Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Leave Your Past Behind

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

Corrie ten Boom, a wonderful woman of God, once made this statement: “When we confess our sins, God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.”

Now, when we sin, we need to ask God to forgive us. But God has a big eraser. He forgives our sin and forgets it. He said, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

When we’re running the race of life, we shouldn’t look back. Paul wrote, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13).

Do you have the assurance that your sin is forgiven? Or, are you dragging around a heavy load of guilt that you face every day? You can have your sin forgiven, and you can have your sin forgotten.

God wants to do that for you. Do you want to get rid of your guilt? Then you need to ask Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later, to come and live inside your heart and life.

Yet Jesus warned His disciples, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). He was referring to the Old Testament story in Genesis about Lot and his family, whom God delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah. An angel told them not to look back when the judgment of God came upon the city.

But as Lot and his family were fleeing Sodom, Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt (see Genesis 19:26).

Sometimes we look back too. Old sins cripple us. Or, we’re simply living in the past. Don’t drag around the excess weight of past sins, and don’t look back. Leave your past behind you. Live in the present, and move forward toward the future.

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2 Chronicles 7:14

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

A Clear Objective

“I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:13-14).

In the film City Slickers, Billy Crystal plays the role of Mitch, a New Yorker in his late thirties whose marriage is falling apart. He goes to a dude ranch to become a cowboy for two weeks, and there he meets an actual cowboy named Curly.

As they’re riding along on their horses, Curly, a man of few words, turns to Mitch and tells him the secret of life is just one thing.

“That’s great,” Mitch says, “but what’s the one thing?”

“That’s what you gotta figure out.”

The apostle Paul figured it out. He said, “I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:13-14 NLT).

Paul had a clear objective. Notice that he said, “I focus on this one thing.”

David, the great psalmist and king of Israel, summed it up this way in Psalm 27: “The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple” (verse 4).

What is the one thing that gets you up in the morning? What is the one thing that gets your blood pumping, the one thing that you are really passionate about?

For the apostle Paul, that one thing was Jesus—following Jesus and knowing Jesus. And that’s what we should focus our attention on as well.

I’m not running the race of life for people. I’m not even running this race for whatever heavenly reward I may receive. I’m doing it for Jesus.

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Romans 12:12

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Forward Momentum

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

The moment you become a Christian you enter a race.

The apostle Paul wrote about it in Philippians 3: “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

We see from this verse that to win in this race of life, we must be dissatisfied with where we presently are. If we’re spiritually mature, we’ll have this mindset. A modern version of Paul’s statement puts it this way: “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me” (Philippians 3:12).

We need to be ready to gain ground, not lose ground. But to do that, we need to get rid of extra weight and things that would hinder us in this race.

A few verses earlier Paul wrote, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (verses 7–8).

In the original language the word for “rubbish” that Paul used here actually describes excrement. Paul was saying, “Whatever I accomplished before I was a believer is rubbish. It’s garbage. It’s excrement compared to what Christ has done for me.”

We must look at things we do, as well as relationships we have and then ask ourselves these questions: Is it a wing or a weight? Does it speed me in the race of life, or does it slow me down?

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1 John 5:14-15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Blameless

“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people” (Philippians 2:14-15).

If you’ve ever watched the cartoon Popeye the Sailor Man, you might remember that Popeye is always muttering. You never quite understand what he’s saying, but he’s always murmuring.

Philippians 2:14 tells us, “Do everything without complaining and arguing”. Or, as the King James version puts it, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” This isn’t speaking of someone who complains out loud. It’s more like someone who mutters.

Don’t do that, the Bible says, because no one likes to be around a complainer. No one likes to be around a whiner. I know we get frustrated at times. But if you’re muttering a lot, if you’re complaining a lot, here’s something you need to know: complaining and bickering can hinder our happiness in running the race of life.

Paul went on to say, “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people” (Philippians 2:15). To be blameless means to be unblamable. It means you’re not a hypocrite and that you practice what you preach. It speaks of moral integrity that shows itself outwardly.

