1 John 3:19-24

Have guilty feelings created a wall that prevents you from receiving God’s unconditional love? Perhaps you still haven’t accepted His forgiveness for something you’ve done in the past. Until you do, you will continue to deprive yourself of the divine love He wants you to experience.

Or maybe the problem is that you carry around a false sense of guilt–you don’t know why you feel ashamed, but you do. The Holy Spirit clearly convicts us of sin so we can repent and be free. But a pervasive, vague sense of guilt with no specific cause comes from the Devil. Ask God to cleanse you of it. Jesus died for you so that you could be free!

Another source of guilt is legalistic teaching. Many people have been taught a distorted version of the gospel and think, I’ll never measure up. That’s the kind of message the religious leaders of Jesus’ time communicated: Unless you do this, God won’t accept you; if you do that, you’ll go to hell. Pharisaical living involves trying to earn the Lord’s acceptance through your own power–righteous deed by righteous deed. Since no one can please Him this way, attempting to do so leads to bondage. Jesus came to liberate us from this slavery. It’s time to let His grace and love cleanse you from any shame weighing you down.

The Bible says that when you are set free by Christ, your freedom is complete (John 8:36). Reject Satan’s lie that you are separated from the liberty found in Jesus’ love. Then ask the Lord to help you walk in the truth. You can again experience the joy of unhindered fellowship with your Savior

In churches all over the world this Sunday, children will march among the aisles with palm branches, a commemoration of the first jubilant Palm Sunday. The palm branch is a symbol of triumph, waved in ancient times to welcome royalty and extol the victorious. Palms were also used to cover the paths of those worthy of honor and distinction. All four of the gospel writers report that Jesus was given such a tribute. Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a colt, and he was greeted as King. The crowds laid branches and garments on the streets in front of him. An audience of applauders led him into the city and followed after him with chants of blessing and shouts of kingship.

Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
The King of Israel!

Hosanna in the highest!

The triumph of Palm Sunday is not lost on the young. Long before I could see it’s strange place in the passion narrative, I loved celebrating this story as a child. It was a day in church set apart from others. In a place where we were commonly asked to sit still, we suddenly had permission to cheer and march and draw attention.

But like many stories in childhood that grow complicated as the chapters continue, Palm Sunday is far more than a triumphant recollection of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem.  The convicting irony of the holiday Christians celebrate strikes with each cheer of victory, for we reenact a scene that dramatically changed in a matter of days. In less time than it takes to plan a king’s coronation, cheers of “Hosanna!” became shouts of crucifixion. The honor that was extended with palms and praises was taken back shortly after it was placed before him. The troubling reality to the triumph of Palm Sunday is that we now know the defeat of the cross is yet to come.

But it is also more than this. With Palm Sunday comes the arrival of holy week in all its darkness, in all its blinding mystery. Would I have been with the marching crowd that cheered him as king only to cheer again as he was marched to Golgotha? What I long to imagine was a fickle crowd—an illustration of the power of “mobthink,” or a sign of a hard-hearted people—only reminds me of my own vacillations with the Son of God. How easily our declarations that he is Lord become denials of his existence with the turn of mood or fortune. How readily hands waving in praise and celebration become fists raised at the heavens in pain or hardship. Like a palm laid down and taken back again, honor bestowed on Sunday can easily be abandoned by Wednesday.

Such are the thoughts my adult mind carries through the story in which I once took only delight. With palms in our hands, we carry the burden of awareness that Jesus himself carried through that first crowd. Though we might suspect or even recognize a Messianic figure before us, we will turn from him. Though we might labor to follow his ways, we will fall short and take back whatever intentions we once laid at his feet. Riding through the streets of Jerusalem, Jesus knew then what he knows now: This honor will be abandoned, the praises will cease, and these branches will be trampled to dust. The cross will still come.

How fitting, then, that in many churches the remains of Palm Sunday literally become the ashes of Ash Wednesday. The palms are burned and the ashes collected. Then on Ash Wednesday services the following year, the ashes are used to mark foreheads with the sign of the cross, the reminder of our humanity, the beginning of another journey toward the mysterious gift of the cross.

This week Christians invite the world to remember the one who comes into the midst of a fickle humanity—duplicity, defeat, violence, injustice, pain, and all. He comes near to good and bad intentions, near the ashes of what was meant to be honor, and the ruins of attempts on our own. Despite oscillating thoughts, despite sin we cannot leave, he invites us into a different story of defeat. The Son has made his triumphal entry. He comes to bring us to the cross, to the one sacrifice that takes away the world’s pain.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Morning    “With his stripes we are healed.”

Isaiah 53:5

Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a

most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and

sharp bones were inter-twisted every here and there among the sinews; so that

every time the lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration,

and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the

column, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this of the Roman

lictors was probably the most severe of his flagellations. My soul, stand here

and weep over his poor stricken body.

Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon him without tears, as he stands before you

the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence, and

red as the rose with the crimson of his own blood. As we feel the sure and

blessed healing which his stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart melt at

once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must

feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.

“See how the patient Jesus stands,

Insulted in his lowest case!

