Even The Death Of The Cross

                                   

              Reading Philippians 2:5-10 quoted below, I consider what Jesus has done for not only me, but also the multitudes that are standing now, and the multitudes that have gone before us.  Then I try to grasp the multitudes to come.  These thoughts are somewhat over whelming.  To think He willingly put himself on that “Old Rugged Cross” to die for the sins of the world, (the multitudes now, before, and to come.)

Revelation 1:8  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

              Yet, consider what He did as a humble, obedient servant, (to serve you and I,) to keep us from a burning, tormenting, everlasting hell bound existence.  He was bruised on that Cross, and tormented with pain beyond our imagination.  He was wracked with the shame, the pain, and the suffering of that Cross, so the worst of the worst of us could avoid hell.

              Jesus the Christ, The Son of God, has been given the name that is above all names, (a name greater than all names.)  You and I, (IF you are a Christian) cannot claim to be “above anything.”  We are sinners saved by the grace of God, God’s “Amazing Grace,” Jesus the Christ.  As sinners, He died for you and me. 

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

He died, so we can live, regardless of what we are, or have been.  In our “reason[ing]” (our repenting,) we must realize our need to change.  When we “sorta” grasp what Jesus has done, it should humble us to the point of falling to our knees in sobbing prayer. 

              This week, before Easter, before the celebration of “life after death,” consider where you stand within YOUR personal Salvation.  “Do you deserve to be called a Christian?”  (None of us do.)  We are all sinners saved by His “Amazing Grace.”  The question really isn’t, “Do you deserve salvation?”  If you know you are saved, then the questions become, “Where are you going with it?  Do other Christians see you as you claim?  What about those in the world who are lost and without Christ’s salvation?  Do they see you as a Christian?”

              These questions may not be easily answered.  Yet, we must always strive to be seen as God made us when we were reborn.  “Is your “strive” in drive, or in park, or has it been stuck in reverse?  You are the driver you make the choice.  Put yourself in “drive,” and strive to be what God wants you to be.”                                                                                                                                         

Bro. John R. E Chastain

Philippians 2:5-10  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  (6)  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  (7)  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  (8)  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  (9)  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:  (10)  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;