Jesus, of course, was the perfect model, with not even a shade of inconsistency.

I think it drives nonbelievers a little crazy when Christians back up what they say with the way they live, because a lot of people want us to mess up. That way they can say, “Ah, you see? They’re hypocrites. They don’t really believe that. They don’t practice what they preach.”

When you live a godly life, it effectively gives you the right to proclaim the gospel. People will listen to you. There are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and you. People who don’t know the Lord are watching you. So let’s be men and women who are blameless as we follow Jesus Christ.

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Job 19:25

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

When Reading Isn’t Enough

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

There’s nothing as good as freshly prepared food, is there? Sometimes my wife doesn’t have everything on hand for what she wants to make, but she still can go into the kitchen, take all the ingredients, and make something fantastic.

That’s how it was with the manna God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. They needed to prepare it. They didn’t just eat this manna; they made things with it.

It’s the same way with the Word of God. We need to read it, but then we must internalize it. Interestingly, we find this promise in the book of Revelation: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

This is referring to the book of Revelation, but I think this promise also applies to the Bible in general. The person who reads, hears, and keeps the Word of God will experience blessings as a result.

It isn’t enough to simply read the Bible. We need to hear the Bible, and by that, I mean as Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15). You can read an entire chapter of the Bible without comprehension. That’s why we not only need to read God’s Word, but we need to hear it, think about it, internalize it, memorize it, and meditate on it.

The word “meditate” might bring to mind the Eastern form of meditation, but biblical meditation is different. In Eastern meditation, they try to empty their minds, but in biblical meditation, we’re filling our minds with the Word of God. There’s a significant difference.

We can find everything we need to know about God in the pages of Scripture. We can find everything we need to know about life there as well. So take time to read, hear, and keep God’s Word.

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Philippians 2:5-8

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Best Friends with the Dark

“Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. ‘Oh, for some meat!’ they exclaimed” (Numbers 11:4).

The foreign rabble, or mixed multitude, joined the Israelites as they left Egypt. They probably were impressed with the wonder-working God of Israel, and they, too, wanted to escape. And although they left Egypt, Egypt apparently never left them.

They didn’t appreciate the manna God was providing for them in the wilderness, so they started complaining. And then the Israelites began to complain too. The mixed multitude was a bad influence on God’s people. Manna was bread from Heaven, sent from God, and they rejected it.

In the same way, nonbelievers don’t get why believers love the Scriptures. In fact, here’s a real test of your spiritual life. Do you look forward to Bible study? Or, do you dread it and can’t wait for it to be over? That’s an indication of where you are spiritually. A hungry believer is a healthy believer.

And if you’re strong spiritually, if you’re healthy spiritually, then you will be constantly hungry for more of the Word of God. On the other hand, if you’re an unhealthy believer, you won’t be.

Ungodly people were influencing the Israelites. That is why the apostle Paul warned, “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

The Message states it this way: “Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark?”

Think about who your influences are. Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future. If, as a Christian, you hang around people who don’t believe as you believe, they can influence you and bring you down. That is what the mixed multitude did with the Israelites. So be very careful.

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Luke 19:10

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The Task of a Lifetime

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

The great British preacher Alan Redpath said, “The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.”

That is called sanctification. Salvation is instantaneous. But sanctification, which is becoming more like Christ, takes a lot of time. In fact, it takes a lifetime.

Just one month after God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites and delivered them from their enemies, they basically said to Moses, “Oh, great. You just brought us out here to die! We remember how awesome it was back in Egypt. We had pots filled with meat. And there was so much bread!”

Actually, that wasn’t true at all. They suffered in Egypt. They were in pain. It was hard for them. But the Devil is cunning, and sometimes he will bring back certain memories from our past. But they’re never the miserable memories, of course, when we faced the repercussions of our sins.

In the same way, the Israelites had memories that weren’t even based on reality. And the first step to going back is looking back.

God told Moses, “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God’” (Exodus 16:12).

