Good Morning Friends,
“Jesus said, ‘The hour has come for the Son
of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to
the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates
his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must
follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the
one who serves me.’” (John 12:23-26)
To most, the crucifixion of Jesus seemed to
be His ultimate defeat. He was not able to persuade the majority to follow Him.
They thought His teachings, though good, would fade with time and He, too, would
be forgotten. Even Satan must have thought Jesus was defeated at the cross. He’d
won the battle, and the war. God’s own Son was defeated.
That’s what they thought.
Nothing could have been further from the
truth. What seemed to be the defeat of Jesus was actually His ultimate victory!
He had only a small group of followers in the world while He lived. After the
cross, His followers would number in the hundreds of millions. His teachings,
far from fading, would be spread throughout the world and throughout time. He would
not be forgotten. Instead, He would be loved and followed and worshipped. Satan
did not win at the cross. He didn’t win the battle and he didn’t win the war. In
fact, the cross sealed Satan’s defeat!
What seemed to the world to say one thing,
actually said something quite different.
I was thinking about that with respect to our
own lives. To some, perhaps even to many, it seems that Christians give up much
of what life is really about, give up much of what makes life fun. So it seems.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In following Jesus, we give up nothing
of value and gain what is eternally priceless!
What seems to the world to say one thing,
actually says something quite different. You just can’t trust what the world
says!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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