(7) ‘Lord Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit’ Luke 23.46 [Matthew 27.50;Mark 15.37]).
![(7) ‘Lord Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit’ Luke 23.46 [Matthew 27.50; Mark 15.37]).](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/683b8d_4d674b20baa04af29ca705f1699a4f8a~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_147,h_98,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/683b8d_4d674b20baa04af29ca705f1699a4f8a~mv2.jpeg)
Jesus had absolute certainty of His Father’s eternal love. They were one. As Jesus laid down His life for our sin, He entrusted His life to His heavenly Father. There was no doubt in His mind about His future. Just like our Lord, in the end and at the moment of our own death, we trust our lives and our eternal destiny to our heavenly Father and our great Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We have no doubt whatsoever that the moment we close our eyes in death, that in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye, we awake in the presence our Savior and our God – “absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5.8).
As we remember Good Friday and celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning let’s identify with Jesus. Let’s purpose to make His last words from the cross be our last words as we leave this world and enter heaven. May we say with the apostle Paul; “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4.6-8). Let’s purpose to “finish well.” Let’s purpose to finish each day well. In a sense, when we go to sleep each night, we commit our lives and the day’s opportunities that have been ours to have served Him well.
But until that day my mission is the same as Dr. J. I. Packer (1926–2020), taken from his marvelous little book, Finishing Our Course with Joy.
“Runners in a distance race… always try to keep something in reserve for a final sprint. And my contention is that, so far as our bodily health allows, we should aim to be found running the last lap of the race of our Christian life, as we would say, flat out. The final sprint, so I urge, should be a sprint indeed” (Finishing Our Course with Joy, pp. 21,22).
I pray that you will have a Happy Good Friday, and Glorious Easter Morning! The tomb is empty! “He is not here, for He is risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying” (Matthew 28.6). May we live each day in the glorious reality that He paid the price for our sin and that eternal life is our greatest identity and reality.
We’re on a mission to exhort and encourage every person 50+, every person getting closer to retirement season and every person in retirement season to embrace a vision for all that God desires for them in this critically important season of life.
God is at work through FWM. New people. New contacts. New churches. New leaders.
It’s like throwing a stone into the water and watching the concentric circles begin to go wider and wider – even beyond the borders of our country.
Would you please consider supporting us financially?
Happy Easter, Hal
The Seven Last Words From Christ On The Cross