I like having plans, doesn’t everybody? I like knowing what my next move is and I like being to assume the future. I had a plan. It was a good one (to me), it was simple and dependable.

I have been reading the Book of Acts and read, again, the story of Saul’s conversation in Acts, chapter 9. I am always struck by how soon after Saul met Jesus that people were trying to kill him!

The idea that someone or something suffers for the benefit or as a representative of another is a theme that runs through the Bible. In the Old Testament, animals were substituted for persons to bear the punishment for human sin. They represented the sinful human, vicariously suffering even though they were innocent because they could not make moral decisions. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 introduces the idea of a person suffering on behalf of others. In the New Testament, Jesus becomes the ultimate sacrifice for our sin and our substitute. He was the Suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah and suffered vicariously for us. He willfully went to the cross for us.

I had the pleasure of spending a few hours with my dear friend, Merv Knight, last week.

What does the pulpit look like at your church?

Paul connected his own personal suffering to his responsibility for fulfilling his call. That suffering would be a part of his calling was stated explicitly by God to him. Since Paul had been a persecutor of the church before his conversion, he knew best what was waiting for him.

Religious fanaticism has a prominent place in recent news coverage. Those who are committed to proving that religion is by nature irrational and fanatical have more than enough examples to support their belief. Religious people are seen as lunatics, extremists who are willing to do almost anything to promote their cause and belief system. Unfortunately, there are those who, in the name of religion, are willing to do just about anything to promote their cause. They are inflexible and intolerant to the extreme. And there are those, in the name of irreligion, who are just as fanatical and capable of doing the same things.

During a recent interview at Breakaway, an incredible student ministry at Texas A&M University, Jeff Johnson asked me to share the perspective of Christians who have been forced to flee from ISIS. You can watch the entire interview here.

In John chapter 11 we read that Lazarus is dead. Jesus tells his disciples that he needs to go to Bethany in Judea, and that he wants them to go with him. The purpose for going is for God’s glory but also so that the Son can be glorified through it. Jesus intended to raise Lazarus from the dead, but the disciples did not know that. All they knew was that the last time Jesus was in Judea there were those who tried to kill him. So Thomas, assuming that Jesus would go back to Judea and risk being killed, rallies his colleagues to go with Jesus and die with him.

May the words of the old hymn inspire you as you consider Christ's sacrifice for us on this Good Friday: