Tag: Easter

Holy Week Series: A Renewed Spirit

How does it feel to know that Jesus sacrificed everything to save you?

Today in the church calendar is Maundy Thursday. During a normal year, you may have experienced a Passover seder meal and a foot washing to replicate what Jesus and His disciples did the last evening before Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified.

Now, you may not have thought too much about the foot washing element other than it’s a little awkward. If you’re the one getting your feet washed, you take off your shoes for the first time in church, pray your feet don’t stink, and feel uncomfortable as someone else from your church washes your feet. If you’re the one doing the washing, you may be wishing for the evening to be over soon since it’s gross touching everyone else’s feet. Or perhaps you have a tiny part of you that resents being the one who has to do the dirty work.

Of course, that’s just what I’d assume. Maybe you absolutely love this part of the Maundy Thursday service, and if so, then that’s wonderful! But I want us all to step into the shoes of a disciple for a moment and think about what it would’ve been like to have Jesus wash your feet.

Your feet are so dirty that you can no longer see your skin. Your sandals stick to your feet, glued on by sweat, as Jesus pries them off your feet. Sniffing the air, your face crinkles up as a pungent odor of dead fish mixed with donkey doo fills your nostrils. And yet Jesus takes a cold, wet cloth and gently drapes it over your feet, rubbing them tenderly until the repulsive smell and caked on dirt have vanished.

In a sense, that would feel incredible, right? Your physical body is getting a refreshing revival. But it comes at the cost of Jesus, your Lord and Savior, sacrificing His dignity and perhaps even His sense of smell before you can feel clean again. You might even feel a little guilty watching Him humbly serve you. I know I would!

Just as Jesus came to be a humble servant to others by refreshing their souls and cleaning their feet, His main goal, of course, was to sacrifice everything to give us a spiritual revival, everlasting life. And thinking about Jesus dying for us might make us feel more than a little guilty, huh? I mean, it’s one thing to think about Him cleaning our feet, but it’s entirely another to picture His agonizing, humiliating death. All because of our sin.

I used to think that the only way to fully appreciate Jesus’ gift of salvation was to feel guilty. But I’ve come to realize that Jesus came to save us from everything, including our feelings of worthlessness and shame. He didn’t come here to make us feel bad that He had to die. Rather, He came out of love for us.

Think about someone you love. If they did something that hurt your feelings or caused you grief, you might get upset in the moment, but your love for them never changes. And ultimately, you’d rather have them know your love rather than your anger. Because when we love someone, we put our relationship with them before anything else.

Of course it hurts Jesus when we sin. Of course we need to repent. Of course we should avoiding sinning as much as possible.

But even when we do make mistakes, Jesus will still love us. We don’t have to be forever burdened by our sin. Jesus came to restore, to renew, to give us life. He didn’t come to take it away.

And when we finally realize how great Jesus’ love for us is, we can extend that to others by being willing to sacrifice our reputation, ego, or even temporarily our sense of smell, so that they can witness Jesus’ love too.

This Easter season, don’t focus on how guilty you may feel for Jesus dying for you. Rather, let Jesus’ love sink into your heart and let that love pour into everything you do.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:16

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. …

John 15:9-17

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:1

Holy Week Series: When Jesus “Lets Us Down”

Beginning our Holy Week series, we will start off with asking the question, “How do we react when Jesus ‘lets us down’?”
Advice for your faith journey!

Last year, I posted several days leading up to Easter, and that really brought me closer to God, as well as it hopefully helped you all get prepared for our celebration of the biggest event in history! So I thought I’d do it again this year!

Starting off this year’s series, we’re going to talk about everyone’s least favorite person–Judas. Now, I know you might think you’ve got him figured out. He’s a greedy, scumbag sort of dude, right? That’s it, his story’s over, moving on to someone better…

But actually, he’s deeper than that and we owe it to ourselves to learn everything we can from the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

When I first read the Easter story in the Bible, I hated Judas. I think we all have some right to. After all, he did betray Jesus. He’s the one we all blame since he’s the one who saw all the miracles Jesus did, heard all the teachings, felt all the love…and yet still handed Him over to be brutally killed.

I used to think Judas did these things for a few silver coins, all out of greed. But actually, there’s a deeper reason behind Judas’ actions. He strongly opposed the Roman government, which many Jews at that time did, since the Romans took away their freedom and taxed them heavily, among other things. Many Jews expected the king God was sending down to be the new ruler who would overthrow the Roman Empire. Of course, we all know Jesus didn’t do that and instead had a much bigger plan. But this is what upset Judas and many others who shouted “Crucify Him” just a week after praising Jesus in Jerusalem.

Essentially, Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus let him down. Jesus didn’t have the same plan as Judas, and instead of waiting to see what Jesus would do instead, Judas decided to get as much as he could out of Jesus and be done with Him.

How many times have we treated Jesus as some vending machine? We ask, beg and plead, and once He doesn’t give us what we demand, we stop worshiping Him. I’ve heard so many stories of how people stopped believing in Jesus once something tragic happened in their lives. Maybe a loved one died, a job was lost, or a new leader came into power who goes against their beliefs. How could God let this happen?

