Who Will Roll Away Your Stone?

April 3, 2010

Empty Tomb, Image Courtesy of www.HolyLandPhotos.org

Do you have stones stuck in deep ruts at the entrance of your heart—stones of fear, rebellion, despair, or discouragement? Do they loom so large, you surrender at the thought of even trying to remove them?

When Mary and the other women approached the tomb after Jesus’ death, Read more

Good or Bad Friday?

March 30, 2010

“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining” (Luke 23:44, NIV)

The name “Good Friday” seems to be a misnomer. Can anything good come from death by crucifixion? Does pain have a purpose? Early in  Jesus’ ministry, scoffers hurled their own ignorant disbeliefs: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” And even Jesus Himself, the One crucified on “Good Friday,” once said to a seeker, “Why do you call me good? No one is good–except God alone.”                             

“If God is so good,” others argue, “Why would He allow something so bad to happen to His own Son.”

Why, indeed? Maybe a one-word answer would suffice: LOVE. Good Friday is “good” because God is. And because God is love. When God allowed His own Son to die, He was thinking of you and me.

Jesus’ death was the only way to make us good enough—to join God’s forever family.

And that’s encouragement for a lifetime.