"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." I Corinthians 11:26
We have been traveling over the Memorial Day weekend, and as I determined to meditate daily on the cross, I found myself meditating on Memorial Day more than usual. Like most Americans, I see Memorial Day as the official beginning of summer, a day for travel, picnics, friends and family, not really a day to remember war dead. Somehow the whole idea of remembering the war dead seems a bit macabre, so I find it easier to avoid thinking about it at any length.
As I faced this for the first time at least consciously, I realized that this is the same thing I have been doing with the cross of Christ. Yet, Paul in Corinthians seems to suggest that the death of Jesus on the cross is something to be proclaimed. When I take communion, I tend to focus on the personal - that is, on my salvation - more than on the Lord's sacrifice. I feel a warm feeling of resting in His love, but I rarely think of this time as a proclamation. A proclamation seems to me to be anything but warm and fuzzy. In this situation it is a bold statement of what God has done - JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS TO SAVE SINNERS!
Help me, Father God, to boldly proclaim the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to embrace the very essential deathness of Your gift, to never hide from the baldness of truth behind a fuzzy warm feeling of affection for such a terrible sacrifice!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Determinate Plan of God
"this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23
I wonder what it was like to know the cause and arrangements for your death for an eternity. Somehow I had never thought of this passage from God's perspective before. In the past I have thought of it from my perspective. That is, I would get sort of a chill-thrill at the thought that God had planned my salvation before any of my ancestors were born.
But today I was struck by the realization that God the Father had to live with the certainty of His Son's death for eternity past. And God the Son had to live with the realization that He would face the ultimate punishment for sin, even though sin had never even been in or on Him. And the Holy Spirit would have to face a separation within the Godhead. OK, so I don't have any concept of how an Eternal God experiences the passage of time, but this passage says that this was PREdetermined and FOREknown, so therefore there must be some sort of time involved. Did God the Father feel dread; did the Son go through the stages of grief; did the Holy Spirit of God wonder what it would be like for the Godhead to experience such separation? I have always considered it a blessing that I do not know when or how I will die. But God did not have that. He knew.
I cannot know fully the answers to these questions. But I do know that Jesus "endured" the cross, that He "despised shame". So at least to the Man Jesus, this was not an easy solution. Was it also hard for the Godhead in anticipation of the event as well as during it?
What is my response? Lord, I love You for taking my place there on the cross, for bearing all my guilt. Help me to be amazed each day at Your love, Your grace, Your goodness as I meditate on the cross!
I wonder what it was like to know the cause and arrangements for your death for an eternity. Somehow I had never thought of this passage from God's perspective before. In the past I have thought of it from my perspective. That is, I would get sort of a chill-thrill at the thought that God had planned my salvation before any of my ancestors were born.
But today I was struck by the realization that God the Father had to live with the certainty of His Son's death for eternity past. And God the Son had to live with the realization that He would face the ultimate punishment for sin, even though sin had never even been in or on Him. And the Holy Spirit would have to face a separation within the Godhead. OK, so I don't have any concept of how an Eternal God experiences the passage of time, but this passage says that this was PREdetermined and FOREknown, so therefore there must be some sort of time involved. Did God the Father feel dread; did the Son go through the stages of grief; did the Holy Spirit of God wonder what it would be like for the Godhead to experience such separation? I have always considered it a blessing that I do not know when or how I will die. But God did not have that. He knew.
I cannot know fully the answers to these questions. But I do know that Jesus "endured" the cross, that He "despised shame". So at least to the Man Jesus, this was not an easy solution. Was it also hard for the Godhead in anticipation of the event as well as during it?
What is my response? Lord, I love You for taking my place there on the cross, for bearing all my guilt. Help me to be amazed each day at Your love, Your grace, Your goodness as I meditate on the cross!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Day 2 on the Cross Way
"this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23
"The predetermined plan" of God. The cross was no accident. But my approach to life is pretty accidental most of the time. That is, I tend to be spontaneous and will do just about anything on the spur of the moment. Once our family was driving to New England for a vacation and before we had gone three miles, I had suggested camping at Assageague Island along the way, even though Assateague was hours out of the way. That was 2 days after we had decided to go to NE instead of Florida. Another time we "stopped by" New Jersey on our way home to the Midwest from Florida. Still another time we (two adults and a teenager) camped out in our subcompact car on a mountain in France because we had neglected to make reservations for a hotel the first weekend in August. Now, here's the problem: Although we love the adventures that my impulsiveness provides, I have come to realize that spontaneity in seeking God is just not working well.
