Relationship -- Father & Son

Today is Good Friday -- the day Christ gave up His life. Too often we consider His sacrifice lightly. We fail to contemplate and pray about what our Lord did for us. Good Friday is a day of deep sorrow and hope renewed. What happened on that day is so big that we mere humans can't fully comprehend its divergent offering to the world -- a covenant between God and man, fulfilled. The lamb of God sacrificed. Heaven accessible for all who accept God's offering of His Son.

If not for Christ's willingness to fulfill His Father's promise to us we would be locked away in our sin for all eternity. And just because Jesus is the God/man what He faced was not easy. The night before His arrest, Jesus agonized over what was to come. He knew what lay before Him and though He asked God if there were another way, He submitted to His Father's will and lay his life down, trusting God and obeying Him.

This was the greatest sorrow the world would ever know, yet Jesus offered Himself to His Father and to us. It was more than suffering and death, it was the acceptance of all mankind's sins, laid upon Him while at the same moment separation from His Father God, something that had never happened before nor since.

Jesus trusted His Father. We can trust Christ. He gave all a man can give--his life.

Easter is coming, a day to herald Christ's resurrection, but before you celebrate, take time to contemplate the reason, the sacrifice made and the inheritance offered. And honor our Lord. The gift is free to us, but it came at a great price to the Lord.

There is no greater love than to give up one's life for a brother.

Thank you, Jesus.

Grace and peace to you from God,

Bonnie

Quiet Moments With God: Submit?

How many of you like the word SUBMIT? Come on, be honest. I admit right here in front of God and everyone -- I don't like it. I understand its importance. And even when I'm living a submissive life, rebellion niggles at me.

Why? I'm always asking why. When I was a child, I'm sure I drove my parents mad with all of my "why" questions.

God is good and He understands my need to know why. I can count on Him. He always answers me. Just this week, during Bible Study the topic of submission came up. God's way of addressing my "why" question? Possibly. :-)

The world has distorted the meaning of the word SUBMIT. The enemy is at the core of this distortion. He tosses lies at us and in the barrage we must know the truth if we're to recognize the lie. Like many others I've accepted distortions, including this one.

During our study time on Tuesday I was reminded that throughout his life Christ submitted to The Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before His arrest, Christ set before us a perfect and exquisite picture of true submission. He fell to the ground and prayed, "Abba Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Christ knew what awaited Him at the hands of those who hated Him. He understood not just the physical torture he would endure, but the spiritual weight of the world's sin that would be placed upon Him as well the separation between Him and His Father that must occur. He and the Father are one. How excruciating that one and only time of separation must have been. Yet, Jesus said yes to all that was required of Him. He submitted to His Father's will.

SUBMIT is a word of excellence. God's divine imprint. Christ submitted to His Father, the Holy Spirit submitted to the Father and the Son. The Church honors and submits to its leaders. A wife submits to her husband (who is to love her as Christ loved the church), and children submit to their parents. We submit to the authorities. God's imprint is everywhere.

What happens when we refuse to submit? The world tells us that life is all "about me". Me. Me. Me. Take a look around. How do you think that's working out?

God's divine imprint is all about relationship. The kind of relationships that honor God, family, friends and leaders. Submission brings order and peace. And our Father is the God Head whom we submit our lives.

Honor Him. You'll like it. I promise.

Grace and peace to you from God.

Bonnie

Quiet Moments With God--Colliding Rivers

When reading through scripture it’s not okay to skip over the difficult verses. Today, I read from Ephesians 5:22, which says, Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

My guess is that this verse has raised more than a few disputes in churches and households across our nation. I’ve struggled to understand just what God is saying to me as a wife.

My personality is not conducive to submission. My sister Myrn once compared me to one of two rivers that run through our community. The first is a small river called Little River and the other, the North Umpqua, is large and powerful. The two collide, meeting head on at a place we call Colliding Rivers. It’s an unusual phenomenon. In my discussion with my sister, she said, “Bonnie, you are like the Umpqua and I’m like Little River.” I was floored by her statement, mostly because I didn’t view our relationship that way or see her as “a little river".

If I'm going to be honest with myself, then I must agree with my sister's perspective of my personality. I tend to be strong-minded, which can be a good thing, but sometimes not so good.

So . . . when the Lord says I’m to submit to my husband, Greg, it’s like fingernails on a chalk board. Why should I be the one to submit?

Read on to verse 25. It says, Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Hmm. That sounds sacrificial. After all, Christ gave his life for the church.

I’ve been given a husband who is to love me unconditionally and sacrificially. Greg doesn’t get it right all the time, but he tries. He’s loved me when I haven’t deserved it and he's given much of himself to me in our thirty-six years of marriage. Why then, does it rankle me to submit to that kind of love?

The answer is easy; because I make it about me.

My husband and I are both imperfect. We struggle and sometimes just like the two rivers in our community we bump heads. More often than not we mesh and continue downriver working together in harmony, being a team just as God intended. And sometimes when we get it really right we become refreshment to those around us, just like the cool waters of the river that flows into the valley.

God is wise and His plans are admirable and reasonable. If we would only listen and obey we might be surprised at the beauty that can be created between two people, neither of which is better than the other, but who are linked by honor and love and submission to each other.

When we truly love another it always comes back to bless us. So, may you love well and be blessed.


Grace and peace to you from God.

Bonnie