Life 6-Feet Under

The world can’t contain it, darkness flees from it, people can’t understand it, there is nothing more powerful than it, and no person can experience it and not be changed…LOVE! About 2000 years ago LOVE was crucified upon an intersection of two pieces of wood that were cut from a tree. Who would have known that LOVE would have been crucified on the same source in which sin entered the world…a tree!

LOVE knew that through every type of death leading to complete death would bring freedom to a certain area of the BELOVED.

“Smitten by God, and afflicted.

       But He was wounded for our transgressions,

      He was bruised for our iniquities;

      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

      And by His stripes we are healed.”

- Isaiah 53:4-5

LOVE was wounded, bruised, chastised, striped, and ultimately killed to bring eternal freedom to the BELOVED of the Father. Who would have ever guessed that death would birth life?!?

“For the message of the cross is foolishness

to those who are perishing, but to us who are

being saved it is the power of God.”

- 1 Corinthians 1:18

Something I contemplated a lot when I first experienced this LOVE five years ago and to this day I have not completely figured it out…how death could birth life?!? I embarked on this small (yet big) revelation not too long ago, about how LOVE would walk you down the path of death to bring life to perishing souls. Yes, sounds a bit strange and not too biblical at first, but let me dissect it for you and hopefully you will see the picture.

Jesus (LOVE) knew that death would bring Him closer to the Father and allow those around Him to experience the Father (LIFE) in like manner. Nevertheless the cost of this eternal experience would be death, and death upon a tree. So as LOVE walked down the isle of being crucified Jesus had wounds on the hands and ankles (from nails), in the side (spear thrust), on the head (crown of thorns), shoulders (from carrying the cross) and back (flogging). Every one of these deaths to the body brought some form of freedom to us while on earth and His complete death brought us an eternal freedom, which we call salvation. So with that painted in your mind consider this verse;

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

- Ephesians 5:1

Be imitators of God?? Have you ever played that game monkey see monkey do? Same idea, but replace the monkey with Jesus! You must see Him first (the picture painted above) and then you can do. He died to himself in so many ways to bring freedom and salvation for the ones He loved, and we are to be imitators of this. The only difference is we don’t have to go to the cross to die, we just have to become living sacrifices as Romans 12:1-2 talks about. So many times we experience something terrible or uncomfortable and we think it is Satan coming against us (which sometimes it is), but I have noticed that majority of the time it is an opportunity for me to die to myself and produce life! Discern the atmosphere and ask God what He is doing and be ready to imitate LOVE by dying to your flesh so that He can produce life through you! The whole gospel is not about you, but about you dying for others! Yes, crazy theology! So the next time you run into a situation that you just don’t FEEL like doing, think about the life that will come through you dying to self. Jesus didn’t FEEL like dying either…HE DID! (Matthew 26:39)

I leave you with this question; “Jesus didn’t die halfway for you, why do you die halfway for others?”

*Random Thought: Did you know that the whole life of a tree depends on the life it has beneath the surface?!? Who are you beneath the flesh?