It All Starts Friday

In a few short days we will have two holidays in a row. It begins early Friday morning. We have grown to know it as Good Friday. And I guess it is. Good for us that is.  This is much different from those words of terror that my mom used to use; “You won’t do that if you know what’s good for you.”
I, like many of you reading this, grew up in an age that seemed to be so different from today. We had rules and boundaries. We made snap decisions in the face of angry parents, and wished we had been across town when they found out about this or that.
We even knew that what they said could be backed up by what they quoted for us from the bible. Ones like, God helps those who help themselves.  It wasn’t until I was in Bible College that I found out most of the lines they used to put fear in us, really were not from the bible at all.  But we didn’t know any different back then. We just thought the line came from the bible and life was fine.  After all, in most cases it sounded reasonable. We all believed that black was black and white was white. No such thing as grey. Fifty shade or not.
I want to tell you that life is still that way if we use our bibles to shape our world view. Simply put, we live by the one real message Jesus gave to all of us. The truth of this verse came from His Father and it reads, “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul and mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”
Think about that. To love everyone as you love yourself. What an amazing concept. A long time ago someone described sin in three very human terms. They said sin is when what we do hurts someone else. Is what we do hurting someone we love? Are we hurting ourselves by the activity we are involved in? Or ultimately, are the black areas of our life hurting God?
John writes that Jesus died not just for my sins but the sins of the whole world. And on Friday, I pray that He is not dying again for something I have done, hurting Him by what is happening in my life. What about you?
Something to think about
Happy Easter, He IS Risen!
Rob