It’s only natural to fall into the rhythm of the world around us: work, eat, play, sleep. Make a buck or two, spend it; repeat. Sit as center of our own universe. But the Creator has invited us to a higher plan of living. He bids us to wait and work and walk with the Kingdom of God in full view.
Worship is always right in the face of resurrection, but it’s not always our reaction.
Our Savior held fast to the values He and His Father had set long before the pain and suffering rolled in and clouded His view. I’m convinced His commitment to Kingdom amidst His suffering has implications for our own seasons of sorrow.
The disciples abandoned Jesus in His hour of need. Truly, they did it twice; first in prayer and then in arrest. We can trip over their failures and weep over our own, but we can also marvel over the fact that Jesus is a better friend then we could ever be.
As a pastor, I am well aware of the pressure to perform amidst passion week. Busy is the badge of the good minister, isn’t it? And where exactly in scripture can we cite this example? What in life is ever made better by rushing? Ann Voskamp’s words come to mind, how hurry makes amateurs of us all.
We begin to rot from the roots up when we source ourselves in wrong things. We all too easily find ourselves turning to lesser fountains to quench our thirst: fame, notoriety, wealth, comfort, entertainment, pride, pleasure or power. We start sipping from contaminated sources and the poison leeches up into our systems.
I keep coming back to one question. It’s a hard question, but it might legitimately be a God question. It’s something for us to prayerfully consider as we are perched here on Monday morning, struggling to set out into holy week.
How do we rob God?
to think of Easter crowds and choruses: “He is risen!” How easy it is to worship with the throng on Sunday; especially the high church holidays like Easter and Christmas. How much harder is it to walk the road of repentance toward confession and restoration in a remote location?
Cross-bearing is not a golden icon worn daintily about our neck as we go about our own affairs. Cross-bearing is being seized by the love of God and pressed into service.