God's blessings are constant; as constant as the air we breathe. As constant as the dawning of each new day for His mercies are new every morning. As constant as the changing of the seasons. As constant as His faithfulness to forgive our sins when we confess them. My thankfulness is not as constant. I often drift into a taking for granted mode.
Sometimes God overwhelms us with blessing. I have just experienced one of those overwhelming blessing times. Last Wednesday, our ninth grandchild was born. What a huge blessing and how very grateful we are for her. This was a high risk pregnancy for our daughter-in-law so we had covered these last nine months with extra prayer, and were so very thankful to have our granddaughter so healthy and normal at birth and our daughter -in-law so healthy. However, we were overwhelmed with gratefulness for the safe but abnormal delivery of the baby. Things happened so quickly there was no time to get to the hospital, so our son delivered her at home with the help of a 911 operator. Overwhelming blessing!
Our daughter and son-in-law, who have been in an adoption process and waiting for a baby, received a call Saturday night from their agency in Mississippi that they had a newborn baby girl. So, Laurie, Dax, and children came to our house from Florida last night on their way to Mississippi today to meet and bring home their daughter. We will get to meet grandchild number 10 later this week. Overwhelming blessing!
All of this, along with the season of Easter, has me evaluating and meditating and being immensely humbled. I deserve nothing my God chooses to give me, not the air I breathe, not one more new day's dawning, not His faithfulness, and certainly not the forgiveness of my sin. Yet He chose me before the foundation of the world to be His child and joint heir with His only begotten Son, to be the recipient of the imputed righteousness of this Son through his death and resurrection, and to have the promise of eternal life with Him. Overwhelming blessing!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Meditating on the Cross
It is the week before Easter. I have been reading Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, a wonderful little book edited by Nancy Guthrie and containing parts of sermons and works of 25 classic theologians and contemporary communicators. These meditations focus on the sacrifice Christ made on the cross. I have been overwhelmed in my reading, once again, knowing the sacrifice my Savior made for me on the cross
One of the most meaningful works to me was, "He set His Face to Go to Jerusalem" by John Piper. Luke 9:51 tells us, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." This is Luke's theme for the next 10 chapters. In chapter 19 we read of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and the multitude that greeted him, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" (Luke 19:37-38) They all thought they had their Messiah but their understanding of what this meant certainly missed the mark at this time. Piper says, "...if Jesus had taken his throne on that first day of palms, none of us would ever be robed in white or waving palms of praise in the age to come. There had to be the cross, and that is what the disciples had not yet understood."
He goes on to say that "the misunderstanding of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem results in a misunderstanding of the meaning of discipleship. This is why it is important for us to see, lest we make the same mistake." We know that when Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem", it had a very different meaning for him than it did for his disciples. They had great expectations of what it would mean for Jesus to reign on an earthly throne. For Jesus, the destination of Jerusalem meant certain death.
Piper says, "the surprise about Jesus the Messiah is that he came to live a life of sacrificial, dying service before he comes a second time to reign in glory. And the surprise about discipleship is that it demands a life of sacrificial, dying service before we can reign with Christ in glory... When Jesus set his face to walk the Calvary road, he was not merely taking our place; he was setting our pattern. He is substitute and pace setter."
One of the most meaningful works to me was, "He set His Face to Go to Jerusalem" by John Piper. Luke 9:51 tells us, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." This is Luke's theme for the next 10 chapters. In chapter 19 we read of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and the multitude that greeted him, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" (Luke 19:37-38) They all thought they had their Messiah but their understanding of what this meant certainly missed the mark at this time. Piper says, "...if Jesus had taken his throne on that first day of palms, none of us would ever be robed in white or waving palms of praise in the age to come. There had to be the cross, and that is what the disciples had not yet understood."
He goes on to say that "the misunderstanding of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem results in a misunderstanding of the meaning of discipleship. This is why it is important for us to see, lest we make the same mistake." We know that when Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem", it had a very different meaning for him than it did for his disciples. They had great expectations of what it would mean for Jesus to reign on an earthly throne. For Jesus, the destination of Jerusalem meant certain death.
Piper says, "the surprise about Jesus the Messiah is that he came to live a life of sacrificial, dying service before he comes a second time to reign in glory. And the surprise about discipleship is that it demands a life of sacrificial, dying service before we can reign with Christ in glory... When Jesus set his face to walk the Calvary road, he was not merely taking our place; he was setting our pattern. He is substitute and pace setter."
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