Luke 19:35-44
They brought the colt to Jesus. Then,
throwing their coats on its back, they helped Jesus get on. As he rode,
the people gave him a grand welcome, throwing their coats on the
street.
Right at the crest, where Mount Olives begins its
descent, the whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise
over all the mighty works they had witnessed:
Blessed is he who comes,
the king in God’s name!
All’s well in heaven!
Glory in the high places!
Some Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, get your disciples under control!”
But he said, “If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise.”
When
the city came into view, he wept over it. “If you had only recognized
this day, and everything that was good for you! But now it’s too late.
In the days ahead your enemies are going to bring up their heavy
artillery and surround you, pressing in from every side. They’ll smash
you and your babies on the pavement. Not one stone will be left intact.
All this because you didn’t recognize and welcome God’s personal visit.”
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
What a difference one week
can make! In the course of seven days, Jesus was heralded as a hero,
arrested, interrogated, beaten to a pulp, crucified…and He rose from the
grave. Now that’s a week!
Our pastor likes to say that “you
cannot travel from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without considering the
cross.” And he is correct! But you also cannot safely and successfully
travel a single step of many of “life’s journeys” unless you “recognize
and welcome God’s personal visit”. Trials, physical abuse and
executions were common in Jesus’ day. Believe me…the mere mortals who
were convicted and crucified did not rise from the dead! And many of
those who were so eager and anxious to laud Jesus as the Messiah on one
Sunday were nowhere to be found by “Good Friday”.
Ours is not a
solitary journey. We cannot base our faith on one happy day…or one
devastating experience. We must embrace life as a whole...and trust God
in every minute of it. We must “recognize and welcome God’s personal
visit” in each and every aspect of our life…”the good, the bad, and the
ugly”…and believe that He will lead us “from Palm Sunday to Easter
Sunday” - and see us through what lies in between.
As difficult
as life seems some days, it can never compare to what Jesus endured for
us on the cross. How can we ignore the One who did so much for us - for
even one minute? Isn’t it time we welcomed God to reign in our lives
and dwell in our hearts…each and every minute of the day? Will this be
the Palm Sunday that you herald His presence…and give Him a permanent
“home”?
©2015 Debbie Robus
Showing posts with label daily devotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daily devotion. Show all posts
Daily Devotional for March 19, 2015
Philippians 2:5-11
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I saw this quote Facebook…”Don't worry about what I'm doing. Worry about why you're worried about what I'm doing.” The author was un-cited. As I read this scripture passage, I was struck by a couple of thoughts. I’m reading Marjorie Holmes’ book, Three From Galilee*, a fictional novel based on the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Through this account, the reader is able to see Jesus as a real person…a little boy very much like our nephews Timothy and Nathan…or a precocious pre-teen like our nephew Chase.
I am still reading the book, so I do not know whether this story concludes before Jesus becomes a man. But the point is that even in this fictional depiction, Jesus took on the very ordinary life of a young boy. He played and worked alongside Joseph, did chores for His mother, and was very much an “ordinary” boy. Jesus set aside His “position” and became 100% human!
Okay, so what does this mean for us? It means that Jesus KNOWS what it’s like to be us…I mean, He really knows! He understands what we have gone through – and what is ahead for us, because He lived much of it! He endured things that – hopefully – none of us will ever have to experience…torture, unimaginable ridicule, and the most heinous of deaths. Jesus gets us!
Again I thought about this quote…and how we are often consumed with what others are thinking and/or how they are acting. We are so worried about what he did or she said – and WHY – and in doing so, we elevate ourselves to a level of superiority that is unmerited. If Jesus Christ humbled Himself and didn’t “play the Son of God card” as a general rule…what right do we have to judge others and act all high and mighty? The bottom line is that we do not know what is in another person’s heart…we have no clue what demons they battle, how well they slept last night, or what is going on behind the closed doors of their abode. But God does.
So we must trust God to judge…to rule…to “fix people”…and we must concentrate on our own relationship with Him and doing what WE are supposed to do. We must look at Jesus’ model and learn His ways. We must humbly interact with others and serve God with faithful obedience…and He will bless us in ways we cannot begin to imagine.
Where is God in these everyday situations? Sometimes, it is hard to see His presence in many people and circumstances of our everyday living. But I assure you…God is with us! Just as surely as He operated through the human Jesus, God is with us, each and every minute of the day. We can allow Him room to work…or we can muddy the waters with our meddling. Which will you choose?
©2015 Debbie Robus
*http://www.amazon.com/Three-From-Galilee-Young-Nazareth/dp/0425205509
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I saw this quote Facebook…”Don't worry about what I'm doing. Worry about why you're worried about what I'm doing.” The author was un-cited. As I read this scripture passage, I was struck by a couple of thoughts. I’m reading Marjorie Holmes’ book, Three From Galilee*, a fictional novel based on the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Through this account, the reader is able to see Jesus as a real person…a little boy very much like our nephews Timothy and Nathan…or a precocious pre-teen like our nephew Chase.
I am still reading the book, so I do not know whether this story concludes before Jesus becomes a man. But the point is that even in this fictional depiction, Jesus took on the very ordinary life of a young boy. He played and worked alongside Joseph, did chores for His mother, and was very much an “ordinary” boy. Jesus set aside His “position” and became 100% human!
Okay, so what does this mean for us? It means that Jesus KNOWS what it’s like to be us…I mean, He really knows! He understands what we have gone through – and what is ahead for us, because He lived much of it! He endured things that – hopefully – none of us will ever have to experience…torture, unimaginable ridicule, and the most heinous of deaths. Jesus gets us!
Again I thought about this quote…and how we are often consumed with what others are thinking and/or how they are acting. We are so worried about what he did or she said – and WHY – and in doing so, we elevate ourselves to a level of superiority that is unmerited. If Jesus Christ humbled Himself and didn’t “play the Son of God card” as a general rule…what right do we have to judge others and act all high and mighty? The bottom line is that we do not know what is in another person’s heart…we have no clue what demons they battle, how well they slept last night, or what is going on behind the closed doors of their abode. But God does.
So we must trust God to judge…to rule…to “fix people”…and we must concentrate on our own relationship with Him and doing what WE are supposed to do. We must look at Jesus’ model and learn His ways. We must humbly interact with others and serve God with faithful obedience…and He will bless us in ways we cannot begin to imagine.
Where is God in these everyday situations? Sometimes, it is hard to see His presence in many people and circumstances of our everyday living. But I assure you…God is with us! Just as surely as He operated through the human Jesus, God is with us, each and every minute of the day. We can allow Him room to work…or we can muddy the waters with our meddling. Which will you choose?
©2015 Debbie Robus
*http://www.amazon.com/Three-From-Galilee-Young-Nazareth/dp/0425205509
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