The Israelites had never read the book of Exodus, so all this was happening in real time. God was saying, “I’ll give you meat,” and it rained quail. Then came the bread, a sweet, flaky substance called manna.

God has promised to supply all our needs “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). But He has not promised to supply all of our wants. God always will provide what we need, when we need it—sometimes before, but never after.

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Hebrews 7:25

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

God’s Endgame

“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way” (Hebrews 12:11).

If He had wanted to, God could have simply taken the Israelites directly to the Promised Land. But immediately on the heels of parting the Red Sea, God led them into the wilderness.

Why did He do that? We find the answer in Deuteronomy 8:2, where Moses said, “Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands”.

Trials often follow blessings. Sometimes we come to valleys immediately after our mountaintop experiences. Have you ever had that happen? Maybe you went to a retreat that impacted your life, and when you returned home, there were all kinds of troubles waiting for you. Sometimes difficulties even come our way right after we leave a church service.

We find a precedent for this in Scripture. After Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in the Jordan River, Jesus saw the Holy Spirit descend on Him like a dove (see Mark 1:9-11).

And what happened after that? The Bible tells us, “Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:12-13). Notice the word immediately. For Jesus, after the dove came the Devil.

For us, after the blessing may come the trial. That is what was happening to Israel because there are truths that can only be learned in a wilderness, so to speak. However, the Israelites were in their wilderness longer than they needed to be. God wanted them there for a time, but they made it a lot harder than necessary.

Our spiritual roots grow deep when the winds around us make us strong. That’s because God’s endgame is to make us more like Jesus.

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Colossians 1:27-28

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

Miracle in the Desert

“As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt?’” (Exodus 14:10-11).

Moses no longer was the prince of Egypt. He no longer was a member of the royal family. But after forty years in the wilderness thinking that his life was ruined, God recommissioned him. He called Moses to lead the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt.

So, Moses took his brother Aaron along and demanded that Pharaoh release the Hebrews. But Pharaoh dug in and refused. As a result, God sent a series of plagues upon Egypt, and finally the Israelites were free. As they made their way to a new land, they came to what looked like an insurmountable obstacle: the Red Sea.

Then the Bible tells us, “As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them” (Exodus 14:10). They took their eyes off God and put them on the Egyptian army, which, by the way, was the mightiest army on Earth at the time.

Moses began to pray, but God said, in effect, “This isn’t a time to pray. This is a time to move.”

Did you know there could come a moment in your life when you don’t need to pray about something any longer? You just need to act on it.

Miracle in the Desert

“As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt?’” (Exodus 14:10-11).

Moses no longer was the prince of Egypt. He no longer was a member of the royal family. But after forty years in the wilderness thinking that his life was ruined, God recommissioned him. He called Moses to lead the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt.

So, Moses took his brother Aaron along and demanded that Pharaoh release the Hebrews. But Pharaoh dug in and refused. As a result, God sent a series of plagues upon Egypt, and finally the Israelites were free. As they made their way to a new land, they came to what looked like an insurmountable obstacle: the Red Sea.

Then the Bible tells us, “As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them” (Exodus 14:10). They took their eyes off God and put them on the Egyptian army, which, by the way, was the mightiest army on Earth at the time.

Moses began to pray, but God said, in effect, “This isn’t a time to pray. This is a time to move.”

Did you know there could come a moment in your life when you don’t need to pray about something any longer? You just need to act on it.

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Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Prodigal or Pig?

“It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life” (2 Peter 2:21).

My granddaughters have a pet pig, and they named him Sunday. He sounds like a pig, he looks like a pig, and if he were given the choice, he would like to be back in the mud like a pig. That’s because a pig is a pig.

Jesus told a story in the gospel of Luke about a son who ran away from his father, went to a far country, and made a mess out of his life. But then he came to his senses and returned home, and his father welcomed him and forgave him. We call him the prodigal son. And a prodigal always will come back home to the Father.

So, are you a prodigal son or daughter, or are you a pig? I don’t mean that as an insult. You decide which one you will be.

The Bible tells us, “It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: ‘A dog returns to its vomit.’ And another says, ‘A washed pig returns to the mud’” (2 Peter 2:21-22).

