Good Friday

April 3

Today we ponder the awful events of Good Friday...the apprehension in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed, the betrayal of those close to Him, the mockery of a trial, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the grueling trudge to Golgotha bearing the cross, the crucifixion, the thirst, the parting of His garments, the piercing of His side. The death for you and me.

Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Romans 14:4. Because of all Jesus bore on that Good Friday so long ago, no one can judge us. If we are washed clean in the shed blood of Calvary, we are washed white as snow. We are set free from sin. We are born again. We are made new.

In Joshua 24:13 we are told that we must, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” That doesn’t go down well with a people who think they are free. Americans are so accustomed to the liberties we are guaranteed in our Constitution that we have a difficult time discerning that vigilance on our part is necessary if we are to maintain them.

Our brothers who are citizens of nations where freedom is not an assured right along with life and the pursuit of happiness grasp much more fully than we do why the freedoms we enjoy are worth dying for. They see much more clearly what we are throwing away by our inability to discern the subtle changes that are occurring in our government that are encroaching more and more fully into our rights and freedoms.

And people who are not at liberty to worship God in the way that their conscience dictates can see far more fully than foolhardy Americans just how precious in the Constitutional guarantee that we may bow before our Creator in the way that seems right to us—or not bow at all if we are so blind as to believe He does not exist and is not worthy of our worship.

But, every person who is ever born will indeed serve someone. Free men in free countries may choose whom they will serve while men in bondage must serve the gods set before them by a tyrannical government, but all men will serve someone.

If we think we serve no one, we deceive ourselves because every person who is alive will serve either the Lord Jesus Christ or some demonic entity that presents itself as a god worthy of worship. And ultimately, for all eternity, “Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the eternal glory of God,” Romans 14:11.

Shall we judge other men? That is not ours to do, but we must indeed weigh and judge the evidence set before us regarding this matter of faith and in whom we shall place it, for the reality is that only God can keep the promise of Romans 14:4 that assures the believer that he shall stand on that Great and Terrible Day when all men’s works shall be tried by fire according to I Corinthians 3:13 which says:

“Their work will be shown for what it is, because that Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”

There is no better day than Good Friday to consider the work of Christ on the cross and its impact upon men...upon you. There is no better day than Good Friday to lay down your burden of sin at His feet and to allow Him to place upon you the robe of His righteousness.

There is no better day than Good Friday to evaluate afresh the freedom He has given us and to embrace all its ramifications in not only our personal lives but in our interaction with those around us and in our exercise of our rights as citizens of a free nation.

Hold fast to Jesus now, so He can use you to stand for liberty in all its forms and so He can cause you to stand at His side when Judgment Day arrives.