Today, I wanted to break from my usual routine of sending you helpful hints along your leadership journey and send you a pertinent message to your more significant journey -- the journey of life.
And as a head's up, I am writing to you on a very personal level today. I am talking about something very near and dear to my heart -- my faith. I respect wherever you may be on the faith continuum (and even if you're not on it at all), but today I want to share a core part of what makes me, me.
I don't know your upbringing, and I don't pretend to know how easy or difficult your life was through your formative years.
I'm grateful, however, for my upbringing and the foundation set for me as I grew up in church.
There I learned about the faith that would grow to anchor my life. And a big part of my faith grew from the old hymns we used to sing -- hymns like this one…
O Lord my God, When I, in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
I learned through those timeless lyrics how God's love is so strong that He spared nothing to fix the mess we made by choosing our way instead of His.
And to show us the depth of His love and willingness to be near to us, He sent His Son Jesus into the world. The hymn continues...
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on a Cross, my burdens gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
And as Jesus bled and died, He had you and me in mind. On His shoulders was every sin we would ever commit -- all that would create guilt, shame, and separation from God.
Jesus took it all away.
And in its place, He offers us new hope and a second chance.
The hymn concludes with these powerful lyrics and reflects the joy we can have because of that first Resurrection Sunday -- the greatest day in history.
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
What Jesus did on that first Resurrection Sunday forever changed the course of history.
Because of Jesus, we can be forgiven and made right with God. It's good news still worth celebrating today -- and especially on Easter.
Scripture reminds us, in 1 Peter 1:3:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
I hope you will come to discover the "living hope" you have available to you through coming to know Jesus. It is the best decision you could ever make in this life.
