Today I share a guest post that deeply touched my heart. It is an inspiring poem by a talented, award-winning poet and personal friend, Maude Carolan Pych.
Between the Palms and the Cross
It’s Lent—
I’m sitting here meditating
upon that final week
wondering what happened to H
is followers
after Jesus entered Jerusalem
riding astride a donkey
as people spread their coats before Him
along the dusty road
Wondering about those followers
the ones who cut branches from palm trees
and waved them at Him in homage, proclaiming
Hosanna to the Son of David!
Hosanna in the highest!
After all, He was their humble King
I’m sitting here wondering what happened
between then and days later
when Jesus stood before Pilate
amid a crowd of onlookers
persuasive chief priests and elders
and everyone began shouting
Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
Did they forget the taste of water
that He turned into wine?
Did they forget the healed lepers and the blind?
Did they forget Him preaching
to the multitudes, Blessed be the poor…
and the thousands He fed with a few loaves and fish
Did they forget He healed a pitiful demoniac
and the woman with an issue of blood
Could they have forgotten that he said to the dead girl,
Talitha kum, and she sprang right up and walked
And Lazarus? Could they possibly have forgotten
that Jesus called His friend out of the tomb
and Lazarus emerged, grave clothes coiled
around his body…after three days!
I’m still sitting here wondering about
how quickly they turned
from their hosannas
to calling for His death
Wasn’t there one clear-headed believer
one unable-to-be-swayed witness
one unshakable faithful-unto-death follower
to boldly shout out in protest…
No!
No. There wasn’t
Not even one
Between the Palms and the Cross
18 Apr 2019 Leave a comment
in Easter Tags: Faithful, Good Friday, Palms Sunday, Suffering Savior
The Imbalanced Math of Easter
10 Apr 2019 4 Comments
in Biblical Mathematics Tags: blessing, Easter, grace, Jesus' sacrifice
Biblical Mathematics (5)
The principles of Biblical mathematics can be seen most clearly at Easter in the celebration of Jesus’ victory. He suffered the ultimate subtraction and division to add and multiply His grace to us. Think about it…
Subtraction : the act of taking something away
- Jesus—stripped of His glory, dignity, clothing, and life
- Us—the subtraction of guilt, shame, and debt—a zero net balance
Division : the act of separating
- Jesus—separated from friends, from His Father, and then from the world, heaven and God when He descended into hell
- Us—the temple curtain tore, closing our separation from God and offering us instead, separation us from sin’s curse, our failure, our debt, and our fear to approach Him
Addition : the act of joining or supplementing to cause increase
- Jesus—added the weight of sin, human suffering and shame, to His blameless perfect life
- Us—to our need, was added supply; to our debt, was added redemption; to our sin, was added forgiveness; to our despair was added hope
Multiplication : the act of increasing greatly
- Jesus—bore the multiplied sin of mankind, past, present, future, and suffered pain and agony multiplied beyond comprehension for our freedom.
- Us—multiplied, immeasurable grace, fresh mercy every morning, free and unending forgiveness
Lord Jesus, our words fall short. We cannot express the depth of our gratitude so we offer the only thing we can, our lives. Loving Spirit, grace us to walk away from temptation and subtract sinful attitudes and practices. Inspire us to live separate lives, dividing our time and treasure to serve others. Help us cultivate and produce fruit that reflects you. Multiply our love, for you and others. Amen.
Image by Jo-B from Pixabay
Multiplication
03 Apr 2019 4 Comments
in Biblical Mathematics Tags: disciples, fruitfulness, grace, multiplication, peace
Biblical Mathematics (4)
If addition is good, multiplication is better. Add 8 to 32 and you get 40; multiply 8 times 32 and you get 256. We’re blessed when God adds to our lives, but when He multiplies, we’re overwhelmed.
By definition, multiply means to increase in number especially greatly or in multiples. With that in mind, let’s look at three aspects of Biblical multiplication.
A relationship with God multiplies our grace and peace (2 Peter 1:2). A look at the synonyms for multiplication informs us that this means our grace and peace are increased, enlarged, augmented—they reproduce. Who wouldn’t like more grace and peace? I told you, God’s multiplication is overwhelming!
On top of that, our connection with Jesus enables us to do our own multiplication. He wants us to bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit—and He empowers us to do so.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener … every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful … If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” John 15:1-5
Lastly, the words God spoke at creation, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28), were not that different from Jesus’ final words before ascending into Heaven. He told His followers, then and now, to go and make disciples of all nations—to multiply (Matt. 28:19). He desires all people to live with Him in heaven, eternally.
There is only one way to multiply and that is by being attached to the Master Multiplier. He is the One who multiplies our grace and peace, enables our fruit to reproduce, and increases our love for others.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:2 NKJV
Image offered by Julia Barret at teacherspayteachers.com
Division—Separation
27 Mar 2019 2 Comments
in Biblical Mathematics Tags: chosen, division, giving, separate, share, unity
Biblical Mathematics (3)
In math class I learned two forms of division—long and short. I liked neither. In Biblical mathematics I see three types of division and I like them all. I think you will too because, unlike standard math where division removes a part, Biblical division results in giving us more.
