He Chose The Nails

Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it. Couldn't Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of the biceps, with a clench of the fist, he could have resisted. Is this not the same hand that stilled the sea? Summoned the dead?

But the fist doesn't clench...and the moment isn't aborted.

The mallet rings and the skin rips and the blood begins to drip, then rush. Then the questions follow. Why? Why didn't Jesus resist?

"Because he loved us," we reply That is true, wonderfully true, but - forgive me - only partially true. There is more to his reason. He saw something that made him stay. As the soldier pressed his arm, Jesus rolled his head to the side, and with his cheek resting on the wood, he saw:

A mallet? Yes.

A nail? Yes.

The soldier's hand? Yes.

But he saw something else. He saw the hand of God. It appeared to be the hand of a man. Long fingers of a woodworker. Callous palms of a carpenter. It appeared common. It was, however, anything but. Between his hand and the wood, there was a list. A long list of our mistakes: our lusts and lies and greedy moments and prodigal years. A list of our sins.

The bad decisions last year. The bad attitudes from last week. There, in broad daylight for all of heaven to see, was a list of your mistakes.

He saw the list! He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails.

- An Excerpt from "He Chose The Nails" by Max Lucado

Music: "Exchange"

 

John 5:39-40

 

Knowing Christ

"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life;
and these are they which testify of Me.
But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

John 5:39-40

Bible study will not give you eternal life. You could memorize the entire Bible and be able to discuss minute issues of biblical scholarship and yet fail to experience the truths found in its pages. It is a subtle temptation to prefer the book to the Author. A book will not confront you about your sin; the Author will. Books can be ignored; it is much harder to avoid the Author when He is seeking a relationship with you.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ day thought God would be pleased with their knowledge of His Word. They could quote long, complicated passages of Scripture. They loved to recite and study God's Law for hours on end. Yet Jesus condemned them because, although they knew the Scriptures, they did not know God. They were proud of their Bible knowledge, but they rejected the invitation to know God's Son.

Can you imagine yourself knowing all that God has promised to do in your life but then turning to something else instead? You may be tempted to turn to substitutes. These substitutes aren't necessarily bad things. They might include serving in the church, doing good deeds, or reading Christian books. No amount of Christian activity will ever replace your relationship with Jesus. The apostle Paul considered every “good” thing he had ever done to be “rubbish” when compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8). Never become satisfied with religious activity rather than a personal, vibrant, and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

- Excerpt from “Experiencing God Day-By-Day” by Henry and Richard Blackaby

Jesus Prayed For You

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that You have sent Me,
and have loved them as You have loved Me.

John 17:23

In John 17, we find the last words Jesus shared at His final meal with His disciples on Thursday during Holy Week.

Even though I treasure reading about the last moments of Jesus’ earthly life with His friends, at the same time, my heart aches. He knew all that was about to happen to Him. Within hours of this last time together, He knew:

One of His friends would betray Him …

The others would not stand with Him …

He would soon endure extreme brutality all alone …

And yet, somehow, He was focused enough to stay very present in this moment instead of living in dread of the horrific moments to come.

It astounds me how present and giving Jesus was during the Last Supper. Jesus and the disciples ate, drank and talked together. He washed their feet. He watched Judas walk out the door.

Then He prayed. For Himself, for the disciples … and for you and me.

The fact that Jesus thought of and prayed for us in these final hours also astounds me. I need to read what He prayed. But even more importantly, I need to live what He prayed: “that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:23).

Of all the many things He could have prayed for us, it was unity and love.

This feels a bit complicated in our world that is divided on issues where many have loud opinions, express strong objections, and feel very justified in getting offended by almost anything.

I get it. There’s a lot of wrong that should be addressed, justice that should be defended, and evil that should be stopped. There’s also so much we don’t understand or have answers for.

But when I reflect on Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, I wonder if there’s a more unified way we, as Christians, are supposed to be doing this. We have an enemy, but it’s not each other. In light of Jesus’ last prayer for us before He went to the cross, I wonder if we all need to remember this: While we can be divided in our opinions, we can be a little more united in our compassion for one another.

After all, so much of what shapes the opinions and objections we express comes from some deep pain we’ve felt or walked through with someone we love. Hurt shapes us for better or worse.

Jesus knew this. He had all the answers, and yet He still wept (John 11:35). Maybe that’s why He prayed for unity. Maybe it’s not the kind of unity where we all agree about everything but where, in the middle of disagreements, we can remember we are all carriers of pain and sorrow. Even if we don’t see eye to eye, surely we are so very alike in what makes us cry.

Even if we are completely divided on some opinions and ideas, we can remember we’re so very united in our tears and our love for Jesus. And in that shared commonality, believers show the world that with Jesus, unity and peace are possible.

You see, when there is that kind of unity between us, the world looks a lot more beautiful around us. And others will know by our unity and love that Jesus was sent by God to redeem the world.

Today, may we each choose to embrace a God-honoring unity and love in our lives. We honor Him most when we live His prayer.

Father God, You long for me to receive and live out the love of Jesus. For me to walk in unity and love. Help me tear down barriers of judgment and hatred. Help me hold to Your Truth and walk in Your grace while sincerely loving others. Through Your healing, help me to connect with others, human to human, no matter where I may be on my journey. May my heart be softened and my life be changed by Your call to unity and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Lysa TerKeurst
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

Application Of God's Word: Mark 9:24

 
Verse: Mark 9:24
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears,
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

If you are struggling to believe that God can take care of your need, it is because you don't know Him as He wants you to. Go to Him and allow Him to convince you of His ability to meet every need you will ever face.

The attitude of trust and confidence that the Bible calls belief or faith (Hebrews 11:1,6) is not something we can obtain without help. Faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8,9). No matter how much faith we have, we never reach the point of being self-sufficient. Faith is not stored away like money in the bank. Growing in faith is a constant process of daily renewing our trust in Jesus.

