What's so good about Good Friday?

Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense. Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me. For I know my offense; my sin is always before me. Psalm 51:3-5 

Happy Good Friday!!!  Who’s hiding Easter eggs this weekend?  I thought about it...but since my kids are “too old” for that, I’m not really sure if my memory is bad enough yet to forget where I put them and try to find them myself.  Oh well.

I admit though...I’m pretty excited about Easter.  It’s not about getting to go dress shopping (though I did find this awesome cobalt blue number on sale), it’s not about the Easter baskets overflowing with scrumptious chocolate candies or Easter egg hunts...no.  It’s about Jesus - the man who gave His life so I could get excited about all these things and so much more.

He gave His LIFE!!!  Not just a few weekends here and there.  Not a week in a remote village to help build a few houses.  His LIFE!!!

And He didn’t want to.  Nope.  The Bible tells us that He agonized over it, He knew the pain He was about to suffer through.  He even prayed that God would find another way.  Does that sound familiar?  We do it every time we are faced with difficulty. 

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

He bore the weight of ALL sin...past, present and future.  How excruciating that must have been.

I used to struggle with the idea that we call the day Jesus was crucified GOOD Friday.  I mean...how is it good that we literally murdered Jesus?  By we I mean every one of us.  Think about it, had you and I been alive on that day, would we have tried to stop it?  Doubtful.  Even Peter denied Him three times.  Let’s face it...we did it. 

We conspired against Jesus.

We drug Jesus into that court.

We beat Jesus.

We called Him names.

We nailed Jesus to a cross.

We treated Him as though He was evil!

We killed Jesus.

He didn’t want to die like that..but He did.  God didn’t want Him to die like that...but He allowed it.  For us.  Jesus obediently walked those streets, felt the nails pierce His skin, and died on that cross...for us.

Looking at if from that perspective...how can we call this day good?  Really?  I can see Dark Friday.  Black Friday (I’d say this is more important and would trump the biggest shopping day of the year). Maybe Sin Friday or Execution Friday.  I think the German’s have a better grasp of the concept with Karfreitag, which means “Suffering Friday.” 

Such pain and despair.  But that’s how much God loves us.  That’s how much He loves YOU.  He sacrificed his own Son in our place, because everyone of us deserved to hang on that cross.  But now we have eternal life if we believe and claim Jesus as our Savior. 

THAT is why this is called Good Friday. 

He didn’t stop there, though.  Three days later...He walked away from the cold grip of death and left the tomb empty.  What a beautiful day.  Easter Day!!

So color those eggs, eat that chocolate and remember why today is such a good day!!

May God’s blessings fall on each of you this Easter.

Genuine, Childlike Faith

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

When I was pregnant with my second child people would often want to know if I was having a boy or a girl.  Since I wanted it to be a surprise I never asked the doctors to tell me.  However, my four year old son, Patrick, was certain that he knew.  Whenever someone would ask if I knew, my faithful little boy would pipe in boldly saying, “It’s a boy.   I know because I prayed and asked God for a brother.”  He was confident that he was going to get a little brother. He believed God for his promise that if we ask, we shall receive (John 16:24).   He had an attitude of faith that his request had already been granted even though he could not yet “see” this physically. James 4:2 states, “You have not, because you ask not…” Patrick asked and, low and behold, his little brother arrived.   Granted, we do have to be careful what we ask for sometimes.   There have been moments when I heard Patrick mumble “what was I thinking?” and other times, when Patrick is rather annoyed with Dade, the little brother he so faithfully awaited, I hear Dade quickly remind him “well, YOU prayed for me!”  (There’s nothing like brotherly love, is there?)

This childlike faith is required for us to receive the blessings that the Lord longs to give us.   When we pray and make a request of God we shouldn’t murmur to ourselves “I hope this works out.”  We should have the confidence in God that little children have. We should believe that our prayer has already been answered and wait patiently for God to bring it to us in HIS time.  At four years old, Patrick had no concept of the amount of time he would have to wait for his little brother, though he did often ask “how much longer?”  He simply believed that God would send him his request.  Never once did he question God.  I can’t lie, I found myself wondering how I would explain it to him in the event that his little brother turned out to be a little sister instead. My faith was not as genuine as Patrick’s was. Thankfully God took care of that one for me.

Looking back I realize that I simply lacked confidence in God.  And who am I to question the dependability of God? He has always been there for me.  Genuine faith is not professing that you believe… genuine faith is actually believing what you profess.   It is having confidence in the dependability of God...and who is more dependable than He is? 

Our Christian lives begin because of our faith in Jesus Christ, they are lived by faith and they end in faith.  Our faith is strengthened by spending time in God’s word, if we do this... it is guaranteed that our faith will grow and we will have more childlike confidence to ask the Lord for the blessings we long for…even the ones we think may be too much to ask.  Maybe it’s time that we stopped insisting our children grow up and start thinking about learning to be a little more like them...childlike in our own faith.

          Hebrews 11:1 is a well known verse.  Many Christians can quote it fluently, but quoting it isn’t enough...do you live it?  Do you truly have faith in God for the things you are hoping for, but cannot yet see?  How childlike is your faith?