Reminders

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Hebrews 12:1-2

     Sometimes, I just need to be reminded of what I am doing, where I am going, and of Whom I am following to get there. I have been having one of those times of reminding lately; a time when God has been patiently waiting for the fog of sickness and busy-ness to clear so that I can see Him clearly once again and get back into step. This is a time when He is faithfully reminding me of who I am and Who He is to me so that once my head stops spinning, I will be looking, not for something new or some further distraction, but for Him. A time when He is reminding me of the ultimate goal of this journey that I am on.

     Today's passage is special to me because it was the inspiration for this blog, the source of its title, and also serves as a kind of a perpetual reminder of what my business is on this largish, whirling ball of rock and water. It reminds me that my life--my marriage, my home school, my child raising, everything--is a sort of race. I have trained for it even before I had a hint that I might be doing it, and to finish it will take more than merely doing my best. It will take an endurance that is far beyond me. It will take me looking to Jesus--fixing my eyes on Him so firmly that all else fades into black and I keep going, not from any strength of will that is left to me but because the vision of Glory at the end of the tunnel that perpetually draws me homeward.    

     It is not just the reminder of the Purpose of the race, however. I also love the bit right before that, though--the bit about laying aside every weight and sin that clings so closely. This is a reminder to me of the two things that hinder me in the completion of this race. One is sin, naturally. The sin I allow myself to become mired in does cling like so much heavy mud, impeding my ability to press onward toward my goal, at times even constraining me to the point of a spiritual immobility. I can become confined by my own sin, imprisoned. Yet because Christ has set me free from the bondage to sin, it is a prison I allow. I love the reminder that I do not have to submit to to sin's claim of mastery. I belong to the Lord who give Himself for me, and so thanks to His power at work on my behalf, I can lay the encumbrance of sin aside--an action that does not connote great effort but merely decision. Thanks to Him I am free, so I ought to run as only a free woman can run.

     But its the other thing--the laying aside of every weight--that I find I need the most frequent need of reminding. I do often allow myself to become The Greek word translated as "weight" is transliterated ogkos, and according to Thayer's dictionary means, "...Protuberance, bulk, mass... hence, a burden, weight, encumbrance." Why, when I read that definition, do I hear so clearly Jesus' words, "Take my yoke upon you...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light?" Besides the weight of sin which I allow to inhibit me in my progress down the path, there are the many burdens I heap on that are not necessarily sin but are not explicitly given to me by God either. They are the bulky items I add to my agenda, the clutter I place in my priorities list, when I see spare time in the schedule given to me by my Father.

     It is my tendency to look at the Divnely appointed task list I am given and think, "Is that all?" and so feel quite justified in embellishing or adding on a little thing here and there until I find that I am no longer running freely, but fettered by chains of my own making. Once I am so heavily laden that my race has become more of a plod or a sluggish crawl, He will step in and remind me that I am only responsible for the things He has given me to do. Even if that means saying "no" to other people, it is not to them that I must ultimately answer, but to Him. And when He provides room for rest, it is not helpful for me to fill it with activity. In fact, this is where doing good things crosses the line to sinful, for that space in my agenda was given to me, not for my own selfish purposes, but for me to spend with my Lord; listening, learning, soaking in His presence. It is His space I am filling, and in doing so I am crowding Him out of my schedule when He desires me to sit at His feet and listen for a time.

    This over-scheduling is an insanity, but one I hope I am finally recognizing and will be able to thwart in the future. For I do find in my times of self-imposed busy-ness, the one thing I miss most is those long and leisurely hours spent with my Father, meditating on His word, listening to His soft voice, or even merely reveling in His great Presence. There is a reason He does not call me to do all the work that needs to be done. It is not all my place to do. It is my place to listen and to obey, to do all the work assigned to me heartily as to Him and not to man, and to remember that He is the goal, the purpose, and the stimulation for the endurance needed to finish this race. By His grace, I will finish it, and I will finish it for Him.

     Sometimes, I need that reminder.
   