Sinners have bound the Almighty’s hands,

And spit in their Creator’s face.

With thorns his temples gor’d and gash’d

Send streams of blood from every part;

His back’s with knotted scourges lash’d.

But sharper scourges tear his heart.”

We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our business calls us away,

we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of his bleeding self upon the

tablets of our hearts all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune

with him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost him so dear.

Evening    “And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the

rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven,

and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts

of the field by night.”

2 Samuel 21:10

If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful

vigil for so long a period, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our

blessed Lord? She drove away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our

meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and

the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave

ye the sacrifice alone! She bore the heats of summer, the night dews and the

rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart

was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus

endure, and shall we start at the first little inconvenience or

trial? Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She

chased away even the wild beasts, with courage unusual in her sex, and will not

we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus’ sake? These her children were

slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept and watched: what ought we to

do who have by our sins crucified our Lord? Our obligations are boundless, our

love should be fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should

be our business, to protect his honour our occupation, to abide by his cross our

solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have affrighted Rizpah, especially by

night, but in our Lord, at whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is

nothing revolting, but everything attractive. Never was living beauty so

enchanting as a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with thee yet awhile, and do

thou graciously unveil thyself to us; then shall we not sit beneath sackcloth,

but in a royal pavilion.

Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!

Lamentations 3:40

The wife who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return; a long protracted separation from him is a semi-death to her spirit. And so it is with souls who love the Savior much; they need to see His face; they cannot bear that He should be away, thus depriving them of communion with Him. A reproaching glance, an uplifted finger will be grievous to loving children who fear to offend their tender father and are only happy in his smile.

Beloved, it was so once this way with you. A text of Scripture, a threatening, a touch of the rod of affliction, and you went to your Father’s feet, crying, “Let me know why you contend against me.” Is that still the case? Or are you content to follow Jesus from a distance? Can you contemplate broken communion with Christ without being alarmed? Can you bear to have your Beloved walking contrary to you, because you walk contrary to Him? Have your sins separated between you and your God, and is your heart at rest?

Let me affectionately warn you, for it is a grievous thing when we can live contentedly without the present enjoyment of the Savior’s face. Let us work to feel what an evil thing this is–little love to our own dying Savior, little joy in His company, little time with the Beloved! Hold a true Lent in your souls, while you sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow! Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the cross. There, and there only, can you get your spirit quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have become, let us go again in all the rags and poverty and defilement of our natural condition. Let us clasp that cross, let us look into those languid eyes, let us bathe in that fountain filled with blood–this will bring back to us our first love; this will restore the simplicity of our faith and the tenderness of our heart.

The family reading plan for March 30, 2012

Proverbs 17 | Philippians 4

Psalm 25:12

What makes a person acceptable to God? The path to redemption begins not with the decision to live a better life or to stop doing something wrong, but with the realization that we cannot correct our sinful nature. To find favor with the Lord, we must grasp that it’s impossible to make ourselves righteous; instead, we need to depend on the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. When we trust in Christ as our Savior, God the Father applies the benefit of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice to our sin debt, thereby making us “saved,” or acceptable in His eyes.

Your good works and righteous acts are of absolutely no value in the mind of God. Compared to others’ actions, your generosity and good works might seem like enough to bring favor with the Lord, but Jesus said, “Not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:9). When you stand before God, the only way you can be forgiven of your sins is through Jesus Christ and His sacrificial, substitutionary atoning death at Calvary. Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Jesus’ public crucifixion was a demonstration of God’s hatred for sin and immense love for mankind. He who was blameless bore the penalty for all in order that wicked, corrupt people could be made righteous.

No matter what you’ve done, you can be cleansed of the stain left by sin. Confess any known transgressions and turn from them; then Jesus will forgive you and write your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life (1 John 1:9; Rev. 21:27). By trusting in Him, you are assured of eternity in His presence

A common claim made by many atheists is that religion causes evil, suffering, division and war. For example, at the Munk Debate in Toronto last November, Christopher Hitchens argued this very point against Tony Blair. Religion, Hitchens claimed, causes sectarianism, division, strife, disagreement, war, poverty and a host of societal evils. In his best-selling book, God is Not Great, Hitchens even wrote that “religion poisons everything.”

How might a Christian respond? Well, first, I’d point out there’s a major problem with Hitchens’ argument. You could remove the word “religion” from his statement “religion poisons everything” and replace it with many other words. Politics, for example. Politics causes division, bloodshed, argument, and war. Politics poisons everything. Or what about money? Money causes crime, resentment, bloodshed, division and poverty. Money poisons everything.

You see the problem is that atheists like Christopher Hitchens have built their worldview on the idea that human beings are essentially good and that the world is getting better—a kind of naïve utopianism. But the world isn’t like that, is it? Rather, it seems to be the case that whatever human beings lay hold off, they use to cause damage. That applies to money, politics, government, science—and religion. The problem is not with religion or politics, the problem is not out there somewhere, the problem lies in here, in the human heart.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian novelist and political commentator, who survived the Russian gulags and wrote with amazing insight into the human condition, once famously said this: “The dividing line between good and evil runs right through the middle of every human heart.” What the world needs, as an answer to violence and injustice, poverty and pain, is not a clever philosophy, not a religious system, not a new politic, not more money, more education—none of these will fundamentally change anything. Rather, it needs individual transformation, a radical transformation of the human heart. Only Jesus Christ offers that possibility if we are willing to surrender our lives to him.

