Look How Deep Christ’s Love Is!

April 16, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father. (John 10:17–18)

“Why does Jesus say this? Why does He stress His willingness to die? Because if it weren’t true—if His death were forced on Him, if it weren’t free, if His heart weren’t really in it—then a big question mark would be put over His love for us.

“The depth of His love is in its freedom. If He didn’t die for us willingly—if He didn’t choose the suffering and embrace it—then how deep is His love, really? So He stresses it. He makes it explicit. ‘It comes out of me, not out of circumstances, not out of pressure, but out of what I really long to do.’ …

“Anybody who makes a statement like that is either mentally deranged, or lying, or God. ‘I have authority from inside death, as a dead man, to take life back again, when I please.’ Now what’s the point here? Well, which is harder: to control when you die, or to give yourself life again once you are dead? Which is harder: to say, ‘I lay my life down on my own initiative’? Or to say, ‘I will take my life back again after I am dead’?

“The answer is obvious. And that’s the point. If Jesus could—and did—take His life back again from the dead, then He was free indeed. If He controlled when He came out of the grave, He certainly controlled when He went into the grave.

“So here’s the point. The resurrection of Jesus is given to us as the confirmation or evidence that He was indeed free in laying down His life. And so the resurrection is Christ’s testimony to the freedom of His love. …

“‘My resurrection is a shout over My love for My sheep: It was free! It was free! I chose it. I embraced it. I was not caught. I was not cornered. Nothing can constrain Me to do what I do not choose to do. I had power to take My life from death. And I have taken My life from death. How much more, then, could I have kept My life from death!

“‘I am alive to show you that I really loved you.” —John Piper

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Poetry Saturday—See How The Patient Jesus Stands

April 15, 2017 — Craig T. Owens
See how the patient Jesus stands,
Insulted in His lowest case!
Sinners have bound the Almighty hands,
And spit in their Creator’s face.


With thorns His temple gored and gashed


Send streams of blood from every part;


His back’s with knotted scourges lashed,


But sharper scourges tear His heart.




Nailed naked to the accursed wood


Exposed to earth and heaven above,


A spectacle of wounds and blood,


A prodigy of injured love!




Hark! how His doleful cries affright


Affected angels, while they view;


His friends forsook Him in the night,


And now His God forsakes Him too!




Behold that pale, that languid face,


That drooping head, those languid eyes!


Behold in sorrow and disgrace


Our conquering Hero hangs, and dies!




Ye that assume His sacred name,


Now tell me, what can all this mean?


What was it bruised God’s harmless Lamb,


What was it pierced His soul but sin?




Blush, Christian, blush: let shame abound:


If sin affects thee not with woe,


Whatever life is in thee found,


The life of Christ thou doest not know. —Joseph Hart






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Why Did Jesus Take Your Punishment?

April 14, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 




“Christ lived the life we could not live and took the punishment we could not take to offer the hope we cannot resist. Why? Jesus was angry enough to purge the temple, hungry enough to eat raw grain, distraught enough to weep in public, fun-loving enough to be called a drunkard, winsome enough to attract kids, weary enough to sleep in a storm-bounced boat, poor enough to sleep on dirt, radical enough to get kicked out of town, responsible enough to care for His mother, tempted enough to know the smell of satan, and fearful enough to sweat blood.


“Why? Why would heaven’s finest Son endure earth’s toughest pain? So you would know that ‘He is able…to run to the cry of…those who are being tempted and tested and tried’ (Hebrews 2:18, AMP). Whatever you are facing, He knows how you feel. When you turn to Him for help, He runs to you to help. Why? He knows how you feel. He’s been there. He’s not ashamed of you. Nor is He confused by you. Your actions don’t bewilder Him. Your tilted halo doesn’t trouble Him. So go to Him.” —Max Lucado, in On Calvary’s Hill






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Thursdays With Oswald—The Fight That Builds Strong Character

April 13, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 




Oswald ChambersThis is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.


The Fight That Builds Strong Character 


     Morality is not something with which we are gifted, we make morality; it is another word for character. … Morality is not only correct conduct on the outside, but correct thinking within where only God can see. … 


     God gives us a new disposition, the disposition of His Son; then we have to work out what He has worked in, and the way we react in the circumstances God engineers for us produces character. … 


     Remember, morality is produced by fight, not by dreaming, not by shutting our eyes to facts, but by being made right with God; then we can make our morality exactly after the stamp of Jesus Christ. 


From The Fighting Chance


This book focuses on the passage in Romans 8:28-39, in which the Apostle Paul explains that despite any difficulty or uncertainty we face, nothing can separate us from God’s love.


When someone surrenders to God and invites Jesus into their life as Savior and Lord, God gives that person a brand new disposition. This new outlook on life, and this new strength within, allows the Christian to fashion a new morality and strength of character that he was unable to fashion before he was a Christian.


Don’t be afraid of the fight, because in Christ you are a conqueror. Don’t run from the fight, because it builds Christlike character. Don’t despair in the fight, because nothing will ever separate you from the love of God which put His Holy Spirit in you.


Your spiritual fight builds Christlike character in you like nothing else can!






