The Cross of Good Friday

The Cross is probably one of the most readily recognized symbols. Yet for many people it is so familiar that it has lost the ability to connect people with the emotional event that changed history.
Two thousand years ago,  the cross was the torture instrument that killed the Son of God who came to earth to reveal God's love for mankind.

I think of that day.  I think of what it must have been like for the people who witnessed it.  For those who loved Jesus, His family, His followers, it must have been agony to watch - what thoughts, emotions whirled over and over in their bewildered minds and hearts. 

But then there were also the chief priests, the scribes, the elders who watched with cold hearts and mocking voices.  It is hard to imagine how these religious leaders could be so hard, so cruel that they  could take pleasure in the suffering of Jesus.  Finally, they had won - Jesus would trouble them no more!
They said mockingly, "If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe Him."    Will those words come back to haunt them on judgment day?  Jesus DID come down from the cross and LIVED .... but did they believe?   No.

There were those who simply walked by, with only a turn of the head to look upon the one suffering on the cross and blasphemed Him, mocking that Jesus had said He would destroy the temple and build it up in three days !  How ridiculous...

I look at the Roman centurion who stood and watched and was so moved he cried out ...  "Truly this was the Son of God!"    I wonder,  when Jesus rose from the dead did this centurion seek out the disciples of Jesus and became a believer ?  I like to think that he did.

We are once again remembering Good Friday - believers and non-believers are reminded of that historical day.
 Everyone has a response ...
-- a shrugging of the shoulders and dismissing it as something irrelevant to them
--  a passing  regret that a good man was condemned to a torturous death
--  a thankfulness for a holiday from work
--  a mocking that people have lifted this Man up to be God - and created a religion around Him
--  a tug at their heart and a wondering thought  -  could this be the Son of God? What does it mean?
--  a humble recognition and deep thankfulness and profound gratitude that this One on the cross came from heaven - God in human flesh -  to suffer for mankind, to offer to every man the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

What will be your response ? 
Do you hear Jesus ask, as you lift your eyes to His cross .....

"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?  

Behold and see ..."  

Lam. 1:12

Combing your Feathers?

Recently we came upon this beautiful heron posed on a branch of a tree beside the road.  He remained long enough for my husband to capture some excellent photos.
In downloading the images I realized I didn't know much about the Blue Heron and did a bit of research.

Once again what I learned reminded me that no matter where we look we are confronted with the unmistakable fingerprint of God's  goodness, wisdom and creativity in nature.
To Him be all the praise and glory !

The Blue Heron is well equipped to take care of its grooming needs to stay looking photo-perfect!  Feathers need to be put into place and carefully groomed and cleaned. 
But how ?

He comes equipped with his very own comb and cleaning powder.

The Blue Heron has what is called Pectinate Toes. The center toe on each leg is longer than the other two toes and has along the side ridges that function like our toothed combs.
This 'comb' is perfect for arranging and preening his feathers, but simply preening is not enough.
The Blue Heron's love of fishing has the consequence of his feather getting rather grimy and he needs a way to clean them.

Falling  over across his chest the Heron has feathers that are uniquely different from his other feathers.   The feathers on his chest  grow continually and fragment - becoming almost like 'hair' , and they act like a 'washcloth' to clean his toes and also produce a cleansing and protective powder for his grimy feathers. 

A quote from the Cornell Lab of Omithology says .. "Great Blue Herons have specialized feathers on their chest that continually grow and fray. The herons comb this 'powder down' with a fringed claw their middle toes, using the down like a washcloth to remove fish slime and other oils from their feathers as they preen. Applying this powder to their underparts protects their feathers against the slime and oils of swamps."  

Isn't that amazing?
If God has so uniquely provided for the needs of the Blue Heron, how much more will He provide for our every need !

Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

 Note that God does not meet our needs according to what we see around us, or what the world could possibly provide for us   -   no, God provides out of His riches in glory !!

  I don't think His bank account is ever in need of funds , do you ? 

Israel and the Olive Tree

When God inspired men to write down His words in what we call the Bible there is never a word wasted, never a word untrue, never anything scientifically in error, never anything fictitious.
I continually learn new details about something I did not know before that reveals yet  again God's infinite wisdom and attention to detail.
Recently, I learned some very interesting facts about the farming of olive trees in Bible times that support  Paul's analogy using the olive tree to illustrate the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles as God's people. 
This analogy is found in Romans 11:2-25.

The following characteristics of the Olive tree make this passage deepen in meaning and enlighten our understanding in its application.

1.  An olive tree can lose its fruitfulness and become unhealthy. 
A farmer watched carefully over the health of his olive trees , to maintain their ability to yield a good  crop of olives.
So also God watched Israel blessing them, caring for them, wooing them to Himself  but they became wayward and rebellious ... finally, He declared them hopelessly 'unfruitful' .. He says .. "All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people." (Rom. 10:21) 

2. Save the tree, don't destroy it ! 
A farmer with limited time and space was not willing to just cut down the unproductive olive tree. He desired to save it .
So also God, was not willing to totally reject Israel and start over ..  In Rom. 11:1 Paul declares .. "Has God cast away His people?  Certainly NOT !"

3. Grafting restores the life of the tree . 
The olive tree farmer knew he could bring back the health of a suffering olive tree by grafting in branches from the wild olive tree.   NOTE - The olive tree is the only plant where the wild is grafted into the cultured - in every other plant grafting it is always the other way around, the cultured grafted into the wild. 
Paul's analogy could  fall apart except for this unique fact about the olive tree.   The cultured tree was Israel, the chosen people of God, 'cultured' in God's vineyard.  But in God's plan the Gentiles - the wild olive tree - would be grafted into the cultured olive tree of Israel - so God created the olive tree with this unique characteristic. His foreknew how important this little detail would be to Paul's analogy. 
The work of grafting involved the farmer cutting off some of the branches of the cultured olive tree. He would then cut branches off the wild olive tree and graft them onto the cultured tree where the branches had been cut off the cultured tree. 

