Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her[.]

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her[.] Ephesians 5:25

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. While Holy Week and Easter have passed, I do want to read to completion John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #35: To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning.  In today's devotion, Piper describes how Christ's death should be seen as model for marriage, reflecting His design for marriage that "preceded the union of Adam and Eve and the coming of Christ."  See also Ephesians 5:31-32 (quoting Genesis 2:24). At the outset of the devotion, Piper shares that "God's design for marriage in the Bible pictures the husband loving his wife the way Christ loves his people, and the wife responding to her husband the way Christ’s people should respond to him."  Christ's death on the cross reflects a love that husbands should have for their wives.  Piper immediately clarifies that it's "not that husbands should suffer at the hands of their wives."  The point is that God wants marriage to reflect Christ's love for His people, and to make this love more "visible to the world."  Piper continues: "[a]ll [Christ's] sufferings were meant to be a message especially to husbands: This is how every husband should love his wife."  Piper then elaborates as he concludes the devotion: "[h]usbands are not Christ. But they are called to be like him. And the specific point of likeness is the husband’s readiness to suffer for his wife’s good without threatening or abusing her. This includes suffering to protect her from any outside forces that would harm her, as well as suffering disappointments or abuses even from her." 

My Prayer: Thank You Father God for the blessing of my marriage to Lisa! I am not deserving of such a blessing...my sin continues...daily.  I am often not the husband You design me to be.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from such sin towards You.  Help me be the husband You designed me to be and command me to be.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #34: To Enable Us to Live by Faith in Him.  In today's devotion, Piper starts by unpacking what he describes as a "paradox" in Galatians 2:20 that is not at the same time a "contradiction."  Paul writes in this verse how he died with Christ but he now lives.  For believers this is known as being born again or for theologians such as RC Sproul regeneration.  See also 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 2:5-6 where Paul describes this death and rebirth. Our "old self" dies and we put on our "new self" and this new self is made progressively more like Jesus through sanctification by the Holy Spirit.  Piper expands on this new self by pointing us to Galatians 2:20 and then sharing how this verse "describes the new self in two ways" first as Christ living in us providing His "presence and help at all times." See also Philippians 4:13, Colossians 1:29, and Romans 15:18. The second way believers are new selves is how we live by faith (per Galatians 2:20) "trusting Christ moment by moment."  Both ways we are these new selves go hand in hand per Piper as he states that "[w]ithout this second description of the new self, we might wonder what our part is in experiencing Christ’s daily help. Now we have the answer: faith. From the divine side, Christ is living in us and enabling us to live the way he teaches us to live. It’s his work. But from our side, it’s experienced by trusting him moment by moment to be with us and to help us. The proof that he will be with us and will help us do this is the fact that he suffered and died to make it happen."  Thank You Jesus for my salvation so that I could die to my old self and put on my new self - and that You are with me to bring about this transformation!

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My Prayer: Father God You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and passion for me, making me new and being with me at all times to help me become more like You.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of my salvation nor any of the blessings You pour out for me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose you as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

P.S.  Happy Easter!  All Glory to God!

