WorryFreeMom

My kids know the story, as do so many children across the US–Christ died on the cross and rose again to save us from our sins.  We are taught that as He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He begged God to provide another way.  I have always been taught that He didn’t want to go through the horror of being crucified.  But reading Chapter 2 in David Platt’s Radical has radically altered my perception.  As Platt points out, many Christians since then have gone to their torturous deaths SINGING–deaths as bad or worse than Christ’s.

“One Christian in India, while being skinned alive, looked at his persecutors and said, ‘I thank you for this.  Tear off my old garment, for I will soon put on Christ’s garment of righteousness.’” (p35–emphasis added)

Another, Christopher Love, wrote this to his wife, “‘Today they will sever me from my physical head, but they cannot sever me from my spiritual head, Christ.’ As he walked to his death, his wife applauded while he sang of glory.” (35 emphasis added)

In my American life of relative ease and bliss, I cannot even imaging facing such an awful fate.  Which is why, to me, it made sense that Christ would be terrified of being crucified.  Yet, if other believers willingly went to their deaths for Christ, with Paul even saying that “To die is gain” and other Christians in history valiantly facing death, how could it be that Christ would not have the courage to face a similar fate?  There must be another reason for the blood that he sweat before facing his captors. As Platt so aptly states, “Did these men and women in Christian history have more courage than Christ himself?  Why was he trembling in that garden, weeping and full of anguish?  We can rest assured that he was not a coward about to face Roman soldiers.  Instead, he was a Savior about to endure divine wrath.” (35)

Why was it that I never thought of the wrath of God being the reason that Christ begged for another way?  Perhaps because, as Platt posits, in our American culture we focus only on one aspect of God’s character–His loving fatherhood.  And we forget about the part where he is also a God of divine judgment, a God who is so holy that He cannot even bear to look upon sin.  In fact, if we just LOOKED at God, we would die.  Can you imagine?  No?  Well, Jesus didn’t have to imagine–He KNEW.

Our sins are not forgiven simply because Christ died for us–they are forgiven because He took God’s wrath at our sins upon Himself.  I love the illustration that Platt shares:  “One preacher described it as if you and I were standing a short hundred yards away from a dam of water ten thousand miles high and ten thousand miles wide.  All of a sudden that dam was breached, and a torrential flood of water came crashing toward us.  Right before it reached our feet, the ground in front of us opened up and swallowed it all.  At the Cross, Christ drank the full cup of the wrath of God, and when he had downed the last drop, he turned the cup over and cried out, ‘It is finished.’” (36)  Now the words Christ spoke about being forsaken by God make sense, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  It wasn’t just because God looked away–it was because God’s wrath was poured out on Christ.

How could we think that the cross in and of itself would be just punishment for all the sins of the world?  That it would be enough?  No–it was taking the wrath of God upon himself by giving himself up to be that sacrifice that enables us to walk in freedom.  And yet, when we think of it this way…doesn’t it require more than just praying every now and then, giving some money to the church, and making an appearance?  Doesn’t it require a more radical approach to living a Christian life?  Doesn’t it make the consequences of NOT accepting His gift more grave?

That’s just chapter 2! I’m not sure that I have the courage to be radical…but I’m going to keep reading.  I hope that you’ll pick up a copy of this book, too.

Karen

 

 

“As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord stands forever.”

We are all given just a moment in time. How we live that moment–how we contribute to the world–is up to us.  Whitney Houston was given a gift from God–a gift that wowed the world. And yet she died young, with a tumultuous end.

For most of us not blessed with the kind of gift Whitney Houston possessed, I think it’s difficult to understand how someone who had all her dreams come true could give them up for a life of drugs and alcohol. And yet, that is the end for so many celebrities who seem to have it all. Whitney Houston did do great things for others in her life. She contributed to many charities and helped a lot of people. But I wonder…did she feel that she had found her purpose?

Her riches–all the royalties from her songs–and her fame stay here on earth. She didn’t get to take them with her. I wonder, in her last moments, did she wish she had done more, been more?

Whitney Houston’s life and death are, to me, a reminder that I must find purpose in my life–a purpose that goes beyond this world. As Matthew Barnett reminds us in The Cause Within You, we are always happiest when we use our gifts to help others.  Instead of looking to fame and fortune for our happiness, we need to look outwards to how we can help others. When the focus is on others, it’s harder to think about the lack in our own lives.

The loss of Whitney Houston makes me sad, not only because a great woman with amazing talent has died too soon, but because she seemed to have given up on her “one moment in time.” I don’t have a gift like Whitney Houston, but I pray that I use the gifts I have been given to serve others & never give up on the hope that I can become all that I was created to be. I pray that Houston will be remembered for the good that she brought into the world, but that her untimely death will be a wake up call for us all. God Bless!

Karen

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