What Will You Choose To Do?

Three Crosses were on the hill where Jesus was crucified.

Three very different crosses were represented that day.

Oh, they looked the same, all of them caused death, but they were very different indeed. (see LUKE 23: 32-43)

CROSS #1 HAD A THIEF.

“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If you are Christ, save Yourself and us.” (Luke 23:39)

On a cross; paying for his own sins. Ignorant of who is there beside him. He didn’t ask for answers; he blasphemed Jesus.

This man didn’t want God. He wanted to mock Him. He rejected Jesus.

God never wanted to send this thief on the cross to hell. He was sending himself to hell.

CROSS #2 HAD A THIEF.

“But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this Man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:40)

He was on his own cross; still paying for his sins. He was hoping that Jesus might also remember him; or put in a good word for him.

He was, in a sense, trusting religion to save him.

This cross will never get you right with God. This thief is simply on the wrong cross; dying to pay for his own sins: “for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:41)

CROSS #3 HAD A SAVIOR.

JESUS; doing what He was sent to do.

Now, you may ask like the soldiers (Luke 23:37) or the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39) “If He was the Christ, why didn’t He come down from the cross?”

But He couldn’t because there was no other way; except by staying on the cross; to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. His blood ALONE paid it all.

Luke 22:42 saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus ALONE took our place and paid for our sins.

His cross ALONE made a way for us to be right with God.

On His cross ALONE is the way to eternal life. No one can add to what Jesus did to save us.

Our past, present, and future sins are all forgiven; Jesus paid the price for all.

We simply need to confess our sins and put our complete trust on what He did thru His death, burial, and resurrection. (1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.)

SO WHICH CROSS ARE YOU ON?
#1 Paying for your own sins as you reject Jesus’ sacrifice.
#2 Paying for your own sins hoping God remembers you.
#3 Dead to you; trusting in the cross of Jesus Christ

One chose to curse out to God that day.

One chose to call out to God that day.

One chose to give His life as a ransom for all.

SO WHICH CROSS ARE YOU ON? Have you honestly & objectively taken your life’s goals to the Lord and surrendered it all to His plans for your life?

Do your goals feed your ego more than they honor the Lord?

Are you willing to change your goals if the Lord tells you to?

“NO” to what I want; and YES to what God wants; and nothing else in between.

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

Is That A Barn Swallow?

Many years ago, I worked for a general contractor who had the habit of showing up after a subcontractor made a mistake and hadn't been able to fix it prior to his arrival.

And, most of the time, if he had not seen it, it would have been fixed by someone prior to signing off on the project. This would include everything from a ding in a wall, to wrong paint color, a poor miter cut in a piece of molding, or something not being completed on time.

And, wouldn't you know it, it would be the one thing or area that he would notice as he walked on the job site as he asked; "What happened here?", or "Who did this?"

Needless to say, it would be an embarrassment to the sub who had made the mistake and no matter what he would say, it sounded as though he was making an excuse. 

In time, we as subs found a "trick" that would help us with this problem. We discovered that the general loved wildlife; especially birds. And all we would have to do to distract him (temporarily until the repairs could be made) was to point towards something and ask; "Is that a barn swallow?"

IMMEDIATELY his attention would be focused on whatever direction we had pointed. Usually this would be followed up with a "maybe I'm wrong…" as he feverishly looked to see what we had seen. 

Usually this was enough to distract him and, because he had a short attention span, was enough to redirect him to another area so that the sub could correct the mistake...or cover it up until he could get to the repairs.

In the entertainment world, they call that "sleight of hand" which is a cleverly executed trick or deception. It takes fine motor skills and is used to entertain or manipulate. It is associated with close-up magic, card magic, card flourishing and stealing.

It also can be used to point out the faults of others in an attempt to draw attention somewhere else.

Basically it is a way of saying; "I need you to look over here so that you can't see what I am doing over there."

I have also observed it being used in the church. This includes areas such as sexual sin, addictions, or other habits. By drawing attention or pointing out something that someone else struggles with, we draw attention away from our sin(s).

Sometimes it is a way to distract others until we can deal with an area that we are struggling with. Unfortunately, it is oftentimes used because we have no intention of changing or fixing the area of sin we struggle with.

We do this by categorizing sin into sins that are "bad" or "understandable" and sins that are REALLY bad. In other words, sin we do and sin that "those people do..."

