The Darkness

1 John 3:10

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

A few weeks ago, the tornadoes that ravaged part of our state was eerily close to my house. At 3:30pm, it felt like someone had turned off the lights outside. Despite the hail, rain, thunder and lightening, you could still see. But it was dark and frightening.


Jesus was nailed to the Cross at approximately 9am. For 3 hours, He endured insults, nakedness, embarrassment, mental torture - not to mention the physical pain that pulsated through His suffocating body. But at high noon, when the sun should have been at it's brightest - an eerie, pitch black darkness blanketed the whole earth. Can you imagine?

Do you know what this was???

God's anger was permeating the atmosphere. His judgement was falling. Jesus was enduring the wrath of God. God had turned away from His Son for the first time ever. Do you remember Him sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane? This was what Jesus dreaded most.

Out of love for you and for me, God sent Jesus to be our substitute. He endured the full force of God's wrath for what must have seemed like an eternity. My sins; your sins - came between Jesus and the Father. What Jesus went through is beyond our ability to imagine or describe.

We catch a glimpse into what was going on in Jesus' heart from the writer of the 22nd Psalm:

:1 My God, my God why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

:2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer...

Jesus endured hell for you and for me. When we claim Him as our sacrifice for sin, we will never have to be separated from God, because Jesus was.

At approximately 3pm - after 3 hours of total darkness and hell, Jesus asked for a drink. And with a voice that reverberates through the ages, He said, "It is finished." With that, He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit. The price for your salvation and mine was paid in full.

Have you personally claimed Him as your only sacrifice for sin? Or are you counting on the fig leaves of religion, morality, good environmental living or the good person rule to make you right with God?

You may not love God, but He loves you. (It's okay to be honest.) He loves you so much, that He went through hell in order to have a personal relationship with you. As with any friendship, you can only have a personal relationship by spending daily time together. Going to church once or twice a week makes for a shallow friendship - especially when the waves and tsunami's of life pound on the shores of our life.

The study, Establishing a Vibrant Quiet Time and Prayer Time is a great how to study. Stay tuned next week for a special offer.

Have a great weekend!

Nakedness on the Cross

Remember that horrible sin I wrote about last week?

You know, that bad thing that you would never want anyone to know about.

That bad thing that you want suppressed and never surfaced again.

Not to mention, the everyday... shall I say... shortcomings. (Complaining, grumbling, yelling, anger, rage, potty mouth, critical and judgemental thoughts - just to name a few.)

Why am I bringing these back up? There's a reason. Do you remember what Adam and Eve did after they bit the apple? They felt ashamed and embarrassed. They knew they had disobeyed God. So they "sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." (Genesis 3:7)

Often we still try to make modern day fig leaves to cover our sins before God. We'll use the fig leaf of: the good person rule; philanthropies; environmental green-living; religion and morality. However, there are no fig leaves big enough to hide our sin from God.

Scriptures says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account." Hebrews 4:13

God sees everything. Even those secret sins and the secret sins of the heart. Yikes!

When Jesus went to the Cross to bear your sins and mine, He didn't have any 'fig leaves' to cover Himself. He was uncovered and bare before the eyes of God.

Most of the pictures we see of Jesus on the Cross, He's covered with a loin cloth around His waist. In actuality, He was naked.

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for the each of them, with the undergarments remaining. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.

John 19:23-24

Jesus was physically and spiritually naked before God so that you and I could be clothed.

Jesus took the filthy garments of that horrible sin (s) plus the everyday junk we can get ourselves into. And He gave us His perfect, spotless robe of righteousness.

On Judgement Day, you and I will be dressed in His righteousness before God because He wore the disgusting garments of our sin.

Tomorrow: The darkness that fell on the land between 12pm and 3pm. How is this relevant in my life?

Lessons from the Criminals Beside Jesus

"But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him,"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Luke 23:40-43

The criminals executed with Jesus have long been such an encouragement to me. Both criminals hurled insults at Him, then one reconsidered. Let me share several thoughts of relevancy for today.

1. The criminal who says, "Don't you fear God," quite possibly had a good upbringing. He may have had a godly mother, father or grandmother. He had been taught right from wrong. But somewhere along the way, he got involved with the wrong crowd.

Now at the point of death, all that he had been taught as a child bubbled up within his heart. I firmly believed his fear of God was rekindled. He wanted to be right with God before dying. Oh, how I hope that encourages someone today who may have a wayward child.

2. Jesus' response to the criminal's faith should encourage all of us. Matthew and Mark tell us they were robbers. They were criminals and deserved punishment.

Yet when the criminal acknowledged his sins and affirmed his belief in Jesus - notice Jesus' response. He didn't command him to come down from the cross to be baptized or to be christened or to join the church or go through confirmation. Nor do we see Jesus questioning whether his good works outweighed his bad works during the span of his life time. The one criminal who turned to Christ at the last minute was accepted and promised a home in heaven! "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

As long as we or someone we know and love has breathe, it's never too late for them to turn to Christ. Persevere in your prayers for them. Never give up on them. Keep praying! (Wonder if it was the prayers of the criminal's mother that brought him back? We'll never know this side of heaven.)

3. Notice how Jesus wins the criminal to God... Jesus wasn't begging them to come to faith; He wasn't pounding them over the head with His Bible. It wasn't even telling them how close they were to hell. (And they were!)

His actions brought about conviction in the heart of the criminal. What were His actions? He was asking God to forgive those who were badly mistreating Him. (Luke 23:34). He was not retaliating to the insults. (Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32). He was making sure His mother would be cared for. (John 19:26-27). Jesus was living His life in a way that was bringing honor to God - even in the midst of intense suffering.

When we live our lives in a way that brings honor to God, others will want to know our Jesus.

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  When we have joy and peace in our countenance despite our difficult circumstances...


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  When we have lots to worry about, but we are choosing to trust God with our concerns.


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  When we are in our "right" to retaliate - and we don't.


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  When love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, humility, gentleness and self-control flows through us to others -especially when they don't deserve it - others will notice.

God's Word is so relevant to our generation!!! I hope you are encouraged today.

Tomorrow: Nakedness and the Darkness

Have a great day!