Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman singing a contemporary version of Isaac Watts’ classic hymn … Oh The Wonderful Cross … powerfully singing of the wonder and magnificence of what Christ accomplished for mankind by dying on that cross.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Matthew 27:54 [NLT] …
54 The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
… At them moment of Christ’s death even the Centurion recognized that Jesus was the Son of God. But do we?
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Highlight Passage [context]: Matthew 27:45-54 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The passion of The Christ on that wonderful/terrible cross.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Luke 9: 23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK ...
23 Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. …”
… Jesus declared clearly what it would take to follow Him from the cross into the world for His glory.
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : … Romans 12:1 [NLT] … 1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.
… The Apostle determined what it took for him to be an acceptable sacrifice for His Lord. And he pled for fellow Christians to follow him. But do we?!
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, used the lyrics from Isaac Watts’ classic hymn to teach on the wonder (and horror) of the Cross. The ODB author wrote: Young Isaac Watts found the music in his church sadly lacking, and his father challenged him to create something better. Isaac did. His hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” has been called the greatest in the English language and has been translated into many other languages.
Watts’s worshipful third verse ushers us into the presence of Christ at the crucifixion. “Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.” —Isaac Watts The crucifixion Watts describes so elegantly stands as history’s most awful moment. We do well to pause and stand with those around the cross.
If you’ve taken the time (and I hope you have) to use the link above to hear a contemporary version of the famous Isaac Watts hymn; and you’ve taken in the Scriptures provided above, I really think the ODB words today are quite enough. And they have, this morning, for me, taken me emotionally once again to the foot of the cross to gaze emotionally and spiritually on that scene with Jesus shedding His blood to bring ME, in my brokenness, into His family and into eternal fellowship with Him.
How could I (and WE) not join in with the Apostle Paul desiring to become living sacrifices for our Lord (see Romans 12:1)? He gave His everything for me (us)! How can I (we) not do all I (we) can to give my (our) everything for Him?!
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, empower me with Your grace to die daily to self for You. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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