When people make professions of faith and then fall away, the question is not whether they lost their salvation. The question is this: Were they Christians to begin with?

You know whether you’re a believer by where you end up. If you end up returning to your commitment to Christ, it shows that you’re merely a prodigal. If you’re a prodigal, then you will want to come back to God.

But if you’re a pig, then you will go back to the way you were living before because you never believed.

You see, not everyone wants to change. God offers us forgiveness, but we have to be willing to do our part.

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John 10:28-30

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

The Misery of Sin

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you” (Psalm 51:12).

There’s a difference between sinning, knowing it, and being sorry for it and intentionally, habitually sinning again and again. If you’re a child of God, then you won’t habitually sin. You won’t be sinless, but you will sin less.

If you really have accepted God’s gift of salvation, then you will be unhappy and miserable when you’ve sinned. The Bible tells us in 1 John 3:9, “Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God”.

This verse doesn’t say that if you’re a child of God, you won’t sin because everyone sins all the time. But if you’re a child of God, then you won’t be happy after you sin, and you’ll want to get right with God.

There are sins of commission and sins of omission. A sin of commission is when you do what you should not do, while a sin of omission is not doing what you should do. The Bible says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

If you want to be unhappy, then have unconfessed sin in your life. Happiness does not come from sinning. Misery, guilt, and repercussions come from sinning. That is why the Bible says, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” (Psalm 32:1).

After David sinned against the Lord, he wrote, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you” (Psalm 51:12).

Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). It isn’t hard to be a Christian—it’s impossible . . . without the help and power of the Holy Spirit.

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1 Corinthians 15:55-57

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Authentic Christianity

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

Can a Christian lose his or her salvation?

When you put your faith in Jesus, you don’t have to worry about losing your salvation. God gives us this promise: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

And 1 John 5:13 tells us, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God”. We can know this as a fact.

But what about people who make an initial profession of faith, look as though God has really changed their lives, and then bail out a few weeks or months later? Were they saved and then no longer are?

The better question is this: Were they really Christians to begin with?

It reminds me of what Jesus said in the parable of the sower. He talked about seeds that a sower scattered, which landed in the gravel and didn’t take root. It shot up and then quickly withered.

Jesus explained, “The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word” (Mark 4:16-17).

If you really are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you will confess Him as Lord (see 1 John 4:15). And if Christ lives inside of you, then you will obey God’s commands (see 1 John 5:3).

Salvation is not simply having an emotional experience. Although we can’t earn it, we do need to live it out and continue in the commitment we’ve made to Jesus Christ.

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1 Corinthians 15:20-22

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

The Perfect Word

“For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Romans 10:13).

I love the word saved. What a perfect word. When a firefighter goes into a building and rescues someone, a news article might say the person was “saved,” and indeed they were.

Saved is the perfect word to describe what God has done for us. He has saved us, He is saving us, and He will save us. God has saved us from judgment. Without Christ, we were going to face eternal judgment and separation from God. But He saved us from that.

And He is saving us. Every day we face temptation and difficulty and hardship, and Christ gets us through it. He is saving us, and ultimately, He will save us.

One day we will come to the end of our lives and will pass into eternity. And because we have put our faith in Jesus, we have the promise of salvation, which, of course, is the hope of Heaven. When God saves someone, He forgives their sin. But He not only forgives it, He also forgets it.

When God saves a person, He justifies them. In the Bible, justification is a word that speaks of something that God does for us. He places the righteousness of Christ into our spiritual bank account, if you will.

So when you’re saved, when you believe in Jesus, your sin is forgiven and your sin is forgotten. That is what God has done for you. The Bible describes it as “so great a salvation” (Hebrews 2:3). In fact, in the same verse the writer of Hebrews asks, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

No matter what you’re going through today, no matter what hardship you’re facing, I want you to know that if you put have your faith in Jesus Christ, then you are saved.

