Change is Coming

Change is inevitable.

Think back to your first day of school. Can you remember the excitement? The nerves? Look how many changes have taken place in your life since that day.

Perhaps you’ve changed jobs recently or even your address. A new house can be filled with wonderful new possibilities. A fresh start.

Maybe a relationship has ended – one that was near to your heart. Or perhaps you had to let go of someone who recently passed away. That kind of change can be heart-wrenching.

But there is one change that is certainly coming. It’s on the horizon. It won’t linger much longer. It will be more lasting than changing jobs or relationships.

One day, dear soul, change is coming to your body. Not the wrinkles or the gray hair or even the weight gain that sometimes comes with age.

Your body is going to change in the blink of an eye when Jesus Christ returns, and you’re going to be lifted up to meet Him in the clouds. You’ll be with Him forever and away from the chaos, violence, and wickedness of this world.

If.

Such a powerful little word.

If you are ready. If you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior before the trumpet sounds. There are no shortcuts. There is no substitute. No other path will lead you to Heaven. No other ticket will grant you access.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9. NIV.)

You will be lifted up when Jesus returns. Rescued. Taken away and spared more turmoil and mayhem than this world has ever known.

Will you be ready when the trumpet sounds? Are you ready right now?

Any day now. Any moment, precious soul.

No one knows the day or the hour, only the Father. But the day IS coming.

Please be ready. Change is coming.

“But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die – but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes – it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal.”

(1Corinthians 15:51-54 MSG.)

At the Foot of the Cross Where My Heart Is Torn in Two

I went to the foot of the cross during a prayer meeting at church a number of years ago. I knelt there, rested my hand on the wood, and bowed my head.  I knew it wasn’t the actual cross Jesus was crucified on, but I imagined it was:

I imagined Jesus looking down at me as He suffered, His blood running down and flowing over the rough, splintered wood before reaching my fingertips. I sobbed, imagining His face swollen and beaten, His eyes mere slits. But He was able to see me as I knelt there, my heart tearing in two.  I hated the idea of His suffering and at the same time, I was so deeply thankful because I knew He was saving me in a way I never could.

As He hung there struggling to breathe, agonizing in ways I could never imagine, I wondered if my being at the foot of the cross, perhaps, brought Him a small moment of comfort. Perhaps He saw me here at this moment two thousand years later, surrendering my heart to Him, my King, the Lover of my Soul; my heart was torn in two, wide open for Him to enter in.

I gave Him then, as I do today, all of my brokenness and my torn heart because I love Him with all that I am, all that I have to give.

My God. My God.  How I adore and honor Your Son!  How I want to take Him in my arms and hold Him and take away His suffering as a mother does for her child and ease the agony of my own heart that breaks.  And yet, I know He is King and it must be this way.  I cannot rescue Him for He is the One who rescues me.

My Savior, Jesus, My King. How I worship You and honor You! I fall here at the foot of Your cross and I cry out to You with thanksgiving.  Thank You for taking the punishment that was mine.  Thank You for carrying this overwhelming burden for me.  It would have suffocated me the moment I tried to carry it.

And thank You for loving me in such a way I can’t possibly fathom but only humbly accept and cherish, treasuring it in my heart and holding it as close as my own breath.

One day, Jesus, I will run to You as I’ve imagined in my dreams, and I will throw my arms around You to thank You. Perhaps I will give You such a bear hug like I’ve never hugged anyone before.  Perhaps I will kiss Your cheek, hoping to remove the sting of betrayal from Judas, replacing it with deep adoration as joyful tears soak both of our faces.  Or perhaps I’ll collapse before You and fall apart, sobbing at Your feet because there is no way I can ever thank You or love You enough.

I imagine at that moment You’ll help me to stand and You’ll take me in your arms and hold me, letting me cry and whispering in my ear words I can’t hear or even imagine just yet. Oh, the sound of your voice so near and the warmth of your arms.  I know I will be loved more deeply than ever before, the shadow of the cross behind You and light reflecting from You as You lead me into eternity in Your arms.  Those arms that hurt for me, that hurt for all of Your children, so long ago.  You wanted to hold us, and the cross was the only way.

The cross was the only way. And so today I kneel here in my heart at the foot of the cross, tears falling freely again, as I see You there, suffering for me. I bow my head and from my torn heart I cry until it splits open even deeper, widening the depths of my heart to love You even more.

Thank you, Jesus.

“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.” (Luke 23: 44-46 NIV.)

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21 NIV.)

I originally wrote this post a few years ago. I can’t add or change anything. I still feel the exact same way – Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.

 

Be Ready

I’ve been getting ready for Christmas deliveries:  shoveling the sidewalk, pulling back the curtains so the UPS, FedEx, or USPS driver knows I’m home, getting dressed a little bit earlier so I can answer the door, checking email updates, tracking packages, etc. etc. etc.

