A Voice In The Wilderness

The artist James Tissot painted a striking work entitled What Jesus Saw on the Cross . Rather than portraying Jesus as an object to be observed, Tissot shifts the vantage point. We are made to see what Christ would have seen as He hung there—faces turned upward, bodies gathered below, a chaotic mixture of hostility, curiosity, fear, and grief. The effect is profoundly unsettling. We are no longer mere observers. We are "forced" into identifying with Christ—seeing through His eyes, while sensing the agony of the thorns pressed into His brow, the scourged and torn flesh of His back, and the nails driven through His hands and feet. I cannot imagine the pain and emotions of Christ as He looked at the people gathered below. But I can imagine mine. I would be filled with pain and agony. The searing pain of the thorny crown. The torn and tattered back. The nails driven through my hands and feet. Such unbearable discomfort— I would long to b...

The Thirst of Christ

By the time Christ hung on the cross, He had gone without water for at least nine hours. He endured a long night of interrogations. In the morning, He was scourged and whipped repeatedly, losing much fluid from His body. He was then forced to carry the heavy cross through the streets, His sweat mingling with blood that ran down His torn back. He must have been severely dehydrated— overwhelmingly thirsty. Yet, even in that abyss of physical agony, Christ remained fixed on obedience. Pain did not distract Him from the will of God; it became the very place where Scripture was fulfilled. From the cross, He uttered, “I thirst.” It wasn't just a primal human need. It was an intentional act to fulfill the Scripture. "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture) , “I thirst". Jn 19:28 How do we hold onto the Word when our physical desires stage a revolt, and every nerve ending is clamour...

Don't Waste Your Sickness

So often when we fall ill, our natural instinct is to pursue healing. Our minds are pre-occupied with wanting to recover as soon as possible. However we fail to pause and consider what the Lord may be saying to us and risk wasting the sickness altogether. My appeal is that even as we pursue recovery, let us also take time to seek the Lord and discern the cause(s) of our sickness so that we can pray more appropriately for healing. 1. Careless Living It is a known fact that the lack of balanced diet and exercise will lead to several physical ailments. Our physical body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19); and we are to glorify Him with our body. Glorifying God with our body includes being good stewards of our body. Observing a balanced diet and having a healthy dose of exercise will help us prevent chronic diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure. Observing Sabbath rest also allows the body to be renewed and refreshed. If we have been guilty of careless living, we need t...

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