The whole story of life comes together at the cross. God created people, like you and me, in His image. He created people for his pleasure and purpose, which was good. But from the beginning of time people wanted to go their own way, and so their own way they went….like us.
Romans 1:21-23, 25
“for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts wsere darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God..They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and wsorshiped and servec created things rather than the Creator.”
People, like us, turned from God and lived for self. We all know how to do that and have experience in that area. But that is not the end of the story. You see, when we live for self and other people we become enslaved and held captive by the need to fulfill ourselves with things like the approval of others, cultural acceptance, and the current images of success. From the Ozzie and Harriet portrait of family to the Wall Street picture of success…all of us have been affected by self image, self struggles, self improvements, self advancement…and in bondage to the very self that God created to worship and serve Him…we get lost.
So the story goes…Jesus Christ came for people like us. People lost in self, in expectation, in sin and in their own little worlds. Jesus came to set us free from sin and from death. And, in the process of our freedom, he desires to set us free to live for Him, as we were created to do.
This is what Jesus came to do and be,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for hte blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The Words of Christ from Luke 4:18-19
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” The Words of Christ from John 10:11
And the story continues to relate to us today...Jesus did not come to introduce a rule book, but instead wants us to know our role in the STORY. Our role as His , Our empowerment as His, and Our freedom from sin and self as His. He came to give us life in the full, as we follow the Good Shepherd. But selfish people, like me, have made it all about us and it seems constricting or too hard. It seems like it isn’t relevant to real problems in this big world. But Jesus came for big problems, little problems and everything in between. The most relevant thing about the Good Shepherd is that he gave us a role book…so we would know our part in history, and so we could find identity in Him.
Listen to this…” For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s phyical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation–if you continue in your faiht, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”Col 1:16-17,21-23
Relevant thoughts:
- You were created by God and for God…Col 1:16
- He holds your life, YOU, together….Col 1:17
- He came to give you, your fullest life…John 10:10
- He came to set you free from self and the trappings of this life…Luke:4
- Your mind can wander away and become alienated…C ol 1: 21
- Jesus died for that alienated part of you…Col 1:22
- Jesus died to present you holy in His sight, free from accusation…Col 1: 22
- You are to to have faith in God and you will be established in this life, with the hope of why Jesus came, the hope of the gospel….Col 1:23
- This hope affects everything. It is the story of the cross.
This week, as we approach the celebration of Easter, reflect on the meaning of what is being celebrated. Sure, spring signifies new life, new growth…but this is not a spring holiday…it is a spiritual remembrance of what Christ came to be in our lives, and what Christ purchased for us through his death on th cross. Yes…the story goes that He rose from the dead…but before that came obedience to the death on the cross. He obeyed and walked the road to the cross for people like us…people who need a Savior, people who need freedom, people who get lost in worry and self, people who think this life is all there is, people who never realized they were created on purpose for the purposes of God. Yes, the story goes…Jesus came for people like us.
Looking up this Holy Week,
Debbie