I often find it interesting to point out to my atheist friends that Jesus himself was also anti-religion. He regularly clashed with the religious leaders of his day because he saw empty religion as powerless, damaging, and enslaving. Ultimately that stance led to his crucifixion. And Christians, of course, cannot talk about suffering and evil, pain, and violence, without talking about the example of Jesus, one to whom violence was done. His example has inspired millions if not billions of Christians to give sacrificially, to love their neighbors, to engage in peace making. One of the most powerful recent examples was the Amish School Shooting in 2006. Not only did the families of the victims publically forgive the perpetrator and offer pastoral support to his family, they set up a trust fund to help the wife of the shooter, who had killed himself too. Only Jesus Christ offers the transformative power that makes that kind of choice possible.

Andy Bannister is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Toronto, Canada.

Morning     “He was numbered with the transgressors.”

Isaiah 53:12

Why did Jesus suffer himself to be enrolled amongst sinners? This wonderful

condescension was justified by many powerful reasons. In such a character he

could the better become their advocate. In some trials there is an

identification of the counsellor with the client, nor can they be looked upon in

the eye of the law as apart from one another. Now, when the sinner is brought to

the bar, Jesus appears there himself. He stands to answer the accusation. He

points to his side, his hands, his feet, and challenges Justice to bring

anything against the sinners whom he represents; he pleads his blood, and pleads

so triumphantly, being numbered with them and having a part with them, that the

Judge   proclaims, “Let them go their way; deliver them from going down into the pit,

for he hath found a ransom.” Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors

in order that they might feel their hearts drawn towards him. Who can be afraid

of one who is written in the same list with us? Surely we may come boldly to

him, and confess our guilt. He who is numbered with us cannot condemn us. Was he

not put down in the transgressor’s list that we might be written in the red roll

of the saints? He was holy, and written among the holy; we were guilty, and

numbered among the guilty; he transfers his name from yonder list to this black

indictment, and our names are taken from the indictment and

written in the roll of acceptance, for there is a complete transfer made

between Jesus and his people. All our estate of misery and sin Jesus has taken;

and all that Jesus has comes to us. His righteousness, his blood, and everything

that he hath he gives us as our dowry. Rejoice, believer, in your union to him

who was numbered among the transgressors; and prove that you are truly saved by

being manifestly numbered with those who are new creatures in him.

Evening     “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.”

Lamentations 3:40

The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return; a long

protracted separation from her lord is a semi-death to her spirit: and so with

souls who love the Saviour much, they must see his face, they cannot bear that

he should be away upon the mountains of Bether, and no more hold communion with

them. A reproaching glance, an uplifted finger will be grievous to loving

children, who fear to offend their tender father, and are only happy in his

smile. Beloved, it was so once with you. A text of Scripture, a threatening, a

touch of the rod of affliction, and you went to your Father’s feet, crying,

“Show me wherefore thou contendest with me?” Is it so now? Are you content to

follow Jesus afar off? Can you contemplate suspended communion with Christ

without alarm? Can you bear to have your Beloved walking contrary to you,

because you walk contrary to him? Have your sins separated between you and your

God, and is your heart at rest? O let me affectionately warn you, for it is a

grievous thing when we can live contentedly without the present enjoyment of the

Saviour’s face. Let us labour to feel what an evil thing this is–little love to

our own dying Saviour, little joy in our precious Jesus, little fellowship with

the Beloved! Hold a true Lent in your souls, while you sorrow over your hardness

of heart. Do not stop at sorrow! Remember where you first received

salvation. Go at once to the cross. There, and there only, can you get your

spirit quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have

become, let us go again in all the rags and poverty, and defilement of our

natural condition. Let us clasp that cross, let us look into those languid eyes,

let us bathe in that fountain filled with blood–this will bring back to us our

first love; this will restore the simplicity of our faith, and the tenderness of

our heart.

I called him, but he gave no answer.     Song of Songs 5:6

Prayer sometimes lingers, like a petitioner at the gate, until the King comes with the blessings that she seeks. The Lord, when He has given great faith, has been known to test it by long delays. He has allowed His servants’ voices to echo in their ears as if the heavens were brass. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable, as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, “You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.”3

In this manner true saints have continued to wait patiently without a reply, not because their prayers were not strong, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it so pleased Him who is a Sovereign and who gives according to His own pleasure. If it pleases Him to test our patience, shall He not do as He wishes with His children? Beggars must not be choosers either as to time, place, or form.

But we must be careful not to take delays in prayer for denials. God’s postdated checks will be punctually honored; we must not allow Satan to shake our confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers. Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a file for our prayers–they are not blown away by the wind; they are treasured in the King’s archives. This is a registry in the court of heaven in which every prayer is recorded.