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalms 127:1-2

  

Priorities

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 

Micah 6:7-8

     I don't know about you, but I often find myself in a hurry these days. Or at least I did until God sat me down firmly and reminded me of what my duty is to Him. You see, though my heart desires to follow His priorities alone for my life, I often find that there is another, more earthly portion of my heart that wants to please others, or perhaps to look good, or some other, less noble motive. That is the part of me that struggles to say "no" to scheduling items, the part that wants to make sure my home-schooled kids are involved in enough activities, the part of me that, flatly stated, does not trust God enough to follow Him and Him alone but rather adds to the agenda He has given me so that it appears (to me) more well-rounded and fleshed out. Fleshed out, indeed, for it is simply works of the flesh that I add in; they have no spiritual merit or use to my Lord at all. He has given me the work that I need to do, but I continually struggle with a tendency to want to "improve" the list He has given me.

     Very recently, I have found myself in this place again. In addition to our regular schooling, we attended tutorial this year, were involved in activities in 4-H, took care of our house and large lot, and kept up our commitment to church and to family in another city. That may not sound like much compared to the typical American family involved in multiple sports and extra-curricular activities, but for our rather easily frazzled family, it was a lot. Bear in mind, too, that I was not merely substituting my own agenda for God's, but adding to it. With all of this, we rarely missed our daily Bible reading as a family, our family prayer times, our commitments to ministry both small and large. These things are often unseen, but I knew somewhere in my heart that they were non-negotiable. And so, rather than drop them, I added to them until my daily schedule had very little margin time, very little time to sit at the feet of my Lord and listen. In fact, the Bible reading often became a mere check-list item and not a time of spiritual nourishment and refreshment.  In adding to God's agenda, I found myself in the same sinful state as if I had dropped His priorities altogether.

     Then there is the simple issue of health and how each of us is constructed differently. With all the bustle of this school year, I did fine for the first semester, but once I caught my first cold, I never really shook it and have had a variety of relatively minor (thanks to modern medicine) but still cumulatively debilitating illnesses. I am simply not able to keep up the modern pace, perhaps in part due to the one-two punch of meningitis followed by childbirth years ago, perhaps simply because it is how God reminds me to focus on Him. I do not know why--I only know that it is a fact that I really cannot escape.  That more tangible fact coupled with the knowledge that I tend to become less joyful and gentle and more hateful and grouchy when I am overly busy leads me to the certain conclusion that I am not designed to live the fast-paced modern lifestyle.

     As for my kids--well, it is much the same with them. Their physical health does not suffer as much, but they become more snippy with one another, less focused on the Lord, less obedient and more sassy with me when they are over-scheduled. The most difficult realization of this lesson to me was the realization that I had prioritized worldly values over Godly ones when it came to the teaching and training of my children. I had a soul-sickness, and I dragged my children along with me in my incessant attempts to measure up. I have seen a change in their focus, too. Less focus on the task at hand and more on what is coming next--as if I were training them not only to be busy but creating an addiction to busy-ness that increased as we became busier. Instead of creating a sense of satisfaction once the activity was over, they began to immediately ask about the next thing to come as soon as one was complete. It reminded me of junkies in need of a fix, and while it did not bother me in myself, it appalled me in my children. In order to achieve some self-imposed standard of what a good home school mom should do, I had given my kids to feed this monster of appearance within. I had figuratively sacrificed the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul.

     The funny thing is, I did not think we were over scheduling this year at all. That is why I found myself adding to God's agenda liberally and even with relish. And He let me, likely because, in His wisdom, He knew that I would respond to the more concrete facts than a simple command. I am much like my own children--I often need the consequence to see why I should have listened in the first place. That is a humbling realization.

     The fact of the matter is this: There are many good things to occupy my time and a veritable wealth of good things for me to get my kids involved in. As a home school mom, I often feel pressure to make sure my kids' education is comprehensive and balanced, to make certain they are not falling behind in a fast-paced society; in essence, I feel pressured, to use a cliche, to "keep up with the Joneses." This is not, in itself, wrong. I also feel pressure to make sure I measure up in ministry--that I am engaged in my quota of discipleship and missions-minded ministry activities. This also is not, in itself, wrong. But neither is it wrong to have a simple life, quiet time to listen to the Lord or reflect on His word, time to simply be and not just rush from one task to the next. It is not only not wrong, but critical, when that is precisely what He commands.

