Wednesday, March 21, 2012

March 21, 2012

What if someone came and asked you, "How could a loving Father let His own son die?"  Do you know how you would respond?  Probably not.  We can't imagine what would happen if our child died, let alone sending him to his death.   And yet, our Father sent His son to die for our sins.  What does that mean?  Did God not love His Son?  Nothing could be more false.  God loved us so much that He gave His Son for our sins!

We need to believe this and speak it with pure conviction.  The lost are looking to us for answers.  The only way we can provide those answers is to read our Bible and pray to our Father. He is the wisdom behind our words and the life given, so that we may know Him.  Without us seeking Him first there is no way to answer the questions of the lost.  When you are lost there is confusion and only God can open our eyes and ask us into His kingdom.  But through us, He can reveal Himself.  Like you, I have heard of many people coming to Christ through evangelism.  I would hate to think that any of us have lost an opportunity to bring someone to Christ because we didn't know how to answer this question.

The question itself is more complicated than it seems but it's also quite simple.  Do we know why God sacrificed His Son for our sins?  Is God exactly like man or were we made in His image?  We must be able to distinguish to those around us that God is not man.  He does not think like man nor does He reason like man.  He is pure with no sin, no shame, no darkness.  He doesn't contemplate what we do because He is the Creator.  We can't compare Him to our experiences because we have never known anyone like Him!

If you are planning on talking to someone that is lost, think about the question I opened with.  Can you answer it?  Do you understand that God is like no one else?  If you can, how do you explain to another living thing who God is and what He thinks?  The last question is unfair because we can't answer how God thinks.  We can't even come close to understanding the mightiness and power of our LORD!

There is only one Bible figure that actually was put to the test of sacrificing his son and that witnessed first hand God's abundant love and grace.  Abraham was the chosen one of God.  God and Abraham had a covenant between them and it was Abraham that God chose to illustrate his love for mankind.  Can you imagine how Abraham must have felt while he took his son up the mountain or as he watched him gather the wood?  Abraham was going to trust in the Lord and as the story goes, an angel came and stopped Abraham from sacrificing his child.  Through Abraham's faith, came life.  

We have all gone through tests and later found great faith.  I don't even try to second guess God anymore.  Because if we try to understand His ways, we will fail.  Just the act of dying on a cross is too much for me to even fathom.  How could a man stand at the hour of his death and love the men around Him?  How could he know that one would betray Him and another would deny Him and still take the cross and bear the sacrifice?  Maybe one day we will be able to ask God these very questions but for now, we must rely on Scripture and the fact that we are loved by a wonderful Savior.

I would ask that you would challenge yourself this week to really think about the questions you asked when you didn't know Christ.  Be prepared to explain how you found Christ and what you believe.  Ask Christ to reveal to you His ways so that you can explain to someone what it means to know His love.  Our experiences on earth jade us, which ultimately confuses the true picture of God.  The key to opening the box is to believe: that Christ died on a cross and rose again; that He will come again; and that His sacrifice provides everlasting life.  If you know that, you understand everything perfectly.  Share the gospel this week and ask God to prepare the lost to receive His grace!

Isaiah 55: 8-9 NKJV:

     "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
      Nor are your ways My ways," says
              the LORD.
      "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
      So are My ways higher than your ways,
      And My thoughts than your thoughts.


Genesis 22:  1-12  NKJV:

      Now it came to pass after these things that "God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!"  
     And he said, "Here I am."  
       Then He said, "take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."  So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place which God had told him.  Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.  And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."  
     So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.  But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!"  
     And he said, "Here I am, my son."  
    Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"         And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering."  So the two of them went together.  Then they came to the place of which God had told him.  And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.  And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  
     But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"  So he said, "Here I am."  And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."


My prayer today:

As we look upon these Scriptures, help us to answer the lost.  May the stories of the fallen, the bold, the righteous, and the sacrificial come to life.  We are a fallen people trying to understand Your ways.  Please forgive us for putting You in a box and for placing You on our level.  Please help us to understand You in Your fullest.  We desire to know You and to walk in Your ways all our days.  May we be like Abraham the father of all nations.  We want to fear You, while we learn to love You.  Our prayer today is that the lost will find You as we have and that they will experience the love we have with You.  Thank you for allowing us a glimpse into who You are and for sacrificing Your only Son so that we have everlasting life.  AMEN

Until tomorrow...



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