And it’s damning as it separates us from "them" and takes away any hope that their sin is even forgivable. Oftentimes this hopelessness is dealt with by legislating morality in an attempt to feel better about whatever it is that they struggle with.

But the problem is that we may be fooling others, but we are not fooling God; the One who calls sin "sin".

AND WE NEED TO SEE IS FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS; A SLEIGHT OF HAND!

The Bible also tells us:
“You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because He’s such a nice God, He’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.” (Romans 2:3-4 MSG)

The Bible also tells us that

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)

In other words, just because we haven't done what "they" do, it levels the ground and tells us that we too have the potential of giving in to the same sin! Yes, even THAT sin!

I love how Jesus backs this scripture up by saying;

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28NKJV)

Jesus goes right to the heart and lets us know that ALL of us sin; and that He knows it and is not distracted by our attempted sleight of hand by pointing out someone else’s' sin which we deem as worse than our sin.

In other words; "...all (of us) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:23 NKJV). 

And EACH of us will have to deal with our own sin and hopefully receive the gift of salvation knowing that Jesus paid for ALL of our sins. That is unless someone wants to pay for their own sin which equals an eternity in hell until it is paid off.

The main problem is that we forget (those of who have been forgiven) that we didn't fix our sin problem; Jesus did!

“It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” (Ephesians 2:1-6 MSG)

The real truth is, no matter what sin it is that is in our life, God loves you and me so much that He doesn't want to leave any of us in our sin. 

His grace is available for each of us to reach us, and change us, and to lift each of us out of our sin(s) or any situation...

IF you will turn to Jesus with all of your heart. The rest, He will give you the power and the ability to say "no" to sin through His Holy Spirit.

Rather than using sleight of hand.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Saving Starfishes

It was one of those weeks…I know that we’ve all had them…when our efforts seemed to be two steps forward and one step backwards.

In fact I would submit to each of you reading that this is true for anyone who works in ministry or in direct care of people. We all have times when we’ve had enough and want to say to anyone who will listen; “Enough is enough!” 

Sometimes it comes out as frustration as people we are caring for or counseling CHOOSE to go back to an old habit or lifestyle. 

Sometimes it comes as a phone call on New Year’s Day from someone who sounds hung-over from CHOOSING to not go to a sober party a few hours earlier but CHOSE to drink the night away…and now wants to whine about how they wished they hadn’t…

And even though “momma told me there would be days like this”; they still can drain the life out of those who are caregivers or ministers. 

In fact, most of us left great paying jobs to work for half of what we used to because we actually (at some point) believed that we could make a difference for this life and for eternity.

You and I know that neither of us can save them all, we can’t even save one-tenth of all who come across our path in an average week. In fact, even if you and I work all day, sometimes it feels as though all of our efforts don’t seem to make any difference at all. Instead we find ourselves burned out at the end of a long week.

To you who find yourself today in this position I say; “Stop. Take a deep breath. And let me pour some perspective deep into your soul.

You, my friend, are called to save starfishes; and you make a difference even though you can’t see it through the tears that fill your eyes wondering if anyone knows just how tired you are.

There is a story that goes something like this: A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean. “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” he asks.

“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.” 

“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won’t make any difference at all.” 

The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”

That is what we are called to do; save starfishes one at a time. 

Let me remind you that this week you did make a difference, even if you don’t believe and are utterly convinced that you didn’t. To each and every starfish that we stopped and poured into; I’m promising you that it made a difference to that one.

And I want you to know that I understand just how tired and depleted and ready you are to quit your job or ministry; I really do. I know what it is like to be tired and worn out like you are.  

So I come to you today with no simple fixes and no simple answers to calm your heart that is vexed from shots taken at you this week. I have no simple ointments to sooth your wounds. 

And even though it feels as though sometimes like we are all alone in our pain, there is One who understands and KNOWS what we are going through. His Name is Jesus and He too came to save starfishes. 

Jesus KNEW what is was like to be so drained that at some of the greatest outpourings of healing and deliverances He needed to get away and be refreshed. And you do too.

Jesus said; “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)   

To us who are tired and worn out from giving; Jesus is saying:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)

My friend, Jesus came to save starfish like you and I; so let’s let Him rescue us.

“Our mission is to create places of grace where unconvinced people can come to know and wholeheartedly follow Jesus Christ.” This includes those who walk with Him as well as those who haven’t yet met Him so that each may know the Hope of His Calling.

www.riverofhopeministries.org