Babble on in Babylon
April 3, 2019
Jesus’ Last Week & Friday
April 15, 2019
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on a Cross, my burdens gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
“I scarce can take it in.”
I was reading through the book of Hebrews and was stung, taken aback, by a warning at Chapter 10:29:
“How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
“To trample underfoot, and to treat as an unholy thing,” means to consider something common and nothing special, to give it no value in your life – or even worse, to consider it worthless.
As we approach Easter and the sacrifice Jesus made for you and for me, I want to challenge you to consider this warning seriously. (If I were writing to only the men in the 721 meetings I would say it more bluntly with a Southern colloquialism: “I hope this slaps you upside the head.” J)
The Holy Spirit is warning us not to take lightly the sacrifice Jesus offered and the blood he shed. It is as if God is saying, “After what my son endured for you, the beatings, the bloody, horrific whipping, the horror of hours suffocating to death on that cross – if you take a casual, ho-hum approach to him, if you just give him an hour or so a week, and then go about your business as if it is all about you … I will be greatly offended. Greatly.
God’s response?
For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (verse 30-31)
Oh my.
I hear God saying, “My son took on himself your sins, he took your blame, he took your shame, naked and humiliated, and you just give him a few minutes a day, or a prayer when you’re worried, and then you ignore him, not wanting him to interfere with your busy schedule?”
Are you treating as nothing special Jesus’ sacrifice for you? Are you ignoring him for the most part of each day? Not intentionally, of course, but the end result is still the same.
Be honest with yourself. The stakes are so high. The rewards are so great.
Does the fact that Jesus gave his life for you – gave his life for you – change every detail of your day to day life? Even some details … some days?
As Easter approaches I implore you to embrace Jesus, to think deeply about what he did for you, what he offers you, and to begin to bring him into every detail of your life. Is it personal? Does he engender a visceral response?
Does your soul sing out, “How great thou art?”
Note to all who read Oswald Chambers daily devotion “My Utmost for His Highest:” We have put together a podcast of 3 minute summaries of each daily devotion.
If you go to “Understanding Oswald” in Podcasts, you can sign up for it.
It is also on our www.721ministries.org website.
