Wednesday of Holy Week, April 8,
2020
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. Hebrews 12:1-3
A Christian
couple had a missionary family visiting.
When the missionary children were called in for dinner, their mother
said, "Be sure to wash your hands."
The little boy scowled and said, Germs and Jesus. Germs and Jesus. That's all I ever hear, and I've never seen
either one of them.[1]
The writer of
Hebrews has given us a no-nonsense definition of faith:
Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1(GWT[2])
It is not so
strange that faith is invisible – there is some pretty wide company. According
to one source 98% of all the matter in the universe is invisible.[3] The little boy was right, like the wind,
faith is an invisible quality; like the wind, however, you can see its results
when things start happening!
We are in one
of those crunch-time moments. It’s been more than a month since we were
given the word to hunker-down and not leave home without
an essential reason. No travel or mingling
down at the Post Office, or even a Sunday School class party. And no sports on TV, other than a golf
tournament replay from 5 years ago. For
the average American we’re already tapping the table with impatient fingers…will
this never end?
Enter Holy
Week, the time of preparing to suffer the Gethsemane betrayal, kangaroo court
of a mock trial, scourging, trudging through the stations of the cross dragging
your own gallows, and, for all that labor, stretched-out naked and bleeding between
crossbeams on the town garbage dump.
Could the timing be more precise?
We have been told this next week to 10 days will be the toughest, most
death-filled time of Coronavirus anguish.
Whatever truly
Heaven-ordained purposes are being worked-out by Sovereign God in this time of
purging, where the unimportant toys and baubles of life are being sidelined in
favor of a desire for relationships unimpeded by face masks and sterile gloves,
the suffering caused by an unseen enemy, and the care offered by an unseen God
speaks volumes to me about both.
For You Today
Like the
writer to the Hebrew Christians giving some hope and encouragement to people who
were undergoing some unimaginable persecution and privation, I also want to point
us to the endurance and perseverance of Jesus.
He bore every part of what was laid before him for our benefit.
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
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