Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Preparation to Face the Cross
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (V.18)
At the
Mount of Olives Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from
me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Lu: 22: 42). We see Jesus
preparing to face the cross by emptying himself and submitting Himself to God’s
will. In Luke 9: 23, Jesus instructed His disciples, “Whoever wants to be
my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow
me.” Hence, the message of the cross is to sacrifice one’s self and one’s
most prized possessions, take up one’s cause (cross) for living, and follow in
the manner that God sacrificed His only Son (Jn..3: 16), and in the manner that
Jesus submitted Himself to His Father’s will.
This
message is easy to state but difficult to pursue because God’s will is not
always in alignment with the human will. However, if we believe in the power of
this message it will become real because “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you”(Rom. 8:
11). Nevertheless, we must first be willing to die, just like a kernel of wheat
that falls to the ground and dies, so that it may become productive and produce
more (Jn. 12: 24).
During lent many
people give up something or the other that they love. Why not give up something
that is disgraceful? Why not we identify the sinful areas of our life that
needs change and give them up, and surrender ourselves and our cause to the
will of God so that his Glory may be revealed in us and through us? The true
experience of salvation and freedom is when we give up our sinfulness, the
desires of the world, and the desires of the self. To those that rely on the
world and their own abilities, this message would feel like foolishness. But
the wisdom of those who surrendered their self for the cause of greater good
compels us to be wise and do likewise.
Prayer : Dear Lord Jesus, help us to learn from
your experience on the cross and identify our cross and the areas in our life
that need correction and surrender them daily to your will. Let our priority be
to seek wisdom, which would help us get rid of our sins and
sinfulness....Amen
Thought for the
Day: If you love to
boast, boast of what the Lord has done for you. He gave himself up on the cross
for your sake. What are we giving up for His sake?
Dr. Mathew T. Thomas, MTC, Greater Washington