Good morning…
“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in,” says Hebrews 12:2 in the Message translation. “Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”
Lent is a time when we ask ourselves, “How did Jesus bear his heavy burdens?” Going over Jesus’ story again, item by item, we consciously consider that long litany of hostility he plowed through to redeem us. At times, we all flag in our faith. We get tired of the grueling grind. We feel pain from the past and fear of the future weighing us down, paralyzing our hearts. Walking hand-in-hand with Jesus through Lent, we experience him persecuted for telling the truth, we see him betrayed by the deeply loved people he came to save, and we cringe as he endures a slow, ugly death on a criminal’s cross. If Jesus can walk through such pain, how might we bear the daily burdens named “Ours”?
This Lenten season, Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:3, MSG).
…Sue…
