Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

The Cross

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“I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
15 My mouth[a] is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce[b] my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me. ” Psalm 22:14-17 NIV

 

Do you wear a cross necklace?  Or earrings?  Do you own a t-shirt with a cross.  Or maybe you decorate your home with them.  Have you ever thought this custom odd?

Ancient Romans used the cross to torture, humiliate and kill people.  An instrument of cruelty, curses and shame.  And I have several hanging on my wall.

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The prophesy above from the book of Psalms describes someone (Jesus) hanging from a cross.  Bones out of joint.  Heart weak and useless.  Mouth a kind of dry we can’t even comprehend.  Spikes empaling the hands and feet with agony on display for gawkers to see.  Death and torture happened on crosses.  And yet we display them with respect.  Why would we clean up such an ugly thing for the world to see?

 

Why the Cross?

 

Because without the cross, we are ugly things.  And our clean up could not happen without the blood Jesus shed on the cross.  We are terrible sinners – every last one of us.  But Jesus.  He, who had never sinned, took on the death punishment for us so that we can be in relationship with God forever.  There is nothing more beautiful in all the world.

 

If you have questions about how Christ’s death brings us life with Him or how to accept this gift, please reach out to me by comment or send me a personal email at lauren@laurensparks.net.  There is nothing I would rather talk about.  The cross is beautiful because of Jesus.

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

I’m thinking about friendship right now as I work on a post for next week and found Jennifer’s post on the art of friendship to be very interesting.

 

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
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TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
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 Now Let’s Link Up!

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If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

First Friday Prayers: Good Friday

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Happy Good Friday!  I pray this day affords you some time to meditate on the sacrifices Jesus made for you and me.  And the huge significance of the cross.

 

“For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NASB

 

If Good Friday commemorates the day Jesus died, why do we call it good?

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It’s because of the last part of our scripture passage for today.  “…that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”  We celebrate the day Christ died because he didn’t stay in the grave.  He rose again.

 

So why is this significant?  Because God loves us.  He is holy and cannot have any part of sin, which is a problem because we are all sinners.  The penalty for sin is death.  And not just a death in this body, but an eternity spent separated from God and all that is good.  So God sent a substitute, who had never sinned, to die in place of us all.

 

Last week I heard a great analogy.  When we decide to trust in Jesus and his sacrifice to save us from eternal death, God sees us through rose colored glasses.  He sees us as righteous because he sees us through the blood of Jesus.  Forgiven.  Made right.  Eternally secure.  That’s why the day Jesus died was a good day.  Will you join me thanking the Father by praying these scriptures?

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

A read through of 10 Bible Verses for Healing a Broken Heart from Lisa Blair was just what I needed this week.  Maybe you would be encouraged by this too!

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

 Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

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