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Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Work Out What God Has Worked In

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

A New York woman who survived the Spanish flu in 1918 also survived the coronavirus at age 101. So what’s the secret to her longevity? Her family said she loves to eat Oreos.

I don’t know about the health benefits of Oreos. But experts tell us there are health benefits from exercise. And just as we need to work out physically, we also need to work out spiritually, if you will.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

We need to work out what God has worked in. Notice that Paul didn’t say, “Work for your salvation” because salvation is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”.

I know that God has forgiven my sin and that I will go to Heaven when I die because I believe His promises and have received His gift of eternal life. If you haven’t received that gift yet, you can ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. He’s just a prayer away.

So then, what does it mean to work out your own salvation? Remember, Paul was writing to Christians. In fact, he addressed them as “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi” (Philippians 1:1). From the original language, work out also could be translated, “work it out,” “carry it out completely,” or “bring it to full completion.”

The Bible tells us that the Christian life is like running a race or being in a war. There’s effort involved. So work out and live out your own salvation.

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Romans 13:6-7

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

God’s Greatest Pain

“But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Can you recall the moment in your life when you experienced the most pain? Maybe it was physical pain when you broke your arm or your leg or something else. We’ve all experienced moments of physical pain.

But then there’s the emotional pain we can experience when someone has hurt us. For instance, there’s the pain of rejection, betrayal, or abandonment when a husband says to his wife, “I’ve been unfaithful,” or when a wife says to her husband, “I want a divorce.” There’s emotional pain when a child says to a parent, “I don’t want to live the Christian life.”

And one of the worst kinds of pain you can experience is when someone you care about, someone whom you thought was a loyal friend, has betrayed you.

So when do you think Jesus experienced His most painful moment? Do you think it’s when the soldiers placed the crown of thorns on His head or when they beat Him with a Roman whip, most likely a cat-o’-nine tails? Do you think it’s when they placed Him on the cross and drove nails through His hands and His feet?

As horrible and horrific as all those things were, I don’t think any of them were Jesus’s most painful moment. His most painful moment was when He bore all the sins of the world upon Himself.

That’s because Jesus never sinned. He never had even one thought out of harmony with God the Father. But as He hung on the cross bearing the sins of the world, Jesus and the Father were, in effect, separated.

Jesus was forsaken of God so that we could be forgiven. He entered the darkness so that we might walk in the light. He endured sorrow and suffering for a time so that we might enjoy His presence forever.

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1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.

A Suffering Savior

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).

Why did Jesus have to suffer as He did? We understand that He had to be nailed to a cross because the Bible prophesied this. But why did He suffer?

We follow a suffering Savior. In fact, Isaiah 53 gives this description of what Christ went through: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; . . . Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3-4).

Then Isaiah gives us the reason Jesus suffered: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

You see, Jesus voluntarily suffered in our place. It’s hard for us to think of a perfect Creator going through something as human as pain and suffering. But God has suffered more deeply than anyone could imagine. That’s why the Bible calls Jesus a “Man of sorrows.” He suffered because He loves us.

This also means that He can enter into your suffering as well. Maybe you’re in a state of personal anguish today. There’s something that is causing you a great deal of pain. Jesus has been there. He has walked in your shoes.

Hebrews 2:17 tells us, “It was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people”.

Don't think that God is disconnected from what you’re facing. Jesus has faced it. He has experienced it. He understands. You’re not alone in your suffering today.

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Romans 3:23-24

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Run to the Cross

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

The problem with the two disciples on the Emmaus Road was they were trying to get away from the cross. The Crucifixion was not a beautiful sight; it was a horrific one.

Jesus’s body was so traumatized that you wouldn’t have been able to tell He was a man. In other words, Jesus was unrecognizable. The two disciples on their way to Emmaus afterward never thought they would see Jesus alive again. So, they wanted to get away from that bloody cross.

But every step away from the cross is a step in the wrong direction. We don’t want to run away from the cross; we need to run to it.

That simply means come to God. Realize that Jesus died on the cross for a reason. He died there for our sin. And as I’ve often said, it wasn’t nails that held Him to the cross; it was His love for you and me.

