Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
Springsteen sings "Born To Run"....
The Bible declares Jesus as "Born to Die".
Isn't it funny how we separate the babe from the man.
We embrace the baby Jesus as one who was innocent and in need of being taken care of.
When you think of Him this way, you can see why God was so particular about who He wanted to raise His Son.
In my mind, Mary was the ultimate Mother.
She may not have understood all that was going on as Jesus grew to manhood, but she knew that God had picked her for this incredible task.
On this side of the cross, we can rationalize and pontificate the death of Christ. Yet the truth is, it was a mother's heart that had to be present in the death of her son. It didn't matter at the moment that Jesus would rise from the dead. First he had to die, and he had to die in front of the woman who had carried him for nine months and had given birth to him.
All those names we bandy about so easily today....
Messiah...
The Christ....
Redeemer.....
Was He all of those to Mary?
Sure He was....
But He was also her son.
Do you think that His followers grasped the whole "Dying for the sins of the world" thing? I think they heard Him speak on this several times, but I don't think they fully understood the twist and turns this journey to the cross would take. But yet Jesus walked it out all the way. From the cradle to the cross...
From the stable to the tomb, Jesus never wavered in His commitment to do the Father's will.
Shouldn't that be my commitment also?
To "Do the will" of my heavenly Father?
I think maybe the answer is yes.
To come to the complete understanding of the price that was paid for me to experience real freedom, real life with God, and have the hope of glory that in the end, when I die I will be present with Him.
That my highest calling in this life is to worship God with everything I have, and everything I am.
I owe Him everything.
He laid hold of me and brought me out of sin darkness into the light of real life.
No longer do I need the things of this world to entice me or trap me.
I choose to give will and life over to His care as I understand Him to be today.
And I pursue this God to know Him better.
Not a knowing that is found in collecting information...
But the knowing that comes from an ongoing relationship with Him.
I have celebrated a few Easter's....
And each year, I determine to see it differently.
As we approach Easter this year, I am trying to read and understand what it was like to have been a follower of Christ during His lifetime. To have heard Him speak fully about the cross, His death and resurrection, yet not understand fully the events that were going to take place.
I think I have touched the place where the human heart lacks the ability (unless given by God) to comprehend the ways and plans of God. Looking at my own life, there have been times where God has called me into a new direction for my life, and even though I have the written promises of God that tell me He has my life in His hands, I am stilled filled with fear and doubt. I know that He would not call me to a place and not see me through. I know that He would not call me only to drop me like a sack of tater's, as if this were some sort of cosmic joke. I know that this isn't God's plan for any of us.
So just as Jesus had a cross in His life...
So do I....
I take it up daily as a reminder that I have given my life to Him.
Physically, I will never have to hang on a cross.
But because He did, I need to remember the price that was paid for me.
That my sin account had been emptied out and stamped "paid in full".
He did that for me...
He did that for you....
Praise God we don't leave Christ on that cross.
For just as there was a manger that lead to a cross....
That is a tomb that put an exclamation point on Jesus' time here on earth.
He defeated death...
He took the keys to death, hell and the grave from the person and kingdom of Satan. And He stepped out of that dark, dank, tomb into the light and glory of His Father.
I am reminded of the words to "What Child Is This?"
This, this is Christ the King,whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
haste, haste to bring him laud,
the babe, the son of Mary!
Nails, spear, shall pierce him through;
the cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail, the Word made flesh,
the babe, the son of Mary!
God on you.
mb
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