Easter part 1: Easter Love

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13 (NIV)

So I know it’s not Easter quite yet, but having been creating a lot of Easter designs recently it has been on my mind.  I have been trying to figure out what the core of the Easter story is; what we are really supposed to be celebrating.  Two points have come to my mind, and I want to focus on them in a two part blog over this and next week.  The first point is love.

The Easter story is one of great love.  Love so great, that it has never been matched before, or after, that first Easter day.  The kind of love which drove a man to pay for crimes he didn’t commit, with his own life.  This love was so great, that the crimes paid for were not only committed by his friends, but also by his enemies.  The Bible tells us in Romans 5:7 that “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.”  Yet this man – Jesus Christ – died for all of us, the good and the bad.  For those who love Him, and those who hate Him.

The words of an old, familiar children’s chorus come to mind:

Jesus loves me, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little one to Him belong.
They are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me.  And Jesus loves you.  And Jesus loves the strange woman at the supermarket.  And Jesus loves the unfair boss at work.  And Jesus loves the irritating teenager in your neighbourhood.  Jesus loves us all, and he demonstrated this love on the first Easter day.

So this Easter, remember His love.  And maybe you can share the story of a man who died for sinners, with someone who needs to hear it.

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I am a Soldier

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)

Every time my husband or I pray with our 3 year old son, we/he closes the prayer with “Please help me to do the right thing – even when it is hard.”  Sometimes, if he has struggled with something during the day, he will add that specific event into his prayer at this point.

Doing the right thing is often not easy.  It is often something we have to work at; we have to fight for it.  Why is this?  The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 that we are in a spiritual war, where the powers of darkness and wickedness are throwing fiery arrow at us.  Satan and his host want to make it as hard as possible for us to do the ‘right thing’.

Some examples of how to do the right thing are mentioned here in Ephesians chapter 6.  It is right for children to obey their parents (v.1); it is right for parents to avoid exasperating their children (v.4); is it right for slaves to obey their masters (v.5 – this can be applied to staff obeying managers too); it is right for masters to treat slaves with goodness (v.9 – or managers to so treat their staff).  All of these situations occur in our daily life, and I don’t know about you, but I sure find some of them hard to do at times!  So we have to fight – fight for God, and for righteousness.

We are soldiers.  We fight the war of life.  Our battle is not against flesh or blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil.  And with truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith, the Word of God and prayer, we can win our battles.

So fight to do the right thing today – even when it is hard.  Fight on God’s side.

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Little Girl….Big Blessing

I have a little girl.  She is 16 months,  and quite a character!  Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love her – I cannot imagine loving her more!  Every day she brings smiles, laughter and simple joy into my life.

BUT.

Having a little girl is not all fun and games.  Everyone who knows me probably also knows how much she sleeps… or rather… doesn’t sleep.  My princess still wakes up every night, often every hour, and sometimes more.   She likes to have her own way.  And if she doesn’t get it, she can get very angry.  She also fights meal times, and spits her food all out, over what was once (way back sometime) nice clean clothes.

I expect anyone with kids will agree that in the day-to-day and night-to-night trials, fights, tears and sleeplessness, remembering just how much of a blessing your little angel is can be tough.

BUT.

Philippians 4 tells us that as Christians – and in this case Christian parents – we ought to be focusing on things that are good – excellent – virtuous – praiseworthy.  And 1st Corinthians 13 tells us that love – and you do love your child, remember? – is patient – kind – selfless – not easily angered – forbearing – hopeful – enduring.  And James 1 tells us that trials – such as tantrums and no sleep, perhaps? – can be used as tools to make us perfect – complete – lacking in nothing.

SO.

If you have a little girl – or a little boy – try to remember that even through the toughest days and roughest nights, children truly are BIG BLESSINGS.

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Powered Up… by the Grace of the Gospel

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
1st Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)

The Gospel is literally the ‘good news’.  It is a paradoxical good news; God has chosen the weak to be strong, demands we lose our life to find it, tells us to give if we want to receive, shows His wisdom through foolishness.  All of these ideas – and more – seem foolish if looked at from a worldly perspective.  Indeed, the theory of evolution would propose just the opposite: the strong are strong, you must hunt to find life, those taking will receive, and the wise win out over fools.

But God never meant to be conventional.  He is so far above and beyond us that we cannot fathom His ways, His knowledge, and His wisdom.  But those who seek Him and are being saved by Him get a glimpse of His perspective.  As we grow spiritually, we begin to understand His paradoxical power.  For it is this power which saves us through the message of grace given to us at the cross.

What does this message mean to you?  Is it foolishness? Or it is the power of God – spurring you on as accept the grace of the Gospel?

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Soar on Wings

“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles…”
Isaiah 40:31

Do you remember when you were a kid?  How much energy you had!  I have two children, and they can out run, out jump, out play me every day!  They have so much energy, sometimes it seem like they never get tired – but they do.  It takes a lot to wear them out, but it does happen.

