Feel Abandoned, Worship God Anyway - June 11, 2013

2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If God never did anything else for you, he would still deserve your continual praise for the rest of your life because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. God's Son died for you! This is the greatest reason for worship.

Unfortunately, we forget the cruel details of the agonizing sacrifice God made on our behalf. The Son of God was stripped naked, beaten until almost unrecognizable, whipped, scorned and mocked, crowned with thorns, and spit on contemptuously.

Then he was forced to drag a cumbersome cross up a hill, was nailed to it, and was left to die the slow, excruciating torture of death by crucifixion while hecklers stood by and shouted insults, making fun of his pain and challenging his claim to be God.

Next, as Jesus took all of mankind's sin and guilt on himself, God looked away from that ugly sight, and Jesus cried out in total desperation, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus could have saved himself - but then he could not have saved you.

Why did God allow and endure such ghastly, evil mistreatment? Why? So you could be spared from eternity in hell, and so you could share in his glory forever!

Never again should you wonder what you have to be thankful for.

This one seems pretty short and sweet.


Generally speaking; Tough up.
We usually complain about so many things. Some common examples are being sick, embarrassed, shy, too busy, or sometimes we just say "I don't want to." I remember the first time I called in sick to practice, Billy called me up and the main words he said were "I don't care, you should just pull yourself out of bed and get over here." Not to say he was being mean, but looking back; in every sense, he was right. There's really no reason that we should be missing a responsibility and window of opportunity given to us by God, and the few exceptions would list only ridiculous things. Like maybe, the plague. (lol). Or a family death.

Point is, Jesus set a bar of expectations and we should at least put an active effort toward those expectations, rather than lazing around and not attending to our responsibilities "just because."

I guess a good instance where we could apply this is our devos.

Jake, you mean "toughen up" LOL

Anyhow, I feel that many Christians who have been going to church since a very young age (like the most of us), kind of forgot what the core of Christianity faith was. When others ask us what Christianity and our beliefs are, we simply say that Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, died for us on the cross so that we could be forgiven of our sins. However, I feel that we are not always as thankful as we should be. After all, the Son of God came down on this Earth in the form of man, and hasn't saved himself from God's plan, so that he could save us instead. This kinda thing is what we see in dramas, which normally don't happen. But it did, and Jesus died for you and I!

Although we may never fully understand God, we know that his intention was purely out of love and to save us from our sins. So naturally, it is a very valid reason of worship, one of the biggest, that I think we should never forget as a praise team.

Every time I read about what Jesus had to go through for our sake it just makes me feel something inside. We always complain, bicker, cry, cry, more crying, complain, are not thankful, selfish. We should just suck it up seriously, We may not see it now, but later one we will realize how thankful we should be for Jesus. He coulda just dipped and saved himself but he went through all of the pain and mockery just to save us. People he doesnt know but he cared that much about EVERYONE. We should stop worrying about every little thing and stop asking for more but just be looking at the good things. Jesus died and took all of our sins away. How sick is that, we cannot thank him enough for what He has done.

I tend to sometimes forget the importance of this story.
It is the story of what changed the fate of mankind.
Every year we reflect on this, but sometimes I feel it more of a routine instead...
When I read today's devo, I try to picture this story in my head.... Unbarably painful.
But Jesus could've backed down at anytime and saved himself from all of this pain and torture. The only reason why he died is for our sake and whatever sin we have eve committed.
The price for win is death. Instead of spending eternal life with God, we were supposed to face death.
Someone has taken that great burden off of you. As children of God, we have access into heaven. The gift of eternal life. What greater gift and favor is there?

I know I'm repeating the story of Easter, but I feel that we should be reminded about why we should be happy and worship. If you're comparing the gift of eternal life to your other problems, there's nothing to really complain about.

That is also why we should always praise even when we are going through the hard times. Even when it's not always easy, There is always a reason to worship.

~Audrey~

We're so so lucky to have Jesus. Honestly. Without him, our lives wouldn't be the same. He died for us! But he wasn't just killed quickly. He was tortured brutally for a long time. Just think of all that pain he had to go through!
And it sucks because we're always complaining about something and we make such a big deal out of it but when Jesus was going through all that misery, never once did he turn away from God's plan.
Sure there will be those issues that really are a big deal (Like someone passing away or you failed your exam or whatever) and that really do impact your life negatively but just keep in mind what Jesus had to bare with.
And think about it guys. We have a pretty perfect life compared to a lot of people. God blessed us with decent lives with a good family, enough money, good friends, a house, all the food we can eat till we're stuffed and so much more, right? So are we really going to let one little problem totally screw us over? There are millions of homeless people, orphans, families living in poverty, etc that would kill to trade lives with you. God gave us all we need and more AND he gave up Jesus just for us.

I always find it more clearing to understand God's perspective on things.
If we were to look at our hard ships and compared it to God's, ours are magnified as miniscule.
Today's reading clearly outlines exactly WHY we should worship our God, because of the ultimate sacrifice.
Now knowing that, why should anything else halt us from giving him that same worship that he deserves? Our actions change, God's sacrifice remains constant, so it's not sensible that we get discouraged.