The Life-Saving Cross

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified... I Cor.1:18-22a

We all are given the gift of twenty four hours each day. How we spend them is up to us. In this busy world of multi-tasking  it "seems" foolish to spend a chunk of time each morning reading the Bible and in prayer. But in this time, I find daily rest for a soul that is so weary of this world.

My sister is weary of this world too. Just yesterday I encouraged her to come away from it all and to take the time just to be with Him, just to hear His voice and find refreshment for her struggling soul.

The Word is the only protection we have against the lies ready to bombard us from the media and in the world in general. It is also our protection against our own efforts to be "good" in and of ourselves.

And why can't we be good? The Bible tells us flat out that there is none good in Romans 3:12. 

As I have been faithfully taught, we can't "do" right if we don't "think" right first. But how can we think right if we are fallen beings, prone to the constant lure of sin and doubt?

The answer is taking His cross.

The blessing of this is that I apply this cross to my own right to form my own opinions and judgments of others, or even to how I think God thinks of me. I may think I "know" how a person is (as if I'm omniscient) or how a certain situation may unfold. But the Word tells me, not to be saved, but if I want to be a disciple, that I must lose my own life and take up my cross daily to follow Him.

That sounds hard, right? Taking up a cross daily? But really it is grace, because it saves us from ourselves.

If we look at Matthew 11: 28-30 we see that cross is really our salvation from the tyranny of our old person who wants to stay on the throne and have his own way.

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11: 28-30

Many years ago, I  questioned if that statement was really truthful.  Deep down, I believed the Lord was a hard taskmaster, demanding things just too hard for me, walking around in constant condemnation. I figured in my heart that this could not be true, but until I understood that it is grace from start to finish did I grow to love this passage.



"Come,"# 1204, deuro,...calling or encourageing and may be translated, "come," "come hither" as an exclamation or an imperative (command) 

EW Bullinger in the Companion Bible says of "come" : "Here Christ refers, not to sins, but to service, not to guilt, but to labour; not to the conscience, but to the heart; not to repentance, but to learning; not to finding forgiveness, but to finding rest."

of the word all, Bullinger continues that this word is limited to those seeking "rest"

Heavy laden: is the Greek word #5412 phortizo*, "to load up"...to overburden with ceremony (or spiritual anxiety): be heavy laden, load.

rest is the word anapauo, #373 "to repose... to refresh--... relax (give, take) rest. When used as a noun, it means "rest, quiet, from occupation, oppression, or torment."*
Bullinger says of rest: "Ours must be found in His gift. We have none to give."

Take is the Greek word airo "To take up and place on oneself, to take up and bear, meaning to bear, carry His yoke.

Learn is #3129, manthano: "ask, learn, study, be taught...particularly: intellectually, from others or from study or observation."  
A disciple is a disciplined learner.

Jesus said He was gentle. #4235, it is defined praios, or in the ESV, # 4239 praus, an adjective meaning meek, mild, gentle

The Creator of this universe is meek, mild and gentle toward us, and pities us in all our troubles. 

Humble is #5011, tapeinos- primarily signifies low-lying. This same thought of Christ's humility is expounded in Philippians 2.

In verse 30 is where is where this passage really encourages me, for:

 His yoke is #2218 zugos: serving to couple two things together is used 1) metaphorically, of submission to authority... not simply imparted by Him but shared with Him.

This yoke is easy. This word is #5543, chrestos: easy, good, kind. 
In speaking of Christ's yoke, "as having nothing harsh or galling about it."

and His burden is light, #1645, elaphros: light in weight, easy to bear.

This Savior that I speak of longs for this intimate fellowship with every one of His dear children. When I find myself out of fellowship with Him, I simply can ask myself how I went off His path of an easy yoke and a light burden? I confess it, knowing it's already paid for, and again take up His gracious, life-saving cross.

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." Psalm 119:18--  consider in light of this wonderful passage. 

I pray that God might bless anyone who reads this who may be worn down and burnt out, to find His yoke easy and burden light today. Amen.

References
The Complete WordStudy Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates
Zodhiates, AMG's Annotated Strong's Greek Dictionary of the New Testament
Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words
https://www.blueletterbible.org/

Taking the Time to Smell the Fragrance of God's Word

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16

Isn't it amazing that with all of our modern conveniences, most of us are more time pressured than ever? And yet with the advent of technology, there is a certain portion of my day that is given over to it, almost like an obligation. And why? What never ceases to amaze me is that no matter how many times I do the same dumb thing and think I will get a different result, I never, ever do. (The definition of insanity.)

I deceive myself thinking I need to keep up with the news. There is so much information on the internet I could never digest it all, yet I attempt this vain thing all the time. I was reading a writing book by Dani Shapiro called Still Writing, and she commented that she used to take a cigarette break from her writing (before she quit smoking). She said now that had sometimes (unfortunately)been replaced by the internet break. She did not recommend it at all, because it only served to distract from her focus, and yet the temptation to lose focus by surfing the net is so easy to do. How about checking facebook a dozen times a day? Yet this all adds up to precious minutes, minutes that add up to hours, hours that add up to days of mindless wandering all in the name of my "recreation."

On the other hand, time spent in the Word of God is never fruitless. Years ago, my sisters and I enjoyed doing counted cross stitch. We made little gifts for each other. One for my older sister had the verse from Proverbs 24:3 along with a pretty little house. The verse said: "By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established." As I stitched along, I wondered what that verse meant.

The other day, in my reading, I came across the verse again and decided to look up some cross-references.One of them was from Proverbs 9.

"Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; She has sent out her maidens, she calls From the tops of the heights of the city: “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks understanding she says,“Come, eat of my food And drink of the wine I have mixed. “Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.” Proverbs 9:1-6

I looked up some cross references again, for the part about the food that was prepared, and it led me to Luke 14:16-24, about the wedding banquet. The primary application was for the Jews who would not accept Jesus as their Messiah, so the gospel went out to the Gentiles, but in another way, could this not be wisdom from the Word of God speaking to us?

"But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it;please consider me excused.’Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out;please consider me excused.’Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’“And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

Could not the dinner be the Word itself, it is all prepared for us, to nourish us, build us up, to help us build our own spiritual house? But with all the distractions of technology, I let it pass me by. Yet there is no excuse, for as never before do we have the Word available to us for study, with online Bibles and teaching aids.

My husband planted some wildflowers in the front of our house, yet it was not until late in the summer that they finally, gloriously, bloomed. The colors are vivid shades of fuchsia, yellow, white, and reds. Underneath are small lacy white and delicate purple flowers. One day, I noticed they had a beautiful fragrance, but you had to bend close to the flower in order to detect it. Once you put your nose close to the petals, the sweetest smell exuded from it. Could that be how it is with the Word of God? On the whole, it just looks like a big book, formidable, even, until you pick it up and start smelling the sweet perfume within? This perfume reveals to mankind the loveliness of none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My pastor says you have to build an appetite for the Word of God. Well, start with just a taste then. And know that the Bible is from first to last, His-Story.Ask God to reveal to you these truths as you peer into His lovely Word:
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8)
"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Psalm 119:18