“We have so theologized the passion and death of this sacred man that we no longer see the slow unraveling of his tissue, the spread of gangrene, his raging thirst.” —Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel
The images in the movie “The Passion of Christ” stunned us all. After decades of dissecting the meaning of the Cross, some of us had become desensitized to the fact that the crucifixion was all too real that day in Jerusalem: real whips, real nails, scarlet blood, steaming sweat, bitter tears—real suffering.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. —Isaiah 53:4-5
The writers of the Gospels don't go into the gory details of the Cross. They described His mode of torture and execution as quite a matter of fact. (Historians and Hollywood have willingly filled in the graphic descriptions.) Prior to the Cross, Jesus knew the normal demands and limitations of the human body. We don’t have an indication that He got sick, but He may have. We do see plenty of hunger, thirst, and being physically tired. He definitely understands physical suffering; He certainly sympathizes with our physical suffering.
The important thing is that Jesus is here and Jesus cares. And did something about it. Because of the suffering that He endured through His death on the Cross, we can know a peace that surpasses all comprehension, a joy in spite of our circumstances, and an intimacy with Him through that shared experience.
Lord Jesus, Isaiah predicted that You would carry my sorrows and take up my infirmities. So I leave them with You now. Thank You for the peace that was bought through Your punishment and the healing that I can know through Your wounds. I claim that now through faith in You! Amen.
Daily Smile:
A wife asks her husband, "Could you please go shopping for me and buy one gallon of milk, and if they have eggs, get 6."
A short time later the husband returns home with 6 cartons of milk. The wife asked him, "Why did you buy 6 gallons of milk?"
He replied, "They had eggs."
Editor's Note: And wives say, "We don't Listen"...
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"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9,
Recently I have had a lot of dental work done. I have had major dental work over the past 20 years; root canal treatment, crowns, teeth out. My teeth looked OK, but underneath each crown, decay had crept in and undermined the tooth. The poor dentist is in despair, for each time he looks under a crown he is met with decay.
It reminds me of the Christian life. On the outside appearance we may look FINE. On the inside we may feel "Fearful, Insecure, Neurotic & Emotional". We may put on the happy face but just under the surface our lives are full of decay (sin).
Sometimes we are not even aware it is there, until God allows our circumstances to show us what is really in our hearts. The cap comes off and the decay is exposed.
God wants to heal us and expose our hearts so that we can become more like Jesus. As my dentist works away at my teeth he is eventually replacing them with teeth that cannot decay. God wants to replace the lies and the deceit in our hearts with truth so that we can be shining vessels for Him. Dental work is painful and costly. So too is bringing health to our hearts, but the end results are worth it.
Prayer: Father God, please expose the decay in our hearts so that it can be cleaned out and restored to be more like Jesus. We understand that it will be painful and costly, but, Lord Jesus, for your sake, it is worth it. Amen.
Today's Writer : Diane Watson
FOODIE FRIDAY:
Easy Keto Meatloaf
This easy low carb meatloaf has great flavor with a hint of Italian
spice and a little organic pizza sauce to enhance the flavor.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 16 minutes
Servings 6
Servings
Calories 340 kcal
Author Wendy
Ingredients:
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup chopped onion finely chopped
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• ¼ cup organic
pizza sauce no sugar added
• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 lb organic
90% lean hamburger
• ½ tsp basil
• ½ tsp oregano
• 4 Tbsp almond flour
Instructions:
1. Open up the organic ground beef and put into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add your two eggs and mix that up until well blended together.
3. Add in the 4 TBSP almond flour, the 1/4 cup pizza sauce and the onions and mix
well again.
4. Add in the salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, basil and mix one final time.
5. Place the mixture into a glass loaf pan and shape, then bake at 350 degrees F for
one hour (or until your meat thermometer reads 165 minimum temp)
6. Once the meat is cooked, you can drain any excess fat carefully if needed, then
add the cheese on top and place back into the oven for 5 minutes to melt the
cheese.
Recipe Notes
Voila!
We let is sit for a few minutes, sliced it into 6 servings, plated, and enjoyed.
Calories total=340
Protein total=17
Net Carbs total=3
Fat total=29
Number of Servings=6
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by T. Suzanne Eller
“That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10 (NLT)
The wind blew through my fingers as I held my hand outside the window. The bright sunshine seemed foreign after several days in the small hospital room.
My husband had insisted that I go home. “Take a long bath, babe. Take a nap in a real bed. I’ve got this.”
