What Passover Means to Christians, Exodus 11:13

Buddy likes to hide in his cubicle which gives him the illusion of being safe. He doesn’t realize that he’s only safe because we choose not to intrude upon his “safe space”. We could easily pull him out of the cube or pick it up and drop him out of it.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Old Testament, Moses was sent by God to lead the Israelites out of bondage to the ancient Egyptians and into the Promised Land (modern Israel is only a tiny portion of this original territory). With each refusal of Pharaoh to let the people go, God sent a plague which was a judgment against each Egyptian God, proving that He was far more powerful. The last and final judgment was the most severe: God would kill the first born son of everyone in Egypt, including the cattle.

However, a family could be spared this judgment by slaying an unblemished male lamb and “take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses…”(Exodus 11:7)  The passover meal was to be eaten that same night the destroying angel came to strike the firstborn.

“The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”–Exodus 11:13

The people were spared, not because they were holier than anyone else or because they were more deserving by their good behavior, not to have the avenging angel visit their home; they were spared if they BELIEVED what God said, that Judgment was coming, and placed the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. When the destroying angel saw the blood on the house, He would PASSOVER the house. Their response by believing and acting on the warning spared their family the death of the firstborn. The innocent lamb died instead.

This mighty night symbolized the coming of the perfect Lamb of God Who would live a blameless life and die for our sins on the Cross. ‘The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!'”–John 1:29 God sent His own firstborn Son to die in our place.

We are spared the judgment of God for our sins on Judgment Day when the blood of Christ has been sprinkled on the doorposts of our hearts. When God sees our belief in Christ and His sacrifice for our sin, He PASSES OVER us in judgment and declares us righteous.

There is no other way to escape our judgment for our sin but to believe in Jesus and His sacrifice in place for our sin. We don’t work or earn our way into Heaven, because the standard is too high: We can never meet it.

People call Christianity too exclusive or unfair. It’s not fair that Christ had to die for our sin, set aside His divinity, and die when he had never done anything evil to deserve punishment. He never rejected us; humankind rejected His rule and authority and fellowship with Him. It’s fair because everyone, no matter who they are or where they are or how old they are, need only humble themselves by admitting their need for a Savior.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”–Ephesians 1:8-9

Only God is perfect and only God could meet the standard of perfection to enter Heaven.

“You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”–Jesus, Sermon On The Mount, Matthew 5:48

Have a blessed Easter.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

***

It’s true. To rejoice in God’s mercy on Judgment Day, you need only humble yourself, confessing that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior to pay the penalty for your sin, and believe. Please say the below prayer if you’d like:

Dear Lord, I confess that I’ve fallen far short of the standard required to enter Heaven and live in eternity with You in great joy. I believe that Jesus lived a blameless life, was crucified to pay for my sins, and rose from the dead, proving that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. I believe that Jesus was God in the flesh and rose bodily from the grave. Please save me and grant that the Holy Spirit enter my heart so that I’ll be born-again. Please grant me eternal life and walk with me throughout this life. Teach me Your ways.

If you prayed this prayer, please find a Bible-believing Church and get a Bible in some form to grow in a knowledge of God. Congratulations on starting your eternal life.

 

 

The Fickle Crowd, Matthew 21:8-9

There is nothing that could ever convince me to abandon Buddy. I love him totally.

However, the crowd abandoned Jesus. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, his beloved city, on Palm Sunday the crowd spread branches across his path as he rode in on a donkey’s colt.

“Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!”–Matthew 21:8-9

But as Pastor Michael Youssef stated recently on his radio program, the people turned against Him because he didn’t do what they wanted. They wanted Him to overthrow the government and free them from Roman tyranny. His intention, however, was to deliver their souls from another tyrant, Satan, and the tyranny of sin.

Days later that same city of people was crying out to the Roman ruler:

“Pilate said to them (the crowd), “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” but they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!”–Matthew 27:22-23

I was very sad earlier this year when I found out that a longtime friend, someone I thought loved me, didn’t want to be my friend anymore and stopped communicating with me because I didn’t vote the way she thought I should. She didn’t even tell me: I didn’t receive a Christmas card as usual. I worried about her welfare, concerned that she may have had a stroke, but my calls weren’t answered. Then a mutual friend told me the reason why. I haven’t heard from this woman since the 2016 election.

But my conscience has never been for sale, even before I became a Christian.

When I start to worry too much about what people think about me, I remind myself about Judgment Day. No one will be holding my hand when I stand before the great King Jesus in His full glory as He separates the sheep from the goats. I won’t be worrying about anyone else’s opinion of me. The only one Whose opinion I will be thinking about on that great day will be God Himself. I won’t be thinking about my ex-coworkers or friends or relatives or neighbors or my Facebook friends. I’ll be totally focused on Jesus and the Father on His throne, surrounded by the rainbow and peals of thunder and so very thankful that I accepted Jesus’ invitation to follow Him when I was alive on the earth.

