My favorite worship service of the year occurs this week, but it’s not Easter Sunday. At my church we call it Remember. It is a time of reflection and confession of my many sins. It is a time of sorrow and grief as I recognize the cross was necessary because of my utter depravity and brokenness. It is a time of passionate thankfulness for the undeserved grace God lavished on me through Jesus’ excruciating death.
I know what you’re thinking. That doesn’t sound like something to look forward to. Yes, it is a difficult thing to acknowledge the depths of our corrupt hearts and to truly understand our need for a Savior. But, oh, how we must. It is a matter of life and death.
In Matthew 16 Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” I know we’ve heard those verses numerous times, but we cannot miss the critical message. We must DENY self and LOSE our life. We must DIE. Just as Jesus died on the cross in submission to the Father, He calls us to DIE. To die to our sin. To die to our will. To die to our carefully curated and preconceived plans (ouch, that’s a particularly tough one for me!) To die to our careers. To die to our reputation. To die to our futures. We die to SELF.
BUT in that death–we become truly ALIVE. In Galatians Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Do we get that the only Holy, Righteous, Sinless, Perfect, Omnipotent God loves us enough, even in our sin, that He made a way through Jesus’ death on the cross to redeem us from that sin and for us to be alive in Him forever? Do we really get that? I don’t think we do. I think if we did, then we would be much more broken over what our sin cost. We would be continually devastated by our disobedience and wicked hearts. If we really got it, we would be joyfully and gratefully compelled to obey Him. If we accurately grasped what God did for us, we could not contain the Gospel inside of us. If we truly got it, our lives would look radically different.
Will you Remember with me this week?
