This Friday is Good Friday, 2018.  Most people will go about their daily routine as usual.  I’m not knocking that.  I want to live every day with Jesus on my mind, not just a few holidays.  My heart cries out for him in the everyday of life.  Good Friday and next Friday and last Friday my inner being clings to him for my needs.  He’s who I thank in the joys and run to in the disappointments.  I can’t imagine being adrift in life not being sure that he is in complete control of everything that happens to me.

This morning I read three essays by women who have weathered terrible things in their lives.  Personal injuries/health issues, long term illness in their children, personal loss.  The advice they each gave was to find strength in yourself.  Be positive, believe in yourself, love yourself and you’ll be fine.  After reading these essays, I felt sad and uneasy.  There was truth in their statements, but there were also lies that are gaining momentum in our culture by the day.

Reaching down deep into myself for strength is a well that runs dry.  What to do when I’m too exhausted, too discouraged, too fearful, too sad to find strength in myself?  I think a more reliable source of strength is the eternal, all-powerful, loving God.

“The eternal God is your refuge,
    and his everlasting arms are under you.”  Deuteronomy 33:27

I certainly agree that we should love and value ourselves. After all, God loves and values us.  He hasn’t left us alone to drift through life carried along by currents of random events which in the end dump us into a black hole of non-existence.  No, God is constantly for us and with us, taking loving notice of us and orchestrating our lives to bring us closer to himself, thereby insuring our happiness.  That’s the story of Good Friday.  God loving us and sending his son to pay the ransom for us.  That ransom payment cost Jesus his life.  But he considered us worth it.  We are valuable and worthy because he made us and died for us; not because we can do anything to earn value.

“…now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed”  Hebrews 9:15

Scripture assumes we’ll love ourselves.  We have all been given an innate desire to survive, so we protect and promote ourselves. From birth, we try to get our needs met. A newborn baby who is healthy wants to nurse.  Taking care of our physical and emotional needs are our daily concern.   Every one of us wants happiness for ourselves.  Even those who take their own lives do so in an effort to be happy.  They think they’ll be better off dead than alive.  It’s automatic to take care of ourselves, but God wants to help us care for others with as much concern as we give ourselves.  This isn’t automatic.  It takes God’s help.  He knows it’s important for our happiness.

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”  Leviticus 19:18

I agree that we should be the best version of ourselves.  This is actually God’s vision for each of us.  He is willing to help us become all we were created to be, continually improving, leaving the past behind, growing, stretching, and not trying to be someone else.

“Not that I have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:12-14

In order to be the best version of myself I must practice self-examination; being honest with myself and God.  I need to identify the attitudes and actions that are not in my best interests.  I know what isn’t in my best interests because God has told us in the Bible.  Sin is another word for actions that don’t serve us well.  We avoid the word ‘sin’ because it’s blamed for making people feel guilty.  I think we have the wrong idea of God’s motives.  He has given us instructions so we can be happy.  He’s told us what to avoid so we can be safe.   When we participate in attitudes and behaviors that are what the Bible calls sin, we are going against what will make us happy.  God wants our happiness, so he has told us what things to avoid.  By avoiding these things, we are avoiding a lot of grief.  By pursuing the positive things he has laid out for us, we are choosing a happy life.  I’m not saying an easy life.  Or a life without loss.  I’m saying a life of real happiness, love, hope, peace, and wisdom.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”  2 Timothy 3:16

But even self-examination takes God’s help.  We have to take a long look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word each day.  Just comparing ourselves to others isn’t enough.  Or even comparing ourselves to ourselves isn’t enough.  We need an objective standard that doesn’t shift with popular opinion.  A standard that has stood through the ages.  Even after recognizing areas that need to change, our default is to just go on with life and not root out our issues.  It takes help to get down to the root issues.  Here again, God, by his spirit, comes beside us and guides us to probe deeply.  He often uses other people to point out truth to us.  Haven’t you ever watched someone display an unlovely attitude and a little voice in your head says, “Watch out for that!  You don’t want to be like that.”  Or someone who is wise shares their story and a little voice inside says, “Can you see yourself in them?  Pay attention to them.”  Or you just want your issue to go away without you doing the hard work and someone you admire goes on a rant about wishful thinking vs hard work.  And they don’t even know your situation!  All these are God’s spirit spurring you on.  Without his help, we’d only have good intentions.

“If you love me, keep my commands.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.”  Jesus in John 14:15-16

Confession is an old-fashioned word that simply means admitting that you’ve been headed in the wrong direction and asking God for the forgiveness and strength necessary to turn around and get going the right direction.  It’s important to speak to God in specifics here.  Vagueness isn’t going to help you change.  If you can’t name what you want to change, you won’t.  When you name the hurtful attitude and agree it’s wrong, believe that God forgives.  The great thing about Good Friday is that we don’t have to pay eternally for our wrongs.  Jesus, the sacrificial Passover lamb, already paid.  (The natural consequences of those wrongs will follow us, but we’re not guilty any longer.  We’re forgiven!)

“John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”  John 1:29

Knowing we’d need encouragement along the path of life, God gave us authentic stories of real people.  In the Bible, there are men and women who refused God; examples of what we should avoid.  There are many who listened to God and yet sometimes failed; examples we can identify with.

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us”  Paul talking about the nation of Israel in their desert wanderings in 1 Corinthians 10:11

He also sent the one real, yet perfect person to be more than a good example.  That man could do what no other human could do- take all God’s punishment on our behalf. And that’s the good news of Good Friday.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”  John 3:16-17