     The problem arises when I am given a Divine instruction, and instead of simple obedience, I embellish; when I think my marching orders look bare and stark, and so I touch it up here and tack on a little accessory ministry item there. At that point, while I may give every outward appearance of the good and faithful servant, I have in reality crossed the line from obedient child to disobedient rebel, albeit subtly and with the best of intentions. I have left the feet of Jesus and given in the  insistence of Martha that I get off my indolent rear and help her with the work, for goodness' sake. I have forgotten what is required of me. I do have work to do, but it is not always the work I believe should be done. It is simple, really: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with my God.  Not run ahead or lag behind, but with Him, every day, every step of the way.

     O Lord, help me not to take for granted the simplicity of the commands You give me. An act of obedience to You, however small it may appear to my own eyes, is still a far more noble thing than any good deed done in defiance of Your express command and wish. Help me no longer to crowd out Your voice with my rushing about. Help me to teach my children the difficult priority of making abundant room for You in our lives even when it requires a sacrifice of many other good things and especially when it means sacrificing the way we appear to others for the sake of obeying You.
      Make my heart long far more to please You than it does to please man. Remove from me the tendency to want to put what others think I should do--even others within Your Church--over what You have told me to do. Especially, Lord, I repent that it is often my own perception that lays this burden on me and not actual pressure from other people, for it is my anxious comparison of myself to others that cause me to over schedule and not scorn from them. It is all me, Lord, and I take full responsibility for this sin. Forgive me and help me to put You first in all things, even when it means that my schedule looks much emptier than I think it should. Even if I do receive criticism or contempt from others, give me the strength to be obedient to You first and foremost.  Help me to trust You enough to obey You explicitly, as a woman, as a mother, as a wife, and as a teacher. May my life be lived to Your glory alone, amen. 

Encouragement from Hebrews

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things--things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:9-20

     I love that the author of this letter followed his very stern warnings with some equally strong encouragement. He reminds us of the patience of Abraham, who received the promise but not in the timing that our American minds would find convenient or acceptable. The fact is that our microwave society chafes at waiting for anything: We press the buttons on the elevator again because the door did not pop open at our behest, we groan when a program does not instantly load on our computer or phone, we pray and wonder if God is listening because the answer to our prayer was not waiting for us neatly tied up in a shiny ribbon the moment we opened our eyes.
   
     But there are things worth waiting for.This passage not only encourages the readers that the author, while concerned, does believe that they truly do have a commitment to Christ, it also serves as a reminder that He is worth the wait. After all, Abram waited 25 years on the promised heir, he obeyed and waited faithfully up to the very moment of wielding the knife for God to provide protection for that promise, and he died not seeing the land promise fulfilled but understanding that it would be fulfilled to his descendants.

     There was an even greater promise given to Abraham; the promise that through him, all the nations would be blessed (see Gen. 22:18, 26:4). That promise was certainly not fulfilled in his lifetime, nor even in many lives of his children and grandchildren. It was centuries in coming, but as God is faithful and cannot deceive but is always true to His word, the promise was fulfilled.  And Abraham saw it.

     We know this because Jesus told it to an increasingly hostile crowd. In John 8:56, He said to them, "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad."  This riled the group so much that they attempted to stone Him, but He had already left. We can see in these words a glimpse of the magnitude of the promises of God and of their longevity. We can see our own impatience and selfishness, often believing that all promises have everything to do with us right now and forgetting that sometimes they have more to do with all His Kingdom and with generations that may come from us.

     And so "we have this sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf." We can be encouraged that God has never forgotten His promise and that He never will. We can be reminded that it sometimes takes patience,a  patience far above what we are accustomed to exhibiting. When we do not see His promises fulfilled in our time frame, or even within our lifespan, we can cling to the reminders throughout the Scripture that He is faithful and just, and that He has never once gone back on a promise. We can remember Peter's words: "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

     Lord, teach us to be patient and to trust in the surety of Your promises. Forgive us for doubt and help us to be encouraged that You are not forgetful, but that You are patient and compassionate with more than just us and our small spheres of influence. Give us Your patience and help us to cling to the steadfast hope we have in Christ, that You will always come through and Your promises are a guarantee that we can build our lives upon, an unshakable rock that will stand the storms and the test of time. Amen. 

