Posts By Lent 2010
Lenten Blog 4.2.10
Special Blog Series Lent 2010 Grace Staff Mike Watson on April 02, 2010
I love the Easter season. I love everything it stands for. This single event changed everything forever for everyone.
Lenten Blog 4.1.10
Special Blog Series Lent 2010 on April 01, 2010
1. The cross shows the seriousness of my sin.
The offense to God caused by my sin is so severe that the only way it could be dealt with was for God himself to die. My sin is far more serious than I could ever comprehend.
2. The cross shows me how much God loves me. God himself was willing to die so that I can be made right with him. I deserve to die for what I did, but Jesus Christ, God-made-man, died in my place. Is there any greater love than this? God loves me more than I could possibly understand.
3. The cross reassures me that all my sin, past and present, is covered. The sacrifice which paid for my sin was made by God himself; God who is infinite and mighty, God who created the universe. The infinite scale of His sacrifice means that, if I trust what Christ has done, all my sin is forgiven. My forgiveness, and my status before God, is based on the sacrifice of Jesus, not on anything I have to do.
Here is a link to a moving and graphic video that reminds us of the price that Christ paid for us. What amazing love!
God’s Blessings, Matt and Beth Sahlmann
Lenten Blog 3.31.10
Special Blog Series Lent 2010 on March 31, 2010
Again on Sunday, I was reminded of the cross. Church can be a rather dysfunctional place (not talking about Grace here although I think we could all agree that sometimes even Grace can get dysfunctional) because it is filled with imperfect people. It’s the cross that covers our sin and makes us worthy of God’s grace. My past is filled with hurts that were imposed on me by Christ followers and many of you have probably experienced similar hurts. I will have to admit I’ve probably hurt other Christ followers myself. Yet it is through these experiences that we learn how Jesus makes us worthy when we are so unworthy. The words of Micah 6:8 have been running through my mind this week:
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Sometimes the hardest people on whom to practice this verse are God’s own. Thank God for the cross!
This is why we are worthy. We bless Your name, Jesus.
– Rick and Michelle Verga
lenten Blog 3.30.10
Special Blog Series Lent 2010 on March 30, 2010
What does the Cross mean to me?
As I thought about the cross this week, I stumbled over how often I have to push back my own priorities to make room for the cross. True confessions hurt. The cross gives me a constant reminder of where God’s priorities lie and where mine should also lie.
The cross is always in the right place. My location (head and heart) is off-track too often. The cross is permanent. It does not move around and does not change. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, it was the father who waited patiently for the misguided son to find his way back after thinking he had all the answers. That loving father was always on the look-out for his son, day after day. The cross tells me I have a loving father who thinks about me every day, no exception. I am not part of a “person-of-the month” club. The cross means I am loved beyond imagination and I am valued by God with an intensity and expressiveness so great that even the earth physically shook that day when Christ died...in a perfect plan of love and redemption. I can only imagine what was going on in Heaven.
God Bless,
John Bailey
Lenten Blog 3.29.10
Special Blog Series Lent 2010 on March 29, 2010
The cross means I don’t have to be afraid of death or life. The cross gives me hope in both. The cross is the most poignant demonstration of God’s love for me. He marked Himself for all eternity by taking on a human body and enduring the unthinkable death of the cross. Knowing the price He paid gives me a sense of safety and security as I face life and death. In all of life’s turmoil I know He makes everything work for my good. He protects me, and if harm should come to me, I know that He has a plan for it.
The cross gives me equality with others. Whether we are kings or beggars, we all come to God the same way…through the cross. We’re all cut from the same fleshly fabric. God has not loved some more; He loved all of us enough to die. And with the equality of the cross there follows a sense of unity. Paul insists that “there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all (Col 3:11).” It is only the cross that makes this possible.
--Claude Vandevert
Lenten Blog 3.27.10
Special Blog Series Lent 2010 on March 27, 2010
What the cross means to me:
I come from a very dysfunctional family. My parents had a rocky marriage and divorced when I was eight. My mom got custody of my sister and me and we moved in with our Nana for two years. One day we were abruptly taken from our small hometown and forced to live in a row house in downtown Erie. Our father had visitation rights but we had no other family contact. We experienced some very trying times there. I knew about God from my early years of going to church with my Nana, so I would lie in bed crying and praying every night. I ran away over ten times. Then my dad got custody of us, but he had to marry his live-in girlfriend in order to obtain it.
I thought my life would be better but my dad and stepmom fought all the time. It was awful, as she would literally throw frying pans at him. But, they stayed together. Then, a few months later, the unspeakable happened. I became the victim of sexual abuse. I had nowhere to run. I had to stay, because I knew that otherwise they would put me in foster care and I didn’t want that. I still prayed, but I didn’t yet have a relationship with Jesus.
When I was 14, something amazing happened. It all started with a rickety old church bus…
~~Kathy Wiltse