Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Now is the time.... To Give Him Honour


….. give honour to the Lord for his glory and strength. Give honour to the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness. Psalm 29:1-2


I can hardly believe it, but here in Australia Easter eggs and hot cross buns have been in the stores since the beginning of the year. To ask why is unnecessary. Sadly we realise that it’s all about merchandising and nothing about Jesus Christ, the Lord and giver of new life.

We are now in what the church calendar calls Holy Week, the time when we should be remembering the passionate love God has for us in this world, and the lengths to which he went, to restore us to relationship with him. Jesus came for the express purpose of becoming the sacrifice for our sins. To do that he had to identify with humanity through his birth and life for 33 short years and finally die for no other reason than to take our sins upon himself. During that time he fulfilled all that the Father had purposed for him.

During the last week of his life he set his face to Jerusalem knowing what lay before him, yet steadfastly moving toward his divine destiny; knowing the agony of suffering that was before him, yet never wavering. They arrested him, they tried him, they lied about him, they whipped him and ridiculed him. Finally they crucified him. I have just read a doctor’s description of crucifixion and I cried as I remembered again that he did this for me……..and for you. What LOVE is this? “Amazing love how can it be, that you my God should die for me?”

Let us think on what he has done, let us allow the awfulness of his pain and suffering touch our hearts, because only as we do, do we really realise how awesome is his love for us and much we have to be thankful for. On Easter Sunday we can say “He is risen” and be thankful that he conquered death and the grave but this week, I think we need to remember just what it cost him to do that.

Let’s give him honour for his glory that he left when he came to earth for a time, let’s give him honour for the strength that he showed in the face of a punishment that belonged not to him, but to us. Let’s give him honour for his name is glorious in all the earth, his name is higher than any other, he is Lord of lords and King of kings and he, Jesus, is holy and worthy of our honour, our thanks and our praise.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of glory, I give you praise and I honour you today for you are great and your love is amazing. Thank you for your life, given for me. Help me to honour you in my life in everything I say and do. Amen

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