Brothers and sisters, you are worth dying for.

I recently heard a man talking about how much he loved his children, and among other points he made, he was able to say without hesitation or irony that he would die for them.

That made me stop and think about such sacrificial love. I think many parents would share that father’s sentiment. And, apart from those among us who are utterly self-absorbed and hard-hearted, most people would say there is at least one other person they would be willing to die for: a spouse, a dear friend, a treasured member of their extended family. To a greater extent, there are those who serve in military or other special capacities who might readily say they would be willing to die for their country or a particular people group and cause.

But to find a human being on earth who would honestly say, “I would readily lay down my life for anyone and everyone around me — even, and especially, my worst enemy!”…? I defy any reader to show me such a person in our midst.

And I would argue there has never been such a person to walk the earth — that is, none but Jesus.

Even if we had the heart to make that claim, we would not have the capacity, on our own, to love like that and make such a sacrifice. And, on our own, we could also never (even) have the heart to want to love like that and make such a sacrifice. We are so fallen and so limited. Only Jesus has (and can have) such a heart naturally.

Yet, the beauty of it is, through His love and His sacrifice, we were all seen by Him as worth dying for…and when His love changes and shapes the hearts of those who follow Him, we start to see circumstances and other people differently. We start to pause after someone has hurt or offended us and remember that He thought they were worth dying for too.

Our perception of our worth rightly aligns. And our perception of their worth rightly aligns. And while we may not still readily feel like we would (physically) die in the place of that other person if we had the chance to, we may start to sense some of our offendedness, defensiveness, or bitterness towards the other person fade away.

Children who are raised by sacrificially-loving parents may not grow up to behave likewise. But if they have sacrificially-loving parents or other community members as an example, they will be far more likely to love like that when they are adults. Likewise, as Christ thought toward and loved us, while we were yet enemies of God, so too should we follow His example: to remember that we were worth dying for in His eyes and that is how much He has loved the whole world.

Below, I will leave you with a jotted poem draft from three years ago, and will encourage you again in conclusion….

Be who you are. Live today as one worth dying for.

My family in Christ, we are sorrowful.

Before there was an Easter Sunday, there was the Father’s turning away from the Son at Golgotha and, even earlier, the Son’s prayer regarding His Father’s will in Gethsemane.

Before there was the raising of Lazarus from the dead, there were tears streaming down our Lord’s face in the face of his friend’s sickness and death, as well as the sorrow of many loved ones around.

Before joy comes in the morning, there is often weeping that lasts the whole long night through.

We have the ability to recognize and choose joy in part because we have the capacity to know the (seeming) absence of it.

So, some believers will say that if we are to be true and upstanding followers of Christ, we are never to be down but only to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4).

But the same apostle who wrote those words also admonished readers in Romans 12 to both “rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” And Jesus pronounced, in Matthew 5, a blessing on those who mourn, promising that they would find comfort. And Solomon reminded us in Ecclesiasties 3 that there is a season for sorrow and a season for celebration.

We have been saved by grace through faith, and that is a spectacular gift which should fill us with happiness and thanksgiving.

But there are still sins we may struggle with throughout the course of our life, and when we face those temptations, godly sorrow should rightly guide us to renewed repentance.

And there are the pressures of life in a fallen world that may certainly lead us, sometimes in tears, to the arms of our Father who cares and understands our sadness.

And we are surrounded by those who are still lost and wondering in darkness, and it is often a necessary reminder of that sad reality that will motivate us to be the light we were reborn to be.

And our Savior is Himself known as the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53) who was and is acquainted with grief and who knew the deepest suffering — and all alone.

And…it was, after all, some point of heartbreak that led each of us to repent and invite Him into our hearts in the first place.

So, at the end of this Passion Week — and in every season — know the joy of salvation and of victory over the grave. But also live in the tension of keeping a soft, broken heart that makes room for His love to grow deepest roots.

Dear ones in Christ, be who you are. Be sorrowful.

