REALITY CHECK!
There are different realities that we must face in life. How we face these realities are in direct correlation with who we are. I am about to give you 3 reality checks. Who are you, and how will you face them?
1.You Will Die.
Unless you are taken up in the rapture (believers only) with Jesus before hand, you will die. This is reality. Your days are numbered.
I remember when I was about 14. I had no thoughts about dying. I was invincible in my mind. I was bullet proof. I lived with no regrets. But, also with no purpose. It was all about me, and I had no sense of urgency for things that mattered. I had no idea that one day I was going to die, so I lived as if I had forever to accomplish things. Knowing little, and doing nothing. I was wrong. I will die. So will you.
It is time that we come to this realization. This isn't a call to fear, but a call to faith. This is a reality, and we will face it whether we want too or not. Ask the man in the casket.
2. You Must Choose to Live.
Just because you will die doesn't mean you have lived. That slash between your date of birth and date of death can be just a slash. Life isn't a default. Life is a choice. You have to make that slash between the dates on your gravestone mean something.
So what does choosing to live mean? It means not going through the motions. It means having a purpose bigger than yourself. It means leaning on the tree on Mount Calvary. It means not being satisfied with the words "only", "just", "decent", or "okay." It means living with a passion.
Make the choice. The choice to live has a lot to do with the last reality.
John Piper wrote a book titled "Don't Waste Your Life." Read it.
3. Jesus Is Life.
You choose to live by following Jesus. You choose to live by chasing after life.
Reality is anything outside of Jesus is death. Anyone outside of Christ is dead. Signs of true life are not heart beats, or jumping from planes. A true sign of life is passionately celebrating the life of Christ. A true sign of life is fleshing out your faith. James, the brother of Jesus, said for us to be doers of the word. (James 1:22) That is living life. Live Jesus!
Are you being realistic? Do you know Jesus?
It is time.
What a timely message! I thank you for taking the time to be a leader in our community! It is people like yourself that along life's way, lead us in the right direction. You can't make us worship Jesus....but you can show us where He is! In our hearts! It is amazing we can see the sun...93 million miles away, but we have such a hard time seeing the truth in our hearts!
ReplyDeleteWeek of April 20
ReplyDeleteThirsty on the Cross
by Max Lucado
Jesus’ final act on earth was intended to win your trust.
This is the final act of Jesus’ life. In the concluding measure of his earthly composition, we hear the sounds of a thirsty man.
And through his thirst—through a sponge and a jar of cheap wine—he leaves a final appeal.
“You can trust me.”
Jesus. Lips cracked and mouth of cotton. Throat so dry he couldn’t swallow, and voice so hoarse he could scarcely speak. He is thirsty. To find the last time moisture touched these lips you need to rewind a dozen hours to the meal in the upper room. Since tasting that cup of wine, Jesus has been beaten, spat upon, bruised, and cut. He has been a cross-carrier and sin-bearer, and no liquid has salved his throat. He is thirsty.
Why doesn’t he do something about it? Couldn’t he? Did he not cause jugs of water to be jugs of wine? Did he not make a wall out of the Jordan River and two walls out of the Red Sea? Didn’t he, with one word, banish the rain and calm the waves? Doesn’t Scripture say that he “turned the desert into pools” (PSALM 107:35 NIV) and “the hard rock into springs” (PSALM 114:8 NIV)?
Did God not say, “I will pour water on him who is thirsty” (ISAIAH. 44:3NKJV)?
If so, why does Jesus endure thirst?
While we are asking this question, add a few more. Why did he grow weary in Samaria (John 4:6), disturbed in Nazareth (Mark 6:6), and angry in the Temple (John 2:15)? Why was he sleepy in the boat on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:38), sad at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35), and hungry in the wilderness (Matt. 4:2)?
Why? And why did he grow thirsty on the cross?
He didn’t have to suffer thirst. At least, not to the level he did. Six hours earlier he’d been offered drink, but he refused it.
They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, buthe did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. (Mark 15:22–24 NIV,italics mine)
Before the nail was pounded, a drink was offered. Mark says the wine was mixed with myrrh. Matthew described it as wine mixed with gall. Both myrrh and gall contain sedative properties that numb the senses. But Jesus refused them. He refused to be stupefied by the drugs, opting instead to feel the full force of his suffering.
Why? Why did he endure all these feelings? Because he knew you would feel them too.
He knew you would be weary, disturbed, and angry. He knew you’d be sleepy, grief-stricken, and hungry. He knew you’d face pain. If not the pain of the body, the pain of the soul … pain too sharp for any drug. He knew you’d face thirst. If not a thirst for water, at least a thirst for truth, and the truth we glean from the image of a thirsty Christ is—he understands.
And because he understands, we can come to him.
NEW Gift Book! This story from:
This is Love - The Extraordinary Story of Jesus
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2011) Max Lucado
I love how Lucado puts things. I read a good bit of his stuff. Thank you for this. Jesus is KING!
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