Christian devotion: Simply Sacrificial - Colossians 1:19-20

Colossians 1:19-20     For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (NIV)

            Paul simply states in the above verses what I have always believed and experienced as a Christian. Without the Cross, I could not be forgiven. Without Christ’s blood, I could never be reconciled to God.

            This candid sentence in Paul’s Letter to the Colossians makes it perfectly clear: the Cross was not an accident; it was fully intended to be used by God to reconcile us to Him. It was not a mistake; it was a divine instrument of God’s mercy and grace. We look at the Cross and experience the horror that Jesus endured. We know that we put Him there, so it makes us feel uncomfortable, self-loathing, and ashamed.

We would rather it was a mistake because we wouldn’t feel that our sins had wounded Him. We would happily accept it as an accident because we would be able to cast the Cross aside and simply approach God without any boundaries or barriers. But the Cross is there to remind us that we are sinful creatures, forbidden to enter God’s Holy Kingdom without the shameful Cross of Christ and the sacrificial blood of Jesus.

As post-modern people and 21^st century idealists we want things to go our way, be what we wish, and embrace our own understanding. However, as Paul writes elsewhere, the Cross becomes a stumbling block in the way of our wisdom, and the foolishness of God is infinitely above the cleverness of people. If we want to be with God after we die, we need to come to the Cross before we die. If we wish to enter into the glorious Kingdom of God at the last, we need to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus first. There is simply no other way, nor can we ever find another truth to gain us everlasting life.

Questions for personal reflection

What does Christ’s Cross mean to me? How has Christ’s blood reconciled me to God?

Prayer:            Lord Jesus, being a Christian is never easy or comfortable. We have to make hard decisions and a personal commitment to You. We want eternal life and to go to Heaven after we die. Help us to both understand and embrace the divine fact that we cannot do this on our own. We need Your Cross to convict us; we require Your blood to cleanse us. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to send him an email, feel free to do so at Traqair@aol.com.

Toda’s image is one of John’s Good Friday drawings called “Outside.” If you would like to view a larger version, please click this link: Outside.

Easter Screensaver: Psalm 36

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens.

4 Minute Daily Devotions: Crossless Christians

Luke 14:27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

We live in a cross-less society, where people are not willing to carry their own burdens or endure any trouble. Even some Christians want their faith to be light, worry-free, and non-challenging to their life-style choices. It’s as if we’re saying to Christ and His first disciples, “that cross carrying stuff is old-fashioned. We want to emerge as new Christians, who are free to reject what we don’t like of the old ways and re-invent our faith. We want it all to be light and fluffy, likeable and popular. We don’t want to carry nasty crosses anymore.”

The trouble is this: when we do that, we’ve become a New Age religion and no longer cross-carrying Christians. We want our faith to be convenient instead of persistent. We want it to be experienced on our terms instead of Christ’s. Rather than place Christ at the center of all things, we want Him to be focused on us. We want Jesus to like us and love us, laugh with us and live with us, instead of confronting and challenging us, or converting and changing us.

Sometimes I wish that Jesus had never said things like ‘anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.’ I wish that He had uttered something like ‘disregard your crosses, have fun with Me, and you can be My friends.’ But He didn’t. Christ knew that life was hard and that in every generation Christians will be faced with two choices: to throw off their crosses and go their own way, or to wearily pick up their heavy burden and plod on, following Jesus all through life.

Having faith in Jesus is never going to be easy, but one day we will get to lay our crosses at His feet and enjoy His peace forever. But if we want it all now, we will never experience that everlasting joy and peace.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, sometimes we want to give up being Christians and just fall into line with the rest of the world. It would be a whole lot easier just to ignore Your words and to go our own way. Instead of feeling guilty, we would be unburdened and could live our lives free from any commitment, challenge, or change. But You have called us to carry our crosses, to endure the world’s dislike, and to experience the cost of faith. It isn’t an easy path to follow, but we pray that You will enable and empower us to keep on going, so that we may emerge as real Christians and not phony disciples. In Your Holy Name, we humbly 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.

Nothing But the Truth

Last night, our church hosted a special performance by the Word Players of Knoxville. They put on their production of “A Woman Called Truth.” It was a remarkable play, which told the story of a slave woman from the North East, who fought against her captors to win freedom for herself, her son, and her family.

Podcast version here

I was really impressed by the whole cast, who portrayed her story in a wonderful and engaging way. I was also struck by how relevant Sojourner Truth’s life still is for what we experience today. People may not be sold as slaves any longer, but the old prejudices and racism still persist. Just recently, a major politician, who should have known better, made an unintentional racial slur against a presidential candidate. It was unintended, but it was still racist, and what makes it even more repugnant, is that many people don’t see the racism in the remark. But that’s how the scourge of racism works – subtly and under the radar – until it becomes acceptable to the general public.

Sin operates in a similar fashion, especially in the areas of obsession and addiction. Habitual sin diminishes our faith moment by moment, event by event, sin by sin, until it becomes a major problem. The ex-Governor of New York was seduced by his own addiction, but instead of seeking help, he let it overcome him until it has ruined his career, his marriage, and possibly his life.

Bible Verse of the Day

Romans 6: 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Sin, racism, and even slavery are insidious. They start off small and then grow like a cancer until they take over poor souls and an ignorant populace, transforming sinners and society into something soulless. That’s why Paul emphasizes the Cross in so much of his letters. It is the one safe haven for all sinners. It is the one place and time where we can be truly set free. It is the most pivotal event in human history where we, who have been enslaved by obsession and sin, insecurity and insensitivity, rancor and racism, can be liberated by our Deliverer Christ Jesus for all of eternity. Instead of hanging on to our hang ups, we can let go and let God transform us through Christ and His Cross.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, liberate us from our fears and sins, our prejudices and pride, our mistakes and misconceptions. Open our hearts and souls to Your words and ways. Keep us from following self-satisfying paths that lead to self-destruction. Help us to latch on to Your leadership and grant us Your godly counsel in all that we seek to accomplish this day. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.