Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

On Sunday we looked at the thought that our grief often comes because our current situation isn’t what we expected it to be. Notice that we say, “what we expected,” as though we can control anything!  

Today we remember the horrific death of Jesus on the Cross and we call it Good Friday. We can only call it “good” now because we see the results on the other side. If we were to go back in time to the weeks, days, and even moments before Jesus was arrested and so cruelly treated, those around Him would call that time anything but good. 

Look how the disciples responded to this coming event (Matthew 16:21-22). Grief can also come when we give more weight to today’s pain than we do to eternity’s joy. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

This has always been a strategy of the devil to get people to look at now and not consider eternity. That’s how he tempted Adam and Eve, who gave in to this ploy. And then he tried the same strategy on Jesus, but failed (see Genesis 3:1-5; Matthew 4:1-10). 

Jesus knew why He came to earth (Matthew 20:28). And as He got closer and closer to the day of His crucifixion, the weight began to build (John 12:27). 

Look at how Jesus fought grief by making sure He gave more weight to eternity. He turned His pain into prayer so His Father could exchange His grief for His joy (Matthew 26:36-44).

Jesus prepared His disciples by trying to give them an eternal focus (Luke 22:14-20). He told them to pray that they wouldn’t give in to this temptation to trade eternal joy for momentary pain, but they didn’t understand. This is what focusing on the pain of now does—the weight of it exhausts us emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

But look at the eternal focus in vv. 17-19:

• The crushed grape gives us wine 
• The bruised wheat gives us bread 
• The crushed, bruised, crucified Savior gives us eternal life  

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).

Remember the devil’s strategy: get us so focused on the pain of now that we forget about the far greater joy that lasts forever. 

Jesus wants us to “do this in remembrance of Me”—to see the crushed grape and the bruised wheat and the crucified Savior in the light of eternity. 

Check out the other messages in this series called Grief Into Joy by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