WALKING INTO THE STORM

 

You've got to go through something you don't want to.

You know it's the right thing, you know it will be all good in the end... but still, it hangs over your head like an ominous cloud.

A visit to the surgeon, a difficult conversation... the dentist!

Jesus lived under a cloud His whole life.  He came for a purpose, to redeem the world, and it would cost Him dearly.  He knew it, and no amount of good days could ever truly shift that sense of foreboding, I'm sure.

He even shared this with His disciples.  He finished with the good news of His resurrection. He gave them the timeline - only three days of death, then glorious, miraculous resurrection!... but they didn't get that bit... the cloud had settled over their hearts and deafened their ears to hope.  

"After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”  And the disciples were filled with grief." (Matthew 17:22-23)

In many churches worldwide, Maundy Thursday is celebrated, marking the occasion of the last supper and Jesus' command to the disciples and us to love one another.

Last night, being Maundy Thursday, even though I was at home doing everyday things, I had a heavy heart as I imagined what it must have been like for Jesus on that night as He prepared His disciples for what was to come.

That heavy foreboding must have been almost overwhelming.  But remarkably, Jesus and His disciples could still sing a hymn as they left the supper table for the agony of the garden.

"As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.” And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14:22-26) 

In so many ways, we feel a sense of foreboding as we observe the world's pain, still trying to emerge from a pandemic but in a far more fractured society. Then there is political upheaval.  Floods.  Homelessness, War.

We need to refocus our eyes on the last bit of the story.  Jesus did, in fact, rise from death three days after the cross.  This was not just a one-off miracle but glorious paving of the way for us who follow Him... He has conquered death!

He promised at that last supper that He would drink with us again in His Kingdom.  This points to the day He will return to put all that has gone wrong - right.  Yes, sickness, poverty, war and death will end as He visibly physically returns to take His throne as Lord of the Nations.

With that glorious hope, we can 'sing a hymn' even under a cloud of heaviness as we live in a broken, warring world, knowing that what He has promised, He will make good.

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!

Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!  1 Corinthians 15:54-56 (MSG)

Until next time, keep singing in the storm, 

Lynda xx

LOVE ME? - PROVE IT!

It doesn't matter where you are reading this from; I'm sure you're familiar with 'isolation' or 'Covid'! It has been doing the rounds here and continues to do so. The question isn't so much, "who's had Covid?" but more, "Who hasn't had Covid?"

Last week one of my children came down with it and, of course, needed to stay home and isolate. I was glad because she tends to push the envelope a bit, and I knew that she would be forced to rest! 

But the other part of me was concerned because she lives in a different town, and I wanted to be there and feed her and make sure she was OK.

I needed to have at least SOMEONE there to be my hands and feet...

I needn't have worried as on her story feed came pictures of food being dropped off to her many times over.

At one point, I said to her, "Tell your friends I love them!"

Then the penny dropped.

Jesus said, "the least you have done to these, you have done to me."

He needs at least SOMEONE to be His hands and feet.

It's so easy to tell God we love Him, sing those songs, and raise our hands.

It's hollow when we don't care for the people around us.  

If we say we love Him, He says, "Prove it!"  

Be the hands and feet of Jesus for at least SOMEONE today. I don't pretend to be like Jesus, but I know that when we love people, it warms His heart, and His instinctive response may well be, to that person, "Tell your friends I love them!"

Until next time...

Lynda x

PATIENCE IS POWER!

 PATIENCE - Something we all like being on the receiving end of.   Something we wish we had more of!

"Better to be patient than powerful;  better to have self-control than to conquer a city" (Proverbs 16:32)

The power of patience - a self-controlled soul and mind are enormous in potential and power. Jesus exercised this in every situation He faced, whether with his friends or his enemies. He wasn't a doormat, but He was patient!

Aesops Fables has a famous story about the battle between the wind and the sun. The wind challenged the sun that he could remove a man's coat quicker than the sun. The sun was happy to embrace the challenge. The wind went first. He huffed and puffed and blew as hard as he could. The only thing that happened was the man tightened his coat around himself even more! Then the sun calmly shone on the man, and within no time, the man relinquished his coat happily.

You may remember me talking a bit about Jeff last week. He is flexible and patient. I tend to huff and puff a bit more!  

Church history has a powerful demonstration of the power of patience. It was right back in its early years under the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, as we know, was huge and seemingly invincible. It was also ruthless and demanding.

The Church was a small and misunderstood group that didn't fit into the day's culture. They also aggravated the Empire because they refused to own Caesar as lord. The Empire huffed and puffed and cruelly tried to exterminate the Christians.  

The Christians calmly just went on being who they were. They loved indiscriminately, returned good for evil and forgave their enemies. Without any huffing and puffing on their part, eventually, they won the Empire over.

If that doesn't demonstrate the power of patience, I don't know what will! 

Imagine what would happen in our personal world, homes, health, relationships, dreams, and finances, to name just a few, if we actually lived this verse.  

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this." (Galatians 5:22-23)

Human history has been re-written by this fruit... fruit that is absolutely available to us who trust in Jesus Christ. Imagine what it might re-write in our own personal lives if we allow it? Believe me, I'm talking to myself here!

With love,

Lynda x