This week has me full on exhausted. I’m typing that currently at 10:09pm when I said I would go to bed two hours ago…but hear me out.
There is nothing I would rather do than sacrifice every ounce of time I have this week to make Jesus known. And I am praying that my sacrifice is audacious every week for that very reason.
This week that includes launching a new website, editing and printing a new guest brochure, writing fancy script on chalkboards, listening to the worship set again and again, organizing details, and anxiously awaiting Sunday morning like it’s Christmas morning (because obviously something correlates the excitement of the two…)
nothing has been more important than these things I did this week.
-sent a text to my mom
-did my taxes with my dad
-had lunch with my brother
Those things don’t seem out of the ordinary and, even though the acts themselves aren’t out of the ordinary, a weighty and poignant invitation hangs in the balance.
On this day over two thousand years ago, after Jesus had wept and prayed and been betrayed He made His way to give up His life for the one’s He so dearly loved. He was brutally beaten and was in agonizing pain as He took it all. Viciously whipped and spit on…beaten and bruised and forced to carry death on His back. He knew those hours He would spend bleeding and suffering and hanging on a tree would set God’s children free.
He breathed His last and the veil was torn…
Three days from now the sun is going to rise…and I am praying those hearts are tugged on to get up, get dressed, and to come as they are with all baggage in tow to hear of the Love that changed my life and that holds the potential to change theirs.
Death no longer has a place. Neither does shame. Neither does guilt. Neither does bondage to perfection or hopelessness or slavery or pain.
It’s not longer about works or how many boxes you can check, but belief in a resurrected Savior who came to bring us life by taking our place. He who wants to be the One to guide us through, to bust through our brokenness, and to carry our burdens is eagerly waiting for us to turn to Him.
The resurrection of Jesus bridged the gap forever more. And there are still hearts in this city and others around the world that do not know or understand that truth. As I am praising my Savior for what He did for me, how He saved my {your} life, I am praying relentlessly for those who are grasping for air and that they would let Jesus be the one to catch them in the free fall.
Bear your cross as you wait for the crown,
Tell the world of the treasure you’ve found.
-O Come To The Altar, Elevation Worship
Those two lines of that song hit my gut in that deep place. The place that resonates with the truth that in this story of my life, there is no story I would rather tell, no day/act I would rather celebrate, nothing I would rather feel in a combination of joy and sorrow and no name I would rather praise…
than the one true Love.
My hope and my prayer is that this day every year continues to change our hearts, that we wouldn’t just remember this sacrifice and example of love on Easter, but that through continual reflection our gratefulness would permeate.
Gratefulness will permeate into stronger, self-sacrificing love, it will continue to change sorrow into joy, and it will bring strong conviction reminding us of the song of salvation that needs to be sung so it can be heard…
The Celeste Elizabeth 