Mi vida

Are you a pig or a chicken?

I am stealing the following because I thought it was good and worth stealing :). It is a little long, but I thought it would be a good way to avoid doing work :).

So here is something my dad wrote for his church's newsletter:

One of our favorite meals is breakfast and there seems to be no better breakfast than to eat bacon and eggs around a campsite or even in a restaurant. While much has been said about the dangers of these two items in the cholesterol conscious society we live in, it will be hard to beat one of America's favorite food combinations.
However, as I think about bacon and eggs, it illustrates something else for me as we approach this Easter season. It makes me consider that the plight of the chicken producing the eggs is far different than a pig who would become the main course for breakfast. In other words, the chicken would be asked to give an offering, while the pig would be asked to be a sacrifice! What better way of describing Jesus's plight as he gave the ultimate sacrifice for our sin?
Many have given an offering to the Lord. They may have even given generously to Christian causes and needs. But few have truly sacrificed their lives for the sake of Christ. Most of us are like the chicken, willing to give but when asked to give our lives away for Jesus, we run like the chicken. Very few of us are willing to be like the pig who gives his life away.
Jesus has been called the sacrificial lamb of God. But I wonder, if in some ways, he could not also be called the sacrificial pig. The pig was considered to be an unclean animal in Judaism and despised. You would not catch a Jew eating bacon, and eating ham is not considered kosher. Jesus, while He knew no sin, by taking on the sins of the world, became sin for us, so that in an act of ultimate sacrifice, He gave his life for us (II Corinthians 5:21). As a result, He was despised and forsaken. There was hardly anything 'kosher' about Jesus's death. His death, as I Corinthians 1 tells us, was foolishness to the Gentile and a stumbling block to the Jew. Jesus Christ became the object that was despised and forsaken and like the slaughtered pig, became a sacrifice.
But we should take note that Jesus was like no other sacrifice. John the Baptist clearly expresses his understanding of this when describes Jesus in John 1:29 as 'the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." While He was despised by most, He became the true source of meeting the human race at the point of their spiritual hunger. Sin has left us spiritually starved and destitute. Only Jesus can remove the tainted effects of sin.
What will we do with Jesus this Easter season? Will we trust Him as our Lord and Savior? If we do, will we be like the chicken and give our token offering whether it be money or church attendance seasoned with a twinge of prayer? Or will we walk in the steps of Jesus--despised by the world as pigs--willing to sacrifice it all including our lives to give glory to Christ?

One more thing: HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY CINDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted by Ninita @ 8:46 PM