Curve balls

So much of life is unpredictable, so why do we try to plan and control "our" lives. My life seems to be full of curve balls, nothing like the curve ball that I received last summer when Brian died, but enough that it has me realizing again how little of life we actually can predict and control.

In Feb. of 2009 I wrote a blog on what the word Sacrifice meant to me as a follower of Christ. http://brandykimes.blogspot.com/2009/02/sacrifice.html


Tonight I was challenged again to mediate on what it meant to sacrifice something. In Genesis 22, we are given a great example of what it looks like to truly lay down anything and everything for the God of the Universe. It's not the greatest example, because Jesus dying on the cross is the ultimate representation of what a sacrifice truly is. However, the journey that Isaac endured and the statement he made to God and the world when he laid his only son on that alter, is a foreshadowing of the sacrifice God was willing to make for us.

So, why bring up sacrifice in a blog that started out about life's curve balls. At the core of what I am struggling with is my own flesh. I have come to realize the depth of my desire to control my own life. In fact, it isn't the stuff in my life or the relationships that need to be placed on the alter but instead it is me. I need to lay my selfish desires to control my own life at the foot of the cross and be willing to sacrifice myself to the Lord regardless of the outcome.

Let's look at the difference between the Genesis passage and the Gospel. Isaac was willing to go through with it but God provided a lamb at the last minute. He didn't know that there would be a lamb, which makes me wonder if there had not been would this speak less of the character and nature of God? And would the story still reveal the same message? Would it still communicate that we are suppose to live in a way that nothing takes a higher place in our hearts that God Himself? Yes, I believe it would. Isn't the Gospel message all about the character and nature of God... and didn't Jesus die. The sacrificing that takes place in both Isaac's life and Jesus' is a statement that declares that all of our lives must be submitted beneath the mercies of the Lord. It is a sacrifice stating that life here on earth means nothing compared to the glory of doing the will of His Father.

That's my prayer. As life seems to be going in so many different directions and I am realizing how little control I really have, I pray that I would sacrifice my selfish desire to do my own will, for the will of the Father.

"Lord, don't give up on me. Don't let me stay the same as I am today, instead help me to learn what it means to be more like you. It is my greatest desire to bring you glory and if that means laying down my life, I will. Please, take away these selfish desires to control so many areas of my life. I don't know what tomorrow will hold and I can't hold onto the things and people of this world."

Reflections on John 14

My goal was to read all the gospels before Easter. Didn't happen. I got through the first three books and up to chapter 10 of John. Today I read to chapter 14 and have come to a deeper understanding of how God works and how he uses time to orchestrate just what His children need to hear and mediate on. Had I read this chapter just because I was trying to finish before Easter I don't think it would have spoken to me so deeply and intentionally.

My week hasn't been hard or frustrating but there has been this desire to know God the way that I used too. To have this underlying passion for the Holy One and to live my life as someone that experiences Him with His fullness. Isn't that was the resurrection opened up to those that believed? Why does it seem like I can go hours, days, or months without experiences Christ's great majesty?

Take some time to mediate on these words found in John and like me, your heart may be softened to His greatness and His Spirit may speak right to the areas in your life that you need Him to the most. I pray that you may experience the true resurrection of Christ and that your heart and soul will be filled with the full knowledge of who He is and how much He loves you. May you be encouraged in your walk and may you once again have the passion and desire for your 1st love. Don't give up on Him because He has not given up on you.

John 14

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

"Do not let your heart be troubled; [a]believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Oneness with the Father

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that (P)I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

Role of the Spirit

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you ' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me Get up, let us go from here.

Come Home Running

I know that Easter is all about Jesus' resurrection but being that I am on a crusade to truly understand every holiday that we celebrate (whether culturally or spiritually) I wanted to dig a little deeper into what Easter is really all about.

According to one website

The timing of the Christian celebration of Easter is linked to the Jewish celebration of the Passover. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were observed by the ancient Israelites early in each new year. (The Jewish people followed the Persian/Babylonian calendar and started each year with the Spring Equinox circa MAR-21). "Equinox" means "equal night;" on that date of the year, the night and day are approximately equal. The name "Passover" was derived from the actions of the angel of death as described in the book of Exodus. The angel "passed over" the homes of the Jews which were marked with the blood obtained from a ritual animal sacrifice. The same angel exterminated the first born(s) of every family whose doorway was not so marked.. Passover was the most important feast of the Jewish calendar, celebrated at the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. (The Equinox typically occurs on March 20, 21 or 22 according to our present calendar.)
The Gospels differ on the date of Jesus' execution:
The Synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) state that Jesus' last supper was a Seder - a Passover celebration at the start of 15th Nisan, just after sundown. (Jewish days begin at sundown and continue until the next sundown). Jesus was executed later that day and died about 3 PM.
The gospel of John states that the last supper at the beginning of 14th Nisan. Jesus is recorded as having died on the afternoon of 14th Nisan.

All the different sites I read helped me to realize that the date doesn't really matter. What really matters is that as a church body we are choosing to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. That we are saying to the world that "Christ is risen" and asking of those around us to recognize that "He is risen, indeed"

Some interesting side notes:

Over the centuries, these religious observances have been supplemented by popular customs, many of were incorporated from springtime fertility celebrations of European and Middle Eastern pagan religion. Rabbits and eggs, for example, are widely-used pagan symbols for fertility. Christians view the Easter eggs as symbols of joy and celebration (as they were forbidden during the fast of Lent) and of new life and resurrection. A common custom is to hide brightly colored eggs for children to find.

I read through the Gospels as a way to prepare for Easter. While reading John 11 I was struck by the words Jesus used as he brought lazarus back from the dead.

John 11:25-27

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."

John 11:40

Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

It is my prayer that we would all recognize that Jesus is indeed the resurrection and the life and that we would believe in Him and see His glory spread throughout all of the earth.