     

Warnings from Hebrews

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. 

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Hebrews 5:11-6:8

     This is a pretty humbling section of the letter, and one that is pertinent to at least the general American church today. It is pertinent also to me. It is probably pertinent to you. Nothing in it is easy to hear, however, it has been my experience that it is not in the slaps on the back that I grow the most (with the exception of my pride), but in the areas where I have failed and must try harder to achieve the goal. When I am lazy, I do not need someone coming alongside me to tell me it is OK, that I deserve it, that we all need a break sometimes. It may be nice to hear, but it does not help me to accomplish what I need to accomplish. It does not help me to grow. No, at those times what I need someone to tell me to get off my rump and get to work!

     I think that one of the greatest misconceptions the modern worldview holds is the belief that anything difficult to hear or that seems harsh is unloving. We must remember, however, that "all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it," a truth written later on in Hebrews chapter 12. As a society, we want to be coddled and we do so enjoy lashing out at those whose ways are not as soothing as we would like, calling them intolerant. Ironically enough, that is, itself, an act of intolerance--a refusal to see another worldview as valid and acceptable.

     However, when I read this letter, I do not see judgmental anger or harshness. I see the desperation of one who is trying to wake loved ones out of a dangerous state of lethargy. My friends, if you snatch me from the path of an oncoming semi--even if I am wounded in the process--I would not say you were in the wrong or unloving. I would be thankful that you tried to save me at all! A broken limb may mend, but that semi may have done irreparable, permanent harm.

     This is the state of the church this letter was written to, and this is largely the state of the American church today. We are being lulled into a lethargy that will soon find us drifting into hazardous waters. We need to be woken up, snatched from danger at al
l costs. Even if we suffer some slights to our pride or damage to our tender sensibilities, even if we must be broken and humbled to recall that God is the Creator and that our opinions really have no bearing on the reality of His nature or His plans, these injuries are temporary and easily mended. They may even be necessary, as a greater wound is often inflicted in a surgery to remove a diseased organ or a cancer. Sometimes damage must be done before healing can begin.

     When we think about tolerance, love, hate, and all the rest, it is important to remember that it is not the state of the brief life we lead in these faulty, leaky, and fragile organisms we now dwell in. These are tents, temporary shelters for the one part of us that will go on--or not. However, if we hope to reach the final, permanent resting place offered through Christ, we must walk in Him. He is the only Way. We cannot afford to redefine this way based on cultural acceptability or soften His teachings to become more palatable. We need loving and firm teachers like the author of Hebrews who care enough to shake us up, to bring to mind the urgency of navigating through the ever-increasing atmosphere of cultural decay. We need to be reminded of the permanence of our spirit, the weight of our sins which He bore, our own terrific need for a Savior. We need to be reminded that belief is not obedience, and obedience is an act of love. We do not just acknowledge Christ as our Savior--we love Him for it and need be willing to throw everything else away for the privilege of spending eternity in the mingled presence of Him and of the Father.

     Or, as the author of Hebrews says, for those of us who are not new believers, we should already know all about repentance and the foundational stuff of discipleship. The doctrine of sin and repentance should not be novel to us, but rather should  by now be a matter of habit borne of diligent practice. We should be growing more like Christ, not more like the world. We do not need to claim some silly, false "repentance" that leads to no change, for as this letter's author wrote, that is akin to sacrificing Christ all over again and holding His death up to contempt. No, repentance should be genuine and lasting. Neither dare we to overlook sin and repentance altogether, for it is to set us free from sin that He gave His life. Let's resolve to grow, to put into practice the pursuit of personal holiness, to move on to solid food, and to ask our Father to keep us safely on the narrow path.

Father God, I am so very thankful that You gave Your Son to be our High Priest.I am so very thankful that You saw fit to spare me the drinking of the cup of Your wrath. Lord,  I ask that You will keep me humble and keep me from drifting away. Wean me  from spiritual milk and help me to learn to walk in the light. Teach me to make a practice of rejecting darkness and agreeing with You on its definition. Help me to move on to maturity in Christ and to be Your building, established on the Rock and no longer tossed about by the changing winds of this world. Help me to walk in joy, peace, love, and patience with others as You have shown great patience with me. Help me also not to presume upon Your patience but to diligently and steadily seek Your face and Your wisdom and will for my life.  I ask in Jesus name, and not for my own sake but for the honor of His name, change me more and more into His image,amen. 

Anastasis

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

Hebrews 4:11-16

     Happy Resurrection Sunday! This is my favorite holiday of the entire year. It is the day I look back and remember with reverence and astonishment the work done by my King on the Cross. It is also the day that I look past that with joy to the empty tomb, the fact that He was not defeated either by sin or by death. It is because He lives that I now have an advocate on high, a High Priest who knows more about humanity than He would by only being the Creator. He came and lived as one of His created, sharing in the same frailties of the flesh and enduring every temptation that faces mankind with one important exception: In His fatigue, His hunger, even at His weakest moment, He never fell into sin. He was tempted, but He resisted fully. Because of this, He was the only complete substitution sacrifice to pay for humanity's sins once and for all. Also because of this, the sin curse had no hold on Him, and since death entered through sin, neither did death. He has risen!

     But let's back up a bit...  The opening of today's passage talks again about entering the Sabbath rest that God offers. If we were to read all of Chapter 4, we would see that it is an extension of 3, expanding on the idea of rest after the careful warning of not to harden our hearts. I love that right after all of this talk of hardening of hearts and rest, there is the very poignant description of the Word of God. After all, this is the only tool that we have in truly determining the state of our very selves. It is this Word that exposes the evil desires I carry, the twisted motives, even the pride of self that I harbor in my heart when outwardly doing "Christian" things. It is this Living Word that shows me the depravity of man, myself included, and the desperate need for a Savior.  It reminds me that I may fool myself into thinking I have it all sorted, but ultimately it is to Him that I will someday give an account, not only of my blatant sins but also of my secret wrong motives or my subtle arrogance. I don't know about you, but I need this tool in order to walk humbly with my God. It reminds me of His glory; it reminds me of His Sovereignty. It also reminds me of the fact that even when I am at my very best, I still cannot measure up to this Holy God. It is not my goodness but His power and strength alone that are good enough. I am totally insufficient, but His grace is sufficient for me.

     Now we are back to where we begun: Jesus as the great High Priest who has experienced physical and emotional pain, hunger, distress, and fatigue. Jesus, the Man who experienced the temptations to speak angry words in a moment of weakness or to do a deed for His own glory rather than the Father's, or a myriad of other sneaky temptations that trip me up daily, yet He did not. He did not fail. He endured the temptation until the bitter end and He overcame. This is the One through Whom I have access to the throne of grace. By His steadfastness, the libation of His precious blood, and the complete surrender of His will to the Father's, I am granted mercy and grace. Not for anything I have done, but for what He did for me. How can I not rejoice?

     He is risen!

     He is risen indeed!

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. Mark 16:5-6

Rest and Belief

Hebrews 3

      Faithfulness and unbelief.  What a fantastic topic for Good Friday. Today is the day we reflect back on the faithfulness of Jesus as He fulfilled the Father's redemption plan for mankind, though it cost Him much pain and suffering. It is a good day to hear again the warning God gave His people and that the author of Hebrews reminded the church of in the New Covenant: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion..."   

 
     It is an apt warning for us all today.

     The words that follow are equally poignant: "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God; but encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'Today' so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."  When I read this, I wonder at the struggle some seem to have to "make" the Bible relevant today. What could be more relevant than this warning? It is ageless, as true 2000 years ago as it was when first spoken hundreds of years before that. It is a warning that will be necessary as long as the sin nature exists. For it is very much in our nature, each of us, to drift away, to fall away, to harden our hearts and make excuses for our sin. It is very much a part of us that we will justify sin away by calling it something else; dressing it up in a more appealing-sounding package.
   