Struggling believer, your Lord has as it were a tear-bottle in which the costly drops of your sacred grief are put away, and a book in which your holy groanings are numbered. By-and-by your case shall prevail. Can you not be content to wait a little? Will the Lord’s time not be better than yours? By-and-by He will comfortably appear, to your soul’s joy, and will cause you to put away the sackcloth and ashes of long waiting and put on the scarlet and fine linen of full fruition.

3 Lamentations 3:44

The family reading plan for March 29, 2012

Proverbs 16 | Philippians 3

Romans 3:20-26

As Christians, we know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But why did He have to endure such an awful death? Couldn’t He have redeemed humanity in some easier way?

To answer this question, we must first consider the righteousness of God. Because He is holy, no one has ever seen Him and lived. Our sinful nature cannot exist in the presence of pure holiness. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and we know that “the wages of sin is death” (6:23). This reality leaves us in a lost condition, eternally separated from God.

When sin entered the world, Adam and Eve fell into a state of mortality. Their transgressions created a barrier between them and the Lord, with the result that mankind became depraved, rebellious, and a natural enemy of God. Our sinful nature couldn’t redeem itself; rather, it had to be redeemed by something greater and purer. A sacrifice was required–one that was spotless and without blemish.

Because our heavenly Father created us for Himself–to bring Him glory and to spend eternity with Him (1 Tim. 2:4)–He provided the only offering powerful enough to reverse the effects of sin and restore us to our original purpose.

When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price for all sin, beginning with Adam and spanning the ages. His awesome love and mercy applies to you as well (Eph. 1:5-6). He sealed you with the Holy Spirit (4:30), and you are forever His child, saved by grace for all eternity

“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” This thought is often given as rationale for casting any type of public moralizing aside. Evidently, we cannot completely shake off our bequest from a Christian worldview. Ironically, this moral conviction is often given with the reminder that all morality is a private matter and not for public enforcement. But if all moral convictions are a private matter, why is this very conviction itself not kept private too? Why is it publicly enjoined?

When I ask citers of this verse if they are aware of the context in which these words were uttered, it is often unknown. One said it had to do with the woman in adultery.  I asked if he was aware of what prompted that imperative and to whom Jesus aimed those words. There was silence. Significantly, the entire confrontation came about because the Pharisees were seeking to trap Jesus into either explicitly defending the Law of Moses or implicitly overruling it. The whole scenario was a ploy, not to seek out the truth of a moral law, but to trap Jesus.

Fascinatingly, Jesus exposed their own spiritual bankruptcy by showing them that at the heart of law is God’s very character. There is a spiritual essence that precedes moral injunctions. So when we vociferously demand that only the one without sin may cast the first stone we also need to grant credence to God’s character in numerous other pronouncements. But for some, sin is not even a viable category. This selective use of Scripture is the very game the questioners of Jesus were playing. When the law is quoted while the reality of sin is denied, self-aggrandizing motives can override character. Thus, in our spiritually amputated world, the art of obscuring truth has become a

Herein lies what I believe the crucial death of our character. There is no transcendent context within which to discuss moral theory. Just as words in order to have meaning must point beyond themselves to a commonly understood real existence, so also, must the reality point beyond itself to commonly accepted essence. Otherwise, reality has no moral quotient and moral meaning dissolves into the subjective, rendering it beyond debate. Only the transcendent can unchangingly provide fixed moral worth.

But this death of the transcendent comes with a two-edged sword, both for the skeptic and the Christian alike. Yes, the law has moral value, but not as a means for shrewd lawyers to play deadly word games, minimize immorality, and kill the truth. At the same time the law has spiritual value so that we do not destroy the truly repentant individual. The grace of God abounds to the worst in our midst. Hidden in the odious nature of our failures is the scandalous secret of God’s forgiveness. When the prodigal returned, the anger he faced was not the father’s but the older son’s who failed to understand how marvelous was the grace of his father. Throughout history, God’s way of dealing with the reckless has disclosed how dramatic are God’s ways. We must allow for such possibilities. “My son was dead, but is now alive.” Death lay in the wanderings of the passions and the seriousness of wrongdoing. Life was spelled in true repentance to return and “sin no more.” But let us take note. Forgiveness is offered in full recognition of the heinousness of what is being forgiven.

On the contrary, when words, consequences, and transcendent contexts have died, a pigsty awaits. Only if we remember our Father’s address can we know where to return for forgiveness and love. But if we insist upon arguing as quick-witted political power-mongers or legal wordsmiths with no spiritual context, we may kill both law and love. This, I am afraid, is the abyss over which we often hover.

Yet I am confident that as precipitous as the edge seems, God has always been in the business of rescue. The truth is that as human beings we all fall short. Our only hope is in God’s ways, through which forgiveness and responsibility come in balance. There is indeed another bridge, one on which a body was broken so that a path was made that we might cross over and live. In that cross lie both judgment and mercy. The Judge of all the earth cannot be fooled by shades of meaning, nor was Christ obliterated by the shadows of death.

