"The bedrock of our Christian faith is the unmerited, fathomless marvel of the love of God exhibited on the Cross of Calvary, a love we never can and never shall merit." ~Oswald Chambers
Happy Easter, friends! May the joy of our risen Lord consume you this day and every day.
On Good Friday my five-year-old granddaughter Lauren and I created an Easter centerpiece for our table. As I hot glued sticks together to make crosses, she asked, “Gigi, why are you making three crosses? Jesus only needed one.” “On the day Jesus died,” I said, “two thieves were also crucified, one on Jesus' right, and one on his left. One man was prideful. He yelled at Jesus and made fun of him. ‘If you’re the Son of God like you say, why don’t you come down off this cross?’ “The other man was humble, and sorry for what he’d done. He believed Jesus was God’s Son, and he asked him to forgive him for his sin. He told the other man, ‘We’re being punished for our crimes, but this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, will you remember me when you get to heaven?” “'Today,’ Jesus said, ‘you will be with me in paradise.’”
Lauren's 3 Crosses, complete with a unicorn announcement
declaring, "He Is Risen! :)
Finishing the story, I pushed three crosses into the soil. “Whenever we see three crosses, we need to ask ourselves, ‘Am I the prideful man who made fun of Jesus? Or am I the humble man who asked Jesus to forgive him and take him to heaven one day?'” I love how working on this craft with my granddaughter gave us a natural opportunity to talk about Jesus’ death and how, one day, God will call us each into account with one piercing question,
“What did you do with my Son?” We tucked moss around the crosses and placed a stone beside the opening to the empty tomb. “You know why I love this craft?” I asked Lauren.
She shook her head. “Because we can see what it looked like on earth—the very sad day when Jesus died on the cross. But we can also see what was getting ready to happen—on the very happy day when Jesus rose from the dead. I think this is what they saw in heaven. And now, because we know history, this is what we see, too.” It’s Friday, but Sunday's comin'.
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Because busy women need to connect with God in the craziness of everyday life.
My friends and I were busting out. Doing something crazy. Casting off the shackles that had kept us fettered for so long.
A random conversation over the Christmas holidays had sown the seeds for a Spring Break trip we’d always wanted to take. With no families to slow us down, cramp our style, or keep us in check, this trip was going to be all about us.
And where do homeschool moms go when they bust out? Why, to Washington, D.C., of course. And what do they do? Tour museums, eat out, and cram as much learning and exploration into five days as possible.
As my friends and I planned our trip, we each made a list of our top five “must sees.” Experts at juggling the collective preferences of nine children, we found planning a tip for three was as easy as frying eggs in a non-stick skillet. Many of the attractions we wanted to visit overlapped, and before long we had an itinerary that made our hearts beat hard in anticipation.
The first item on our agenda was a no-brainer because it was on everyone’s list—the White House. Unfortunately, touring this icon of Americana isn’t easy. Although we submitted our request months in advance, the congressional aide who assisted us said our request had been denied.
We were sooooo disappointed! What’s a trip to Washington without a White House tour? No pictures in the East Wing. No plying the Secret Service agents for funny stories about the President. No chance to peek around the corners to glimpse a visiting dignitary.
But the gates were barred. The doors were locked. And the Secret Service agents’ guns were an imposing barricade to our admittance. There was no question about it—we were not welcome.
Determined to make the best of it, we rode the subway into the city the next morning. When my phone vibrated in my pocket, I was surprised to see an unknown Washington, D.C., number on the screen.
“Hello, this is Carla in Congressman Joe Wilson’s office. He asked me to call you to see if you were still interested in that tour of the White House. If you are, and can meet him at the Visitor’s Gate at 7:30 tomorrow morning, he’d be glad to get you in on a VIP tour.”
As you can imagine, my friends and I were waiting at the East Gate well before 7:30 that next morning. Our congressman greeted us, we chatted a bit, then he flashed his congressional ID to the guard at the gate. “These ladies are with me,” he said. The gates opened, and we were ushered into the home of the president of the United States.
