Church Devotions: A Believer's Catechism - Matthew 20:28

Today’s Bible readings are Isaiah 41:17-24 and Matthew 20:20-28

Matthew 20:28            “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Why did Jesus die? To save us from our sins.

Why do we need to be saved? Because God is holy and perfect and cannot abide sin; our sins separate us from God, so if we die in sin, we will be separated from Him forever.

Why can’t we save ourselves? Because we are not perfect or holy. We are human and sinful, selfish and proud, greedy and faithless, self-centered and conceited. Our sins are many and our good deeds are too few to purchase salvation.

What did Jesus mean when He said that He came to give His life as a ransom for many? Jesus was telling His followers that only He could pay the full price for our salvation. Without His perfect and supreme sacrifice, the ransom that God demanded would never be paid.

What did Jesus mean by ‘many?’  Not everyone will be saved. There will still be those who will choose to die in sin. There will still be those who choose to reject Jesus. There will still be those who will not repent of their sins, so they will never be restored to God. Jesus died for all, but not all will be saved.

How can I be saved?  Completely believe in Jesus and fully accept His words. Sincerely repent of your sins and seek His forgiveness. Respect Him as Your Savior and serve Him as Your King. Then you will know the joy and experience the blessing of being eternally saved by Christ.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, we come to you as sinners needing to be saved, as followers seeking forgiveness, and as servants searching for Your blessing. Forgive us of the past. Reclaim us at this present time. Restore us eternally to God. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian church in Knoxville, Tennessee. if you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of my Good Friday drawings from last year. It’s called “Death by Dali” and is my crayon version of Salvador Dali’s ‘Christ of St. John of the Cross.’ The original painting hangs in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery of my hometown Glasgow, Scotland. If you would like to see a larger version of my drawing, click on the following link: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5061/5630260156_4cd6a2e7b5_b.jpg

If you would like to view an image of Dali’s original painting, please click this link: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/museums/FullSizeMuseumPhotos/ac_id/87/image_id/361/imageno/1

Daily Devotions: Divine Doodles

Isaiah 40:18 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to?

If you had seen my math notebook when I was in High School, you would have found penciled images of two things in between algebraic equations and geometrical patterns – illustrated pictures of goldfish and cartoon depictions of Jesus. Don’t ask me why I drew goldfish because I can’t remember, but I drew images of Christ because I was struggling with my faith. (I was also struggling with calculus, but that’s a different story).

As a teenager, I had a very insecure and immature faith which didn’t influence my lifestyle choices. I still carried around in my heart and mind the Sunday School Jesus who was always helping and healing other people. I had an image of Jesus being either surrounded with lots of excited children or of Him touching sick people with His gentle hands. Those were good images for my childlike faith, but as a young person who was wrestling with issues of injustice, tragedy, and calamity that “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild” image just didn’t fit in the real world.

So I doodled images of Christ on my math book, which makes me now wonder if I did that because I couldn’t factor faith and life, Christ and the world into one easy logical equation. I guess I was struggling with the age old question: if God is so good, then why does suffering exist?

Years later, when I saw paintings of Christ on the Cross, I began to understand how to put the equation together. God is so good, He allows Himself to suffer.

These days, I continue to draw pictures of God and Christ because it’s one of the important ways that I express my faith. Sometimes a simple drawing can convey more meaning than a thousand words. And yet I also understand that those created images can never do justice to the reality of Jesus or God. After all, as Isaiah so boldly stated centuries ago: To whom will we compare God? What image will we compare God to?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are beyond our imagining and all that we know about You is so little compared to who You really are. As we each journey through life, help us to seek more about You and grant us a faith that never stops growing. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

If you would like to see some of John’s religious and other drawings, please visit his art site at www.stushieart.wordpress.com.