GOOD FRIDAY THOUGHT!

Conviction is the harsh reality of my moral condition as seen from God’s point of view. C.S. Lewis

Usually at Easter, many attend Good Friday or Easter Sunday services. For some, this is the only time they set foot inside a church, other than for weddings or funerals. I’m not sure how anyone can live life in their own strength and resources these days, especially with all the turmoil and uncertainties in our world, our society, and the workplace; but for many they somehow keep it going without much direction or conviction to a plan that would guarantee them real security and assurances in their life. I call this lifestyle or direction ‘hoping for the best’ or ‘sure hope things works out.’

Easter is the message of good news. If offers us a chance to connect with the promise of eternal life for our future. And, it also gives us a moral compass for direction and purpose in our lives here and now. But to be connected or grafted into this reality, one must first know it’s founder personally. It’s one thing to be friends with those on Facebook, but how many of us have friends in that social venue that we don’t really know? When someone tells you that you are narrow minded and they can’t wait to kick you to the curb in a response of anger, what would that tell you about the relationship you have with that so-called friend? In reality, if we are a friend of Jesus Christ, who is the one that grafts us into Easter, we will fit the ‘narrow’ profile that some would call intolerant. I beg to differ and here’s why.

My morality is based on standards that I either inherit or learn from my family as I grow up at home, school, or later in the workplace. If my standards are connected with the ‘self-evident morality’ given to us by our Creator, the same moral law that the apostle Paul wrote was ‘written on their hearts’ of all people in Romans 2:14-15, then I will live my life by the morality we inherited, not the one we invent. If we can stay righteous on our own and live by ‘the morality’, then on the day when ‘God will judge men’s secrets’, He ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’ This is what ‘hoping for the best’ depends on! You, yourself, and yours. I personally would hope that there is something better?

God says the road to follow Him is a very narrow road. And the closer you get to Him, the more narrow this road gets. ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it’ (Matthew 7:13-14). To enter this gate, you must realize that your morality is falling short of God’s standards and because of this, your future depends on only your best efforts to walk this ‘narrow road’ and to not fall off it. Jesus Christ died for your morality because you could not stay ‘narrow-minded’ to ever find true life on your own. He took your intolerance, your selfish attitude, and your moral condition to die on a Cross at Calvary, so that you could find life! This is Easter. It’s about hope in a future reality that is unseen, but by faith, are ‘sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’ (Hebrews 11:1). ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).

If today you realize, that from God’s point of view, you fall short in your morality and your spiritual condition is at best, on a fairly broad road, then Easter is just the friend you need! Moreover, Jesus is really the reason for the hope that we have. As He said in Mark 1:15, ‘The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’ Your thought for today.