And I’ve been watching for porch pirates. Those pesky thieves that want to steal what doesn’t belong to them.

But there is something else, something much more important you and I need to be ready for, watching and waiting with eager anticipation and really, a soul-stirring urgency:

Jesus Christ is coming soon. (Revelation 22:20.)

As we edge closer to the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth as that babe in a manger some two thousand years ago, we need to look forward to His return.

ANY. DAY. NOW.

It’s going to happen and no one can predict the day or the hour. (Matthew 24:36, Luke 12:40.)

If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Satan would love to steal the gift of your salvation through Jesus Christ by lying to you, telling you it’s not for you or you’ve sinned too much or you’re not perfect enough.

Or maybe Satan is telling you there’s time to do that later, that you’ve got time to make things right with God.

But what if you don’t have more time?

Jesus came for you. He died for you. All you have to do is accept Him and believe.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18 NIV.)

Satan wants to destroy all hope. He wants to steal the knowledge that Jesus Christ is returning to take us home, that God has not forgotten or abandoned His children. Satan tries to take all of this from us by distracting us, especially during the Christmas season.

The enemy wants to dilute our faith and focus. He wants to keep us so busy buying and shopping and planning and running around to the point of exhaustion and depression and the sense that something is just “off.” Like the nostalgia of the “good old Christmas days” is gone or has grown stale.

Perhaps what has grown stale is the reality that there is only one God and we are either choosing Him or evil chooses us by default.

You and I…we can’t stand in the middle, trying to please people and hoping to please God somehow. When we do that, we’re putting people and their opinions above God. That, my friend, is idolatry.

We either stand with God or fall with the enemy.

Are you ready, my friends?

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10: 9-10 NIV.)

(Photo from Pexels.com.)

At the Foot of the Cross Where My Heart is Torn in Two

I went to the foot of the cross during a prayer meeting at church a few years ago. I knelt there, rested my hand on the wood, and bowed my head.  I knew it wasn’t the actual cross Jesus was crucified on, but I imagined it was:

I imagined Jesus looking down at me as He suffered, His blood running down and flowing over the rough, splintered wood before reaching my fingertips. I sobbed, imagining His face swollen and beaten, His eyes mere slits. But He was able to see me as I knelt there, my heart tearing in two.  I hated the idea of His suffering and at the same time I was so deeply thankful because I knew He was saving me in a way I never could.

As He hung there struggling to breathe, agonizing in ways I could never imagine, I wondered if my being at the foot of the cross, perhaps, brought Him a small moment of comfort. Perhaps He saw me here in this moment two thousand years earlier, surrendering my heart to Him, my King, the Lover of my Soul; my heart was torn in two, wide open for Him to enter in.

I gave Him then, as I do today, all of my brokenness and my torn heart because I love Him with all that I am, all that I have to give.

My God. My God.  How I adore and honor Your Son!  How I want to take Him in my arms and hold Him and take away His suffering as a mother does for her child and ease the agony of my own heart that breaks.  And yet, I know He is King and it must be this way.  I cannot rescue Him for He is the One who rescues me.

My Savior, Jesus, My King. How I worship You and honor You! I fall here at the foot of Your cross and I cry out to You with thanksgiving.  Thank You for taking the punishment that was mine.  Thank You for carrying this overwhelming burden for me.  It would have suffocated me the moment I tried to carry it.

And thank You for loving me in such a way I can’t possibly fathom but only humbly accept and cherish, treasuring it in my heart and holding it as close as my own breath.

One day, Jesus, I will run to You as I’ve imagined in my dreams, and I will throw my arms around You to thank You. Perhaps I will give You such a bear hug like I’ve never hugged anyone before.  Perhaps I will kiss Your cheek, hoping to remove the sting of betrayal from Judas, replacing it with deep adoration as joyful tears soak both of our faces.  Or perhaps I’ll collapse before You and fall apart, sobbing at Your feet because there is no way I can ever thank You or love You enough.

I imagine in that moment You’ll help me to stand and You’ll take me in your arms and hold me, letting me cry and whispering in my ear words I can’t hear or even imagine just yet. Oh, the sound of your voice so near and the warmth of your arms.  I know I will be loved more deeply than ever before, the shadow of the cross behind You and light reflecting from You as You lead me into eternity in Your arms.  Those arms that hurt for me, that hurt for all of Your children, so long ago.  You wanted to hold us, and the cross was the only way.

The cross was the only way. And so today I kneel here in my heart at the foot of the cross, tears falling freely again, as I see You there, suffering for me. I bow my head and from my torn heart I cry until it splits open even deeper, widening the depths of my heart to love You even more.

Thank you, Jesus.

“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.” (Luke 23: 44-46 NIV.)

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21 NIV.)