Lenten Devotional (Day Thirty Seven)

Pastor Latt

Via Dolorosa – Eleventh Station – Here Jesus is nailed to the Cross

GOD’S WORD: “Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him.” (Mark 15: 23)
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3: 14)

FACT: Huge nails are hammered through his hands and feet to fix him on the cross. He is bleeding much more seriously now. As the cross is lifted up, the weight of his life hangs on those nails. Every time he struggles to pull himself up to breathe, his ability to cling to life slips away.

INSPIRATION: There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence.The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out, it won't matter how many times you say 'I'm sorry,' the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Jesus was nailed on the cross for our sins. Let us nail our sin nature on the cross with Jesus.

MEDITATION: I make myself watch the nails being driven through his flesh. And I watch his face. I contemplate the completeness of his entry into our lives. Can there be any pain or agony he would not understand? This is for me. Nailed to a cross to forever proclaim liberty to captives. What sorrow and gratitude fill my heart!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to realize each day about your crucifixion on the cross in my place so that my commitment will be renewed each day. In Jesus Name. Amen.