Dear ones in Christ Jesus, you are comforted.

When I use the root word comfort today, I am not talking about the idea of being comfortable in a wealth, pampering, or emotionally non-confrontational sense. I am talking about the sense of being comforted by someone who cares about and for us. Sometimes being comforted means another removes a source of threat, fear, or pain. But even if they don’t or can’t remove that source (temporarily or for the long-term), their presence, touch, or other provision of nearing care-full-ness calms us, strengthens us, and nurtures us.

From the time we enter the world, we are not only in need of food, clothing, and shelter; we are additionally in need of comforting by others. If a baby is given food and clothes but they are otherwise ignored, left untouched, and placed apart from people for the remainder of each day and night, they will languish. Even if they do survive and grow, their development will be forever negatively impacted.

The funny thing is, even though we understand that a baby needs to be comforted and our aging relatives also need the same as they weaken and approach death, people of every age need to be comforted. As an adult behaving in a mature and responsible fashion, I should earn money to buy my own clothing (or make it) and get up to wash and clothe myself each day, and I should seek shelter to take care of myself, my body. That should not be the responsibility of everyone else while I am of sound body and mind. But my need to be comforted when challenges arise and scary moments hit: that never goes away. No matter if we are male or female, or the family mentality under which we were raised, we all need to be comforted.

The Bible is replete with words on this topic. From the human side, we see examples such as Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 24:67, David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 12:18-25, and numerous mentions of individuals who comforted and encouraged the apostle Paul throughout his years of travel, ministry, and imprisonment.

But then….there is our dear and mighty God. Multiple times in the Old Testament, He tells us of how He has comforted or He will comfort. The passage I read aloud to my husband Paul (Isaiah 40:1-11) during our wedding ceremony starts with the words, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her heart service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” And the end of the passage continues, “See, the sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”

God is a comforting God. He does not mean to make us comfortable. But He does mean to comfort. And this difference is essential to understand and remember. Because sometimes the choices of other people will lead to our pain, frustration, anger, or sorrow — and often the things that God allows for his sovereign purposes may leave us scratching our head in perplexed ambiguity, decrying the limitations of the human mind and the human heart.

BUT that great and all-knowing God says, “Trust Me.” AND that great and all-powerful God says, “I am holding you close to My heart.”

And Jesus promised in John 14 that all of His followers will be given the continuous comfort of the Holy Spirit. No matter what waters swirl around us in this life, we will never be alone. And we will be strengthened to carry on — and to comfort others.

Be reminded of this precious gift today.

Dear brothers and sisters, be who you are. Be comforted.

(Photo credit: Laura Ann Guerrier)

As followers of Jesus, we must be righted.

Many a ship sailing upon the sea has been tossed by the waves so that the ship will dip wildly to one side or the other. What a relief it must be for those aboard when the water is calm once more and the ship has been righted: fully level and upright, moving in the correct intended direction again. If a ship starts to list, that means it takes on water and begins to tilt to one side. If the source of water intake can be stopped early and a water log can be somehow drained, perhaps the ship can be saved. But many ships have gone down after they listed too far, never to be righted again.

The modern follower of Christ, especially in the west, is surrounded by cultural influences which urge us to “follow your heart” and claim that “my heart can’t possibly lie.” Yet God’s word clearly states otherwise. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” And 1 John 3:18-20 says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

If we do not have a heart being redeemed by Christ, we have nothing higher to guide us and no greater purifying filter through which to view life circumstances, emotional responses, personal choices, and inevitable pain. But when we start to desire His leadership in our lives, we want to trust Him more than we trust our fickle, tossed — and even listing — heart.

While we yet live in this world, in bodies still limited and broken, with souls being sanctified, we will wrestle with this.

But with our eyes on Jesus, we will see a truer reflection of how things really are. Then, we will come through each small and big storm of life to the peace of smooth waters and a righted ship.

Dear friends, trust Jesus to know and steer your heart.

And be righted.