4.   Keep the cut off branches. 
When the farmer cut off the cultured branches he would lay them down at the bottom of the tree. 
  For three and a half years the cultured olive tree would force its sap up into the newly grafted in wild olive tree branches...  Then, after that time, he would bore holes into the grafted branches and graft back in the 'dead' olive tree branches that had been lying on the ground for 3 1/2 years.   These branches came back to life and become 'jealous' fighting for their share of the sap.
 The now healthy tree brings forth an abundance of fruit ! 

Isn't that the neatest picture of what Paul talks about ?  How the 'fall' (to the ground)  of the original olive tree branches  is not meant as their rejection ...but that these 'dead' branches will again be grafted in and come back to life. 
Paul even refers to the horticultural fact that these grafted back in branches will be provoked to jealousy, recognizing what they have lost and desire to once again to become fruitful in God's kingdom. 

The careful 'grafting' produced  a 'healthy tree'  of both Jew and Gentile. bringing the two into one so that "all Israel will be saved".  The olive tree (Israel) restored to health and life by the grafting in of the wild olive branches (Gentiles) fulfilling God's plan  that the ONE people of God  would "preach the everlasting gospel to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe , tongue, and people !"  (Rev. 14:6) 

Love DOES Make the World Go Round !

I was to give a short devotional talk at our Special Events morning - a love themed Non-Birthday party - and as I was considering what to say  the Lord dropped the above visual into my mind.  

February is the 'love' month -- and we are all familiar with the saying "Love makes the world go round"   and we smile.  But it is literally true !  

Our God IS love, and in His love He spun the earth on its axis when He created our universe.

When my granddaughter was four years old, she was one of the youngest in her kindergarten class.  Even at that young age , friends were her goal .. the more the merrier ! 

There was a girl named Sherry in her class and this girl for some reason rejected my granddaughter from her 'inner circle'.   It hurt my granddaughter's feelings but she was determined to win this girl over.   Every time I saw her she would tell me about Sherry and how she needed to be her friend, but Sherry would not play with her. 
She would phone me and say , "Nanna, we have to pray for Sherry..." 
She would spend time and care to draw her a special picture.  Or she would offer Sherry the treat in her lunch....  She even asked her Mom if she could buy Sherry a gift and in the store she ever so carefully examined everything to find just the right thing --  but over and over her gestures were turned away..  She tried everything her little self could think of and she became more and more troubled and burdened for this girl .
One day I was at her house and she again talked about Sherry and then asked ... "What is that called when someone, someone ... is ...  "and she fumbled for the right word.   I tried to help... " when someone is sad?   depressed?   upset?"  "no ... no ...  when someone has a broken .. " 
"Oh .. "I said , "you mean a broken spirit?"   I knew she was too young to know what that was, but she grabbed onto it and declared .. "Yes, that is what it is, Sherry has a broken spirit!  We have to pray for her broken spirit , Nanna."
She never gave up but at the end of the school year, nothing had changed. My grandmother heart ached for my little granddaughter because I saw how much pain it caused her to not be able to win this girl for her friend.
My granddaughter is now half-way through a 5 year program to become a Music Therapist. She will be reaching out to the disabled, the handicapped , the challenged and yes, those who have broken spirits.

I have often thought about how deeply my granddaughter felt the pain caused by the rejection of her  offers of friendship and I can not help but think it is a picture of how God feels when He is pushed aside by His children.
We easily repeat John 3:16 and think about God seeking to save the lost ... and of course He does - He does not want anyone to perish.   But ,  I think His deepest pain is when it is His own children that He cannot reach.
God longs for His children to spend time with Him... but too often we are too busy.

We live in a hectic, busy society where there are more distractions for our attention and time than ever before  and many days we focus on just getting through everything that crowds onto our to-do list!

 But think of a specially busy day where it seems what can go wrong does go wrong .. and then in the middle of that day, the phone rings and its someone with an emergency who needs your help.  Would you not drop everything and rush out to help?
Someone has wisely said that we always have time for the most important thing.
What if we made spending time with the Lord so important that everything else could be dropped or put on hold? 
George Muller discovered a secret ...  He said the more he had to do in a day, the more time he had to  spent in prayer just so he could get it all done!

If I am making you feel guilty,  that is not my intent.   I want to melt your heart to respond to the longing of our Lord's heart to spend time with His children.

I love the story of the prodigal son.   When he had been away from his Father and then finally decided to come home, he was ready to grovel in guilt at his father's feet... but what did the Father do?   He brushed his guilt aside and declared .. "I'm just so happy you are here!"

I found this beautiful poem online that so describes God's love for us... His children.

God’s love for me,

is unfathomable . . .

for, His love for me

is immeasurable.

 His love rises,

higher than the sky

it goes further than . . .

any space shuttle can fly.

God’s  love for me

is unbelievable . . .

for, His love for me

is undeniable.

His love goes deeper,

than the ocean’s floor

it goes further than . . .

any miner can dig for ore.

God’s love for me

is unexplainable . . .

for, His love for me

is unconceivable.

His love is wider,

than the whole universe

it goes further than . . .

any light the stars can disperse.

There’s nothing about me,

that is lovable . . .

yet, God’s love for me

is unstoppable!

Copyright 2018
Deborah Ann Belka