Easter - In these times

We’re living in perilous times – a virus is killing thousands of people on the earth.  Few of us are immune to its poison.  The people of the world are fearful.  They fear the disease.  They fear death.  They fear loss of savings, of income, of going without what they see as necessities.  Many are isolated, alone in this world full of people.

People want to be assured that all will be well.  They want someone to “fix it!”  We turn to family, to friends, to the government.  But the world has no “magic bullet” to kill this plague.  So where do we go?

In times like these we know that life’s uncertain.

Control we thought we had, has left our grasp.

In times like these we find our strength has failed us.

In times like these we look for something that will last

What better time to look upon our Savior 

as anxiousness and fear would take its toll?

What better time to ponder  

all HE did

to end the curse of sin 

and break the chains of death and make us whole?

While on the cross with holy body broken

our Jesus heard the mocking crowd.

He heard the guards laugh out in cold derision.  

Bur From that cross 

He loved

the haughty and the proud.

Jesus planned to suffer, die, and free us from our lost condition.

He planned, 

with love, 

to pay the price of sin. 

He planned a life, eternal, perfect, joined with Him in heaven.

He died that all who come to God are welcomed in.

So, in these times of peril let us look upon our Savior.

Let’s look to Him, the one who can control

the world He made. 

and what we fear. - the pain and loss 

He will control with love -

the perfect love that sent him to the cross. 

He took the fear of death. 

He took uncertainty.

He took our want and loss,

and gave eternity.

Luke 23:33 – 49 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” . . . 

“The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 3and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” . . . 

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,  for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.  But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

They saw, but did they really see the meaning of it all?  Did they see the love flowing from that rugged cross?  I pray that in these times we’ll be assured by the picture of God loving us so much that He gave His own life for ours.