One definition of divide is to cause to be separate, distinct, or apart from. This is the division God has performed in our lives—He separated us from the world and made us a peculiar people, His people. In turn, we separate ourselves from negative influences, from temptation, and from sin.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)
Division can also mean to separate into portions and distribute, dispense. God asks us, no, He expects us to divide what we have and share it with others—to part with our possessions and split them with those in need.
But just as you excel in everything…see that you also excel in this grace of giving…At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality. (2 Cor. 8:7, 14)
The last definition of divide is to separate into two or more parts; the separating of things or persons in close union. God has very strong feelings about this form of division—He does not want it! Divisiveness does not reflect His heart. We are never to divide the body of Christ—no disunity, no disconnecting, no breaking up.
There should be no division in the body, but…its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (1 Cor. 12:25-26)
The Biblical principles of division are so much more rewarding than the calculations of long and short division, which always result in having less.
God’s division amazingly, miraculously, always blesses us with increase.
Image by olafpictures from Pixabay
Subtraction
21 Mar 2019 Leave a comment
in Biblical Mathematics Tags: forgiveness, less is more, righteousness
Biblical Mathematics (2)
I hope you’ve had a great week of addition, adding to the good things God has already given you. Today we’ll look at simple subtraction—the act of taking something away.
Our first instinct is to possessively object to have anything taken from us. After all, didn’t we say last week that God makes us bigger, better, more? That’s true, but we need to subtract to allow space for increase. We see this when we look at what God has subtracted from our lives to replace with something greater:
- He took my sin and made me righteous.
- He took my guilt and granted me forgiveness.
- He took my condemnation and set me free.
- He took my hopelessness and gave me purpose.
- He took my emptiness and filled me.
- He took me out of slavery and made me His child.
Jesus, the great Subtractor, has made me less to make me more. He moved me from the negative column to the plus side. In response, I participate in His Biblical subtraction process by renouncing these:
- Bitterness
- Anger
- Selfishness
- Fear
- Unforgiveness
- Worry
The difference between Jesus’ subtraction and mine is that He subtracts once and for all—He removes my sin completely and forever. My subtraction, however, is an ongoing process—a daily removal of life’s inevitable sin-stains.
So while the definition of subtract is simply to take away, the process for us is not simple or final—but so worth it. Every negative we subtract makes room for something positive.
And that’s an oxymoron of Biblical mathematics—the more we subtract, the greater we become.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10
See also Eph.4:22-5:15.
Image by Luiz Jorge de Miranda Neto- Luiz Jorge Artista from Pixabay
Addition—accumulation, supplementation
14 Mar 2019 Leave a comment
in Biblical Mathematics Tags: blessing, complete, increase
Biblical Mathematics (1)
Of the three academic basics—reading, writing & ‘rithmetic—math is my least favorite. If I had my way, the world would be labeled with letters, not numbers. Can you imagine? “Your caramel swirl cappuccino is $M.cw.” So simple!
As much as I dislike math, I’ve become intrigued with Biblical mathematics. Today’s post is a first look at the four basic operations of math found in the Bible: addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication.
Add simply means to join or unite, to bring about an increase or improvement. Addition is anything added—creating an increase.
Increase, to make greater, more, bigger.
When we give our lives to God, that’s exactly what He does for us—He makes us bigger, better, more. Using a timeless addition process, He adds to our lives that which lasts through eternity:
- Faith & joy, complete and free
- Grace & peace in abundance
- Understanding & wisdom
- Power, love & self-discipline
- Hope & an inheritance
- Everything we need for life and godliness
- Belonging, a Father-child relationship with Him
We are no longer needy, but have been made complete, full, fulfilled—we lack no good thing.
“For this very reason,” says Peter, “make every effort to add…” We’ve been added to, now we enrich the life we’ve been given by adding to it:
- Faith
- Goodness
- Knowledge
- Self-control
- Perseverance
- Godliness
- Brotherly kindness
- Love
To all of us who have been added to, let’s continue the addition process.
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 1 Thessalonians 3:12
Scripture references: John 15:12, 2 Peter 1:1-7, Job 32:8, James 1:5, 2 Timothy 2:7, Psalm 34:10; 84:11
Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay
I am Eternal
06 Mar 2019 5 Comments
in Like a Tree... Tags: eternal, live forever, Tree of Life
Like a Tree… (5)
Like the Tree of Life, I am eternal. Not I will be, but I now am. Notification of my death will include inaccurate information—I will have simply relocated to my eternal home, beside the river that flows from the throne of God, enjoying fruit from the tree of life.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (Rev. 22:1-2)
Life uninterrupted.
Health uncompromised.
Fruit unblemished.
Unity unchallenged.
Vitality unflagging.
Worship undistracted.
Me and you undying.
All because we gave our lives to God now so we will live forever with Him.
I am eternal.
Lord, thank you for the hope that is ours, the truth that is reliable, the promise that is sure, the grace that is free, and the love that is You.
Image by geralt on Pixabay.
