How....to explain to some one.......

I was thinking of a way to explain to some one....."why" Jesus had to die on a cross.

If....God loves us, and is all powerful, why couldn't He just forgive us from heaven and be done with it?
Why.....did Jesus have to be born a human, and die a criminal.....so that "I" could be saved?

And although some hard questions may not have easy answers, this side of heaven....... there is an explanation for why Jesus had to die to secure our....my....salvation.
It's sort of like this story....( very sort of)

A young lad loved to play basket ball and due to the fact that he loved it so much, he practiced and practiced every day, so he would be good enough to play on his favourite team.
he was allowed to "dribble the ball inside the house during winter, so he could keep on practicing, but there were some restrictions.
"No dribbling in the lounge room" as that was where his mum's mother's vase was, which was an antique as well.

The lad stuck to the rule, till, one day, he got so carried away with his dribbling of the ball, and it was going so good, before he realised he was in "the room" and the ball got away from him and as he covered his eyes so as not to see what was happening, he could hear.....what he did not want to hear!

On the floor.....lay the antique vase...in several.....several.... broken pieces.

He placed all the broken bits into a shoe box, and waited for his mum to come home.
As he expected, she was very upset, and did not speak to him till the next morning.
She called him into the bedroom, to talk to him about the consequences of his disobedience.
To the lad's very surprise, she tenderly forgave him for breaking the vase.

Then, to his mother's surprise, he presented her with the vase.....all glued back together again with white school glue, and there were only a few pieces missing.

"WE" are that broken vase.
We were/are broken by sin anjd all the forgiveness of God's great heart cannot change the fact that we would have stayed broken, had God not taken action past forgiving!

Apart from God taking action to put us back together again, the best we could do is try to patch ourselves up, through our own efforts,( which a lot of people still think they can do)
But, all "our" efforts to patch up our lives are no better than white glue on a broken vase.
By our own efforts.....we just stay worthless vases, unworthy of display on heaven's shelves.
Our only hope is that God will make us new again, not just patch us up, but make us brand new....a new creation!
The mum in my story could not make the vase new again, she was not it's creator.
Neither could the lad.

But....Jesus is the creator of the world....and He alone can make us new again. And, that is why he came! That's why he died!

Our hope is in the fact that he is greater than death!
His resurrection proved it!
So, he has everything he needs.....to give us new life!
All we have to do is accept the need for it and reach out in faith to him for this gift!
Turning away from our own efforts we turen to Jesus and are renewed!
Won't you turn to Jesus?
Bless you....
Yaddy

Fill my cup.....Lord

John 4:14, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life"
__________

The song "Fill My Cup, Lord" was written by Richard Blanchard and published in 1964. The song was an immediate hit, becoming the number one gospel song in America for about 20 years, after the heyday of "How Great Thou Art." Writing music was the primary way Richard communed with God and in times of stress, he took refuge at the piano."
In an interview by Dick Evans, writer for the Miami Herald, Richard was quoted as saying, “Quite often I will play around with a song idea in my mind. All of a sudden it will gel. A few of my songs have been given to me by the Lord.

It took only six minutes to think up the words of 'Fill my Cup, Lord’ and was finished with the music in another 20 minutes.

He was born to Missionary parents in China, growing up as a "preacher's kid" in poor churches in Indiana where his parents ministered during the depression, serious health problems resulting in removal of two lobes of his lungs, moving to the South during World War II while his dad was an Army Chaplain, the call to preach during his years at Mercer University in Macon, and incidentally, where he met his future wife, Anne, a student at Wesleyan College, were the different factors that shaped Richard’s ministry.
I sincerely trust this wonderful hymn has spoken to your heart as it has to mine. Enjoy!

Fill My Cup, Lord

Like the woman at the well I was seeking
For things that could not satisfy;
And then I heard my Savior speaking:
"Draw from my well that never shall run dry".

Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;
Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more--
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

There are millions in this world who are craving
The pleasures earthly things afford;
But none can match the wondrous treasure
That I find in Jesus Christ my Lord.

Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;
Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more--
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

So, my brother, if the things this world gave you
Leave hungers that won't pass away,
My blessed Lord will come and save you,
If you kneel to Him and humbly pray:

Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;
Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more--
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!
__________

Closing thoughts:

In the book of John, Jesus had finished His long walk and was sitting by a water well, when a Samaritan woman came by.
Jesus asked her for a drink, and as they talked, she realized she was spiritually thirsty, spiritually needy and searching for God.

So Jesus offered her "living water." She was eager for this "living water" because she desired to never be spiritually thirsty again. As they talked she came to believe that He was the Messiah. So she asked Jesus for the living water. Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, 'from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38).'"

Maybe the Lord has brought you to this devotional because you have been seeking things from the world that don’t satisfy? If so, go to Jesus as the Samaritan woman did, and He will do for you as He did for her, because you have a need only He can fill and a need that He alone can meet. So, my friend put you trust in God’s Son, Jesus Christ this very hour and taste the “living waters” that He offers and it will satisfy the cravings of your thirsty soul!

Only Jesus, the Living Water, can satisfy the thirsty soul!
God bless Mikey

bless you all Yaddy