LOVE MADE HIM DO IT!

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (ROMANS 8:18)

Today as we celebrate Palm Sunday, I cannot imagine the anguish and the love that Jesus felt as he rode into Jerusalem, knowing full well that he would not leave this city again – on foot.

The love carried that man in, not so much the donkey. Everything we read about this day was prophesied, thanks to the promises from God the Father.

As the crowds cheered and lay down palms and their own clothes while he entered the city to his trial and death, he knew full well that many of these same people smiling at him now would be yelling ‘Crucify Him!’ inside of five more sunrises.

Yet he kept going forward.

Not many of us would keep walking forward if we knew death was waiting.  Most would try to divert the inevitable.

Would you do that for someone, suffer excruciating pain for people you don’t know whom at some point didn’t believe in you or even cursed you?

Besides the pain and suffering he knew he would suffer and why he had to do it, he also knew the full picture of what came after that.

And so can we. Because he went right into the city and put himself in harms way out of his love for us, we can look forward to what is to come.

Honestly, I find life can be exhausting and most of it ridiculously stressful. Why do I need to keep up with the world’s constantly changing standards of what’s cool and good to be accepted by a world that keeps getting in more trouble?  (Ecc 1:2)

And for what? To lose it, have it stolen, broken, put in the closet and the fad had passed?

Most of us now are just barely getting by, or not at all making ends meet. We toil and work our butts off for a small piece of the good life.  We try to do the right thing and provide something for the kids, a little time away for ourselves. Hopefully during that time the bills get paid and no one gets sick.  (Colossians 3:23-24)

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit has a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun? (Ecc 12:8)

THE LONGEST TRIP HE EVER TOOK

Jesus went before us as promised. It wasn’t the biggest city at the time, and not as populated as it is now. He knew that his Father had a plan and he would sit with God forever after this painful and exhausting long week.

He took your sins onto himself. Your love of the flesh is what sent him here and what killed him. He was betrayed by those close to him, his relationships were denied by his inner circle, His followers scattered, then he was mocked, lashed, stripped, burdened with a heavy cross to carry, he had iron stakes hammered into his hands and feet, and a crown of thorns was placed on his already bloody head.  Then he faced more of it as he hung in agony and waited to die.

That is a long walk into a week he knew would be pure hell!

I know I voice my discouragement on a long commute with expensive fuel, those work weeks that drag on forever, and the stress of working with the public, then I get to enjoy 2 fleeting days of trying to rest and get house stuff done before I have to do it again.

And yet that is nothing compared to what my Savior faced that week.

FINISHING THE RACE

On Good Friday, Jesus brought a believer back to Heaven with him that same day, the guy hanging on the cross next to him. (Luke 23:42-43)

How close that man had come to being condemned forever!  Within the hour he was redeemed because Jesus took the penalty for his sin upon himself as the man confessed belief at the last second.

How close are you to being condemned, knowing that in just a moment from a bad accident or sudden heart failure – it will be too late?

Jesus went and did the ransom for us – out of PURE LOVE.  He could have called Angels to come help him but he knew the redemption for all believers had to happen. (Luke 19: 38)

He also promised that he would go ahead and make a place for us in His Father’s House, a safe place with many rooms.

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you , I will come back and take you  with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:2-3

What we have to look forward to is our resurrection. We will be changed in the blink of an eye, we will be changed out of our tired old bodies into a new one, like Jesus. (1Cor 15:52)

Free of work, fear, pain, sickness, sadness, being robbed, hunted, stuffed with all kinds of meds/drugs, addictions and hate.

We can have that for eternity to anticipate and enjoy!

WHAT IS YOUR PASSION?

There were two other guys on the cross next to Jesus. One went with him, and the other didn’t.  Which one are you right now?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  (JOHN 3:16-19)

If you feel encouraged by what you are reading, please hit subscribe – there’s no fee!

Hope to see you soon!

J-