He is risen indeed! Celebrate Him loudly today!
Archives for March 2013
Lead Me to Calvary
Tomorrow is Good Friday, the day we remember the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. We’ve talked a lot in recent days about surrendering everything to Jesus and truly making Him the Lord of our lives. Everything we do should be to glorify Him because of what He did for us. In thinking about this post, the old hymn, “Lead Me to Calvary”, kept repeating in my head. As we prepare our hearts for solemn remembrance tomorrow, it seemed good to reflect on the words of this powerful song.
What it Means to Follow Jesus
The most popular post I ever wrote was titled, “What Does it Mean to be a Christian?” I wrote that after a close friend of mine had accepted the Lord and I wanted to give him a primer of sorts as to what living a life devoted to Christ should look like. I believe that we who have called ourselves Christians for a long time probably skim over articles such as that one, assuming they are too basic or that we already know what being a Christ-follower entails. The past couple of years have convinced me that nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of people calling themselves Christians have no idea what it means to truly follow Christ.
Glorify God
In 2 Timothy 2:4, Paul tells us that “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the recruiter.” Each of us has been recruited by Jesus Himself to serve as soldiers in His army. Our orders are to further His mission and bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth. When we said yes to Jesus, we enlisted in His service for the remainder of our lives. We surrendered our individual wills and desires in deference to the plans and purposes of God. We are no longer our own, for we were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Living for Jesus
I recently heard Greg Boyd say how troubled he was that “so many people say they are willing to die for Christ, yet they aren’t willing to live for Him”. How easy it is for us to proclaim our loyalty to Jesus and say that we would never deny Him, even if that meant being killed. If that is true, why is it we live lives that look exactly like those around us? How can it possibly be true that we would have the resolve to die for Christ when we can’t even muster the discipline to live for Him in our daily lives?