Help Me Help A Brother

From my email:

Do you know of some old hymns that speak directly to penal substitution? I saw one on your blog but do you know of others?

That Christ’s death was penal substitution means that “his death bore the just penalty of God for our sins as a substitute for us.” (Definition taken from the glossary of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.)

The hymn refered to that I posted was Hallelujah! What a Savior, which says, “in my place condemned he stood.”  Can you think of other hymns with phrases like this, hymns that clearly teach that Christ’s death was penal substitution?

April's Blog Theme: Petitionary Prayer

This month’s theme here at Rebecca Writes will be focused on the things we are asking of God. On Tuesdays and Fridays throughout April, I’ll be posting one petition I have made that day, and I’m asking you to join me in posting your petitions if you like.

Just send me the links to your posted petitions and I’ll link to your post. You don’t have to restrict yourself to posting petitions only on Tuesday and Friday. Post whenever (and as often, and with as many petitions) as you want, and I’ll include your links in the next petitional post I make.

If a petition is one that is best kept private, consider explaining it in general terms. “I am praying for a friend who is in a health crisis” or “I am praying for one of my children who has an important decision to make” will often be wiser than going into more detail on the world-wide web.

Oh, and if you don’t have a blog, don’t let that stop you. I want your petitions, too. Either email them to me or put them in the comments of one of the petitional prayer posts and I’ll include them in the next scheduled prayer post.

I’m hoping that posting our petitions will be an encouragement in at least two ways: 

• It will encourage us to keep track of what we ask from God so that we notice and are thankful when we receive from him.
• It will encourage us to bear one another’s burdens.

[I meant to post this yesterday, on the first day of April, but my internet provider has been under the weather over the last two days. One of the disadvantages of the satellite internet service I have is that it has periods of unreliability. Grrrr.]

Meme: Passion Quilt

I’ve been tagged by Kim of Hiraeth for the passion quilt meme. Here are the instructions.

• Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures that about which YOU are most passionate for students to learn.
  
• Give your picture a short title.
• Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt.”
• Link back to this blog entry.
• Include links to 5 (or more) educators. (I won’t be doing this. Tagging people is not favorite thing.)
  

If you’ve read here for a while, you  won’t be surprised by where my passion lies.

The Cross 

 

This depiction of Christ being lifted up on the cross is by the French illustrator, Gustave Dore.

I’m passionate about the cross of Christ and here are a few of the reasons.

 

• The cross is the solution to everything that’s not right with the universe, including what’s not right with me. No matter what the human need, it is, ultimately, met at the cross, and all real hope is grounded there.

• So many of God’s attributes are seen most fully in the cross. The cross is, for instance, the pinnacle of the expression of God’s grace. It was also a public display of God’s mercy, love, holiness, righteousness and justice. Do you want to know God? Look through the lens of the cross.

• What happened on the cross is, in one sense, simple: Christ died for our sins. He bore the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven by God and reconciled to him. On the other hand, there are so many layers to the work of the cross! Or maybe it’d be better to say that the work of the cross can be seen from many different angles and they all fit together to paint one picture that grows more and more glorious as it is viewed from additional angles. That makes it an infinitely fascinating work and an infinitely satisfying work.

• The work of the cross is the center of everything: the gospel, God’s plan for history, our Christian faith.

• The cross is powerful: it transforms lives; it gives meaning to life. It is because of the cross that we are new creatures; and the cross, in turn, calls us to live out our new-creaturely lives in “the way of the cross.” It is because of the cross that we are to “take up our cross daily.”

• For those who are redeemed by it, the cross of Christ will be an enduring passion, a passion that only increases in eternity. Christ’s work on the cross is the centerpiece of the new song:  
  
  

  “Worthy are you to take the scroll
  and to open its seals,
  for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
  from every tribe and language and people and nation,
  and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God…
  
  “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
  to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
  and honor and glory and blessing!”