Isaiah used this example of young energy here in chapter 40 to show us just how awesome our God is, and what he can do for us.  ”Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall”  he says.  ”"But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Is there something you need strength for?  Do you want to walk and run without tiring?  Then put your hope in God!  In Him you can walk through every day with spiritual energy.  He will help you run through the trials, He will give you strength to withstand the temptation.

He is, after all, “the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28).  With Him, you can soar on wings!

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Shield of Faith

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one”
Ephesians 6:16 (NIV)

When reading this verse in the NKJV (New King James Version), I noticed a little phrase: “Above all, taking the shield of faith…”  Above all.  Why the emphasis on this part of the armor, I wondered?  The answer I found as I kept reading.  The answer is because this is the part which can “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” (All emphases mine.)

Faith is mentioned many times in the Bible, but if there is one aspect of it which stands out to me it is the power it holds.  By faith men and women were made miraculously well – even raised from the dead.  By faith walls were brought down.  By faith we are told we can make mountains move.  And here in Ephesians Paul writes that this same faith has the power to protect us from anything and everything that Satan can throw at us.

So how is your faith today?  How is mine?  Let us strive to have such faith that our shield will be impenetrable.

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Unfading Beauty

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
1 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV)

As a girl, one thing I LOVE is to go clothes shopping.  In fact, most birthday’s and Christmas’ I ask for money so that I can spend it on clothes!  Another thing I love is to get my hair cut and styled at the salon.  The pampering feels great, and the end results feels even better.  These are activities I can’t do very often, but I always look forward to getting the chance, planning exactly what kind of clothes I want to buy and which hair style I want cut.

But what is it about these activities that makes me enjoy them so much?  The reason is because I feel like they make me look beautiful.  When I’m wearing a great new outfit with a cute new hair cut, my husband tells me a look amazing – and I feel like he’s right!

In 1st Peter, however, we are told that our beauty should not be coming from these outward adornments, but rather from within.  I don’t think that Peter wrote this to condemn all outward beauty as evil, but rather to remind us that the source of our beauty should be primarily our inner character.

True beauty, you see, comes from who we are more than what we wear.

Have you ever met someone who looks fantastic - until you find out how nasty they are.  Then suddenly all their good looks begin to take on an edge of meanness that brings down their beauty.  The opposite is true too; I have noticed that the more I like someone, the better looking they appear to me!

Imagine how good we girls can look if we work on our inner beauty before anything else.  If we take a character make-over and get rid of the blemishes of selfishness, laziness, gossip and hate.  If we put on the beauty of love, peace, kindness and servant-hood.  If before every date with our husbands (or boyfriends) we get our selves dressed up twice – first inwardly, then outwardly.  Then we will be truly beautiful, with a beauty that is worth so much to God, and which never fades.

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Gospel Headlines

“He died for us so that … we may live together with him.”
1st Thessalonians 5:10

Nothing catches people’s attention faster than a shocking news headline.  I have often wondered why news shows and newspapers are always presenting so much bad news, and so little good news, but I guess I know the answer.  Bad news sells!  People are, for some reason, drawn to finding out more about gory, horrific, terrifying and heart-wrenching stories.  And good news very rarely has the shock element to make it into the headlines.

Perhaps that is why God used such an awesome way to save us.  The Bible says this, in Romans 5:7, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.”  It then goes on to say in verse 8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [Emphasis mine.] And why did he die?  Look in 1st Thessalonians 5:10 – “He died for us so that … we may live together with him.”

Imagine this newspaper headline “Man DIES so you can live”   Now that is shocking news.  Good shocking news.

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Forgiven

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”
Ephesians 1:7 (NIV)

One of the sweetest joys of being a Christian is knowing that by the grace of God, you have been forgiven.  When I was baptised, I remember feeling fresh and clean – like all the dirty marks in my life had been erased.  It was exhilarating!  But over the years I have continued to make mistakes, ’dirtying’ up my clean slate.  The beauty of grace is that every time I repent before God, He forgives me again – no matter how many times I ask!

Everyone has sinned.  Everyone will continue to sin.  But God’s forgiveness is eternal, and can cover over every mistake you desire – big or little, one-off or repeated.  And once you enter into this grace you will know the joy of being rescued… set free… washed… renewed… cleansed… saved… released… liberated… purified… redeemed… FORGIVEN!

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Jesus Drives Me

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross”

Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

What drives you to excel?  What power within steers you through tough times?  What fuels your journey through life?

As Christians, our drive - our power - our fuel should come from Jesus.  Sometime I find my focus drifts away from Him, and my mind wanders.  Sometimes I am pulled away by worldy fuels – perhaps possesions, worry or work.  Othertimes I simply sink into apathy, forgetting my ‘first love’ (Revelation 2:4)

When I come to my senses and realise I have lost my zeal for Jesus, I begin to wonder how to get it back.  I have read many suggestions for rekindling one’s fire, but the one that works for me is summed up in this verse from Hebrews 12.  Jesus endured the cross. Dwell on that.  Fix your thoughts on His amazing sacrifce.  Then fix your eyes on Him and let him drive you.

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