Holy Week

This week in Christendom allows us to reflect on the great love that God has for humanity as well as the revelation of this love through the life and death of Jesus Christ.  I know that the death of Christ on the cross was the ultimate revelation and declaration of the love of God but I also know that the Gospels of the New Testament reveal the daily release of the love of God in the lives of individuals.  Aren't you glad that God offers His love and care to us on a daily basis and he is aware of the challenges that we face on a daily basis?  We need to take the time to recognize the presence of the love of God in our daily lives and we must be prepared to release that love toward our fellow man.  As Christians we are to be an example of the life of Christ and model His love to a world full of people that have never fully accepted the revelation of that love.

The death of Christ allows us to understand that Christ was the propitiation for our sins.  The sins of mankind and the holy justice of God demanded that a payment for those sins had to be paid.  The Old Testament reveals the sacrifice of animals as a means of paying the price for the sins of mankind.  Justice demands that a payment would be required for these sins and the efforts of sinful men could not fully meet this demand.  Christ offered the payment of His life for the ransom of fallen humanity.  We must always remember that we (humanity) could not pay the price but the Son of God was more than willing to offer Himself as our sacrifice.  As we move toward Good Friday and Resurrection Celebration we must remember the purpose of our celebration.  The spirit of the culture has tried to hijack and capture this special week as it has so many of the wonderful celebrations of Christianity.  I do not want these words to appear in a legalistic manner but we need to resist the efforts of the culture and keep this week set aside as a week of deep and sincere reflection.  The times in which we are living are demanding that we have a solid foundation upon which we are building our lives.  We need to be careful and make sure that we are building our life on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ our Lord.  This week should be a week of somber and serious reflection on the great price that was paid for our spiritual freedom and release from the bondage of sin.  Walk in the strength of the love that God has for you and recognize the fact that Christ died in our place on the cross.  He paid the price of ransom that we were unable to pay.  Let us offer our praise and adoration to God for this great sacrifice on the part of Jesus Christ.