That’s because there was no other way to satisfy the righteous demands of the holy God whom we all have offended. But Jesus was uniquely qualified to bridge this gap. So with one hand He took hold of sinful humanity, and with the other hand He took hold of a holy God. They drove nails through those hands, and He died in our place.

Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God the Father not only sent His Son to the cross, but His Son willingly went.

Jesus went because He knew this was the only way for us to be forgiven of our sin, for us to know that we’ll go to Heaven when we die. That’s why He made such a great sacrifice.

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Luke 9:23-24

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

Disappointment Is His Appointment

“Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

In the gospel of Luke there’s a story about two disciples who were leaving Jerusalem. They were devastated because Jesus had been crucified, and in their minds that was the end of the story. Then suddenly the resurrected Jesus joined them on the road to Emmaus, but they didn’t know it was Jesus.

He basically turned to them and said, “Hey, guys, why the long faces? What’s going on?”

One of them replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days” (Luke 24:18).

Jesus asked them to tell Him about it, so they began telling Jesus about Jesus. Then as they were walking along, Jesus rebuked them and said, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” (verses 25–26).

So Jesus told them about all the Old Testament passages that pointed to His death.

I would love to have been around for that conversation. As they reached the end of their journey, Jesus acted as though He would keep going, so the two disciples invited Him to stay. It was only when they sat down to eat and Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to them that they realized it was Him. And then He disappeared.

Afterward they said, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (verse 32).

Maybe today you’re disappointed with God. You feel as though He has let you down, that He has failed you. But disappointment is His appointment. God wants to restore your faith today, and He can use His Word to bring you back to spiritual life again.

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1 Peter 2:24

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

The Battle of Unbelief

“Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing’” (John 20:27).

Some people have a hard time believing there’s a God in Heaven who loves them. It’s difficult for them to wrap their minds around the fact that God could have a plan for their lives.

Everyone struggles with doubt every now and then.

Mark’s gospel tells us that after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating, and “He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen” (16:14).

Oswald Chambers, the author of the well-known Christian devotional My Utmost for His Highest, said, “Doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking.”

Another disciple whom we call “doubting Thomas” was very skeptical. When the other disciples told him they had seen the risen Jesus, he replied, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).

But the next time they met, Thomas was there. And sure enough, Jesus appeared again. Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (verse 27).

Thomas simply said, “My Lord and my God!” (verse 28). He didn’t want to know anything more than what the others knew. He just needed to know for himself.

Maybe you’re struggling with doubt right now. You can come to Jesus with your skepticism. You can come to Jesus with your doubt.

You might be saying to God, “Show me, and I’ll believe.”

But God is effectively saying, “Believe, and I'll show you.” You can turn your skepticism into faith, and you can turn your doubt into belief.

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Romans 5:10

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Labor Pains

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

One question people have been asking me rather frequently is whether COVID-19 is a sign of the last days.

I would say the answer is yes. Now, the word pandemic is not in the Bible. That’s a modern word. We do, however, find the words pestilence and plague mentioned many times in the pages of Scripture.

In the Bible, pestilences and plagues always were a form of judgment. And Scripture does tell us that in the end times, there will be horrible diseases that will come upon the planet. There also will be earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars.

We are not in the Great Tribulation period yet, but Jesus said that as we get closer to His return, it will be like a woman in labor. As she gets closer to the time of delivery, her labor pains will become closer together.

So as we see more of these big events, we can recognize them as signs of the times. He said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

Maybe today you’re afraid of the afterlife. You’re not sure that your life is right with God. If you want God to forgive your sin, if you want to know that you’ll go to Heaven when you die, and if you want to be certain that when Christ returns, you will be ready to meet Him, then you need Jesus in your life.

Simply say, “Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner. I believe that You’re the Savior, and I ask You to forgive me my sin. I want to be ready for Your return. Come into my life, Jesus. I ask it in Your name, amen.”

Jesus will give you the meaning of life on Earth, and He will give you the hope of life beyond the grave.

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