So for years I read through the Bible faithfully; starting again as soon as I finished. Ah, DISCIPLINE! But that got boring and I realized that my intimacy with my loving Father was suffering. So then I started reading one passage until I got as much as possible out of that. Some days I would read one verse or one phrase only and meditate on it. That helped for awhile, but eventually, once again I found that it was a chore, rather than a delight. So next I tried saying to myself, "Bible reading and time with the Lord is not a chore to be accomplished, so I will try skipping days so that my time with the Lord is spontaneous." Well, all I can say is that I think my Enemy liked that one a lot, because I found myself spending less and less time with my Lord.
This blog is my next step. I realized that if God planned the crucifixion from the ages past, then He values planning and goal setting. So I am going to commit myself to writing once a day and posting thoughts on the cross for a year. I will meditate on at least one passage per day and report here on my progress.
"The predetermined plan" of God. The cross was no accident. But my approach to life is pretty accidental most of the time. That is, I tend to be spontaneous and will do just about anything on the spur of the moment. Once our family was driving to New England for a vacation and before we had gone three miles, I had suggested camping at Assageague Island along the way, even though Assateague was hours out of the way. That was 2 days after we had decided to go to NE instead of Florida. Another time we "stopped by" New Jersey on our way home to the Midwest from Florida. Still another time we (two adults and a teenager) camped out in our subcompact car on a mountain in France because we had neglected to make reservations for a hotel the first weekend in August. Now, here's the problem: Although we love the adventures that my impulsiveness provides, I have come to realize that spontaneity in seeking God is just not working well.
So for years I read through the Bible faithfully; starting again as soon as I finished. Ah, DISCIPLINE! But that got boring and I realized that my intimacy with my loving Father was suffering. So then I started reading one passage until I got as much as possible out of that. Some days I would read one verse or one phrase only and meditate on it. That helped for awhile, but eventually, once again I found that it was a chore, rather than a delight. So next I tried saying to myself, "Bible reading and time with the Lord is not a chore to be accomplished, so I will try skipping days so that my time with the Lord is spontaneous." Well, all I can say is that I think my Enemy liked that one a lot, because I found myself spending less and less time with my Lord.
This blog is my next step. I realized that if God planned the crucifixion from the ages past, then He values planning and goal setting. So I am going to commit myself to writing once a day and posting thoughts on the cross for a year. I will meditate on at least one passage per day and report here on my progress.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Why the Cross
"I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
I long for renewed intimacy with the Father and with His Son, but it constantly seems to elude me. Yesterday, I was thinking about this verse while driving to Dulles to pick up a student friend and decided to blog the Cross daily for a year. Is this the key to intimacy? Paul seemed to think so when he said that he did not want anything for the Corinthians except this one thing.
I have no idea whether anyone will come along for the ride and really do not care whether anyone does or not. This will be my blog to re-find intimacy with the Father. If you are seeking the same, you may want to come along on my journey, or share some of your journey with me.
So how can the cross lead me to intimacy? I can see several potential paths: One is that I cannot come to the cross without looking at myself and my own sinfulness. Looking at that may be somewhat uncomfortable, but I hope I will be honest enough to expose myself to the piercing love of the cross. Another is that I cannot come to the cross without wonderful gratitude for the sacrifice par excellence. For me, at least, gratitude leads directly to intimacy as it reshapes my thinking away from myself and onto my Beloved. Yet another path is through understanding time and eternity. The cross stands at the pivot of time - everything before it rotates toward it; everything after it revolves backward to it. I feel sure I will find many more entries to intimacy as I think about the Cross.
CrossCatcher
I long for renewed intimacy with the Father and with His Son, but it constantly seems to elude me. Yesterday, I was thinking about this verse while driving to Dulles to pick up a student friend and decided to blog the Cross daily for a year. Is this the key to intimacy? Paul seemed to think so when he said that he did not want anything for the Corinthians except this one thing.
I have no idea whether anyone will come along for the ride and really do not care whether anyone does or not. This will be my blog to re-find intimacy with the Father. If you are seeking the same, you may want to come along on my journey, or share some of your journey with me.
So how can the cross lead me to intimacy? I can see several potential paths: One is that I cannot come to the cross without looking at myself and my own sinfulness. Looking at that may be somewhat uncomfortable, but I hope I will be honest enough to expose myself to the piercing love of the cross. Another is that I cannot come to the cross without wonderful gratitude for the sacrifice par excellence. For me, at least, gratitude leads directly to intimacy as it reshapes my thinking away from myself and onto my Beloved. Yet another path is through understanding time and eternity. The cross stands at the pivot of time - everything before it rotates toward it; everything after it revolves backward to it. I feel sure I will find many more entries to intimacy as I think about the Cross.
CrossCatcher
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