Good Friday is the most solemn day of the year. It is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. While the event was necessary to prove the power of Christ over death and ultimately resulted in His resurrection, there is still no more ominous moment in history. Never before, never since, and never again will such a tragedy occur. We remember this day because the very creation of God, acting in the freewill given to them by their Creator, nailed His Son to a cross and watched Him die. Jesus willingly allowed them to take His life from Him so that He might be the salvation of us all.
Dying Every Day
We are not enslaved by Satan, but rather by ourselves. It is our own selfish and carnal nature that stands between surrendering our lives fully to Christ. Satan cannot force us to sin or disobey. But we ourselves, as agents of freewill, have the ability to choose between obedience and disobedience; between life and death. Blaming the devil for our lack of commitment is an easy excuse for our own lack of devotion and self-discipline. Jesus instructed us to take up our cross daily (Matthew 16:24-26) because He knew we would battle our selfish desires each day, and so each day we would need to place our old cravings on the cross and kill them. We truly must crucify the old man. It isn’t just an analogy. Each day we must decide whether our selfish desires will live, or if instead we will crucify them so that we might live in Christ.
Brothers and Sisters
If you are fortunate to live in a country where you are free to worship as you please, it is vitally important to pray with those in countries where they are not. Notice I said to pray with them and not for them. It is a subtle, yet significant difference. Praying for someone sets up a sort of invisible boundary between you. It invokes thoughts of “us” and “them”. When we pray with someone, we identify with their situation. We place ourselves in their shoes the best that we can. It’s the difference between praying for a family member and an unknown person we have been asked to remember.
Whom Do You Trust?
In whom or what do you place your trust? Followers of Jesus are quick to answer that we trust in God alone. I wonder how true that really is for you. Who or what in your life keeps you from placing your complete trust in your Creator? I know the way I live often betrays my assertion that I trust God for everything. If I really trusted God, would I be making so many plans to eliminate as much risk as possible from my life? If my trust was complete, would I spend late nights worrying about circumstances over which I have no control?
Ready to Succeed
Everyone wants to succeed. I’ve yet to run into an exception to that statement. Our definition of success may vary, but at the end of the day, we all want to feel we’ve been successful in our endeavors. Above all else, followers of Jesus want to succeed in following in His footsteps. Success for us means we have been obedient to Him, have loved and served others well, and have glorified Him with our thoughts, words, and actions. But many feel as if they aren’t succeeding in their walk with Christ. They wonder how they might do better, or what they could change in order to succeed. Successfully following Jesus isn’t about trying harder, but rather simply being obedient.