A very elementery and yet crucial teaching in Scripture was given by the Lord Jesus on the NIGHT in which he was betrayed. Remember the story? Was He betrayed by the soldiers that came, or by His own? We are now living in the night, and we are to be dying daily -- if we have indeed chosen to remain true to our marriage vow of COMMUNION WITH HIM.
Each time we are called upon to be broken, we fulfill our vow to our bridegroom, or we break it. When He broke the bread, He was asking us to be 'broken bread', just as He willingly chose to be Broken Bread (and each time to do it in remembrance of Him). He could have called ten thousand angels but He willingly went to the cross; He willingly laid there as they drove the spikes into His wrists -- and the ultimate took place -- He became broken bread for us -- His will totally surrendered to the will of His Father.
The "last supper" could have been Chinese cuisine, with Him breaking chopsticks and drinking soki; the elements were not the issue, the obedience and vows taken were. In this, the greatest hour of temptation and warfare since man's beginning in the Garden, we are each choosing daily; moment by moment, a blessing by obedience, or a curse (sleep and the sick bed) by doing it 'my way'.
The cup of His sufferings is ultimately drunk at the altar of everyday life, and not Communion Sunday. Like no time in the history of the Church, we need to be awakened to the truth of what Jesus spoke concerning Communion, for each decision is for or against our marriage vow we took when we gave our hearts to Him. If we confess a communion with Him and yet fail to allow this breaking and suffering, Jesus said that the condition of our souls is at stake.
We are either very much alive and awake or we are sleeping and sick -- spiritually. Like the story of Dorothy and her companions on their way to the land of Oz, we are passing through the poppy field and the enemy is attempting to lull us to sleep! It's time to wake up and be alert and not ignorant of the enemy's devices within our midst, for the battleground of the Church is very real! The road to the cross was paved with His obedience and suffering and dying to self and it certainly wasn't marked "easy street".
We must wake up and we must stay awake, and we must be obedient even unto death -- for to live is Christ and to die is to gain more of Him -- and it's only the "Him" in us that will survive. All else must die and one way or the other, it will. Today is the day of salvation.
It's time to renew our wedding vows and say 'yes' once more to our Bridegroom. And if we stumble and fall, we must pick ourselves up and continue the race. All the Lord requires is a repentant heart and a yielded will. The world is dying to see Him, and it's got to be through us, and when we lift Him up - He will indeed draw all men unto Himself.
* lindie gibson * echoes of the heart * livingston, montana *
...so we will know you've been by
