I’m in the midst of reading a
couple books on prayer. In Pray Big: Learn to Pray Like an Apostle, Alistair Begg writes,
“All that
matters may be brought before God, but what we bring before God is
not always what matters most. When the eyes of our hearts are opened
to our future, it changes our lives now—it reorders our priorities
and our prayers. We pray less about the practical details of this
life, and first and foremost about the spiritual realities of our
eternal life” (29).
All too often we pray anemic prayers
because we are distracted by the things of this world and we miss the
things of eternity. That led me to think about what is most needed as
churches gather together this Easter Sunday, perhaps with many
visitors. The prayer I wrote in my journal included this: I pray
that You will work in each of us to fix our eyes upon You as the
author and perfecter of our faith... Let us not be distracted by
words or music or flowers or people, but let us be captivated by Your
glory.
After writing that down, I had to go
back to Scripture to read the context of Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB):
“Therefore,
since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us
also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily
entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of
faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
When I’ve read those verses in the
past, I’ve always had this mental image of a marathon runner
nearing the finish line, with crowds of people on both sides. In
fact, the “cloud of witnesses” has dominated the picture. But the
whole point is that we would fix our eyes on Jesus as our motivation
for endurance. While the crowd can be encouraging, our eternal
security depends on Christ alone. Don’t get me wrong—our
relationships within the Body of Christ are important and will
continue throughout eternity, but people can also distract us from
what God wants to do in our lives and in others at any given time.
Easter Sunday may be especially
prone to that distraction. Most churches have extra decorations and
special music, people tend to dress up more than usual, and there may
be unusual events planned. The intent is (hopefully) good—we want
people to engage with the message of the Gospel. But I wonder if
sometimes our extra efforts actually distract people from focusing on
God. It can appear that we are working to promote our church rather
than fixing our eyes on Jesus.
Easter is justifiably a celebration
of all that we have because of Jesus’ resurrection, both
individually and corporately. Beautiful decorations and music are
entirely appropriate. However, if I’m honest, I prefer the solemn
simplicity of the Good Friday service at my church. There are fewer
parts and, for me, fewer distractions from the One we are there to
worship.
An Easter sermon by John Henry Newman comments,
“At Christmas
we joy with the natural, unmixed joy of children, but at Easter our
joy is highly wrought and refined in its character. It is not the
spontaneous and inartificial outbreak which the news of Redemption
might occasion, but it is thoughtful; it has a long history before
it, and has run through a long course of feelings before it becomes
what it is… Accordingly,
Christmas Day is ushered in with a time of awful expectation only,
but Easter Day with the long fast of Lent, and the rigours of the
Holy Week just past: and it springs out and (as it were) is born of
Good Friday.”
For those of us who come from church
traditions that generally ignore Lent and may not think deeply about
Holy Week, his comments may seem foreign to us. We can appear to jump
into the celebration of Easter without experiencing the depths of
Good Friday. The Easter Sundays that have meant the most to me were
those that followed serious contemplation of the cross, Jesus’
death, and my sin that nailed Him there.
Let us not rush forward to Sunday’s
celebration without living through the darkness of Friday and
Saturday.
“And you, who were dead in your
trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive
together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by
canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal
demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross... Set your minds
on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you
have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians
2:13-24, 3:2-3 ESV).
--
Listen
to Dennis Jernigan’s song, “It Was My Sin.”
© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise
indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The
opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or
employer.