After four weeks, my world had shrunk to my son’s bedside, X-ray rooms, the therapy wing, and a dimly lit cafeteria in the basement. I had no idea how long my son would be in the hospital, or what awaited us when he was released. The doctors used phrases like, “It’s uncertain at this time.”
Before the drunk driver hit my son, I was strong. It wasn’t that my faith hadn’t been tested; it had. But this was my child, broken and battered at the hands of another, and I couldn’t fix it.
As I drove home, I heard these words deep in my spirit:
When you are weak, you are strong.
That didn’t make sense to me. I felt anything but strong.
When I arrived home I took my bath and a nap. Afterwards, I pulled out my Bible and flipped to the verse. And there it was. Paul’s words:
“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
The apostle suffered with a “thorn in the flesh.” Scripture doesn’t tell us what that was exactly, but we do know that it was something he couldn’t fix on his own. When he prayed, God reminded Paul that His power comes through when we are at our limits.
There was no mistaking it. Like Paul, I was at my weakest point. As a mom, I wanted nothing more than for my son to be okay and the wreck to be behind us. I wanted my son at home. I was exhausted by long nights on a too-small, too-thin cot, and days of caring for my child as he battled extreme pain.
Yet God was trying to tell me something. Something I hadn’t realized until that moment.
I didn’t have to be the strong one all the time. While I was caring for my son, God was caring for me.
It took a year of therapy and prayer to make my son well; there were many more weak moments ahead for this momma.
But in each, I paused and I whispered these words:
“When I am weak, then I am strong.”
My strength was not found in my own abilities or even my staying power. Instead, I was strong because God sustained me and filled me with His grace in the midst of the battle.
Sometimes, when that period of my life is brought up, friends remark, “Suzie, your faith was so real during that time.”
I can’t help but remind them that I was far from having it all together. What they were seeing was God’s grace and love poured over my weak places.
Are you struggling today? Do you feel weak? Whisper it with me:
“When I am weak, then I am strong.”
Daily Smile:
The Goodnight Kiss
At the end of their date, a young man takes the girl back to her home. He decides to try for that first kiss. With an air of confidence, he leans with his hand against the wall and, smiling, he says to her, "Darling, how 'bout a good night kiss?"
Embarrassed, she replies, "Oh, I couldn't do that. My parents will see us!"
"Oh come on! Who's gonna see us at this hour?"
"No, please. I would just die of embarrassment if someone saw us."
"Oh come on, there's nobody around, they're all sleeping!"
"No way. It's just too risky!"
"Oh please, please, I like you so much!!"
"No. I like you too, but I just can't!"
"Oh yes you can. Please?"
"NO, no. I just can't."
"Pleeeeease?..."
Out of the blue, the porch light goes on, and the girl's sister shows up in her pajamas, hair disheveled. In a sleepy voice the sister says: "Dad says to go ahead and give him a kiss. Or I can do it. Or if need be, he'll come down himself and do it. But for crying out loud tell him to take his hand off the intercom button!"
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by C. R. Stam
"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus"(II Tim. 3:15).
Timothy was a fortunate young man. His father was not a believer in Christ, but his godly mother made up for this lack as, day after day, from his earliest childhood, she taught him the Word of God. As a result he came to know Christ at an early age and later became St. Paul's faithful co-worker and close associate in making known the wonderful "good news of the grace of God."
In his very last letter the great Apostle Paul recalls Timothy's "unfeigned faith... which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice" (II Tim. 1:5).
If only we had more such mothers and grandmothers today, with husbands to help them! If only our American children were not set adrift on a restless sea of human speculation, but were taught the eternal truths of God's Word, the Bible!
We all need to "know the Holy Scriptures," not only because they teach reverence for God and build moral character, but most of all because they "are able to make [us] wise unto salvation through faith... in Christ Jesus."
The theme of the Bible, the Old Testament as well as New, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the riches of whose saving grace are unfolded to us in the Epistles of Paul, the chief of sinners saved by grace. It was to Paul that God committed the preaching of the cross of Christ. He it is who tells us about the riches that flow from Calvary. He it is who tells us, by divine inspiration that:
"...WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH [CHRIST'S] BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE" (Eph. 1:7).
"THAT IN THE AGES TO COME HE MIGHT SHOW THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARD US THROUGH CHRIST JESUS" (Eph. 2:7).
Daily Smile:
A guy to a friend: “After three sets golf clubs and ten years of lessons, I am finally getting some fun out of golf. I quit.”
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