Solomon tells us that “a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing” (Proverbs 17:22, AMP ). God undoubtedly has a sense of humor; we need only look at some of the animals He created (it’s hard not to smile at the sight of a hippo, a monkey, or a puppy). Or think of some of the married couples you know: don’t you think God was smiling at the wedding as He looked ahead to the interaction of the wildly different personalities that will be living together?Posts Tagged ‘Lent-and-Easter-Wisdom’
Easter: all things new
On this holy day…a new people is born with whom God has sealed an eternal covenant in the blood of the Word made flesh, crucified and risen. (Pope John Paul II)
Through the cross, we have “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), an awesome fact that I often forget. Consider:
- Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)…
the meaning of the cross
As we approach Easter, I’ve been thinking about what the cross represents. Several weeks ago, I ran across a t-shirt that said, “If your son was killed with a gun, would you wear one around your neck?” It’s a fair question: why do Christians wear crosses, hang crosses and crucifixes in their houses of worship, decorate their houses with them?…
just a spectator?
Speaking of the Passion, Pope John Paul says, “Today we are contemporaries of the Lord, and, like the multitude in Jerusalem, like the disciples and the women, we are called to decide if we are to be with him, or flee, or just be spectators at his death.”
It’s easy to think of these choices in terms of salvation…
do I want to be free?
In typical fashion, the Holy Spirit pointed me toward another thought on freedom, following right on the heels of what I read yesterday in L’Engle’s Bright Evening Star. The meditation for today in Lent and Easter Wisdom is titled “Freed by the Truth of Christ.” John Paul takes John 8:32 as his starting point: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The Pope says,…
Ash Wednesday
Growing up in the Church of Christ, Easter was nothing more than an opportunity for candy and perhaps some new clothes. We took communion every Sunday and talked about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ regularly, so Easter was not treated as different from any other Sunday of the year…
Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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