HEAVENSREEF

We will be celebrating Easter soon………

There were six hours one Friday that changed all of history!

You cannot stand in the shadow of the CROSS and not be humbled.  Stand or kneel or bow down before the CROSS and ponder who died for you there.  Who took the nails for you?

Because JESUS is who HE is, we can trust HIS dying on the CROSS for our sins.  How could you not trust fully the ONE who died for your sins to keep you out of hell?  Think on that for a moment!

CHRIST’S love is unconditional, forever faithful, powerful and transforming.  Look at HIS character and HIS life lived on earth even for a moment and you realize there is no other being like HIM…….never has been and never will be!

The shadow of the CROSS should stun us and cause us to stand in awe……

1 CORINTHIANS 1: 18 “THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS FOOLISH TO THOSE WHO ARE HEADED FOR DESTRUCTION!  BUT WE WHO ARE BEING SAVED KNOW IT IS THE VERY POWER OF GOD.”

In our current day and age, I think some Churches don’t take the CROSS seriously enough.  Some large seeker Churches don’t even display a Cross in their sanctuaries so as to not “offend anyone”. If we are somehow offended by the Cross then we really don’t understand it’s true meaning.

The CROSS was part of GOD’S plan from the beginning…….and it was prophesied too.  Read what it says in the Old Testament:

PSALM 22: 16-18 “…….A GANG OF EVILDOERS HAS CLOSED IN ON ME; THEY PIERCED MY HANDS AND MY FEET.  I CAN COUNT ALL MY BONES; PEOPLE LOOK AND STARE AT ME.  THEY DIVIDED MY GARMENTS AMONG THEMSELVES, AND THEY CAST LOTS FOR MY CLOTHING.”

Sound familiar?  Sounds much like the account of the Crucifixion described in the Gospels.  And the GOD of the universe planned it all……..just to save our very souls!

If we truly look at what happened at the CROSS, there was shame, heartbreak and finally redemption and glory!  Because JESUS never lost sight of where HE was going and why……..to be with HIS Father.

HEBREWS 12: 2 “FOR THE JOY THAT LAY BEFORE HIM HE ENDURED THE CROSS, DESPISING THE SHAME, AND SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE THRONE OF GOD.”

And this Prince of Peace who never deserved crucifixion, died in-between two sinners who deserved exactly what they got.  One rejected JESUS and the other asked to be with HIM in paradise.  One humbled himself, the other looked at JESUS with pride in his eyes.  And so, our Savior now sits in the place of honor, fully restored!  May our hearts desire to be with HIM there, in paradise, just like that sinner did, but wanting with all being for JESUS to “remember us”.

LUKE 23: 42 “THEN HE SAID, “JESUS, REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM.”

In the middle of all that dying, JESUS offered those sinners alongside HIM…….hope and forgiveness.  Standing in the shadow of the CROSS gives us…….true……..HOPE as well.  Let us embrace that hope in the CROSS!  And may we fall on our knees each day asking for HIS forgiveness.

 WE NEED TO REMEMBER TOO………THE SOLDIERS MOCKED HIM THAT DAY!  MAY WE NEVER MOCK THE CROSS ON ANY DAY.

When we water down any of the GOSPEL however, we do mock the Cross!  Let us always speak in truth and love to one another and the world around us……..especially this Easter.  Don’t be afraid to share with loved ones, friends or neighbors the HOPE that you have and why you have it!  Point them to the amazing WORD of life!

PONDER THIS:  We would all be eternally lost without the CROSS!  It is our everything, our very life.  We are only able to stand before GOD because of what JESUS did!  HE hung painfully from a tree and because HE loved us then, HE loves us now more than we will ever know!  We might not understand it, we might not be able to fully wrap our minds around what JESUS did for us, but we sure can stand on the HOPE and FORGIVENESS the CROSS gives us, today, tomorrow and for all eternity! 

BLESSINGS DEAR READERS, MAY YOU ALWAYS BE BLESSED BY THE CROSS AND REMEMBER ALL IT’S HOPE AND POWER THIS EASTER!

PHILIPPIANS 2: 8 “HE HUMBLED HIMSELF BY BECOMING OBEDIENT TO THE POINT OF DEATH – EVEN TO DEATH ON A CROSS.”