The Plan

Today I am going to borrow from Mike Fabarez and a message I heard on the way to work.  His question was “is the cross a bad thing or a good thing?” 

On one hand we have Jesus dying on the cross for our sins so it is a good thing.  On the other hand, bad men with horrible motives made this happen so it is a bad thing.  If you could put yourself in the disciples place for a moment and watch what was unfolding right before their eyes, you would think it is a bad thing.  You would see Judas, one of the trusted disciples, betray Jesus for 40 pieces of silver.  While the chief priests of the Israelites plot to kill a man for doing nothing but healing the sick and preaching grace and truth to Israel.  A bad thing.  Even worse than that was the Roman government getting duped into killing this man for fear of rebellion by the people.  Another bad thing.  And to top it all off the disciples see Jesus, their friend, get murdered on a cross and buried right before their eyes.  Again a bad thing.  To make matters worse,  the people are looking to kill any followers of Jesus after this. So the once proud followers of Jesus turn into a scared group of people hiding in an upper room refusing to come out.  A bad bad thing. 

If you have not read the book of Acts it is where the church of Jesus Christ was born.  The Holy Spirit falls on the disciples and turns a group of scared people into a bold machine for God proclaiming the gospel and what Jesus had done.  A good thing.  The story continues and the first day thousands of people give their hearts to Jesus and the church is born.  A great thing.  Jesus would go down as the most influential person of all time and He only had three years walking among us. Another great thing.  

Today you might be in the middle of an epoch mess and you do not see a way out.  The disciples must have felt the same way.  Sometimes when things happen that rock our world, God may be a work.  After all, everything that happened to Jesus was God’s definite plan.  The outcome saved the world from it’s sin. Today, hold fast to the confession of your faith and don’t wavier for the Lord God is at work. This mess you are graveling in could be used as a testimony to reach people for Jesus. God is at work and His plan is good.

Father, help us to be patient in the middle of the mess. You have put us here for a reason. Just like Jesus was subjected to the cross so he could redeem the world from sin, prepare our hearts to be molded into a weapon for the gospel in the middle of the mess. In Jesus name! Amen.