Bullets for the Battle

The Bullet of Hanging There: Let Us Hang With Him!

“Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’" Luke 23:42-43

To those of us who truly want to “hang with Jesus” … on our own cross next to His … this promise to a crucified criminal is still in warranty … even after 2000 years. But many crushing experiences are necessary before we can grasp and receive it. For this reason, we should always rejoice when things are hard! Especially when they are hard! (James 2:2). Why? Our hits and wounds can always drive us to more truth about the Messiah! So much can be gained when we have the opportunity to learn to suffer God’s way in a suffering world. It is our only way to authentically and experientially comprehend how Jesus suffered and to follow His path to resurrection. Hence, we should rejoice when we recognize our own sinful condition of spiritual weakness and poverty. We should rejoice that we have felt the criticism and rejection of others … non-believers and Christians alike. We should rejoice in our deeper discovery that apart from the cross of Christ there is no cure for our trivia, our failures, our evil, our self-absorption, our emptiness, our regrets! We should rejoice that we have been forced to realize our own helplessness and hopelessness without Jesus!

The repentant, guilty, crucified criminal who hung next to our Lord knew he had a very brief future. He knew it would be filled with excruciating pain. He was desperate for release from his agony. No doubt he eagerly longed for the escape of death. This same experience should be true, to some degree, for all Disciples as we discover the world’s evil, ambivalence, injustice, suffering and endless struggle. This crucifixion experience is specially and inevitably true for all those who dare to embrace their own cross for Jesus’ sake! The closer we follow the Savior with a full heart, the more we see and feel the tragic horror of a sinful, crippled world. The more we despair of our own place in it! There are many moments of joy, beauty and wonder, but the default position of this earth is tragedy. However, we, too, can look over and see … hanging there with us … the Lord of Glory! He is truly the most “Incredible One” of all history! It is He Who loves us and has in His arm and His mouth the power to rule over the entire universe of creation. If we truly “hear Him” and “talk to Him” while we hang, we, too, can experience transcendence over all the lies and actions of our enemies … both within and without! (II Cor. 7:2-7).

Overcoming deliverance for Cross Disciples is a threefold option. The Master will empower us 1) to escape from the circumstances, 2) to triumph over the situation or 3) to think above the earth reality! This latter deliverance of “thinking above” is our only option while “hanging” which, in reality, can happen rather often. Our Lord didn’t seek to “escape His cross” nor did He “come down from it in triumph” and thrash His crucifiers! No! He hung there for six agonizing, humiliating hours and “thought above it.” What was in His mind and heart He revealed with His seven magnificent statements from the cross. There are three in Luke, three in John but Matthew and Mark have the same one. While He suffered temporarily on earth, His thoughts were dominated by the Father’s eternal purpose in heaven. To read His seven cross statements and make them your own is to see the Savior’s heart in IMAX.

“Escape” when you can! (I Cor. 10:13). “Triumph” when you can! (II Cor. 2:14). But, if neither are an option while you walk the earth, then “Think Above” the issue with the Mind of Christ (Isa. 53). Only your own crosses put you in the highest position to think the highest thoughts of our Master!

I spoke recently with a dear friend who leads a great ministry in India. I asked him about the severe and increasing persecution against our fellow Believers. This suffering is especially true in the Province of Orissa! Homes and churches burned; loss of all possessions; beatings, abuse, rapes, threats and even murder. There is wide spread hiding and fleeing for their lives! I ended with, “How are they responding to the suffering?” He quickly commented, “Oh, they are excited about it! They feel it’s an honor to suffer for the cross of Jesus!” He concluded by saying “Christianity is spreading like wildfire. The percentage of Indian people who claim to be Christian in the Province of Orissa has increased rapidly. It has been rising from an estimated 3% to almost 40% in that particular area. It’s incredible!” Yet it has always worked that way throughout church history! The great saying is as true as ever, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Think of it! It is when things are at their worse that our opportunities to demonstrate the overcoming wonder of the cross are at their best. It is the perfect time to “think above” rather than hoping only in “escape from” or “triumph over”! Men will be impressed with your escapes and triumphs but the Father is most pleased with your “thinking above!”

“May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). To be dead to what the world is doing to you is to come alive to what the Savior is doing for you! It takes Cross Discipleship to understand that miraculous lesson!

“In all my afflictions my joy knows no bounds.” II Corinthians 7:4