The Atonement

The Atonement is so personal to me, and I decided to express my thoughts on it.

First, I want to emphasize that Gethsemane, the trials (whipped, spit upon, mocked, etc.) and the crucifixion were ALL part of the Atonement. They are all extremely important and part of the process, not just the cross, and not just Gethsemane. 

Gethsemane is Greek from the Hebrew word "The Sacred Oil Press"

Gethsemane is a garden where they would take olives (not the soft, black squishy olives we are used to, but like an extremely hard nut) and roll a HUGE stone over them, until the crushing weight causes the olive to break and causes the oils to "bleed out" from the olive. 

Don't you think that this is significant?

Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane where he was crushed and bled out for our sins, just like the olives. 

In Mark 14:36 Jesus prays to Heavenly Father and says "Abba, Father" 

If you look up Abba you will discover that Abba has two meanings. 

1. Papa

2. Father

I'd like to think that he called him "Papa." It's a little more intimate and personal :) I believe Jesus had that kind of relationship with the Father. 

Anyway, he pleads, "Take away this cup from me..." In the verse prior to this, 35, it says that "he went forward a little, and fell on the ground".

I don't know if we were allowed to watch from Heaven as this happened. I don't know if we were able to hear the plea in his voice, but I'm willing to bet that the moment that Jesus fell to the ground, Jesus, He who had never shown any sign of any weakness, that when he fell to the ground in fear and pain, all of us wanted to reach out to Him. I'm willing to bet that many of us were cringing as we watched our loving brother struggle... so much that he could not even stand.

As EVERY sin was thrust upon Him, he bled from every pore. 

Now, I want you to think about this for a second. 

What do you feel after you've sinned?

Guilt. Shame. Loneliness. Embarrassment. Regret. Pain. Depression. Fear. Anxiety. Loss of Love. Etc. 

He felt those for the first time that night.

But worst of all, He was cut off from God. 

And when you're cut off from God, you feel the full fury of Hell thrust upon you. You feel God's wrath. 

Jesus went to Hell for us. 

His whole body/soul was being crushed. He was bleeding out of every pore. Every part of His body should have been screaming to kill itself and give up the ghost. 

But He didn't. 

Most people say, "I'm grateful that Jesus died for me." 

I'm grateful for that too.

But, I'm most grateful that Jesus lived for me. I'm grateful that He didn't give up. I'm grateful that He held onto His life and completed the Atonement so that I could be saved. I'm grateful that Jesus took away the pains of Hell so I wouldn't have to feel them myself. I'm grateful that because of Jesus Christ, I can repent of my sins and return to live in Heaven. I'm grateful that He was risen from the dead and was victorious over the sting of death. I'm grateful that he lives today. 

Don't forget to be awesome! 

2 Tips of the Mount

If you search "perfection" on dictionary.com, it will define it as, the highest proficiency, skill, or excellence, as in some art. Typically, when we think of Christ, we think of him as the only perfect being who has walked this earth. While we take Him to be our perfect example, He excluded Himself as being perfect during his early earthly ministry. 
In Matthew 5:48, it says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" Notice that He immediately referred to Heavenly Father as the only perfect being. 

You may be wondering, "But Jesus never sinned! How can He not be perfect as well?"
Jesus had a different definition of being perfect. To be perfect, you had to be complete. Think of it as a download. You start at 0% and climb to 100%. Until you are at that 100%, your "mission" is not complete and it will fail. Often times, during our download, we have hiccups, bugs, buffers, etc. that make hinder us from completing our task. However, Jesus did not have all these blemishes, instead He had the task of completing the Atonement before he could become 100% complete. There was still more for Him to accomplish, so He wasn't considered perfect. Luckily for us, Jesus gave us steps to erase our imperfections...THE BEATITUDES!!! 

Seriously though. If you look at it, the beatitudes could be an outline for us to follow and become perfect like him. It's not just each group of people receiving blessings, it's Him wanting us to receive all the blessings by gaining each attribute! So cool.

Another thing we talked about was in Matthew 5:29-30, they say, "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast in from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." "And if they right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of they members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
Reading these, I first thought, "Oh, that would be really painful to pluck out your eye or cut off your hand. Better not offend God if it will be worst than that! Yikes."
But there is so much more to learn! The particular selection of the eye and the hand is actually quit interesting. Think about it.

The eye is a major source for input in your life. The sight your eye gives you, puts in a large portion of knowledge into your brain. Your eyes help create the world around you. What is the counsel here? If whatever you are inputting into your life offends God, PLUCK IT OUT! There is no other way. God is telling us it is much easier to be half blind and get to heaven than have full vision also being swallowed in sin.

The hand is a major output for your life. You use your hands to effect the world around you. Your hands were given to you to do good in the world. What is the counsel here? If we are using our hands to offend God, CUT IT OFF! This could mean harming others, denying the gospel, or even being idle in our time. We were placed on this earth to do good with our time. If we are so caught up in playing games, watching shows, etc... in other words doing NOTHING, how offended will God be when we come back to heaven so much wasted potential? It would have been better to fully cut off whatever wasted output we have than lose the potential bonds/love we could have experienced otherwise.

The virtual addictions have to stop (this also includes pornography). I cannot even begin to describe how much wasted time goes online. Sometimes, the only way to get rid of the addiction, is to do exactly what Jesus says, and pluck/cut it out of our life.
"But not having a smart phone/tablet/laptop is super inconvenient! We need these things today!"
...yeah well so would be losing an eye or hand. This is what Jesus counsels us to do. I suggest we do it.

Don't forget to be awesome!