Invited

By Cheri Cowell –

Twenty-four hour news coverage is wonderful when something big is happening and we need to know what’s going on, but sometimes it can be so intrusive. Such is the case when a tragedy strikes and a camera is shoved in the faces of grieving parents who just discovered their child is never coming home. Or a heartbroken husband who is caught between his anger that his wife’s life was brutally ended and the news reporter’s request for a compassionate response to the search party volunteers. At times like these I want to turn my head, turn off the TV, or change the channel. I feel like we are intruding into someone’s personal and private anguish. I feel that way, too, when I enter the garden where Jesus is praying in Gethsemane. It is almost too painful to watch, too personal a moment to intrude upon, too private a moment for us to be a part of. But we are invited there. We are invited to see all that human suffering and anguish can bear. We are invited in to see and to experience.

Can you imagine yourself there in the garden with Jesus that night? Picture what His demeanor must have been, what His clothes looked like. Was the night air still or was there a breeze? Can you hear the noise of the city in the background? Can you smell the scent of spring in the air? As Jesus prays, is He speaking aloud? Is He angry with God or pleading? Does He sound like He’s talking with someone He knows well, and who knows Him well? Look closely now as Jesus struggles with the decision. Don’t turn away. Look into His eyes. See the pain, and yet feel the love. This is the love He has for you and for me.

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ‘Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation'” (Luke 22:39-46 NIV).

PRAYER:
For the next few days, Lord, help me stay close to You, to watch as this Greatest Story Ever Told unfolds before my eyes. Help me not to turn away. May my prayers be filled less with words and more with emotions as I pour out my awe and gratitude to the One who loves me so.

Mission Accomplished

By Cheri Cowell –

Friends have watched loved ones pass away, some succumbing to horrible diseases. I was there as my mother-in-law took her last breath. The experience has been described as a reverse childbirth, one in which we are re-birthed into our eternal existence. The act of dying in the physical is not a pretty event. But just at the moment of release into the arms of God, for those who call on Him, peace comes. My cousin described the passing of my grandmother as the most peaceful thing she has ever witnessed. My grandmother knew where she was going and she was ready. Jesus knew where He was going, and He was ready, but before He could go He had a mission to accomplish. His mission allows us to go to our death with certainty that He is with us and will be on the other side waiting for us. See for yourself in today’s scripture verse.

In Luke 23:44 we read of darkness that has covered the earth for three hours. Scholars have argued as to whether this was a literal darkness or a symbolic means for Luke to describe the spiritual darkness covering the earth. Either way, it is clear that Jesus suffered for many hours as He literally asphyxiated on the cross, no longer able to pull himself up by nailed hands and feet to catch a breath. The temple curtain separated the people from the Holy of Holies, or the place where God’s presence dwelt. The only time a human had access to this room was twice a year during the sacrifices when the blood of a pure lamb was spilt upon the altar in payment for the sins of the people. The tearing of the curtain can be interpreted two ways. 1. That we now have full access to the presence of God because the dividing wall has been removed, and 2. Because of Jesus’ blood, which was the final sacrifice needed to pay for our sins, the barrier has been removed and God now has communion with us. Jesus then said in a loud voice, “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” Jesus completed His mission and was saying to His Father, “I’m ready to come home.”

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 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. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things” (Luke 23:44-49 NIV).

PRAYER: I praise you, Almighty God, for Your willingness to suffer such an awful death so those I love and I can one day spend Easter with you in paradise. Help me to accept the mission to which You’ve called me, to bring others into Your presence, so that when my day comes I will be able to say, “My mission is completed, and I am ready to come home.”

