Lord are You Really Going to Go All the Way to the Cross in My Life?
Good Morning Friends,
The Season of Lent is a time of year that gives us the opportunity to stop and choose who we trust. This time of year we once again embark on a journey during the season toward the cross and crucifixion, but also to the life and resurrection. Today is the
1st Sunday in Lent. And the journey is hard and so we ask, Lord are You Really Going to Go All the Way to the Cross in My Life?
Scripture: When you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you, [says the Lord].
Jeremiah 29:12 (NRSV)
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:1-8 (NRSV)
22saying,’The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’ 23Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?
Luke 9:22-25 (NRSV)
15See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God* that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20 (NRSV)
Message: Have you ever thought about quitting, tossing in the towel, throwing up your hands and saying, “I can’t do this anymore, I’m done, I quit…I give up?” Do you ever feel like Jesus on the cross saying… “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Have you forgotten that Psalm 22, (which Jesus is quoting and embodying on the cross) only begins that way but ends in a circle of praise and hope? If you have you are not alone. In today’s scripture we look at a passage from Jeremiah the prophet and seek to glean a little wisdom on this issue of doubt from the crying prophet. You see Jeremiah had plenty of reason to quit. The people around him were jerks. The message he was giving was unpopular. The people rejected him and God even rejected some of his prayers. If a man ever needed a sympathetic spouse it was Jeremiah and yet he had to do it alone. Okay, you get the picture. Here was a man who was plotted against by his neighbors, put on trial for his life, flogged, attacked, arrested, and was lowered into a prison to rot. He had plenty of reason to quit, the bad guys were winning and God even tells him it is going to get worse and yet Jeremiah keeps on going for more than 50 years. He did not give up and neither should you or I. If you have a purpose to live for and know that purpose…if you have even a glimmer of hope and trust in God you need to keep on going even when you feel like quitting.
Pray we realize that God is always willing to listen to us in spite of our doubt if we seek Him. Pray we find God in our challenges in life. Pray we have a purpose to live for. Pray we have a relationship with God to help us endure our crosses. Pray our soul is satisfied. Pray we want God more than anything else. Pray we live into a better life making the right choices.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 