Christian or not, we have all been exposed to the Cross. I was sitting out on the beach and there is this cross that’s stands in one of the dunes on Pensacola Beach. I started looking at the cross and thinking about how a cross is built. The cross is built vertical and horizontal (north and south, east and west). So, think about our relationships with our spouses, significant other, friends and family. These are horizontal relationships, people you interact with daily and go through life with. The people who are in your sphere of influence. Now think about your relationship with God. No matter where you stand on this, Jesus, God, "religion", everyone has a relationship with God. Where we are in that relationship is truly up to us. HE does not move, it is us who grow nearer or further from Him. Understanding that, think of your own relationship with God. The way you talk, pray, seek to know Him, look to Him for guidance and steps of obedience; this is your "vertical" relationship with Him. Your understanding (however that might look for you) that God is with us. Imagine for a moment that the cross on the hill is suddenly without the vertical portion. What happens to the horizontal part of the cross? It crashes to the ground, right? In John 13:33-34, Jesus gives us a new commandment and that is, “Love others the way I loved you.” When Jesus said this, he was sitting at dinner with his disciples. When we hear this verse we might think about the Cross and what Jesus did for us on the Cross, but they didn’t. They may have thought back over the last few years they followed Him and when he really showed them Love. Jesus could have called them out and said something like this” Jesus could have said to Mathew remember when I first met you? You were not liked by your community and were an embarrassment to your family, However I invited you to follow me. So Mathew extend that same grace and love to everyone you meet. As I loved you….. Nathaniel, remember when we met? Remember what you said about me? “Does anything good come from Nazareth?” You talked about me, my town, my family, and my child hood friends. But I invited you and loved you anyway. So extend that same grace and love to everyone you meet. As I loved you…. Hey you all remember that day that I gave that blood drinking, flesh eating illustration and how it offended and confused the crowd and we started to lose them? And all you yahoos were thinkning about leaving me to fend for myself. I could have left you to fend for yourselves, but I didn’t. So do unto others as I have done unto you. This is what horizontal love looks like and this is what Jesus has called us to do. When your vertical relationship (with God) is not in place or is wavering. All of your earthly relationships, whether you know it or acknowledge it, are held up or let down by the condition of your vertical relationship with God. If your relationship with God is not in the right place, all of the relationships in your life will be affected or fall. All of them. Remember what Jesus said just before He gave up His life on the cross? "It is finished." Scholars and theologians have examined and unpacked what He said in that moment for centuries, trying to understand what Jesus truly meant. Here's my two cents: the work that was finished on the cross at Calvary? It was the work of Him always being with us; when we submit to Christ as our Lord, the Holy Spirit is always in us. He dwells within us so that the vertical relationship is always secure. THAT'S the work that was finished. THAT'S the miracle of the cross. THAT'S the reason He came and the reason we can celebrate.
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A few years ago, I was not making the best choices or setting the best example. I got caught up in bodybuilding. Bodybuilding was my life and I was doing everything I could do to succeed in this. I was at the gym at 4am and then again at 6pm. It was all about me and my desires. I also got caught in things that I had no business being a part of. These things only made me think only of myself what I wanted (or thought I wanted). By doing this, I succeeded and change my body to compete and place in the bodybuilding shows. People would say to me WOW you are so dedicated, I wish I could do that. What people didn’t see is who I was letting down. Not only was I letting myself down, what I didn’t see and most importantly, I was letting my daughters down.
My daughters lost their dad. I was not in a good place and it was all about me. I was not showing them the Godly example I taught them to be for so long. What they saw was a man who put God in the corner and was only focused on himself. My daughters distanced themselves from me and I didn’t see it at first because I was only focusing on me. At that time, I was not the most loving Dad that I should have been. I was not showing them the Godly Father that God called me to be. When I put bodybuilding aside and stop the things I was doing, it was then I found myself in such a dark place. I saw how I was acting and the decisions I made were not the best examples for my daughters. It was on a Saturday that I found myself in such a dark place I just wanted God to take me home and if he didn’t I would help him. It was a place that I never want to be again in my life. It was a place only God could bring me out of. I realized that my actions were not Godly examples and I was not going to live this life knowing I was not being the example to my kids that God called me to be. So, I had to make the decision to let God bring me back to be the dad my daughters knew or continue to live in the black hole. I found myself allowing God to bring me up from this dark place to be the example I needed to be. So what kind of example are you? This brings me to Titus 2:7 “in everything set them an example by doing what is good.” What kind of example are you? Are you the kind of man or woman whose life serves as a powerful example of decency and morality? Are you a man or woman whose behavior serves as a positive role model for others? Are you the kind of person whose fidelity, and love for the lord? If so, you are not only blessed by God, you are also a powerful force for good in the world that desperately needs positive influences such as yours. Phillips brooks advised, “ be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be Gods paradise.” And that’s sound advice because our families and friends are watching…. And so, for that matter, is God. Don’t be like me and love yourself more than the things around you and almost lose things that are so close to you. I look at my daughters and think, was I that the kind of man I want them to marry or the man the God called me to be? I am not saying I’m perfect by no means and I have made a lot mistakes in my life, but the question is, what did I learn from them and now how will God use me to not only to teach my daughter but to teach others. My kids have seen a Dad that that strives for worldly things, and now I want them to see the Godly dad. The other day I was driving to work, and my windows were all fog up but I noticed something was on my window. Written on the glass said, “I Love you Dad.” My daughter must have written this on my window with her fingers while the windows were all fogged up. I saw that and laughed because I remember when my brother and I were little we would play tic-tac-toe on my parents’ windows. Then we would hear from my dad unless you boys want to clean those windows I suggest you stop writing on them. However, as I thought more about what I saw and what my brother and I would do. I asked myself this question “What are your hands leaving behind?” Like the note that was left on my window from my daughter that I would see sometime later long after she wrote it. Am I leaving a legacy that will be seen later? Either through my kids or even folks from work. Every time we touch something we are either going to leave something for good for people to see or something no so good for people to see.
It reminds me of the heart of Paul as he wrote to his friend Timothy. We know from his writings to other Churches that he was not afraid of death. In fact, he clearly stated that if he were absent from the body, he would be present with the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:3). The resurrection had defeated the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:55), and Paul couldn’t wait to meet his Savior. As Paul pondered the end of his life, he made three very simple statements about his legacy. He had “fought the good fight”—standing firm as a spiritual warrior, clothed in the armor of God, faithfully defending the truth of the gospel. He had “finished the race”—ensuring in the process that he was neither disqualified nor disheartened in the marathon of life and ministry. Most importantly, he had “kept the faith”—remaining true, committed, and loyal to the One who rescued him from sin and darkness. Notice that Paul’s brief statements here say nothing about the education he received, the places he traveled, the letters he wrote, the people he preached to, or the churches he planted. He flat out wanted his legacy to be labeled as “faithful.” I love that! It’s what I want to aspire to as a follower of Jesus. So, I have to ask myself, “If that’s the kind of legacy I want to leave, how would I pursue it today?” Well, it means that my choices need to be more about “fighting the good fight.” I need to put on the spiritual armor each morning, as Paul told the Ephesians to do, and live to be victorious in all that comes my way. I need to be running the race to win, putting off all that hinders and the sins that entangle (Hebrews 12:1). And, it means that in every situation I want my attitudes, my words, and my actions to be loyal and true to Jesus. Building a legacy worth leaving behind begins today and is made one decision at a time. |
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September 2024
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