God is our help and our hope in ages past and years to come.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Morning    “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”

Hebrews 5:8

We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through

suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who are far from being perfect, must

not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head be

crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon the

dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of his own blood to win the

crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in silver slippers? No, our Master’s

experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of

God must not, would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very comforting

thought in the fact of Christ’s “being made perfect through

suffering”–it is, that he can have complete sympathy with us. “He is not an

high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” In this

sympathy of Christ we find a sustaining power. One of the early martyrs said, “I

can bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and he suffers in me now; he sympathizes

with me, and this makes me strong.” Believer, lay hold of this thought in all

times of agony. Let the thought of Jesus strengthen you as you follow in his

steps. Find a sweet support in his sympathy; and remember that, to suffer is an

honourable thing–to suffer for Christ is glory. The apostles rejoiced that they

were counted worthy to do this. Just so far as the Lord shall

give us grace to suffer for Christ, to suffer with Christ, just so far does he

honour us. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the

kings whom God hath anointed are their troubles, their sorrows, and their

griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being honoured. Let us not turn aside from

being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us up. “If we suffer, we shall

also reign with him.”

Evening    “I called him, but he gave me no answer.”

Song of Solomon 5:6

Prayer sometimes tarrieth, like a petitioner at the gate, until the King cometh

forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which she seeketh. The Lord, when he

hath given great faith, has been known to try it by long delayings. He has

suffered his servants’ voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They

have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable, as though it

were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, “Thou hast covered

thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.” Thus have true

saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not because their

prayers were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it

so pleased him who is a Sovereign, and who gives according to his own pleasure.

If it pleases him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall he not do as he

wills with his own! Beggars must not be choosers either as to time, place, or

form. But we must be careful not to take delays in prayer for denials: God’s

long-dated bills will be punctually honoured; we must not suffer Satan to shake

our confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers.

Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a file for our prayers–they are

not blown away by the wind, they are treasured in the King’s archives. This is a

registry in the court of heaven wherein every prayer is recorded.

Tried believer, thy Lord hath a tear-bottle in which the costly drops of sacred

grief are put away, and a book in which thy holy groanings are numbered. By and

by, thy suit shall prevail. Canst thou not be content to wait a little? Will not

thy Lord’s time be better than thy time? By and by he will comfortably appear,

to thy soul’s joy, and make thee put away the sackcloth and ashes of long

waiting, and put on the scarlet and fine linen of full fruition.

As a pleasing aroma I will accept you.    Ezekiel 20:41

The merits of our great Redeemer are as a pleasing aroma to the Most High. Whether we speak of the active or passive righteousness of Christ, there is an equal fragrance. There was a pleasing aroma in His active life by which He honored the law of God and made every precept to glitter like a precious jewel in the pure setting of His own person.

Such, too, was His passive obedience, when He endured with unmurmuring submission hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at the end sweat as it were great drops of blood in Gethsemane. He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked out the hair and was fastened to the cruel wood, that He might suffer the wrath of God in our behalf. These two things are sweet before the Most High; and for the sake of His doing and His dying, His substitutionary sufferings and His vicarious obedience, the Lord our God accepts us.

What a preciousness there must be in Him to overcome our lack of preciousness! What a pleasing aroma to put away our nasty odor! What a cleansing power in His blood to take away sin such as ours! And what glory in His righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved!

Consider, believer, how sure and unchanging is our acceptance, since it is in Him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but when you have received His merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Despite all your doubts and fears and sins, Jehovah’s gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though He sees sin in you, in yourself, yet when He looks at you through Christ, He sees no sin. You are always accepted in Christ, are always blessed and dear to the Father’s heart. Therefore lift up a song, and as you see the smoking incense of the Savior’s merit coming up this evening before the sapphire throne, let the incense of your praise go up also.

The family reading plan for March 28, 2012

Proverbs 15 | Philippians 2

James 1:17-27

If you want to genuinely grow in spiritual maturity, it is not enough to simply be instructed by the Word of God. You may love going to church or listening to Christian radio programs. You might talk about everything you hear and assume you’re growing because your knowledge is increasing. However, if you don’t actually grow closer to God by allowing His Word to change you from the inside out, your head will merely continue to fill with information. You might even sound like a godly person who is admired for the ability to quote chapter and verse. But if you don’t take the next step and allow God to touch others’ lives through you, you’re missing the point.

Spiritual growth is the result of practicing the truth you receive from God. He wants you to give away what He gives you–that is, by loving and serving others and sharing the truth of the gospel. Our example is Jesus, who said that He did not come to be served, but to serve even the lowest outcasts in His society (Matt. 20:28). He could have exalted Himself and spent all His time preaching and teaching. Instead, Jesus did only the Father’s will, which was to reveal His heart of love to a broken world. The Lord sacrificially involved Himself in people’s lives, and He calls us to follow in His footsteps.

God’s plan is to reach the world through you. If that weren’t the case, He would have taken you to heaven as soon as you were saved. But you are here for a purpose–to live out Christ’s life alongside hurting people who desperately need to experience His love

Several years ago, I drove across the country with my brother. He was moving, and I flew out to help him drive back east after living several years in the Pacific Northwest. We decided to take our time in order to meander down the West Coast. The beauty of the coastal lands of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California has to be seen to be believed. Lush greens from the grasses and towering trees spill over into the gorgeous blues of the Pacific Ocean. On most days, as well, a canopy of cornflower blue-sky sheltered us.

