Jesus — The Power of a Solitary Life. Hallelujah!
I was looking on the internet to find what other people thought about Jesus turning the world upside down. I found this paragraph (see below). You have probably seen it, but today, on Good Friday 2016, when we mourn the death of Jesus, and see the darkness all around us, I think it is good to remind ourselves of the power of God. I know it sounds impossible, but according to the Apostle Paul, those of us who believe, who are in Christ, have the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. That means to me that our solitary lives — yours and mine — can also change the world in powerful and profound ways. And when we add up all these lives, collect them into one body — the Body of Christ, the Church — we can be an unstoppable force for good, for tolerance, for love, for peace, for hope, and for healing and wholeness. Church, the world needs us. Repent, believe, enter the Kingdom of God, and lets love our neighbors as ourselves. In His power lets rise up to do what only the Church can do — defeat the power of evil wherever it is found.
Today, Christian brothers and sisters are dying for their faith in numbers not seen in centuries. When the disciples and the other followers of Jesus stood at the foot of the cross in the darkness, looking up at His lifeless body, they must have thought that death had won, evil has triumphed. We know better. It is easy today to look at our faith under attack, to even feel hopeless. But it only takes one committed believer’s life to change the world. We live in the resurrection power of Christ. And there are 100s of millions of us. Let us come together, earnestly pray for those who are being persecuted for their faith, and through prayer and kindness today release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world wherever we are. Jesus showed us it only takes one life to change the world and that Life lives in each of us who are in Christ.
American Newspaper Journalist, Jim Bishop, wrote the following in a Christmas column.
“There was a man born of Jewish parents in an obscure village. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30, and then for 3 years he was an itinerate preacher. He never wrote a book, he never held office, he never owned a home, he never had a family, he never went to college, he never put his foot inside a big city, he never traveled 200 miles from the place where here was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away from him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had, his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. All the armies that have ever marched, all of the navies that were ever built, all of the parliaments that ever sat, all of the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon the earth as has this one solitary life.”
The last will be first; to be great in the Kingdom, you must be the servant of all. Jesus turned the world upside down.
Really? Really! Hallelujah.
Looking forward to resurrection Sunday. What a victory. What a God!!
Grace and peace,
John