Alicia, me, Congressman Wilson, and Mandy on our great adventure
I thought of this experience recently as I read in Leviticus about the tabernacle of God in Old Testament Israel. A moving place of worship and sacrifice, the tabernacle housed the holy articles of God. In its very center was the most sacred place—the place where God dwelled—the Holy of Holies.
Separated from the rest of the tabernacle by a four-inch thick woven tapestry, the Holy of Holies was off-limits. No one was allowed to enter except the High Priest, and then only once a year, after being ceremonially cleansed from his sin and the sin of the people. The common man was simply too sinful to even think about coming into the presence of God Almighty. Anyone who entered the Holy of Holies to approach God without permission and proper preparation would die instantly.
Until Jesus.
On that horrible/glorious day long ago, he shouldered the sin of mankind, hauled it to Golgotha, and covered it with the blood that dripped from his wounds. He offered his body as a living, perfect sacrifice, and died in our place.
“For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence” (Heb. 9:24).
He was judged—the innocent for the guilty—and God accepted his offering.
How do I know?
“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:37-38).
On my Spring Break trip years ago, when I couldn’t enter the White House on my own merit, the congressman showed his badge and granted me entrance. In a far greater way, when I was too sinful to approach God, Christ shed his blood in my name. When I accepted it by faith, his sacrificial death on the cross granted me entrance into God’s presence forever.
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:19-23).
As Easter approaches, I pray that you too have received this precious gift of salvation. I hope you have full freedom to bring your needs boldly to God’s throne. I pray you have the assurance that one day you’ll spend eternity with him in heaven.
“I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.“ (Isaiah 42:16)
He was born with only one eye. As a child, he tried wearing a glass eye, but after several infections he gave it up and wore a patch instead. For a while, looking like a pirate was cool, but the patch was itchy and sat like a neon sign on his face, proclaiming to the world that he was different. Eventually doctors stitched his eyelid closed, and life went on.
I met Tim when my family had the opportunity to host members of a traveling drama team from a Christian college. As we sat around the table after their performance, I listened to the conversation that ensued.
“This flower is beautiful,” Tim commented on the Peony sitting in a vase on the table. “I’ve never smelled anything so fragrant. It’s neat how the outer petals are a different color from the rest of the flower.”
As he carried his plate to the counter, he noticed the rock collection that littered the windowsill above the sink. “Wow! Look at the different colors in this one. Where did it come from?” As he read the labels of their places of origin, he examined with interest the red rock of Pike’s Peak, the smoothness of the stone from Cabo San Lucas, and the bleached white sliver from Israel’s barren hillsides.
As the evening progressed, he noticed the fort in the backyard, the rich red of our dog Winston’s long fur, and the bright, almost hidden blue of Julie the Lovebird’s tail feathers. It was apparent that Tim was amazingly observant. I commented later to my husband that “Tim sees more with one eye than most of us see with two.”
While this is true in the physical sense, Tim also sees things spiritually that others miss. In the drama his acting troupe performs, Tim plays one of Christ’s disciples. In one of the most poignant scenes, Tim sits around the table with the Savior, eating, and drinking, and listening to stories of the Kingdom.
In Old Testament days, Tim would have been forbidden to come into God’s presence. Leviticus 21:18 tells us that those who had physical imperfections were banished from the temple. “Any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred [face] or any [limb] too long.” This restriction was to demonstrate the futility of depending on ourselves and our good works to merit God’s favor. Only perfection could satisfy God’s law, and within ourselves, we fall woefully short.
Thankfully, Tim knows the Savior. As he sits at the table as one of Christ’s disciples, he demonstrates what it means to be blind physically, but to see spiritually. Instead of depending on what He can bring to Christ, Tim’s hope is resting in what Christ, through his sacrificial death on the cross, brings to him. His presence demonstrates what the hymn writer describes, “Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling.” Tim, though physically blind, sees more than many who can see with both eyes. By trusting in Christ for his salvation, Tim says with the man born blind in John 9:26, “One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."