What a contrast awaited us when we turned our car towards the Southeast and came to Death Valley in the Mojave Desert. The lush greens of the coastlands were now shades of brown and tan. What green was there consisted of the sparse Joshua trees and cacti. As far as the eye could see an ocean of sand, dust, and tumbleweeds stretched on and on. Yet, as day gave way to night and we continued to drive through this desert sea, lights began to appear in the distance. A city was ahead—a city that was built in the middle of the desert.

Here, in this desiccated land, developers envisioned the oasis that has become modern-day Las Vegas. And even though the city is synonymous with gambling, ever-expanding development has turned it into playground for adults akin to Disneyland. The city has become a mecca for fine dining, great entertainment, and deluxe hotels. Regardless of how one feels about Las Vegas, when one compares the surrounding desert landscape with this vibrant city, the creative imaginations that envisioned it never fail to amaze.

How could anyone have envisioned a thriving city in the desert? How is it that a lush oasis was imagined when the only landscape was a sea of brown desolation? I asked myself both these questions as my brother and I approached the city lights—and as we left it—back into the vast spaces of emptiness in the desert.

In the ministry of Jesus, those who sought to follow him as disciples, curious onlookers, or hesitating skeptics were invited see the world in a whole new manner. Just as the first developers of the city of Las Vegas saw possibility beyond a desert land, so Jesus encouraged those around him to see their world differently, and to envision the kingdom of God breaking in around them in creative and imaginative ways. He often concluded his teaching stories with the exhortation, “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear…” which is simply another way of inviting his listeners to new understanding. He invites those with eyes to see, to see beyond simple presentation to potentiality.

But the realm into which Jesus extended an invitation to enter was a topsy-turvy world by the standards of what was expected—both of the Messiah and of his kingdom. Those who awaited the Messiah narrowly envisioned a political and military leader who would expel the Roman government and reestablish the nation of Israel. They expected a Messiah who would clear their land of sinners, of the immoral, and of all those who were seen to upset the social order.

Jesus would shatter all of these expectations and in so doing highlight a lack of theological imagination. This is illustrated in the Passion narratives of Mark’s gospel where Jesus tells his followers that he will be crucified.(1) After the disciple Peter’s bold statement,  “You are the Messiah,” Jesus issues an exhortation not to tell anyone who he is. He then tells his followers that the Messiah would suffer and die. Peter began to rebuke Jesus. His protestation is perfectly warranted given his vision of Messianic identity and function. But, Jesus turns and rebukes him—even calling him by the name “Satan” because he opposes this new Messianic vision.

Later on, even after telling his followers that he would be tortured and killed, James and John come to him asking to sit on his right and left hand in his Messianic kingdom. Jesus upends their expectations of glory by telling them that “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

It is easy to see how the first followers of Jesus couldn’t envision anything different than the world they knew, that familiar terrain around them that only seemed to offer one possibility. The cultivation of imagination and vision seems as much a discipline as it is part and parcel of a creative spirit. All too often, the same narrow vision overtakes us. Instead of seeing a vibrant city or oasis, we see only sand and dust. We quench the imagination of what could be because we inhabit a world that seduces us toward a tunnel-vision that only sees the realm of our own needs and interests.

Yet, how does a person envision lush possibilities in the midst of life’s vast desert experiences? Upon hearing that their friend, their mentor, and the one they believed to be the Messiah would be crucified, how could anyone following Jesus have foreseen the resurrection? Indeed, like the disciples, one might start out to see a world of opportunity, but the circumstances of life often conspire to hinder vision and crush imagination.

Still, just like those who envisioned a thriving city in a landscape of dusty sand, we are encouraged to take another look—to look long and hard at the desert landscape of our lives—and to imagine new life. Whether we are active followers of Jesus or seekers after him, his life and ministry invite us to expand our vision for what could be, to create oases in the desert, and to enter into the challenging new reality he offers.

Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.

(1) See Mark 8:31-35; 9:30-37; 10:32-45

Morning   “The love of Christ which passeth knowledge.”

Ephesians 3:19

The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its greatness, its

faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension. Where shall language be found

which shall describe his matchless, his unparalleled love towards the children

of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water,

and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface,

while depths immeasurable lie beneath. Well might the poet say,

“O love, thou fathomless abyss!”

for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless; none can attain

unto it. Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must

understand his previous glory in its height of majesty, and his incarnation upon

the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ?

When he was enthroned in the highest heavens he was very God of very God; by him

were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld

the spheres; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded him;

the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the

foot of his throne: he reigned supreme above all his creatures, God over

all, blessed forever. Who can tell his height of glory then? And who, on the

other hand, can tell how low he descended? To be a man was something, to be a

man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for

him who was the Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony–to endure a

death of shame and desertion by his Father, this is a depth of condescending

love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom. Herein is love!

and truly it is love that “passeth knowledge.” O let this love fill our hearts

with adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical manifestations of its power.

Evening   “I will accept you with your sweet savour.”

