The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Consider Him"
"Consider Him, who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:3).
From conception to the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ endured. The writer of Hebrews tells us that He "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Of no one else can it be said that He was "in all points tempted." We each have our particular flashpoints of challenge, of course. Some things test some, and some things, others. In the mystery of God "manifest in the flesh," however, our Savior experienced the full gamut of devilish, worldly, and fleshly temptation. He overcame them all. He endured, and even more, He triumphed in all. Never once did the Lord Jesus succumb to enticements to distrust and disobey His Father, thus making it possible for Him to die for our sins as the spotless Lamb of God, and to live within us through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Little wonder that we "consider Him" in times of temptation, challenge, and weakness.
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him" (I John 4:9).
Can we endure the challenges life brings to us? We can, as we "consider Him." Indeed, the Christ who lived, died, and rose again in His own physical body now lives in His spiritual body, the church. He overcame far greater challenges and more intense temptation than we will ever know. We "live through Him," trusting in His overcoming life that actually indwells our spirits as "Life beyond life." It is the risen Christ who lives in us and walks in us. Thus, we look to more than simply a Savior who successfully navigated the difficult paths of a fallen world. We look to the One trounced sin and the grave under His nail-pierced feet as He exited His tomb in triumph. "Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15)
Weariness and faintness? How we often feel it. Every time we do - every time - opportunity lies before us to avail ourselves of "the power that worketh in us," that is, the power that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 3:20). We endure thereby, and even more, we triumph as our weakness becomes the conduit through which the strength of the risen Lord Jesus moves within us. "Consider Him" beckons the Word of God. "Consider Him" beckons the Holy Spirit within the spirit of our heart. "Consider Him" encourage brothers and sisters of old who found Him perfectly faithful in their challenges. "Consider Him" we must say to one another when our minds feel weak and discouraged. We will find the risen Christ considering us as we do, and even more, imparting His Life beyond life to our hearts, hands, and feet. He will no more fail us as He walks in us than He failed when walking upon paths of continual challenge that became scenes of His triumph over and over and over again.
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place."
(II Corinthians 2:14)
Weekly Memory Verse
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.
(II Corinthians 2:14)
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