Praise God! Christ Is Risen! Happy Easter Everyone! Jesus should be our HERO! He suffered mercilessly and died cruelly for US! Still, as in the introduction of the book, Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, on page 8 we discuss, although we see it as a privilege to be God’s hands, mouth, and feet, it is also a daring risk when we live our lives for Christ. We risk being shunned, misunderstood, mistreated, taken advantaged, mocked, scorned, laughed at, devalued, uninvited, humiliated, embarrassed, ridiculed, persecuted, and killed. But Jesus endured the same. St. John 19:1 reads, Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. (KIV) The Gospels of Matthew and Mark speak on how Jesus was scourged as well. I was curious to know what was scourging all about, so I did a little research. Please note the inserted picture:
This is very similar in what was used to beat our Lord; it is what He endured for us. A scourge is a whip or lash. The multi-thong type, was used to inflict severe corporal punishment. It is usually made of leather with multiple throngs of hard material designed to tear the flesh. This was the custom of the day under Roman law to prelude crucifixion. However, in Jesus’ case, there seemed to be added visceral. This was a deep hate and contempt for Jesus as proven in how they beat him. It was vile, wicked, and morally unjust. Some have described the beating so horrendous that Jesus endured that it left him looking less than human. Oh, the cruelty!
However, Jesus knew what his mission was on the earth. He knew he was to be the sacrificial lamb for our sins. On page 8 in the book, it reads it takes courage, guts, and grit to be a Christian. I wonder if there is ANYONE who would agree with me on that. We know what Jesus endured took courage, guts, and grit. He is our example. There are things that happen to us in life that we come to a cross road and have to decide if we are going to cave and not represent Christ because as we say sometimes, “It’s hard.” Yes, it is not always an easy road to travel. Yet, Christ demonstrated in God’s strength that He had to complete the mission that was given him. It is one of the reasons why I love him so! The Bible tells us He did not want to do it. He asked God if the bitter cup could be removed. But then He resolved it was not His will, but the Father’s will that should be done. This is our example! When those cross roads come in our lives, we have to ask ourselves how many times will I say, I don’t feel like being a Christian right now. I am going to do what I feel like doing. However, being a Christian is not about a feeling. It is about our commitment to God through Christ. Knowing EVERYTHING that Christ endured on the cross, not even mentioning all of the great and wonderful things that He did BEFORE his crucifixion, should be enough to compel us to do the right thing even when we do not feel like it. Again, it is not about feelings. It is about commitment, gratitude, and thankfulness to Jesus. If Jesus did ALL of that for me the least I can do is stand up and represent him proudly. This is what BEARING OUR CROSS is all about. As the book says, “It is not always pretty and wrapped in a bow (page 8).
How deep is your love? How deep is your love for Christ? When we operate in our natural strength we cannot do what is asked of us, but through Christ we get this supernatural strength. It gives us the will and know how to do what we need to do God’s will for our lives. Jesus will give us the strength to display the courage, guts, and grit. The beauty in that is you know that it is Him that is working within you and it is an awesome humbling experience. You will know it is his strength that you move in. The preciousness of Jesus is that he came to the earth to live out the Christian life for us. Again, he is our wonderful example! I keep saying this because I believe some people gloss over the example that Jesus is to us! It a beautiful thing and I do not want people to miss it. It is not always easy, but we can do it through His strength. And let me add, it will probably hurt our flesh, too. But we have been talking about putting flesh on the shelf where it belongs, right?
Now once the disciples realized who Jesus was after he bled, suffered, and died, their lives were never the same. And our lives should never be the same either, especially once you have encountered His presence in your life! They lived their lives boldly and courageously with guts and grit because they knew the son of God had walked and lived among them. It transformed their lives! Our lives, too, should be transformed once we have entered into an intimate relationship with God. Jesus’ life was transformed through His relationship with our Father God. Jesus spent time with God to cultivate their relationship. Through this intimate relationship God was able to teach Jesus what He needed to know. It is no different for us! Our lives, too, should be transformed as we cultivate our relationship with God through Christ Jesus. It is not enough to know God. Satan knows God. It is all about a true relationship with God and accepting Jesus as our Savior. We cannot live the Christian life on our own. It is impossible! Once we drop our pride, die to self, and yield our lives over to Christ, we start living a transformed life and those Fruit of the Spirit we talked about previously start to show up and out in our lives. Then we start to realize, oh, this is not me! This is the Christ that lives in me that is allowing me to manifest the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is a beautiful thing! Knowing that is enough to draw you in even more because you have experienced God’s supernatural power in your life! Hallelujah and Amen! Stay safe from COVID-19 and I’ll see you next week. Love & Blessings!