This coming Sunday, Passion/Palm Sunday, we will remember and celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This day is bittersweet for us because even as we read of the celebration we know that Friday is coming. The cross is coming. We know that many in the crowd that greeted him with within a few short days exchange words of praise to words of death.
There are many possible reasons, but one simple reason is that their words did not match their heart. They possessed a casual not a committed faith. So how can we have a committed faith? How can we be real and sincere?
In our own lives a committed faith comes only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. One where every day is fresh and new as He personally directs our steps.
In order to have a committed faith we must develop and maintain a personal relationship with Jesus.
Many come to Jesus expecting everything to go well. Maybe some slight bad but not too much. So, when the bottom drops out for us, we often ask God why? Thinking it is not supposed to happen this way.
If our faith is based on our situations or circumstances it will never be committed, it will always be casual. A committed faith takes the good with the bad. Knowing that all we are ever promised is that in the midst of both our good and bad; Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. We must trust him. With that trust we can face our pressures, trials and difficulties and come to a new degree of spiritual growth.
As we approach Holy Week where our Jesus suffered incredibly for us. In a week where our sins, past and future, were the nails that hung him on the cross; doesn’t Jesus deserve a second look, particularly with the world in which we live. Doesn’t He deserve total control of your life? Doesn’t He deserve a personal relationship with you?
Title: Christ Speaks to Zacchaeus; Date: 1908; Artist: William Hole (1846-1917); Object/Function: Print; Scripture: Luke 19:1-10; Copyright Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hole_zachaeus_in_tree.gif
