Momento Mori

"Greater Love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends."

-John 15: 13

"Fill this space idle words

I'm scared to death of light and silence

Jesus kill me inside this

Raise me up to live again

Like you did, like you did..."

-In The Dark\Flyleaf

"The Christians who refuse to look squarely in to the suffering of Christ are not Christians at all. They are a breed of pretenders, who would turn their backs on the cross and shame his death. You cannot hold up the cross, nor drink the cup without embracing the death. And you cannot understand love, unless you first die." -Tedd Dekkar

Those who don't know what Momento Mori means, it means "you must die". This past Sunday my pastor preached a sermon that made me feel that God was speaking directly to me, and I want to share it with you guys. The sermon was about having obedience towards God, and having the attitude of Christ.

My pastor pointed out some example that Jesus made for us while He was on earth. One of them was the example He made at Gethsemane, when He was praying before his crucifixion. Jesus cried out to God the Father saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." You may think, "Jesus was God, why is He praying this?"; well, I believe that He was setting an example of how we should surrender ourselves to God.

It is hard to surrender ourselves to God, but it also hard for Jesus. He was both man and God, and he wrestled with God before his crucifixion. I think he might of wished that there was another way, but there wasn't. So he submitted Himself to God by saying let your will be done. God understands that life is difficult and that we often doubt Him. But He wants us to trust Him with our pain. I believe bad things happen for a reason; that God has a purpose in the midst of our trials, though I don't understand what his purpose is but I try to trust him with my life. I want to encourage you to do the same thing. God has a plan for you not to hurt you, but to give you a hope and a future. When life become difficult, I challenge you to just tell God It is well, let your will be done in my life.

God calls us to carry our cross and to die to ourselves. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2: 20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. " To die to yourself means to surrender, to be set apart from the world and to be like Christ. We as Christians are supposed to be reflections of Christ.

Another example God has made for us was when He washed His disciples feet. He is God, the king of the universe and He knelt down to wash His disciples feet. He was showing us the example of how we are supposed to act like a servant, by serving other before ourselves.We are supposed to live a life that is selfless; we are supposed to have the mind and attitude of Christ. Jesus lived a life helping the poor and needy, healing the sick, and reaching out to the sinners. We are supposed to live that life; helping people who are in need and telling the lost of the good news of Jesus Christ. We are born to serve God, to be his hands and feet. We serve God by serving others, by doing everything for the glory of Christ; like homework, or when we go to school, or go to work, help our parents or whomever we live with clean around the house. Were supposed to do all of that for the glory of God, isn't that awesome?

My pastor also talked about loving your enemies or loving the people you don't get along with. (Check out "What does it mean to love our enemies") That's hard, I know--because it is hard for me to love my enemies also. But God set an example of that by sending His one and only son to die for our sins. He could of not chosen to love us; but he wanted to love us, even though sometimes we turn our backs on him, or disobey him--He still loves us, despite our flaws.

I was named after the Tabitha in the Bible, you know the one that God through the Apostle Peter raised from the dead? I want to be like that, but it's different; Tabitha was sick and she died because of her illness. But, I want to die, I want Jesus to kill me. Not literally die, but I want Him to take away my selfishness, my ugly wretched part of me, my sin. I want to be raised from the dead like Jesus, to be a new person. John the Baptist said that God, You will increase, but I will decrease, or meaning --it's not about me but about You God.

I want to challenge you to read a "Call to die", by David Nassar. It is an 40 day devotional, where fast for forty days. You don't have to fast your lunch or breakfast, or dinner; but you can fast Internet, TV, listening to music, talking on the phone, anything. Just pray about, ask God what He wants you to do. You don't have to even fast, I just encourage you to pick up the cross and come and join me in this quest to follow Christ. Momento Mori...

Tabitha