      But sin is still sin. And it is for sin that Christ suffered and died, laying down His immaculate life as the final and only price of absolution for all of our sin. Because of Him, and only because of His choice, we now have access to God. We now have an invitation extended to enter into God's Sabbath rest. This is a two-fold word, this rest. It is an invitation to come into the Kingdom, to have a life beyond this life of toil and labor, an eternal life of worship in the presence of the Living God. It is also an invitation to rest from our burdens and anxieties now; to understand that God is Sovereign and that He will carry out His plan. If He did not spare His own Son, do we honestly think He might just drop the ball now at the very point of finishing the game?  We have nothing to be anxious over, but if we are in Christ, we do have everything to be grateful for. I know that His faithfulness did not come easily. Neither will ours. But we can rest in the understanding that if our hearts truly desire Him, He will make us faithful. He has already done the work. We have only to enter the Father's rest--that is, to trust and believe.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 

John 19:30

Lord, we confess that we have such a small faith.  As we meditate on Jesus' work on the cross today, we long to believe without reserve, holding nothing back. We do believe; help us overcome our unbelief!!

High Priest

Hebrews 2:5-18

     This passage continues the theme of the supremacy of Christ above the angels that was begun in chapter one, but as I have read it over and over, that is not all I see. I also see a glimpse of the fantastic, tragic, and astonishing nature of the entire redemption story. For if Christ was so much greater than the angels, in fact, if He is God Himself incarnate, then how much more devastating to my pride is it that He would deign to die in my stead?
   
     If He, the agent of creation, so vastly higher in rank than angels and of a divine and changeless nature, set aside for a time all power and glory to be made, "for a little while lower than the angels" so that I might achieve a victory that I could neither attain nor deserve on my own merits, how can I stand by idly and just accept such a phenomenal gift with a mere shrug of acceptance or a casual, "Thanks," and go about living my life as I please?  Impossible, if I truly believe it happened thus. This perfect example of humility and this selfless sacrifice, this epitome of surrender of human will to the greater will and plan of the Almighty, this stepping down of the King of all things into His creation to save it from it's own choices... how could I not respond in love and gratitude?

     There is another point made in the above passage that stood out in my readings. As it says, though He is sovereign, we do not yet see all things in subjection to Him. It is important to note that this is not due to a lack of power or authority. Rather, it is a demonstration of patience, waiting until the Day that every person who will turn to Christ has turned. He has done the work on the cross, sowing seeds of love, mercy, and grace. He now waits for the fruit to be ripe and ready for the harvest.

      This is the patience spoken of in  2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."  This is patience for me when I stray. This is patience for you. This is patience to wait on the friends and family who now reject Him or simply do not know. It is patience for the tribal man raised having never heard the word, "Jesus" in any tongue who simply does not yet know his sin is sin nor that there is another way. This is patience that is full of the expectation of life and of better things to come. It is the patience for every soul on earth to have ample opportunity to hear and consider the Gospel; patience that everyone may have a chance to make a decision to either accept or reject the Christ.

     So in this patient, generous God-man, we have not only a Savior, but one who understands us more thoroughly even than we understand ourselves. He has the understanding of a Creator--He knows the stuff we are made of, the peculiar chemical and organic mixture that makes up each individual, and the very number of hairs on our heads. He also understands us in another way, both far more profound considering He is the Author and simultaneously far more basic. He understands what it means to be human because He has been human. He has learned to walk and talk and feed Himself. He has faced temptation, indeed, as C. S. Lewis points out, faced it more completely than any of us for only He has seen how strong temptation can become because only He never gave in to it. He knows the full extent; we only know the point to which we fell.
 
     This is the risen King we worship on Easter Sunday; the all-powerful Creator who chose to come among His creation as one of us, to live that perfect life, to lay down His life as ransom for our own, and by that act to loose the grip of sin and conquer the fear of death for all who love and obey Him. This is our High Priest--Jesus, whose ministry is tangible, accessible, complete, and incredibly practical.  "Hallelujah, what a Savior! I owe everything to Him!"