The Welcome Mat

By Cheri Cowell –

Hospitality is big business today. Businesses even hire outside firms to help them offer better hospitality. These experts look at everything from the colors of the walls to the scents in the air. They train people on the best practices and explain that it is often the little things that say, “You are important here.” The Temple was to be God’s welcome mat to the whole world. Through it, and the people He chose to oversee it, all the nations of the earth were to be welcomed into God’s presence. Isaiah recorded God’s hospitality training manual for the temple leaders in chapter 56 verses 4-8, but over the years that system had been corrupted. Instead of welcoming people, the temple system had become a way to exclude people, and Jesus was angry about it. Passover was the time when all the nations would be gathered in the city, and the temple should have had the welcome mat out. Instead, it put up barriers and Jesus could no longer take it.

Jesus quotes Isaiah and Jeremiah in this passage in Mark, passages that the temple leaders would have known well. They knew what they were doing was wrong, but when confronted they chose to blame the messenger rather than look at their own sin. When reading this passage it is easy for us to point fingers at the temple leaders, but the question remains for us: How welcoming are our houses of prayer? Are peoples of all nations, social and economic statuses, educational levels, physical abilities, and religious affiliations welcomed by us? Do we make it easy for those who are different to join in and feel a part of our family?

“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city” (Mark 11:15-19 NIV).

See also Isaiah 56:4-8. Ask Him to help you become aware this Easter season of those who may need the hand of hospitality extended to them in the name of Jesus, the Messiah.

PRAYER: Dear God, forgive us for turning Your house into a den of thieves, stealing away Your intended purpose for Your people to be the welcome mat for all to come to You.

Doggone Wealthy

By Cheri Cowell –

When I was growing up, we had a huge collie named Happy. Happy was the perfect dog for children; he was protective, playful, gentle, and a lot of fun. We often dressed him up like a doll, and he loved to play in the Water Wiggle with us in the back yard. It was my job to feed Happy at night, which meant filling his water bowl, scooping a big cupful of dry food into his dish, and then topping it with table scraps. The bowl would almost overflow, but it didn’t take long for it to disappear. Every once in awhile my father would stop at the butcher to get meat for our family, and while there, he always got a box of bones for Happy. Once a week, my sister and I would go into the freezer and get one of those bones for him. You would have thought he had died and gone to heaven. Today I believe he is enjoying a doggie banquet in heaven, where even the lowliest of us here on earth will sup with God.

“Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’ The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said. He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’ ‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment” (Matthew 15:21-28 NIV).

A dog was a term the Jews used to demean Gentiles. Jesus was not demeaning the woman by using this term; he was showing their hypocrisy. She saw in Jesus someone whom she could trust so she offered to eat the scraps from His table if He would heal her daughter. This woman, a Canaanite enemy of the Jews, was then offered the best meal in town, for her faith brought her the very thing she wished. All of us are equal in God’s eyes, so we should not be surprised when one day we see who is seated next to us at His large banqueting table in heaven.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord for the privilege of even being allowed the crumbs from Your table, yet incredibly, You have offered me a seat of honor there. Help me treat others the way You see them: valuable, worthy, and to be honored.

The Invisible Man

By Cheri Cowell –

A few days ago some friends and I went out to eat at a counter service restaurant. When we entered we noticed a table full of older men enjoying their afternoon out with the guys and a group of women in the far corner near the kitchen. The restaurant was busy so when no one acknowledged our arrival we figured they just didn’t see us. We waited what seemed like five minutes without anyone saying anything to us. We almost left when a man came through the back door, but even he didn’t acknowledge us. We asked if anyone was going to help us and a waitress finally said, “I’ll be right with you.” I’m sure glad she said something. I was beginning to wonder if we had become invisible. God must feel the same way with us sometime.

God has great plans for us. He desires to give us more than we can ever imagine and all He asks in return is to be loved by us. He longs for us to acknowledge His presence, to see His love painted in the sky each day, to feel His breath in the breeze, and to love Him in response. When we acknowledge His name as the name above all names, we are saying to Him, “I see, I believe and I love you in return.”

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name” (Psalm 91:14 NIV).

PRAYER: God, I praise You today for all of the ways in which You show Your love. Thank You for being there even when I treat You as the invisible man. Help me see You more clearly, believe in You more fully, and love You more dearly today and everyday.

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