A man stood on a hill, at the foot of a cross. The same cross that his Savior had died on.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. He looked, and there in the distance was a storm. Dark clouds were on the horizon, and lightening flashed in them like flickering flames in lanterns.
A voice whispered ¨look at the cross¨.
The man looked up at the cross, but soon turned his gaze again to the coming storm. The clouds were now as black as a moonless night, and they were beginning to spin and roll and come closer to the earth.
Again, the voice whispered ¨look at the cross¨.
The mans heart was filling with fear and worry, and his eyes remained set on the storm. The storm drew nearer and nearer, and lightening was striking the ground like white hot spears.
¨look at the cross¨, said the voice.
The wind blew, and the trees bent. And the man ran. Away from the storm, and away from the cross.
Above the noise of the storm, the voice shouted ¨Look at the Cross!¨.
The man replied ¨Why!, Who will save me from this approaching storm? Who will save me from death!¨.
The voice echoed through ¨This storm may very well kill your body, but it cannot kill your soul. That cross represents my grace to you and to all those who believe. You were bought for a price. I took your sin, and hung and died on that cross. You are now mine, and nobody can take you from me¨.
The man stopped running, and through the darkness, and the rain, and the wind, he could see the cross, and he made his way to it.
The man put his arms around the cross to keep from being thrown down by the wind. He looked up at where Jesus had once been, and thought about how Jesus had died for his sin. The fear began to leave him, and was replaced by a peaceful assurance of his eternal salvation, and a strength to face the storm.
In the middle of the raging storm, he had security. With his focus now on Jesus and him sacrificing himself for us, his purpose was clear. The man pulled the cross from the ground, set it on his shoulder, and with a heart full of compassion and love for others, he set out to tell people about Jesus.
________________________________________
What is your storm? What causes you to fear and worry? Its so easy to have our eyes on those things, and not have them on Jesus. There is nothing in this world that can give us the security that we desire. Jesus died, and by believing in him, we find security. Salvation is a free gift from God through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Our foundation has to be Jesus Christ and him crucified for us. There is no other strong foundation. If our foundation is on the hope of a long life, or money, or good health, or fame, or even relationships, then we are on a weak foundation.
I am as guilty as anyone of not keeping my eyes on Jesus.
Jesus says for us to pick up our crosses and follow him. I had never understood that, but now I think I am starting to.
If someone were to literally always carry a big wood cross, they would always be thinking about that cross. The cross is what Christ died on, and it represents his death for us. So I think to carry our cross, that would be to always think about what Christ did for us. I guess to not just think about it, but it is our reason for living, and doing what we do. God´s grace through Jesus´s death is not just how we are saved, but it is the only strong foundation to stand on, and that is every day of our life. To forget about the cross causes me to think about other things... things that are not important. It causes me to worry and fear, but I truly believe this... when our eyes are on Jesus and him dying for us to save us, we find peace, and joy, and strength to go through the storms of life. Everything is from Jesus. The love and compassion to be able to do the will of God, we have to look to Jesus.
May God help me to do this, and that my eyes can remain on Jesus. Everything, absolutely everything is in Jesus Christ.
How wonderful to spend a life with our eyes on Jesus. In the middle of the storm, we have hope and security. In the middle of a storm, we are a light for the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Verse of the Day
traduzca esta página
About Us
God has given us a precious gift... our first child, Andrew Lee.
Blog Archive
- ► 2009 (129)
3 comments:
Newborns usually eat every 2-3 hrs. for the first few weeks. I highly recommend schedule (flexible schedule) feeding (and nap/sleep times) and not demand feeding, but that's my opinion! By about 2-3 months my kids were sleeping at least 6-7 hr. stretches at night. The book "Babywise" is helpful. I can't remember the author (it's a Christian--Gary Ezzo maybe?). Just remember that you have to be flexible and no baby is "textbook" all the time. But it was very helpful to me to know--okay, it's been about 4 hrs., he's probably hungry; and not have to guess constantly about why he's fussy. The main point of the book/schedule thing is to teach them to eat only when they're hungry, not when they're just tired/cranky. And teaching them to go to sleep on their own, not using feeding to put them to sleep.
This is a super long comment...sorry! Email me if you have any questions. I'm so excited to see pictures (and eventually meet!) little Andrew!!! :)
That is really good. Eliana was saying before that she was wanting Andrew to have some sort of schedule for his sleeping and everything. I think that will be really good. Thanks for the comment.
Nice post. Where did you find the story on the first part?
Post a Comment