I don’t want to minimize your feelings of pain, grief, and disappointment. Crying, needing space, having doubts…that’s all normal and natural and does not deny your faith. The issues come when you abandon your relationship with God after your plans are altered. I want you to step back for a moment and think about all you might be missing out on by being stuck in your disappointment towards God “not coming through for you” instead of focusing on the bigger plan God has in store. God is the only One who knows everything and when you place your life in His hands, you will never be disappointed because you know that even if things don’t go according to your plan, God’s plan is greater and better than what we can imagine.

Now, maybe you’re feeling convicted of a past sin or with the realization that you have abandoned Jesus. Maybe you think it’s too late.

Well, I have some important news for you.

It’s never too late.

Jesus is waiting with open arms. Even when Judas came to the garden with the soldiers to arrest Jesus, He still called Judas “friend”. He still loved Judas even when He knew the evil Judas was doing. But when Judas felt guilty, he didn’t turn to Jesus. Instead, he allowed his guilt and shame to take over and he refused Jesus’ gift of salvation and forgiveness.

But your story doesn’t have to end that way. No, your story is going to be something bigger, better, and more beautiful. Your story already is beautiful because God is writing your story.

Today, think about whether or not you have abandoned Jesus. Remember how much He loves you. Remember how He’s provided for you all along. And most of all, thank Him for His extraordinary gift of unconditional love.

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” 49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.50 Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”

Matthew 26:47-50

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

Matthew 27:3-4

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

1 Timothy 1:15

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Encountering Jesus

“This is freedom. This is peace. This is joy in uncertainty. This is a deeply rooted inner-knowing. You are on a daily, grace-filled journey.”

-Morgan Harper Nichols

Happy Easter!

I know that this is probably a bittersweet day for you, as you find joy in the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, but feel somber not being able to congregate. Before the virus was publicized as how serious it is now, my first hope was that church would be open for Easter. Although it is still disappointing, I believe that there is a lot that can be taken away from having Easter at home this year.

Our Journeys

I often teach Sunday school at my church, and one lesson that I taught a while back was called “Our Journey with Jesus”. The kids were supposed to take a literal journey through different activities that related to Jesus’ life as a child. I often think that our life is one long journey with Jesus, one that takes different paths at times as we figure out what we truly believe.

My pastor this morning mentioned that the Bible does not explicitly say how Mary Magdalene knew it was Jesus once He said her name. It was in an instant that she just knew.

Humans are unique creatures that have to come to their own conclusions in different ways. Our way of recognizing Jesus is so different from even our family members or friends. But it doesn’t mean that one way is better than another.

Our lives are normally so crazy that it’s easy to block out Jesus’ voice. But here in the silence, the stillness, the pause on the daily lives of many, Jesus will find you. Not every moment of finding Jesus is one where we are surrounded by our brothers and sisters in Christ. Not every moment is in some faraway retreat center or foreign country.

It can be here. It can be now. As long as you let Jesus fill you with His love, grace, and abundant mercy, you can have that moment no matter where you are.

I hope this Easter brings you joy and contentment, a sense of peace in this time of great uncertainty. We can still have those emotions that God wants us to have on such a wonderful, miraculous day for celebration.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

1 Peter 1:3

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'”

John 11:25-26

A Glimmer of Hope

Holy Saturday, or Easter Eve, isn’t often talked about as much as the other days during Holy Week. I would guess that it was a pretty bleak, depressing day, as the disciples stayed in hiding, Jesus was already in His tomb, the sky was dark and threatening. The day before haunting the minds of the witnesses.

This may be the year that we have the most similar experience to the disciples. We are likely trapped in our homes, afraid, uncertain of the future. We can make the most out of this, though, instead of just dwelling in the moment.

Think about it: if the disciples had known what was in store just the next day, they wouldn’t have been afraid. They would’ve celebrated, maybe even cry tears of joy.

During this difficult time, we don’t know what’s ahead. We don’t know if the numbers will rise tomorrow, if someone we love will be affected tomorrow, if we will get stricter rules tomorrow. You may be feeling hopeless.

But what if we have hope that the number of cases will go down as soon as tomorrow? Perhaps we will be able to see our loved ones sooner than we expect. We may not have to be quarantined for all eternity! 🙂

I could be wrong, but I know that if we keep trying to see how God’s working through everything and trust that there will be better days ahead, then we don’t have to worry or feel discouraged. This virus is completely horrible, as I’m sure you’d agree. But Jesus dying, our leader being striped of His honor and brutally killed, was worse. So if Jesus can turn that event into something life-altering, saving, redeeming, He can do it will this virus too.

How God Brought this Blog out from Difficult Circumstances

On a more personal note, I thought I’d share about why I started this blog. I was not going through one of my most difficult seasons, actually. I was doing something that felt worse– relapsing. I had come out of a season stronger and closer to God through trials and storms. Life was going pretty well. But suddenly, all in one weekend, several major things started going horribly wrong for me, and I felt myself breaking down.

That was many months ago, and looking back I realize that perhaps one of the reasons why those events had to happen is because I needed to start this blog. It’s helped me grow closer to God, and I hope it’s inspired and helped you, too.

I’ve seen God bring good out of pain on many occasions, and I truly believe that God is going to do the same through this too. God is working, it’s just that it’s hard to see it sometimes. It may even take years before we understand why God caused this virus to spread. But I know that if we have hope, we will be able to get through this.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Romans 15:13

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1