Application:

Faith does not come from ignorance. Faith is based on what we know.

Before we will trust others with something precious to us, we first try to find out if they are trustworthy. This father was asking that he might come to know God in such a dimension that he could trust Him to cure his son.

His son had been possessed by an evil spirit since early childhood. The father did not know Jesus well, but he had heard and seen enough to convince him that if there was any hope for his son, it lay with Jesus. In desperation he cried out to Jesus for help. Jesus’ response was to heal his son. The desperate father had correctly gone to Jesus with his problem even though he was struggling with his faith.

When you are struggling to believe, that is not the time to avoid Christ or to be ashamed of your struggle. You will never increase your faith by not going to Jesus! Rather, Jesus wants to help you with your belief. He can not only meet your need, but He will also give you faith to trust Him to provide for you.

Jesus Wants You To Know...

"Come to Me and let Me shelter you under My wings. You are completely safe with Me. Put aside your fears and worries. Remember, I can use crazy days to do wonderful things in your life. You may have a chance to do something for Me that wouldn’t have happened on an ordinary day. So instead of complaining about an out-of-control day, say yes to what I am doing in your life."

"I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings." - Psalm 61:4 - "Jesus Calling for Kids" by Sarah Young

How To Maintain The Peace Of God In Difficult Times

Whenever we go through difficult times, peace often gives way to anxiety, stress and fear. It happens to the best of us. But the apostle Paul was able to sleep through a shipwreck. What is the secret to maintaining the peace of God regardless of what we are going through?

𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗲

In 1993, Tropical Storm Brett was threatening my country Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad is located just below the hurricane belt, so we are not accustomed to hurricanes. Many of us were afraid, worried whether the storm would hit and whether we were even prepared to deal with the aftermath. Some of us barely slept that night.

But there were other Trinidadians who left their homes to party in the streets of Port-of-Spain (our capital city). They were not in the least bit worried about any hurricane, “God is a Trini”. Brett veered north at the last minute and missed Trinidad.

Were these unsaved, ungodly people privy to some secret to peace that the rest of us Christians didn’t have? How could they be so calm knowing that a hurricane might hit and destroy everything they worked so hard for all their lives?

As I thought about it, I realized the answer is no, they do not have some secret to peace. What they have is not peace at all, it is denial. Their assurance was based on the assumption that no hurricane was coming. Based on history, every time a hurricane threatened to come near to Trinidad, it would eventually veer north and miss us. Their comfort was based on their belief that no hurricane was going to hit.

𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀
BUT, if instead of a hurricane, they had received a phone call stating that a hitman was coming to wipe out their families, I can guarantee you that they would not be partying in the street. They would be in a mad panic, scrambling to get the next flight out of the country. They would be terrified.

What they had is the kind of peace that the world gives. Jesus gave us real peace – the kind of peace that could sleep through a storm and not in the least be worried or anxious. What is the secret to that kind of peace? In a world of global terrorism, economic recession, job layoffs, divorce, troubled and troublesome kids; how do you not go insane with worry and depression? What is the secret to having peace when everything is falling apart?

𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. – John 14:27

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-9

Turned Tables: Finding Grace in Life’s Disruptions

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers and the
benches of those selling doves.
Matthew 21:12

Convinced I was following God’s call, I had poured myself into ministry - doing everything to build what I believed He had asked of me.

But then burnout hit me.

My heart broke as God asked me to step back, step away and slow down. It felt like He was disrupting everything I thought He had called me to. I couldn't help but wonder why and struggled to understand how He could allow this.

Maybe you’ve felt it, too - that quiet exhaustion that slowly builds as you try to hold everything together. We start with the best intentions, trusting God to lead the way. But somewhere along the journey, we take on more than He ever asked us to carry. The weight of it all presses in, so we push harder, strategize more and keep striving … until suddenly something disrupts our plans.

It feels like everything is unraveling. But what if the disruption isn’t a setback? What if it’s an invitation?

As Holy Week unfolds, Matthew 21:12 says, “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.”

The people had lost sight of the temple’s true purpose. They’d begun with worship but ended up focused on profit and performance. Jesus’ intervention reminded them that holiness mattered far more than human plans.

As believers today, we are now His temple - His Spirit dwells within us. And sometimes He must overturn the tables in our hearts. When we have resorted to anxious striving, worrying ourselves sick and pressing on when He is calling us to rest, He knows this is hurting us. This was never His intention.

Looking back, I see now that God wasn’t punishing me by asking me to slow down or let go of some of the things I loved. He was purifying me. My identity had become tangled in what I was building for Him instead of simply being with Him. In His love, He overturned my plans to bring me back to Him.

Perhaps God allows some disruptions as an invitation back to dependence on Him. Like the burnout that forced me to pause, all God’s interventions draw us into surrender, reminding us that He, not our efforts, is the true source of strength. Removing what’s unnecessary creates space for what matters.

This Holy Week, may we embrace God’s gentle correction, knowing His most beautiful mercies meet us at the end of ourselves.

Oh, Lord, I confess I often rely on my strength. Thank You for using life’s disruptions to draw me back to You. As I reflect on this Holy Monday, help me surrender my plans and trust You even when life feels overturned. Give me faith to rest in Your love and guidance today and always. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Ashley Morgan Jackson
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

Jesus Wants You To Know...

“I have made this day for you. Be careful not to complain about anything in it - not your English test, not your frizzy hair, not even the weather - because I am the Creator of this day. Instead, decide to be happy today. Open your eyes, and choose to look for all the blessings I have hidden in this day.”

This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. – Psalm 118:24

– "Jesus Calling for Kids" by Sarah Young