“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24

Today is Good Friday. Today we particularly remember the terrible agony of Jesus our Savior as He took our sins upon Himself, suffering and dying so that we may live forever. What did that look like? Mark’s Gospel records this account of that dark day:

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

“He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.”
– Psalm 40:2-3

This is what God does for us in Christ! When we put our faith in Jesus, God lovingly picks us up from the pit of destruction and cleans off the muck, mud, and filth of our sin, shame, and guilt. He adopts us and embraces us as His beloved children. He makes us new creations and rebuilds our lives upon the rock of Jesus.

When Christ comes to live within us, the Holy Spirit gives us a new heart, new desires, and new songs to sing. We sing praise God for His grace and mercy in delivering us from evil and darkness into the glorious kingdom of Jesus. And sing we must, because we’ve been set free to experience new and eternal life in Jesus Christ! May the world hear our song and many be drawn to new life in Christ through it!

“Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow.
Indeed, they rush around in vain,
gathering possessions
without knowing who will get them.”
– Psalm 39:6

One day we’ll be leaving all our stuff behind. Either we will die or Christ will return. Then, all the things we’re “obsessed” with (to borrow an overused term of this cultural moment) will be someone else’s to keep or throw away (or creation will be renewed)! We’ll have left everything behind and won’t care in the slightest. Our lives are short in the scheme of eternity and stuff is only temporary.

Nonetheless, during the short years of our mortal life, we have the opportunity to impact eternity. We don’t have to rush around gathering stuff that we’ll leave behind. We have the ability to invest our time, energy, talents, and treasure in things which are truly eternal: other souls.

We live in an era with unprecedented ways to invest in the global spread of the good news of Jesus Christ and to directly alter both the physical and spiritual well-being of generations all around the world. Transformative care for those in need, both near and far. Global spread of the Gospel in thousands of languages. All are happening now and could use our engagement as followers of Jesus.

Think carefully about how you manage your time, talent, and treasure. Are you investing them in eternity or rushing around in vain gathering things that won’t last (at least not for you)?

“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.” – Luke 8:16

Christian, we are filled with the light of Jesus Christ within us! We were made to shine that light brightly in all directions so that others would see Jesus in and through us. Will we shine? How brightly?

It’s easy in our rapidly secularizing culture to fall prey to the temptation to hide our light. Shining the light of Jesus may have a social or professional cost, so we’re tempted to be “double-minded”. We may sing loud and proud in worship, but minimize the public face of our faith the rest of the week. That isn’t why we were filled with Christ’s light!

May we find ways to shine the light of Jesus into this dark, dark world through all aspects of our lives. May we be faithful in praying for others and asking them if we may pray for them in the name of Jesus. May we be faithful in helping those in need in the name of Jesus. May we be faithful in loving our neighbors as ourselves because Jesus loves us. May we be faithful in sharing the hope we have in Jesus with gentleness, respect, and direct honesty. Let us resolve that “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!”

“And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'” – Luke 7:50

What a glorious truth! This woman, anonymous to us but infamously sinful in her own hometown, was forgiven and freed from all her sin and her ugly personal history. Only faith in Jesus can cause such a radical change!

There’s no amount of good work we can do to offset the mountain of sin lying in our past. There was nothing that woman could do to earn forgiveness. But the blood of Jesus shed on the cross washes away all guilt and shame! All we must do is believe as that woman believed!

That’s the glory of what Christ accomplished through His sacrificial death on Good Friday and resurrection to life on Easter Sunday. That’s what we particularly celebrate this week. Christ did what we can’t. He saved us – and all we have to do to receive that salvation is believe. Our faith sets us free to go in peace!