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7 Quotes From “On Calvary’s Hill”

April 12, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 




Max Lucado has given us a treasure-trove of insights into the Passion Week! Here are a few quotes from On Calvary’s Hill, and also please check out my full review of this book by clicking here.


“Jesus knows what these men are about to do. By morning they will bury their heads in shame and look down at their feet in disgust. And when they do, He wants them to remember how His knees knelt before them and he washed their feet. . . . He forgave their sin before they even committed it. He offered mercy before they even sought it.”


“The next time the fog finds you, remember Jesus in the Garden. The next time you think that no one understands or cares, reread the fourteenth chapter of Mark and pay a visit to Gethsemane. And the next time you wonder if God really perceives the pain that prevails on this dusty planet, listen to Him pleading among the twisted trees. The next time you are called to suffer, pay attention. It may be the closest you’ll ever get to God. Watch closely. It could very well be that the hand that extends itself to lead you out of the fog is a pierced one.”


“How did Jesus endure the terror of the crucifixion? He went first to the Father with His tears. He modeled the words of Psalm 56:3: ‘When I am afraid, I put my trust in You’ (NLT). Do the same with yours. Don’t avoid life’s Gardens of Gethsemane. Enter them. Just don’t enter them alone. And while there, be honest. Pounding the ground is permitted. Tears are allowed. And if you sweat blood, you won’t be the first. Do what Jesus did; open your heart.”


“O Conquering One, I gladly open wide the gates of my life and ask You to enter. You see where the enemy has invaded and done his damage. Come, Lord Jesus, come, and speak Your words of truth and power into my life and cleanse my temple. In Your name, Jesus, amen.”


“The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.”


“What you and I face daily, He never knew. Anxiety? He never worried! Guilt? He was never guilty! Fear? He never left the presence of God! Jesus never knew the fruits of sin . . . until He became sin for us. He did it for you. Just for you.”


“Jesus’ love does not depend on what we do for Him. Not at all. In the eyes of the King, you have value simply because you are.”






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What My Temper Tells Me

March 27, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 




“Think for a moment of a clock and of what its hands mean. The hands tell me what is within the clock, and if I see that the hands stand still, or that the hands point wrong, or that the clock is slow or fast, I say that something inside the clock is not working properly. And temper is just like the revelation that the clock gives of what is within. Temper is a proof whether the love of Christ is filling the heart, or not.” —Andrew Murray, in Absolute Surrender






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Poetry Saturday—O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

March 25, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 










O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee,
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.




O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee,
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.




O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee,
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shalt tearless be.




O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee,
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red,
Life that shall endless be. —George Matheson








Bryan Duncan has beautifully set this poem to music—












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Thursdays With Oswald—Love God First, People Second

March 16, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 




Oswald ChambersThis is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.


Love God First, People Second


     We erect terrific standards, and then criticize men for not reaching them. The standard of Christianity is not that of a man, but of God; and unless God can put His Spirit into a man, that standard can never be reached. … 


     If I am not related to God first my love becomes cruel, because I demand infinite satisfaction from the one I love; I demand from a human being what he or she can never give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. … 


     There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us. … Remember that “there is none good but One, that is, God.”


From Shade Of His Hand


When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandments were, the first one He listed was love God with all you’ve got. Then, said Jesus, the second commandment is love others.


The order is crucial! If I try to love others first, my finite love will dry up. But if I make loving God the priority, then I become a channel of Infinite Love.


Only God’s love can satisfy my heart. Only God’s love can equip me to truly love others.






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Poetry Saturday—All Must Be Well

March 11, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 








Through the love of God our Savior,


All will be well;


Free and changeless is his favor,


All, all is well.


Precious is the blood that heal’d us,


Perfect is the grace that seal’d us,


Strong the hand stretch’d out to shield us,


All must be well.




Though we pass through tribulation,


All will be well;


Ours is such a full salvation,


All, all is well.


Happy, still in God confiding,


Fruitful, if in Christ abiding,


Holy, through the Spirit’s guiding,


All must be well. 




We expect a bright tomorrow,


All will be well.


Faith can sing, through days of sorrow,


All, all is well.


On our Father’s love relying,


Jesus ev’ry need supplying,


Or in living, or in dying,


All must be well. —Mary Bowley Peters










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Poetry Saturday—Begone Unbelief

February 11, 2017 — Craig T. Owens 




John NewtonBegone unbelief, my Savior is near,


And for my relief will surely appear:


By prayer let me wrestle, and He wilt perform,


With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.




Though dark be my way, since He is my guide,


’Tis mine to obey, ’tis His to provide;


Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail,


The Word He has spoken shall surely prevail.




His love in time past forbids me to think


He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;


Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review,


Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through.




Determined to save, He watched o’er my path,


When satan’s blind slave, I sported with death;


And can He have taught me to trust in His name,


And thus far have brought me, to put me to shame?




Why should I complain of want or distress,


Temptation or pain? He told me no less:


The heirs of salvation, I know from His Word,


Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.




How bitter that cup, no heart can conceive,


Which He drank quite up, that sinners might live!


His way was much rougher, and darker than mine;


Did Jesus thus suffer, and shall I repine?




Since all that I meet shall work for my good,


The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food;


Though painful at present, wilt cease before long,


And then, O! how pleasant, the conqueror’s song! —John Newton






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