TWO BATTLES

As I was thinking and praying for my children a few days ago the thought came across my mind of how Jesus must have felt while He was preparing to die for us.  I have often wondered that if Jesus knew everything and knew how it would all turn out, why was He so fearful and in so much agony.  I know that His death on the cross was an awful event.  I know that it hurt terribly but He knew it would be over in just a matter of hours. He knew His suffering would be turned into glory and that He would not experience it any longer. 

In those last few hours, at least from what we are told in the Word, He was in anguish.  We know that he resorted to that special place where He would go to pray.  We know that He asked His friends, whom He loved and whom He knew loved Him, to pray with Him.  He tried His best to get everything arranged so that they would know what to do and how to do it when He was gone.  And yet still He stressed, and fretted and went through unbelievable torture in His mind. 

Jesus was no wimp.  He would undergo some of the worse torture that human beings could invent and do it without cursing his tormentor or saving Himself when He could. But Jesus was fighting a battle in two worlds. 

The human Jesus naturally feared the torture and humiliation and suffering that He would experience on the cross and He clawed the ground of Gethsemane because of that.  But it was the Devine Jesus who clawed the ground there outside the gates of Jerusalem and He did that for His lost children.

He knew which of them would make a choice not to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  He knew which of them would refuse to accept Him and would be eternally lost in spite of all that He could do or that He would willingly go through for them.  It was the pain that the Devine Jesus felt for the loss of His children that caused Him to sweat blood in the garden.

It would be very difficult to lose a child or a grandchild to death.  But many have gone through that, many will go through that today.  Although I pray that I will not have to lose a child or grandchild I know God will give me strength when and if the time comes.  But I cannot imagine how it would be or how I could deal with it if I were to lose one of those loved ones eternally. 

My old evangelist, pastor Paul J. Stewart made a statement that went something like this:  “When I get to heaven, and look around and my children and grandchildren are not there, God will call a mighty angle to fly back down to earth and with a fiery finger write “FAILURE” across my tombstone”.  Brother Paul Stewart felt that if his loved ones missed heaven it would be a direct reflection on him and his efforts or lack of efforts and he couldn’t stand the thought of that happening.

I don’t want to let a single chance go by, not one minute that I spend with my children or grandchildren or any of the people whose paths I cross, that I don’t do my best to interject Jesus into their lives.  If I casually let them miss heaven they will die eternally and suffer in an unimaginable place but it is I too who will be a failure. I too will suffer because of their loss. I must do anything I can to reach them.

I think that is why the loving Jesus was in so much agony in Gethsemane and on Calvary.  He came for the lost. He suffered for the lost.  He died for the lost and He knew that some would not accept Him.

Can you just slide through this day without telling someone about Him?

CHOOSE TO OBEY

The numbers on the mail box are 1219.  The sign next to the driveway says "Double Six Farms" (that's a whole other story in itself).  Derek calls it the "Ponderosa".  You will have to ask him why.  When we drive in the yard, Kinsley simply says, "We home". 

It's about the most beautiful 30 acres I've ever seen, although I might be a bit prejudice. It is bordered on the East by I-65.  On the South by the REA high tension lines and their "right-of-way".  To the West is the creek and to the North is the deadly Poplar Springs Road.  It is there where many of our pets have wondered and died.  It is there that I have warned Gracie not to go. 

She can play anywhere on theses 30 acres but she is never to go toward Poplar Springs Road.  It's not because I'm being mean.  It's not because I don't want her to enjoy herself.  It's not because I just want to be "God" and tell her what to do.  It is simply because I know that if she wonders up there it will most likely mean death for her. 

Of course Gracie doesn't understand my reasoning.  She can't comprehend cars, trucks and asphalt. She just knows that I said "No" and she will be yelled at severely if she goes in that direction. 

So, I was working on the Ranger a few weeks ago.  The started went out and I was trying to be a good mechanic and keep from having to pay someone to replace the starter.  Things were not going smoothly.  The longer I strained and grunted and smashed my knuckles the more I thought paying that money to someone who really knew what they were doing would be a wise choice. 

Gracie was playing around in the front yard when suddenly she went ballistic.  She let out a shrill yelp and headed toward the road.  I yelled at her.  She didn't stop.  There was a big white dog walking down the road and Gracie knew he was not supposed to be there.  She charged up the hill, totally ignoring my yelling for her to stop.  It made me angry.  It made me afraid of what was going to happen to her.  It made me sad that she would not obey me.

I knew what most likely awaited her on the road.  I knew she did not understand but I expected her to obey.  She didn't. 

Does this story sound familiar? 

Man was established in a fine place to live.  Everything he wanted was given to him.  Nothing was withheld, nothing that is except these "two little trees".  "Don't go there", God said." Don't eat of the fruit of those trees"

He knew it would hurt us.  He knew it was bad for us.  He knew it would lead to our spiritual death.  He wasn't being mean.  He didn't do it because He didn't want them to enjoy themselves.  He didn't even do it because He wanted to be God......heck, He was God.  He did it because it was best for them.

But one day, as God was working out in the yard, an old black snake came down the path.  Suddenly, man was overcome with the temptation of doing what he wanted to do.  He ate of the fruit and he died. 

How angry, how sad and how afraid God must have been on that day.  Death was waiting on the man he had created and that he loved and even with all His warning....man ran after the thing that would ultimately kill him.  And because He is God, and because He gave man this wonderful, frightening, powerful thing called "choice".  God didn't stop him.  And man died. 

I realized what God felt to a small extent that day a few weeks ago.  I saw the little dog that I loved and cared for charge head-long toward something that I knew would kill her and I couldn't stop her. 

No, Gracie didn't get hit.  She finally listened to my yelling and came back into the safety of the yard.  She learned a lesson...I hope.  I learned a lesson about how God felt that day in the garden. 

I hope when you are tempted to do something that God has forbidden that you will remember Gracie's little experiment.  I hope you will realize that God says "no" for our own good.  I hope you won't run into the  road of sin.  There is death there. 

Mind your Master.  He knows what's best.