Ezekiel 20:41

The merits of our great Redeemer are as sweet savour to the Most High. Whether

we speak of the active or passive righteousness of Christ, there is an equal

fragrance. There was a sweet savour in his active life by which he honoured the

law of God, and made every precept to glitter like a precious jewel in the pure

setting of his own person. Such, too, was his passive obedience, when he endured

with unmurmuring submission, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at

length sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane, gave his back to the smiters,

and his cheeks to them that plucked out the hair, and was fastened to the cruel

wood, that he might suffer the wrath of God in our behalf. These two

things are sweet before the Most High; and for the sake of his doing and his

dying, his substitutionary sufferings and his vicarious obedience, the Lord our

God accepts us. What a preciousness must there be in him to overcome our want of

preciousness! What a sweet savour to put away our ill savour! What a cleansing

power in his blood to take away sin such as ours! and what glory in his

righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved!

Mark, believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance, since it is in

him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be

accepted without Christ; but, when you have received his merit, you

cannot be unaccepted. Notwithstanding all your doubts, and fears, and sins,

Jehovah’s gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though he sees sin in you,

in yourself, yet when he looks at you through Christ, he sees no sin. You are

always accepted in Christ, are always blessed and dear to the Father’s heart.

Therefore lift up a song, and as you see the smoking incense of the merit of the

Saviour coming up, this evening, before the sapphire throne, let the incense of

your praise go up also.

She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’

Matthew 15:27

This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking great thoughts of Christ.

The Master had talked about the children’s bread. “Now,” she argued, “since You are the Master of the table of grace, I know that You are a generous housekeeper, and there is sure to be plenty of bread on Your table. There will be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs to throw on the floor for the dogs, and the children will fare none the worse because the dogs are fed.” She thought Him one who kept so fine a table that all that she needed would only be a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her, but she had such a high esteem of Christ that she said, “It is nothing to Him; it is but a crumb for Christ to give.”

This is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will guide you into the haven of peace. “My sins are many, but oh, it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down as a giant’s foot would crush a worm, but it is no more than a grain of dust to Him, because He has already borne its curse in His own body on the tree. It will be only a small thing for Him to give me full remission, although it will be an infinite blessing for me to receive it.” The woman opens her needy soul very wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and He fills it with His love.

Dear reader, do the same. She won the victory by believing in Him. Her case is an instance of prevailing faith; and if we would conquer like her, we must imitate her tactics.

The family reading plan for March 27, 2012

Proverbs 14 | Philippians 1

1 Corinthians 13:11-13

Most people long to be understood. We may have many acquaintances, but we all have a deep need to feel truly known by those we love most. This is because we were created in God’s image–He also desires to be intimately understood and loved by us.

Just as you don’t want to be known for only the superficial details of who you appear to be, it’s not enough to know about the Lord. He wants us to learn how He thinks and feels, what’s important to Him, and what His purposes are. Of course, it’s impossible for man to completely know the mind of the Creator of the universe. In Isaiah 55:9, He tells us, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” The depth and breadth of His mind is so great we will never be able to fully grasp it in this lifetime.

However, we can better understand God’s heart and character by seeking Him and learning day by day from His Word. If we genuinely desire to walk in His ways, we must first genuinely know Him. We come to know our friends better by sharing more experiences together. Similarly, we will also understand God better the longer we walk with Him and meditate on what He has revealed about Himself in the Bible.

God wants you to seek Him with all your heart, and He promises that when you do, you will find Him (Jer. 29:13). So, the next time you’re feeling a need to be better understood, turn to the One who understands you perfectly. Even more importantly, ask Him to help you know Him better

The passion narrative of John, the writer’s witness to the events leading up to the cross, often seems like something of a game of push and shove. The push and pull of an honor and shame culture, where all behavior and interaction either furthers one’s vital position of shame or honor in society, is unquestionably at work here, both in the various characters and stories Jesus tells and in the minds of the audience John is addressing. John offers repeated scenes in his narrative that comparably seem to suggest the coming reversal of honor and shame, with Jesus hinting among the poor and the powerful that power may not be all they believe it to be. Yet Jesus himself is still clearly shamed, and shamed profoundly. Shame in such a culture included public rejection, abandonment, humiliation, and victimization—all of which factor heavily in the passion narrative. Shaming also occurs when blood is intentionally spilled, when one is beaten, especially in public, with there bring no higher shame than being killed, and the shame of death on a Roman cross the vilest of all. All of this is the passion. While there are undoubtedly scenes where Jesus seems to take himself out of these systems of honor and shame, suggesting a different system entirely, he is just as often, and profoundly so, on the losing end when the theme is in play. In something of a parabolic push and shove of words, there always seems much going on under the surface of John’s passion narrative:

“Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. And Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!'”

