The Most Important Week

This is the start of a week that commemorates the single most important event in the history of the world – the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth around 30 A.D.  For many, this week is called Holy Week or Passion Week; but for many others it has no particular significance beyond Easter egg hunts and chocolate bunnies. 

Whether we choose to recognize and celebrate the true significance of this week, the fact remains that this week, and Easter Sunday in particular, was originally a celebration of God’s plan of salvation and restoration of relationship between God and mankind that was provided freely by him with the gift of his own Son – and Jesus’ willing sacrifice of himself on the cross, followed by his resurrection from the dead.  The fun, secular activities that have come to be associated with this week were not added to the celebration until centuries after the historic event it remembers.  Even the more religious ideas like “giving something up for Lent” (after wildly celebrating in a secular way the night before!) were added much later.

I don’t ever want to lose track of the truth behind the celebration.  Jesus endured an enormous amount of pain and suffering so that I could avoid what I deserve – eternal death.  I will never fully comprehend the price he paid on my behalf.  A former pastor used to always ask this question of someone who was being baptized: “Do you believe that Jesus still would have died on the cross even if you were the ONLY ONE who deserved punishment and needed salvation?”  This question always personalized Jesus’ death for me every time I heard it asked.  Jesus still would have gone through everything he did even if it was just for me!

We are all in danger of overlooking the significance of this week.  For many, it is because there is a lack of understanding – their lives have simply not been touched by God yet, or they have rejected the message altogether.  But for those of us who follow Jesus regularly, there is a different danger – thinking about the gospel message so often that it becomes “old hat” and loses its personal significance.  The longer I am a Christian, the harder it is to imagine what my life without God would be like; so I can begin to become immune to the importance of what this week remembers.

As with many spiritual issues, I think the solution is to be intentional.  Don’t take communion without truly meditating on what Jesus did for me hundreds of years ago.  Choose to think about what I can give back to God – not just what I get out of relationship with God.  Focus on becoming more like Christ in my humility and my willingness to sacrifice for others.  One of my pastors recently asked this question at the end of a sermon: Was Christ’s death worth the things you’re living for?

I find myself asking this question often now – which helps to focus my life on things that have eternal significance while also reminding me of the price Jesus paid for me.  I hope your Passion Week finds you kneeling at the foot of the cross once again and celebrating the miracle of Easter through new eyes – then moving on to the rest of your life with a fresh start as you live for God alone.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen and heard a lot of tributes to Billy Graham, who passed away on February 21^st.  This post is not a tribute, but rather some observations and thoughts that God has been laying on my heart.

Many have been praising the man and others have been praising his work since he became a Christian over 80 years ago.  Some in our parents’ generation seem to have idolized Billy Graham.  My own mother has always spoken very highly of him and faithfully supported his ministry throughout the years since she first encountered his organization as a 19 or 20-year-old – when, on the heels of Graham’s record-breaking 8-week Los Angeles Crusade in 1949, she had the opportunity to sing a duet with his co-worker Grady Wilson at a follow-up crusade in Whittier where she lived.  Admittedly, from a human perspective, Billy Graham was a significant person who touched a lot of lives. 

But the interesting thing about those accolades is that Billy Graham would not have wanted any of them.  In a 1992 interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, he was asked what he hoped people would say about him when he died.  His response?  “I don’t want them to say big things about me because I don’t deserve them.  I want to hear one person say something nice about me, and that’s the Lord.  When I face him, I want him to say to me, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant’.  But I’m not sure I’m going to hear it . . .”  Billy Graham was clearly a humble man.

In our celebrity-driven culture (I was watching the Oscars before I started writing this!), we want to give glory to fellow humans who achieve something that we see as notable – things we don’t think we could do ourselves.  But the Bible teaches us to give glory only to God – and to assess ourselves with sober judgment, neither thinking too highly nor too lowly of ourselves – because God has given different gifts and different jobs to each of us here on earth (Romans 12:3-8).  We’re not all called to do the same things, and it is only God who brings success.  Apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5) – and he calls each of us to use the gifts he’s given us and bloom where we are planted. 

Billy Graham was called by God and gifted by him to be a worldwide evangelist, but he didn’t set out to be famous.  What he brought to the table was proper motivation, integrity, and obedience.  As his son Franklin said at his memorial service, he was FAT – faithful, available, and teachable.  These are the same character traits that every one of us can choose to bring to our service for God.  Although millions heard Graham speak, he never saved any of them.  God saved people, and he used Billy Graham to get the message out. 

The book I wrote a few years ago will never be on the New York Times bestseller list, and this blog reaches a few dozen people each time I post something.  And, although I’ve spoken at a few women’s retreats, God hasn’t called me to be the next Beth Moore.  That’s OK – I like the anonymity!  But I can still choose to be faithful, available, and teachable – and to obediently use the gifts God’s given me.  I can bloom where I am planted and leave the results to God, remembering that there is really only an audience of one that I am seeking to please and who gets all the glory.  

What does God want to accomplish because you choose to be obedient with the gifts he’s given you in the place he’s planted you?