Jesus told us that being a Christian was never going to be a popularity contest. In speaking to His disciples regarding the last days before His second coming, He said,

“…they will deliver you to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.”–Matthew 24:9

So here I am, publicly proclaiming Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The mighty King who set aside His glory to walk amongst His creation, who demonstrated His great love for us by dying on the Cross for our sins, and invites us today to join His mighty kingdom, to live with Him for eternity in a love relationship with Him.

Just gotta remember the unseen when life sucks or I’m being mistreated.

God loves you. Thanks for reading this blog. God bless. Dawn and her beloved Buddy

Evil for Evil, 1 Peter 3:9

I have an elderly neighbor named Fran that loves Buddy, so we try to visit him most nights so that he can have some dog time. His daughters have been visiting and brought a little Chihuahua-Chow mix with them called Sammy. Sammy is one pound of fur, one pound of dog and a hundred pounds of nasty. He growled and snapped at Buddy’s nose when Bud walked over to him to say “Hi”.

Now Buddy considers Fran’s house his second home. Sammy is an interloper. But how did Buddy respond to having his nose nipped? Surprise. He didn’t snap back, growl or attack the little runt. Everyone in the household enthusiastically declared what a sweet dog Buddy is.

Now, as you can see, Buddy has a better attitude than I do. I was not at all happy that this “little runt” attacked my dog. I love Buddy and am very protective of him. But he’s more noble than I am. He didn’t even bark at the dog but I feel irritated that Sammy tried to hurt Buddy.

I wish I could be more like Buddy. Both the Old and New Testaments command us to “treat others the same way you want to be treated,” Apostle Paul exhorts us to not to “return evil for evil” (Romans 12;17), and Apostle Peter wrote:

“not returning evil for evil or insult for insult but giving a blessing instead;”–1 Peter 3:9

Too often my first impulse is to retaliate when someone insults or mistreats me. Even though I know that Proverbs says, “sweetness of speech increases persuasion,” I still want to verbally thump someone who says something I think is ignorant, ill-informed, or just plain wrong.

Sometimes I think God put dogs into our lives to show us that it really is possible to be kind when others are unkind, to love unconditionally. Often Buddy shows more mercy and kindness than I do.

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”–Jesus, Matthew 5:44-45

When I take a moment to reflect on Jesus, I realize how the majority of people ignore or hate Him. Being omniscient, God knew that most people would reject Him, yet He still chose to give up His glorious home and restrict His divine power to live as a human being and die on a cross for our sins.

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”–Romans 5:6-8

God did it so that He could turn enemies of God into children of God by removing the sin barrier between us. God cannot tolerate evil and must punish it. Yet, instead of destroying the human race, He chose instead to suffer horribly and take our punishment for our sin.

What keeps me from being kind at times is a lack of humility.

Because when I’m rude and retaliating when someone is unkind or selfish, I’m forgetting that I once was an unbeliever till God had mercy on me. Who knows what kind of person I’d be today, or what foolishness I’d believe, if Jesus hadn’t convicted me of my sins on March 7th many years ago. Or “there but for the grace of God go I” the old saying goes.

“…to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy…”–Titus 3:3-5

And, sadly, what keeps people from knowing God is a lack of humility, the inability to admit that they’re sinners and need a perfect God to die on their behalf. Most people think they’re good enough to get to Heaven and don’t need someone to pay for their sins.

But God only accepts perfection to get into Heaven. “Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”–Jesus, Matthew 5:48

Personally, I know I fall short and cannot justify myself before a perfect God on Judgment Day. I just need to remind myself, before I’m tempted to “return evil for evil or insult to insult,” that God commands that I be kind, because He is kind to all.

In a rambling sort of way, what I’m saying is, that I need to be reminded to be kind when other people fall far short of how I think they should behave, because God is kind to me and accepts me as His child although I fall far short of His standards every day.

It shows how fallen I am that I even NEED to be reminded to be kind.

Thank God for His kindness and great mercy to me.

And bringing such a sweet and loving dog into my life to remind me what unconditional love really is like.

Thanks for reading and for your time. God bless you. Love from Dawn and Buddy

 

 

Discouraged, Psalm 43:5

When I feel discouraged, cuddling Buddy really helps to lift my spirits. Another way I lift my spirits is to read the Psalms. The Psalmists were honest before God and often admitted their discouragement or fear that God wasn’t answering their prayers or dismay that He was delaying too long. But after admitting their discouragement, they’d remind themselves of God’s care for them and His faithfulness.

“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” Psalm 43:5

After reading their raw feelings, I don’t feel so alone in my doubt and discouragement.

This wasn’t what I originally planned about blogging tonight, but I feel really discouraged. A close friend is very ill and doesn’t know the Lord. Another good friend again reminded me how far away she is from knowing Him. Sometimes I feel like giving up because it hurts too much to care about their souls. I know that Heaven and Hell are real: I had a born-again experience March 7th, 1989 and know that the Holy Spirit is real. But no matter how many hundreds (and thousands) of prayers on their behalf, there seems to be no crack in their armor.

You get discouraged? I’d like to hear some stories about God’s answer to your prayers for someone who was far away but came to know Him. Thank you.

While I wait, I’ll give Buddy some more hugs. And remind myself that I was once lost but now am found. Someone’s prayers for me were answered.