Calvary

Poured Out

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Poured Out

I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels. Psalm 22:14 KJV

As a teenager I always loved the Christmas presents I got from my stepmother Amy. She bought me beautiful expensive clothes, but she always left the price tag on! It was not that she minded spending the money, but she wanted to be sure that I treated her gifts with special care! In some ways God is a lot like Amy. God loves lavishing us with His grace, but He wants us to know the cost.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said that His soul was sorrowful unto death. He agonized in prayer in order to accept the suffering of the cross. He asked if there was any other way and then sweat ran down His face like great drops of blood. Just hours after He had finished praying, Jesus was nailed to the cross. Today’s Bible verse tells us that He was poured out like water. The spear pierced His side and then the last drop of the lifeblood of Jesus flowed down to the ground. What a price He paid for us! Let’s be grateful to God for His blessings and treasure more greatly the gift we are given, by remembering the price that He paid.

The Longest Christmas Journey – Part 2

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NKJV

After the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the wise men went home to their country, the shepherds to their fields and Mary and Joseph after a time of hiding in Egypt returned to Nazareth. But when their travels were over, the journey of Jesus had just begun. The first leg of His trip had brought Him to our world, but for the next thirty-three years Jesus walked the second leg of His journey on His way to find us. Yes, God allowed Himself to be born as a fragile baby boy, but Bethlehem’s story is only half told if we all we do is walk away from the manger scene with warm fuzzy feelings.

In reality, the path from Bethlehem’s stable to Golgotha’s hill was even farther than the one from heaven to earth. After three years of healing the sick, comforting the outcasts and showing what God’s love was really all about, Jesus was left alone. On the cross He had no one to comfort Him and no one to understand, except His Father in heaven. Then with His final breath He surrendered His life for ours. There, at the cross Jesus finished His journey as He paid for our sins with His blood. In thankful astonishment let’s trust Him with our hearts, so that our journey that began with Christmas will lead us all the way to Heaven’s door!

He Gently Stooped Low

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He Gently Stooped Low

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. Psalm 18:35 ESV

While the ESV gives us the picture of a Mighty God who is gently on our side, the old NIV renders that same phrase as, “He stopped low. Like Gandalf entering through a Hobbit doorway, in the Lord of the Rings, Jesus had to bend low enough to enter our world through the stable doorway in Bethlehem. He went to begging blind men, destitute widows and outcast lepers. Jesus had compassion on hungry listeners and washed the dirty feet of disciples. Jesus’ right hand was both gentle enough to bless a child and strong enough to lift a paralyzed man to His feet.

And when His time came He carried the weight of His cross to the top of Golgotha where those gentle hands were nailed to the wood. Then as He stooped His lowest in death, Jesus reached lower still as we were falling deep into our sins, and caught us, raised us up and gave us the greatness of His salvation. Oh how mighty and gentle is our Jesus! He gently stooped low enough to save us and then shared His greatness with His children!