Good Friday

I just watched "The Passion of the Christ" for the second time this month.

The first time I watched it, it moved me in a way I could never describe. Not only did I realize that I give myself a hard time when I don't deserve it as Christ died so that I wouldn't have to be condemned or shamed, but I also realized how real our God is. Jesus is real. God is real. Real human beings really put Jesus Christ of Nazareth to death. He really died and really rose again. Need I say more? I'm convicted by the fact that I seldom understand this. I hardly ever get it. Most of the time, when I talk about Christ or Christianity, it's as if it's some abstract thing. I had to ask myself, why does it become this way? Maybe it's the fact that we tell the story over and over again. Maybe it's the fact that we've thought about it so many times that we feel like we can't get anything new out of it. Maybe it's because we're far removed from it. I know why in my own life it becomes this way; it's up to you to figure it out for yourself.

After watching "The Passion" tonight, all I can think of is the conviction that I'm not doing the Gospel justice. I'm not living the way I should be. I will never measure up to all of the things that God has called me to. Perfection? Nope. A sinless life? Nope. These things are impossible... without God. What a humbling statement this is! Not only are we nothing without God, but He has to be a part of the equation! With Him I can live righteously. I can live a holy life pleasing to Him. I can be sanctified. I may never attain all of the things He has for me and become the man He sees me to be on this side of Heaven, but the good news is that that is okay. All I can do is seek Him with all I have. I can only give Him my best, picking myself up when I fall and striving towards the Kingdom.

We are called to live selflessly. We are called to love others and not expect anything back. We called to deny ourselves, to pick up our cross, and to follow Him. I will be the first to admit that I am consistently falling short of these things. I do the opposite of them on a daily basis.

Where do you stand? When you look into the eyes of the Savior, what do you see?

Are you being stagnant, or are you being sanctified?

Salvation. Sanctification. They're what Christ died for on this very day over two-thousand years ago.

This day that we call, "Good Friday".

Do You Know the Way You Move Me?

Have you ever dwelt on the notion of the love of God? And how deep, and how wide, and how long it is? It's huge. And even that is an understatement.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand--when I wake, I am still with you" (Psalm 139.13-18; NIV).

"But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5.8; ESV).

So let me get this straight. God formed me, saw me from the beginning, and loved me. He formed you, saw you from the beginning, and loved you. Crazy.

And then we fast forward a bit. We'd lived life a little. Heck, we screwed it all up. Yet "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". In this God has shown us His love. So He loved us from the beginning. He loved us during. And He will always love us. Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).

I'm preaching to myself as much as I am preaching to you. This is something that I often forget and wrestle with often. I don't want His love. Sometimes I am so frustrated with myself, I dislike myself to such an intense degree that I don't want Him to love me. Cause I don't deserve it. And guess what? I don't! None of us do! But God loves us anyway.

Let His love change you. Let it transform you. Think about those around you who make you think about the love of God. Those around you who are beaming with His love. The shine of His glory that radiates off of someone reflects the time spent seeking the face of God.

He is love and we are made in His image. With Him, we too, can be love. Love to ourselves (for some of us do not love ourselves), love to others, and love to the broken world around us.