...[F]ar be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

 Galatians 6:14

...[F]ar be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #33: To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting.  In today's devotion, Piper unpacks Galatians 6:14, Piper by sharing that, while the Bible shares that believers are only to boast in the cross, and this for some may seem "over the top" to non-believers.  Yet this is indeed what the Bible says, not just in Galatians 6:14, but also in Romans 5:2, 3, 2 Corinthians 12:9, and 1 Thessalonians 2:19.  While these verses seem to describe boasting about things, they all point to honoring the cross.  Piper then connects the dots for us as he shares that "every good thing—indeed, even every bad thing that God turns for good—was obtained for us by the cross of Christ. Apart from faith in Christ, sinners get only judgment. Yes, there are many pleasant things that come to unbelievers.  But the Bible teaches that even these natural blessings of life will only increase the severity of God’s judgment in the end, if they are not received with thanks on the basis of Christ’s sufferings."  We are referred to Romans 2:4-5.  Piper then goes on to share that "everything that we enjoy, as people who trust Christ, is owing to his death. His suffering absorbed all the judgment that guilty sinners deserved and purchased all the good that forgiven sinners enjoy. Therefore all our boasting in these things should be a boasting in the cross of Christ."  Piper encourages all believers to be "radically cross-focused."  We do this by recognizing that when we truly trust in Christ, our old self is dead and we are born again and we belong to Christ.  We also recognize that all of our enjoyment is sourced by God and we seek what God seeks because we love Him and therefore love to please Him.  See yesterday's post.  Piper concludes by sharing that "every legitimate pleasure in the world becomes a blood-bought evidence of Christ’s love and an occasion of boasting in the cross."  Trust in Jesus and experience everlasting joy in Jesus as he becomes "the ground of all our boasting."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and mercy for me.  Thank You Father God - Jesus - You are deserving of all my boasting.  I am not deserving of the grace You pour out for me...which of course started on the cross and continues though today and ultimately to Heaven where You are saving a place for me.  Thank You for these gifts for which I am undeserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

...[H]e died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

 2 Corinthians 5:15

...[H]e died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:15

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #32: To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves.  In today's devotion, Piper unpacks a truth that he says troubles some - that "Christ died to exalt himself."  Some may view this as vanity but Piper dispels this thought.  To unpack this truth, the devotion first shares that "[t]he very essence of sin is that we have failed to glorify God—which includes failing to glorify his Son (Romans 3:23). But Christ died to bear that sin and to free us from it. So he died to bear the dishonor that we had heaped on him by our sin. He died to turn this around. Christ died for the glory of Christ."  The devotion then continues by sharing that Christ's death on the cross should be viewed as "the supreme act of love."  As such, it is both an act to exalt Himself and to show His love for this He seeks to save.  Piper then shares: "Christ is unique. No one else can act this way and call it love. Christ is the only human in the universe who is also God and therefore infinitely valuable. He is infinitely beautiful in all his moral perfections. He is infinitely wise and just and good and strong....To see him and know him is more satisfying than having all that earth can offer."  See also Hebrews 1:3.  Paul describes this in Philippians 3:7-8.  When scripture states that "we might live for Him," Piper emphasizes that God does not need our help - see Acts 17:25 and Mark 10:45 - "[w]hat Christ died for is not that we might help him, but that we might see and savor him as infinitely valuable. He died to wean us from poisonous pleasures and enthrall us with the pleasures of his beauty. In this way we are loved, and he is honored. These are not competing aims. They are one." The devotion concludes by pointing us to John 16:7, 14 and John 17:24, which describe how (1) Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help believers glorify Him, and the Holy Spirit is the "greatest help in the world" and another act of love and (2) how Christ's love for us is so great for us that He prayed that those who have faith in Him would join Him in Heaven.  Rejoice in Him who loves us so much that He died for us and gave us help to glorify Him (we exist to glorify Him) and to give us "everlasting enjoyment."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an incredible God that gives us Your Son and the Holy Spirit so that we can enjoy You now as infinitely valuable and for eternity with You.  Incredible - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of my salvation nor the blessings You provide for such everlasting enjoyment.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.    

