Preparing for Easter ... How about you? - Day 29 - John 12, Isaiah 61

March 31, 2012 • Leave a Comment

“That they may be called trees of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Isaiah 61:3

This morning my heart is full of joy knowing I have a redeemer who not only loves me and rescues me, but embraces me, inviting me into His family. How about you?

Looking back over the timeline of my life, I see His arms, carrying me, prodding me, lifting me, focusing me, correcting me, and loving me before I even knew Him. How about you?

Just as Isaiah prophesied in the book of Isaiah, chapter 61, verses 1 through 3, Jesus’ loving arms are reaching out to set me free from despair, from myself, from others opinions or judgments of me … free in my pain, free in my suffering … to what? Free to rejoice in all things, in all circumstances, because I know who holds me and walks beside me. How about you?

Not only do I have freedom, but I exchange all the ugly, shameful things of my past, my present, and my future, for the beauty found in the sacrifice and the love of Jesus Christ. I know where I should be and the life I should be living, but He rescues me. How about you?

I become His daughter and He becomes my Father; therefore, I live like I belong to a royal family. Not in prideful arrogance, hoarding all the Father gives me, but in humility, remembering I am adopted and the Father longs to adopt more children. So, I too must follow in His Son’s footsteps, focusing on our heavenly Father’s business; spreading the Word and extending His love to everyone I met. How about you?

It’s not my choice who to invite in because my Father has already said everyone gets an invitation … “I love the world so much, I gave my only Son so that whoever believes in Him may have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) I hold the invitation and have been commanded to deliver … it’s our Father’s business … but too often, I forget, I get busy … becoming deaf to the cries of the hopelessness, to the lost ones, surrounding me waiting to be rescued. How about you?

Palm Sunday ushers in a week of rejoicing over freedom, salvation, and hope: It also ushers in a week of focusing on others who need to know about Easter Sunday. How can I not be about the Father's business? This week especially. So my prayer is for the Father to help me recognize someone’s cry and respond with His invitation to join our family. How about you?

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