Matthew 27: & Mark 15

Today we see our Lord going as a a lamb to be slain. He did not complain or feel sorry for Himself. He gave no defense for His charges nor spoke bad about anyone. He did mention in other passages that No one took His life, but He gave it willingly. We see his true servant hood by His actions. He loved people who were hard to love, gave of himself to people who were ungrateful, and died for a church that did not recognize Him and despised His kingdom. He did all of this with grace and dignity. He even asked His father to forgive their ignorance as they had Him flogged, mocked Him, spat on Him and put Him to death. The way He served His father and carried out the assignment truly did what He said would happen; "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me."

As we look into our personal assignment we observe a few things. Where has God placed me? What is the assignment He has given me, am I carrying it out with true servant hood and where am I in the process?
Am I serving in every assignment in a way that will draw others to our Lord? Or am I serving Him in a way that would would be self serving... so others can see my suffering and certainly hear my case that justifies the way I serve, and the ministries I am willing to be involved in? True servant hood shoots holes in all of my excuses. The Lord has a way of bringing me around to His way of thinking when I compare these things to what He did on the cross for me, and how he carried out the assignment.

What have you been thinking about lately? Has the Lord been bringing a certain thing to your mind more than anything else? Most likely that is where He wants you to be involved with His people. That may seem like the most challenging assignment He will ever give you. It will take total dependence on the father to do such a thing. That may be the hill called Cavalry God is leading you into. Many times God leads us into the valley because the experience in the valley builds something He is doing in our lives. That's where we experience Him, his power with its sustaining grace. This is evident in Paul's life when our Lord told Ananias (Acts 9) 15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." We see Ananias did not want the assignment nor did Paul, but many times God has other plans. So when we say I know the Lord could not possibly want me to be in this situation, think of our Lord and Ananias (the leader of the church in Damascus) and the Lord paring Him with Saul (the one seeking to kill Him). Suffering is a reality with service and we must trust God to let Him lead us and serve when, where and how He says to serve.