Nailed to a tree...

Nothing like a wrapped present to build excitement in the heart of a child.   Ace and I get excited too for we know what the presents are and we know they will love them.    They did not shop for their gifts or pay for it,  we did, it's theirs, free and clear.  We don't expect them to pay us back, or buy us something in return.  

You know I am still excited over the gift I opened on Oct. 20th,  1980. In fact I want to give this gift to all I meet.  Instead of being under a tree this gift was nailed to a old rugged cross,  it's package of flesh torn and bleeding.  The bow made into a crown of thorns dug into the wrapping.  There was nothing pretty about the package and the way it was presented.  Yet it contain everything to give me eternal life. 

 I believe God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit gets excited when ever this gift is presented to someone.  They wait, hoping it will be accepted.  

There is no plainer truth taught in the Word of God than salvation being a “free gift” (Romans 5:15,18; 6:23). If I were to offer you a Christmas present, but with the stipulation that you must be willing to take a bath, it would not be a gift. Why? Because I have clearly implied that I expect you to take a bath to get the present. A gift is defined as something given voluntarily without any payment in return. 

The thief had nails through both hands, so that he could not work; and a nail through each foot, so that he could not run errands for the Lord; he could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation, and yet Christ offered him the gift of God; and he took it. Christ threw him a passport, and took him into Paradise. D.L. Moody (don't you just love this quote?)

 Quote from Mary DeMuth book, Everything. 

We cannot fully satisfy a holy God. Our redemption is an outrageous, initiating act accomplished by God alone. He pursued humanity to such an extent that His feet landed on earth, and He chased after us until He rescued us at the cross. We did not climb onto those wooden beams. We could not receive the nails that pierced those holy hands. We who are not kingly wore no crown. We could not drink the cup of God wrath. "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Rom. 5:6. God did what we could not . He sent His beautifully sinless Son to take our place, to satisfy for all time God's wrath upon sin. "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. II Cor. 5:21

God transforms, He creates, He  thinks otherworldly thoughts,  He dares to redeem an obstinate world. If we camp in that place, remembering the gift we could never, ever pay back, we will live astonished lives, and our growth will be the best kind---the kind that emerges from gratitude, from thinking rightly about God.

What a gift!

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   I pray you have already opened this gift and with a thankful heart will celebrate Him this Christmas. 

Assignment

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”~~C.S. Lewi(my facebook post today)

Several commented on my post from C.S. Lewis.  The one that got my attention was from a sweet friend of mine.   She began to suffer with crippling  rheumatoid arthritis a little over two years ago after her oldest son died from a heart condition.   She went from a very active, committed Christian working mother of three, to being held captive often by her health issues on top of her grief.   Below is her comment to my post.  

( Well, then, what am I missing? 

 (He has been shouting for a long time, and I guess I don’t understand the assignment. ) 

 CommenWell, then, what am I missingeM

Below is my reply to her heart felt question:

When things are great one hardly ever thinks of death, but when pain comes it’s hard not to think of death. Just take the recent Covid pandemic, and how it has forced us to think of death more often. 

 We can live with our head buried in clouds until a raging storm comes then we seek shelter. Every pain we suffer is the means to draw deeper into Him, to learn of Him, the one who suffered the most pain ever for the whole world. 

Pain will mature our faith in Him or turn our focus inward.  Maturity brings courage to reach outside our self to others. Our trials and pain may be with us though out our life here on earth, but we believers know something a non-believer does not know.  We leave all our earthly suffering and pain when we leave this earthly abode.  

So, what is our assignment till then? That was Julie's question, wasn't it?  Nothing makes us question our purpose more than pain.   

Jesus used very few words when He gave it out to His followers.  Mark 16: 15 Go tell…by mouth, by social media, by whatever means is available to us. When we allow our pain to be a means to share Jesus all heaven shouts and anyone around us is helped. Does our pain decrease when we allow God to use it?  Sometimes but not always. 

 The pain is not the focus, only a tool in the hands of a loving God. 

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Like everyone else I have had my share of pain, both physcial and emotionally.   There have been times I allowed it to make me bitter and it has left a few scars on me.  Since becoming a believer at age 35 and studying the Bible I have to come to realize God wants to use my pain.  He never promised me a life free of pain.  He doesn't want me to waste it, or drive me to into a pity party. I know people who are hard to be around due to their pain and grief and the pity party they live in.    

Self-pity is a way to escape the pain of sadness by trying to make others feel sadness for us. Chip Dodd.

How does this quote speak to your heart.? Have you been stuck in self -pity before and how did you get out of it?