...[Y]ou also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Romans 7:4

 ...[Y]ou also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. Romans 7:4

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #31: So That We Would Die to the Law and Bear Fruit for God.  In today's devotion, Piper  describes how not only did believers' old way of life die on the cross with Christ (see yesterday's devotion), but so did the law of God.  To unpack this claim, Piper first refers us to Romans 4:15 and 3:19 where the text shares that if there is "no law there is no transgression," but in the Old Testament there was law and this law demanded accountability from God.  Piper then points us to Galatians 3:13 where the text describes how Christ became a "curse for us" to free us from "the curse of the law." Piper summarizes this and its implications: "[t]herefore, God’s law cannot condemn us if we are in Christ. Its power to rule us is doubly broken. On the one hand, the law’s demands have been fulfilled by Christ on our behalf.  His perfect law-keeping is credited to our account....On the other hand, the law’s penalty has been paid by the blood of Christ."  Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16, and Romans 3:28 are then provided in the devotion to emphasize that believers' justification by God and reconciliation with God is not based on works - it is by faith in Christ alone.  Piper continues by first highlighting how believers belong to God vs the law (see Romans 7:12), then by rhetorically asking how we please God if we are "dead to his law and it is no longer our master?"  He answers his own question by stating that unlike the OT law that was primarily written "outside" and in stone (ten commandments), believers in Christ have the Holy Spirit within them.  Piper shares: "now righteousness rises within us as a longing in our relationship with Christ. He is present and real. By his Spirit he helps us in our weakness. A living person has replaced a lethal list."  See also 2 Corinthians 3:6-7.  Piper concludes the devotion by leading us to an important implication of no longer belonging to the law as we are referred to Romans 7:4 where the text says that believers died to the law so that we can "bear fruit for God."  Rejoice in no longer belonging to the law and how Christ and the Holy Spirit are within us to please and glorify Him - this is why we exist!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and mercy for me - freeing me from the law so that I could belong to You, You can live in my heart, and You can help me please You - and I know this is why exist - to bring You glory.  Thank You Jesus for saving me and for all of the blessings associated with this salvation.  I am not deserving of my salvation and these blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. 1 Peter 2:24a

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #30: That We Might Die to Sin and Live to Righteousness.  In this devotion, Piper describes how Christ's death on the cross means that not only does Christ die but those who put their faith in Him as Savior also die - Piper then clarifies how this means that believers' old way of life is put to death and we are given new life - reborn.  See also Romans 6:5, 2 Corinthians 5:14, and Galatians 2:20.  Piper continues by sharing how baptism is a portrait of this death and rebirth of our new selves - see also Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12.  Piper summarizes this for us: "[t]herefore, becoming a Christian means death to sin. The old self that loved sin died with Jesus. Sin is like a prostitute that no longer looks beautiful. She is the murderer of my King and myself. Therefore, the believer is dead to sin, no longer dominated by her attractions. Sin, the prostitute who killed my friend, has no appeal. She has become an enemy."  As believers "put on our new selves" (see Ephesians 4:24), submit to Christ, and His desires become our desires (sanctification), we "live to righteousness."  Piper concludes the devotion by referring us to Romans 6:13 where believers are commanded to become "instruments for righteousness."  Rejoice in Him who died for us, taking our sin and old sinful way of life on the cross with Him so that through sanctification we could become more like him and "instruments for righteousness."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves me, and who took my old sinful way of life to the cross, giving me new life.  Thank You Father God.  I am not deserving of such a gift and the many blessings You pour out for me.  My sin continues and it is daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever....Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Revelation 1:5-6 and Hebrews 13:12

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever....Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Revelation 1:5-6, Hebrews 13:12

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #29: To Free Us from the Slavery of Sin.  Here, John Piper describes, as the title of today's devotion aptly and explicitly shares, how Christ's death on the cross frees us from enslavement to sin.  Of course we must first recognize that all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that no one can claim to be without sin (1 John 1:8).  Piper opens the devotion by stating that sin "ruins us" by rightly condemning us as "guilty before God," and it "disfigure[s] the image of God we [as humans] were meant to display," leaving us "enslaved to lovelessness."  The devotion continues stating that Jesus "frees us from both miseries." The doctrine of justification addresses the first misery, then the doctrine of sanctification progressively frees us from our sin - addressing the second misery.  Piper emphasizes how one cannot simply imitate Christ and through one's own power free oneself from sin.  We must first be justified then sanctified. The sanctification process then works through the Holy Spirit as "the decisive power" that is active and working in this process - see also Romans 6:14 where Paul shares how believers are under grace, and Piper describes this grace as "secure[ing] the omnipotent power of God to destroy our lovelessness (not all at once, but progressively)."  Piper concludes the devotion by referring us to 1 Corinthians 15:10 where Paul testifies how the grace of God or the Holy Spirit worked in Him. Repent, believe in Him and experience the power of Christ to be free from the power of sin!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of amazing grace that works in me to free from the enslavement of sin and from lovelessness.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from such sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.