Forget Not!

Lest I forget Gethsemane lead me to Calvary, to love the Lord with all we have is the objective the Christian pursues. This is the climax of our "pursuit of holiness", to echo the Lord Jesus’ words “it is finished” or at least will be for the struggling pilgrim when he arrives. The Apostle Paul knew he had run his race and the end had come and his words where, “I have kept the faith”. To be a man with just a slither of his commitment would be so rewarding and who doesn’t have memories we can draw from, those times when we cried out to Jesus and he suckered us in his loving arms.

“Our Father”, a famous and well known prayer, now move through each line of the prayer, a fresh reminder of where we have come from and what God had done for us. A miraculous intervention, to save a sinner like me, with all my mistakes, bumps and bruises as a reminder of how far I have come, thank you Jesus and yet I have still a ways to go before echoing those words.

When times get tough, just remember Gethsemane and the hardships of our beloved Saviour endured for us. It’s when our minds play this victim game that we tend to lose focus. We have been called to suffer and the purpose of the struggle will bring us through the other side refined and a lot more like Jesus in character. This part of our growth is referred to as “Baptism into suffering”. We never have to ask the question, why? If and when we lose sight of the call to arms let us remember Gethsemane. After all isn’t that what we all want? To be like our great Saviour.

And the only way to achieve even the slightest resemblance is to cry out and find grace in time of need, if not the task at hand will become impossible. I do not want us to be confused in application, it’s not about finding strength to be better at our jobs or help with an exam. That would be acceptable if we were to desire those traits, but surely it’s the good and perfect will of God that we look to embrace.  It’s all about self-denial, squashing our will for self-gratification at the expense of others. Closing the doors of sin in our lives, which takes on many shapes and forms. My prayer is that we see ourselves as we are, that God would shine His righteous light into any particular action at the appropriate time, so that we are not blinded by our own darkness. The wickedness of our hearts blinding us from the blemishes that stain our lives. The flesh is so full of treachery that I long to shake it, once and for all to put it off and what a day that will be. However, until then may we all run our race with a burning resolve to be more like Jesus even whilst we house these earthen vessels tainted by self.

Signing off

Tyrone