Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, the day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. It's not as popular as Easter. Light and triumph are more appealing topics than darkness and death. Yet without that death, there would have been no resurrection...no forgiveness, no glorification, no light. So, it's an important day to remember.

As I pondered what to post to recognize the day, I found myself coming up short. What can one simple human say to reflect on the greatest event in history? Then I thought of Isaiah 53, written hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. After all, the Bible usually says it best.

Isaiah 53

 ¹ Who has believed our message
   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
   and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
 ⁴ Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.
 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
   Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
   for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
   and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
   nor was any deceit in his mouth.
 ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
   and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
   and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
   he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
   and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
   and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
   and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
   and made intercession for the transgressors.


Have a blessed Good Friday and a joyous Easter!

The Center of My Universe

Leaving God out of the Equation


“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 53:1a ESV).

Sometimes I flatter myself that I’m the center of Shadow’s universe. After all, I’ve already shown that she follows my every move and seeks me out when I’m not around. She looks to me for food, for shelter, for comfort. She even panics--sometimes--when I’m not in sight.

Then something happens to snap me back to reality. Shadow displays a lack of trust. She gives me the cold shoulder or, worst of all, lets me know she’s only in it for the tuna and body heat. It’s not about me after all. It’s all about her.

Shadow is the center of her own universe.

That sounds like a harsh indictment on Shadow. It would be if so many of us, feline and human alike, didn’t share the same attitude.

Looking at the words of Psalm 53, it’s easy to dismiss them as directed toward atheists or “bad people.” Yet it has as much to do with a shift in focus as with outright denial. That shift in focus can be subversive. Even Christians can be caught by its subtlety if our attention lapses.

Shadow doesn’t doubt my existence. Neither does B.J. Neither has any other cat who has ever owned me. Felines don’t get caught up in philosophical questions or existential ponderings. Their thoughts are placidly centered...on themselves.

We humans fall prey to the same self-deceptions. We forget the words of Psalm 111, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding” (Psalm 111:10).

When we forge ahead without praying for guidance, we’ve calculated without including God’s plans in our equations. When we panic instead of relying on God’s provision, we’ve forgotten that God holds the universe, not vice versa. When we put our own desires ahead of God’s will or the needs of others, a subtle shift has occurred. We displace God from the center of our lives and put ourselves there instead. We may not proclaim our unbelief, but our hearts whisper it.

“There is no God. I am the center of my universe.”

And that’s just foolish.


Happy April Fools' Day.