God's Sacrifice and Promise

Religious ceremonies…. Crosses…. Flagellants…. These are just a few of the indications that Holy Week is here again in the Philippines. Many of the devoted Catholics have already begun their annual dramatized reenactments of the sacrifice and death of Christ.

(Our Holy Week blog from last year describes a bit more of this Catholic holiday and shows a few pictures.)

Holy Week (the week before Easter) commemorates the last few days of Christ up to His crucifixion on the cross. During this week, many of the people go through drastic measures of celebrating this holiday such as flogging themselves with bamboo floggers, crawling on the dirt roads, and even nailing themselves to a cross. Their motive for doing this? They perform these actions with the hopes of gaining atonement for their sins.

It is sobering to watch so many seeking to do what only God can (and did) do, which is make atonement for our sins.

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." (Romans 5:8-11)

Because Christ already paid for our sins, died on the cross for you and I, and rose from the grave, we do not have to endeavor to make atonement for our sins. “It is finished!” as Jesus proclaimed in John 19:13. He died for us so that we might have eternal life through Him. :-)


Nails meant For Me

"The nail was driven through His hand,
Oh the pain that was unjustly dealt.
But much worse was the agony,
Of mankind's sin He felt.

The crown of thorns that tore into His scalp,
Was a punctuation to mankind's rejection.
The world denied the King of kings,
A man who attained perfection.

In a moment all was finished,
Christ's work was done,
He had accomplished the Father's will,
That he chose for His only begotten Son.

The nails of pain, He took for our sins,
They were nails meant for me,
But thanks to God's Grace,
The nails of death I will never see."

- Written by Jay Parr

As Easter approaches, may we remember all that God has done for us. He took those nails that were meant for you and me. Why not stop right now to thank Him for His precious gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ? Without His sacrifice, we would not have the promise of everlasting life.

May you have a blessed Easter!