The LORD opens [the eyes of] the blind; The LORD raises those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous. (Ps 146:8)
Bait and Switch – you know the technique. A company or a salesman promises one thing and after you’ve signed on the dotted line, substitutes an inferior product . When I was ten years old, I fell victim to a bait and switch scam. I saw an ad for Sea Monkeys in the back of a children’s magazine. “Wonders of the Sea!” “Fascinating to Watch,” and “Hatch Before Your Very Eyes!” were some of the phrases used to describe this “New Pet of the 20th Century.” I had to have a family of Sea Monkeys for myself. The “Just Add Water” part should have clued me in that all was not as it seemed, but I was young and naïve. And I had an allowance burning a hole in my pocket.
So I ordered my family of Sea Monkeys. Back in the day, there was no such thing as overnight shipping. I had to wait the required 6-8 weeks for delivery. I began checking the mailbox daily after four weeks. It wouldn’t do to have my Sea Monkeys sitting in a cold Rhode Island mailbox any longer than necessary.
You can imagine the rest of the story. When the Sea Monkeys finally came, I carefully followed the instructions for how to begin their long and happy life. The end result was that I had reconstituted a bunch of microscopic shrimp eggs that grew into “monkeys” so small I needed a magnifying glass to see them. They bore no resemblance to the monkeys shown in the advertisement. I learned my first Economics lesson – Caveat Emptor -- “Let the Buyer Beware.” I was the victim of a Bait and Switch scheme.
The Jews of Jesus’ day felt that they had fallen victim to a Bait and Switch Scheme. Two thousand years of prophecy had promised a Messiah, and it appeared He had come at last. The initial reports sounded promising. The word of mouth advertising seemed to back them up. “Heals Hundreds!” “Raises Man from the Dead, ”Puts Local Authorities in Their Places,” and “Feeds 5,000 at One Sitting!”
At long last, the promised deliverer had come. Thousands eagerly signed on and welcomed their soon-to-be conquering King into the city with shouts of “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Five days later the same voices who hailed Christ as their long-awaited deliverer were raising their voices again – this time with shouts of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
What caused this fickle crowd to turn on Christ in the days between the Passover celebration and the day we now know as Good Friday? They felt like they had fallen victim to a Bait and Switch scheme. When God promised them He would send a Deliverer to save His people, they assumed he meant a military deliverer. One who would emancipate them, once and for all, from the oppression they suffered as a captive nation. Their bonds would be broken; they would finally be free.
And then Jesus was crucified.
Bait and Switch.
No Deliverer.
No Emancipator.
No King.
As believers in Christ, we know the rest of the story. We know about the resurrection. We know that Christ WAS our deliverer. He was our emancipator. He is our King. Not in the temporary, military sense, but in the eternal, forever sense.
But sometimes we, too, are guilty of suspecting a Bait and Switch scheme. When Jesus promises “I am come that you might have abundant life,” we never expect that abundant life might include cancer. Or a difficult marriage. Or financial troubles. Or a wayward child.
We skip over the verse that says “In this world, you will have tribulation.” It doesn’t fit our model of Jesus as our Deliverer. When difficulties come, and they will, for God’s word is true even if we skip over the parts we don’t like, we feel misled. Disappointed. Cheated. Oh, we may not yell “Crucify Him,” with the crowds in Jerusalem, but we wonder just the same. Did I misunderstand Jesus?
It is then that the truths of scripture can speak loudest to our hearts if we have ears to hear. “In this world you WILL have tribulation . . . . . but be of good cheer, for I have OVERCOME THE WORLD.”
He didn’t come to make us comfortable.
He came to make us holy.
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. . . “(Romans 8:18)
This world is not all that there is, and God’s promises ARE true.
He IS our Deliverer.
He IS our Emancipator.
He IS our King.
“Hosanna! Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord!”
