Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Bread of life section...Atonement

This is the weekly devotional of Chef Tess. If you don't want to read it and are just here for the food, feel free to browse. I share because this is a huge part of who I am. It is my heart.

What is Easter really about? I heard a recent advertisement say that "it wasn't about the bunny, it was about spending time with your family". A friend sitting next to me blurted out..."No, it's about Jesus Christ!" It made me smile to have such a friend. It also made me think. Maybe it is about spending time...eternity...with your family. That is a gift Christ gave to us all. Now that, to me, is what Easter is really about. It's seeing beloved departed family who helped shape my soul and embracing them once again with tear filled eyes. Tears of Joy. Most it's about embracing my Savior again and seeing his face smiling at me.
This is my Grandma Dorothy with me about 9 years ago. She has since passed away. What a truly good woman and example of "the believers" she was.
She looked a lot like Judy Garland when she was young. I will see her again because of Christ.
This is my grandma Barbra with me on the far left front (I haven't changed much).
She would watch all 8--(me and my cousins--2 not pictured.) of us during the summer so we have wonderful memories of time with the cousins. I have good memories of her teaching me about Jesus. When she died, I thought my heart would burst.
As a Christian, I know that Jesus lives. I know that he did a great thing for me. It's called the Atonement. Basically making me one with Him by taking up the slack when I make mistakes. At-one-ment. It was a sacrifice that covered every human tragedy, emotion, and sin.
The Atonement of the Only Begotten Son of God is the crucial foundation upon which all Christian doctrine rests and the greatest expression of divine love this world has ever been given. May I quote my favorite writing on the subject?
"I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross.
On that terrible Friday the earth shook and grew dark. Frightful storms lashed at the earth.Those evil men who sought His life rejoiced. Now that Jesus was no more, surely those who followed Him would disperse. On that day they stood triumphant. On that day the veil of the temple was rent in twain. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were both overcome with grief and despair. The superb man they had loved and honored hung lifeless upon the cross. On that Friday the Apostles were devastated. Jesus, their Savior—the man who had walked on water and raised the dead—was Himself at the mercy of wicked men. They watched helplessly as He was overcome by His enemies. On that Friday the Savior of mankind was humiliated and bruised, abused and reviled. It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God.I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest. But the doom of that day did not endure.The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind. And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the first fruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come." Joseph B Wirthlin

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