Here, I also think the theme of insider and outsider is a thrust for John and his intended audience, where insight of kingship (revealed in various levels of clarity and ambiguity) portrays one further in or outside of the kingdom. John is intent throughout his gospel on the revelation of Jesus as king, clearly a title and position of honor. But it is also true that throughout his gospel this kingship is understood by some and completely missed by others, at times in the same instance. Kingship is seen ironically in thorned crowns and purple robes and paradoxically in lowly but good shepherds. Even the phrase “King of the Jews” in the passion narrative itself is an example of how the same title can be used both with the thrust of honor and glory for some and the intent of shame and ridicule for others; with both an eschatological vision and with a vision clouded by human jockeying for power and position—simultaneously. Behind this common usage is the reality that there are all around Jesus those who see like the blind man in John 9 and those who do not see like the chief priests and Roman authorities, those who either do not know or falsely think they know.(1) Thus to outsiders, Jesus’s blood is spilled, and in his death there is neither hope of retribution for this shamed one nor satisfaction. But to those who see Jesus’s hour now at hand, blood is spilled as the good shepherd who has just laid down his life for his friends.

In the vile shame of death on a cross rests a peculiar beauty, an invitation even within our dismissals. Here is your King.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

  (1) Cf. John 3:8; 8:14; 9:29 and John 6:41-42; 7:27-28.

Morning    “Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.”

Matthew 26:56

He never deserted them, but they in cowardly fear of their lives, fled from him

in the very beginning of his sufferings. This is but one instructive instance of

the frailty of all believers if left to themselves; they are but sheep at the

best, and they flee when the wolf cometh. They had all been warned of the

danger, and had promised to die rather than leave their Master; and yet they

were seized with sudden panic, and took to their heels. It may be, that I, at

the opening of this day, have braced up my mind to bear a trial for the Lord’s

sake, and I imagine myself to be certain to exhibit perfect fidelity; but let me

be very jealous of myself, lest having the same evil heart of unbelief,

I should depart from my Lord as the apostles did. It is one thing to promise,

and quite another to perform. It would have been to their eternal honour to have

stood at Jesus’ side right manfully; they fled from honour; may I be kept from

imitating them! Where else could they have been so safe as near their Master,

who could presently call for twelve legions of angels? They fled from their true

safety. O God, let me not play the fool also. Divine grace can make the coward

brave. The smoking flax can flame forth like fire on the altar when the Lord

wills it. These very apostles who were timid as hares, grew to be bold as lions

after the Spirit had descended upon them, and even so the Holy

Spirit can make my recreant spirit brave to confess my Lord and witness for his

truth.

What anguish must have filled the Saviour as he saw his friends so faithless!

This was one bitter ingredient in his cup; but that cup is drained dry; let me

not put another drop in it. If I forsake my Lord, I shall crucify him afresh,

and put him to an open shame. Keep me, O blessed Spirit, from an end so

shameful.

Evening    “And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their

masters’ table.”

Matthew 15:27

This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking great thoughts of Christ.

The Master had talked about the children’s bread: “Now,” argued she, “since thou

art the Master of the table of grace, I know that thou art a generous

housekeeper, and there is sure to be abundance of bread on thy table; there will

be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs to throw on the

floor for the dogs, and the children will fare none the worse because the dogs

are fed.” She thought him one who kept so good a table that all that she needed

would only be a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have

the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her,

but she had such a high esteem of Christ, that she said, “It is nothing to him,

it is but a crumb for Christ to give.” This is the royal road to comfort. Great

thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of

Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace. “My sins are many, but oh! it is

nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down

as a giant’s foot would crush a worm, but it is no more than a grain of dust to

him, because he has already borne its curse in his own body on the tree. It will

be but a small thing for him to give me full remission, although it will be an

infinite blessing for me to receive it.” The woman opens her

soul’s mouth very wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and he fills it with

his love. Dear reader, do the same. She confessed what Christ laid at her door,

but she laid fast hold upon him, and drew arguments even out of his hard words;

she believed great things of him, and she thus overcame him. She won the victory

by believing in Him. Her case is an instance of prevailing faith; and if we

would conquer like her, we must imitate her tactics.

. . . When he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels.

Mark 8:38

If we have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we shall also share with Him the luster that surrounds Him when He appears again in glory. Are you in communion with Christ Jesus? Does a vital union bind you to Him? Then you are today with Him in His shame; you have taken up His cross and have gone with Him outside the camp bearing His reproach; you will doubtless be with Him when the cross is exchanged for the crown.

But examine yourself this evening; for if you are not with Him in regeneration, you will not be with Him when He comes in His glory. If you run from the dark side of fellowship, you will not understand its bright, happy chapter when the King comes with all His holy angels.

What! Are angels with Him? And yet He did not take up angels–He took up the seed of Abraham. Are the holy angels with Him? Come, my soul; if you are indeed His own beloved, you cannot be far from Him. If His friends and His neighbors are called together to see His glory, shall you be distant? Though it be a day of judgment, yet you cannot be far from that heart that, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted you into union with Himself. Has He not said to you, O my soul, “I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy”? Has He not declared us to be in union with Him? If the angels, who are but friends and neighbors, shall be with Him, it is abundantly certain that His own beloved in whom is all His delight shall be near to Him and sit at His right hand. Here is a morning star of hope for you, of such exceeding brilliance that it may well light up your darkest and most desolate experience.

The family reading plan for March 26, 2012

Proverbs 13 | Ephesians 6