Good morning:
Last Thursday six people lost their lives in a bridge collapse in Florida. Sudden tragedies like that remind us of how fragile life is and how quickly our time on earth can end. For a certain police officer that lesson was especially personal. She explained in an interview that she was driving toward the bridge, but had to stop for a red light. If the light had been green, she would likely have been crushed beneath the bridge. “It’s only by the grace of God that I’m alive,” she told a reporter.
Have you considered during this Lenten season how personal Jesus’ suffering and death is to you? It is not just a moment in history 2,000 years ago. We along with all mankind were heading toward certain eternal death because of sin. If Jesus had not intervened, we would have been crushed under the enormous weight of our guilt. When we hear of what Jesus endured—the mocking and sham trial, being spit on, whipped until his back was torn and bleeding, and finally the agonizing hours nailed to the cross and being forsaken by His heavenly Father—all that is what we would have suffered if Jesus had not become our brother, substitute, and Savior.
Tomorrow’s sermon text (Hebrews 5:7-9) takes us back to the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus’ prayers and tears the night before His crucifixion. As we hear and meditate upon what Jesus bore for us, may we realize how personal it is for each one of us. In humble praise may we say, “It’s only by the grace of God that I’m alive in Christ!”
Yours in Jesus,
Pastor
