone.  No matter what we are going through God is with us.  God will help us through tough times.  He will strengthen us and support us. 

No matter our sin, we can be forgiven.  We still have to pay the consequences of our sin but we have forgiveness.  Jesus died so that we might live.  The wages of sin is death.  All have sinned and fall short.  Jesus paid the price…  We are forgiven…

Status Quo, or Jesus's Best?

Scripture:

Matthew 26:1-5 (ESV)

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

Devotional:

Jesus had to go.  The Pharisees and chief priests wanted Jesus out of the picture for good.  After all He was changing everything.  Jesus challenged them to their very core.  Status quo had changed and Jesus was to blame.  By getting rid of Him they could go back to the way it was.  They wouldn’t have to give up any power or make any life changes.

Do you feel that way sometimes?  What challenges you?  What is it that you might be fighting against?  We tend to like the way things are.  We might have power, prestige, money that we don’t want to give up.  Maybe we have something special we just love.  Maybe it is our way of life.  Whatever it is we like it.  Then all of a sudden Jesus comes along and threatens it all.  So we think…

For years we lived in Senoia.  We had a house I loved.  After all I designed an addition, it had a great private yard.  To me it was almost perfect.  I couldn’t even think about moving.  All of a sudden out of nowhere we are moving.  Long story short I had my view of what was best.  I didn’t want to change.  God wasn’t going to force a change on me, or my family.  In fact over the years He graced us and blessed us in our home.  However, when it was decided to move I found something better. 

God has what is best in store for each of us.  It is when we are stuck where we are that we miss out.  Jesus comes along and we shout out that He must go.  I like it the way it is.  It is perfect, so I thought.  We have a choice to make.  We can accept what Jesus has to offer or keep things status quo.  We can settle for what we think is best.  The other option is to accept Jesus’s best for us.

The chief priests thought Jesus had to go.  They crucified him.  What will you do?

Death Knocks

Scripture:

Revelation 6:7-8 (NIV)

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Devotional:

One thing is for sure; death does knock on your door.  The question is when.  Listening to the news you hear about someone being killed.  This group slaughtered a bunch of people.  In the nineteen hundreds we had World War One, World War Two, Korean War, oh wait it was a conflict, Vietnam.  Finally in the late eighties and nineties there was the Golf War.  This doesn’t cover all the conflicts or wars.  Scores of people were either hurt or killed, and not just soldiers either.  Today it seems things are just getting worse.

In any of these events people thought for sure the end was here and it was the “End Times.”  Some people think we have been going through Revelation for generations now.  In fact some of the events in Revelation have already taken place.  To be honest I don’t think it matters where we are in the timeline.  A few things I do know.  One is that God is in control.  He is the master planner and no one is greater than He is.  Second, we must be prepared.  We need to live each day as if it were the last.  1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 (ESV):

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

We have been told more than once that Jesus will return unexpectedly.  We also know that there will be death.  There will be wars and rumors of wars all the way until the end. 

One thing you can count on, God.  He is steadfast, trustworthy, reliable, loving, merciful, and most of all in control.  There have been wars and conflicts in the past.  There will be more wars and conflicts in the future.  Through it all Death does come knocking in times of war as well as times of peace.  I do believe when the sixth seal is unbroken it will be unlike anything else we have ever seen. 

The Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared”

Feast, Famine, Salvation

Scripture:
Revelation 6:5-6 (NKJV)

When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.

Devotional:

Reading commentaries and listening to what people say you can get various interpretations.  Some people believe that we are going through the various seals even today.  Other people believe it is all still to come.  In some ways the Roman Empire brought a false sense of peace to parts of the world in those days.  After World War One and World War Two there was another false sense of peace.  We have had wars and rumors of wars all through the ages.  Some minor and some worldwide.  

In Verses five and six we are faced with famine and scarcity of food.  In the United States, and several other countries, there is an abundance of food, for most families.  In other parts of the world people are dying of starvation every day.  It seems that the cost for just enough food for one person to survive is outrageously high.  I look at what it costs today for bread and milk among other groceries and I think it is outrageous.  I find myself doing what I said I would never do.  I compare prices from when I was young to what they are today.  After all when I was first married you could buy bread and milk for under a dollar each, OK milk might have been as much as a dollar fifty.  Today depending on the brand of milk you can spend well over four dollars, on average about three and a half dollars.  Bread is now easily over two dollars for a loaf, I have seen it as high as three dollars.

The point is not the actual cost of the bread or milk.  We have seen skyrocketing price increases over the last several years.  There have been wars and conflicts on the rise.  Even natural disasters appear to have gotten worse.  You certainly think the end is coming.  I am not going to say we are or are not going through the various stages of the seals.  What this tells me is that time is getting short.  Regardless of which stage we may or may not be in one thing is clear.  We must reach out to the unsaved before it is too late. Christians cannot afford to sit on the sidelines leaving the work for someone else.  Christians need to step up and do their part in making a difference.  We can be that difference for someone having food to eat, or a place to sleep.  What one person does today can change hundreds of lives not only today but for weeks, months, even generations down the line.  

One person can and does make a difference.  Even if by reaching out you only change one life you made a difference.  One life would be saved.  Who knows how many lives that one life might change?  For every life saved there will be celebration in Heaven…