30 Day Challenge

Here is a challenge for you to take. For the next 30 days I challenge you to read the crucifixion account. You can read it as an augment to your daily devotions or you can make it your daily devotions. I have been doing this for about a week now and I have made it my daily devotions. While you are doing this I want you to make it a point everyday to tell yourself, "He did that for me." I know this, I have only been doing this for a week and it has changed my behaviors. I started to find that as I would go through my day and I would be tempted to sin that the Holy Spirit would remind me about the cross. It is so humbling to be reminded about the cross whenever I sin! The thought has crossed my mind so many times since I've started this that the one little sin that I commit, whether it be a little white lie or a covetous thought, was all it took to hang Jesus onto that cross. So I challenge you, read the crucifixion account for the next thirty days, but don't just read it, let it bathe you so that as you go about your day it will drip off every word you say, thought you think, and thing you do. And comment to me and tell me how it affects your walk. Christ's death is such a deep story full of love, mercy, and holiness. It should never be forgotten, even by those who claim it belongs to them.

The Shadow of the Cross

Something has been burdening me for a few weeks now and with the Easter season rolling around it is good for us to remember this thing: The Cross. Many times we equate the cross with salvation and we are correct in doing so. If it had not been for what was done on the cross we would have no hope for salvation. But I fear that many of us live our lives as if the cross were merely a means to an end. The cross is not just about our salvation but also about our sanctification. Many of us, I am including myself here, wake up in the morning and go about our day and do our own thing but do not care about what God thinks about our lives. We tell our bad jokes, we think our evil thoughts, we neglect to study God's Word and pray all without realizing that Jesus died for the very sins that we are committing. The cross is not an excuse to sin more since the punishment for sin is taken away, but it is a motivation to sin less. I strongly believe that if we took the time every day to consider the pain and agony that Jesus endured on the cross and that he did it all for your sins and mine we would be a different people. The cross should mean so much to us. The one thought that has been racing through my mind is this: Jesus died for me, the least I could do is live for him. Let's determine today that we will live under the shadow of the cross.