HEART CHECK
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Mark 15:33-34 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
Mark informs us that after Jesus had hung on the cross for three hours darkness came on the land at noon. This darkness was more than a simple sandstorm or solar eclipse. It was mid-day at Passover so that would not have been likely. It was a miraculous act of Father God revealing to the world the darkness that was falling on the Son of God. He was receiving the sins of world. In recounting the crucifixion of Jesus each of the gospel writers add different details. No one writer includes all the words spoken from the cross by Jesus. Mark chooses to focus on one cry Jesus makes from the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” Mark records Jesus’ words in Aramaic and then translates to Greek for his readers. We get it in English as, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Notice Jesus has not lost faith in Almighty God. Jesus addresses Him as, “My God, my God.” It is not the “Abba”—a warm term for “daddy” that Jesus usually uses. But it is a term declaring relationship. Even as Jesus carried our sins, He still knew the Father’s plan. Because our God is a holy God, He cannot look on sin. He had to look away from the Son. This is true in our lives. When we open our hearts to sin and rebel against God’s plan for our lives, we block relationship with our Heavenly Father. We lose the intimacy with Father God because of our sin. I don’t believe one sin discredits me from a relationship with Father God—if that were the case no one could have a relationship with Father God. But there is a loss of intimacy with Father God when I allow sin to continue in my life. I still have relationship but not the intimacy that Father God desires to have with us. Therefore, it is crucial basis to check our hearts for known sin each and every day. We must choose to confess all sin and ask the Holy Spirit to help us to turn from anything that can block our intimate relationship with Father God.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit please search my heart. Show me anything that is blocking me from the depth of relationship Father God wants with me. Guide me in a life of victory over sin every day.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”