I feel like, at my age, I should know much more than I do
about the Bible. Often I allow this to discourage me. As I struggled and prayed
about what God wanted me to share with you today, I began to think, Where are you God? I need an answer, now.
But he didn’t answer right away. Days later as I continued to think about a
topic, the Lord led me to my journal. Looking back through it, I came upon the
words I had written on October 21, 2013. I had gotten up that morning with a
weary soul for some unknown reason. God gave these words to me:
“Living he loved me, Dying he saved me; Buried, he carried my
sins far away; Rising, he justified, freely, forever. One day he’s coming, Oh
glorious day!” You probably recognize these words from the song Glorious Day by
Casting Crowns. As I re-read these familiar words from one of my favorite songs,
God began to speak to me. These words formed a link between the words of the
song and those we are studying in the Gospel of Luke.
Living He loved us.
In Luke 4, Jesus withstood the test of great temptation and answered
satan in verse 8: “It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him
only shall you serve. As he lived and faced temptation, rejection, mocking and
great cruelty in the end, he loved us and directed us to love one another also.
Dying He saved us. He performed miracles and
ministered to many people during his life on earth, yet he faced death in the
most horrific way so we could have eternal life. In Luke 9:22, he foretold his
death: “The son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders
and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Buried, He carried our sins far away. When Jesus hung on that cruel cross and died there and was buried in the tomb, he carried our sins with him, giving us the opportunity for eternal life with him in heaven. Oh, What a Glorious Day is coming!
Rising, He justified,
freely, forever. Luke 24:44 tells us: “These are my words
that I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about
me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Verse
46-48 adds: “Thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third
day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed
in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of
these things.”
One day He’s coming again!
Oh, what a glorious day! I pray you are as encouraged by these words as I am every time I hear
them. As we think about the love Jesus has for us and the price he paid for us so
that we could know him and have life eternal.
Prayer: “Father,
I praise you just now for all you have done for us. You paid the ultimate price
for our freedom and I thank you for words that can remind us of your love for us. I pray
that our love for others would reflect your love for us as you have commanded
us. In Jesus name I pray. Amen”
Brenda
Conner
Originally
presented to CBS Leadership, April,
2015