Your Center Pole
Theme of the Week: Raised with Christ
M. Craig Barnes
Friday, April 25, 2003
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: We know that the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:14). Bonus Reading:Galatians 6:14-16
Religion historian Mircea Eliade, claimed that many ancient peoples constructed their homes by driving a great stake into the ground, and then building the home around a center pole. That pole symbolized the center of the world and the heavens around them. It was their axis mundi, or their ladder to heaven. It gave their homes a sense of order and purpose. When disasters struck, they rushed to the center pole where heaven and earth were held together.
For followers of Jesus, the empty cross is the great center pole that ties heaven to earth. When disaster strikes, only that cross offers perspective and understanding.
The word disaster literally means "away from the stars and heavens." When you have lost your job, or when the lab report comes back with bad news, or when your marriage is in serious trouble, it feels like the earth has moved away from heaven. It's a disaster. Where are you going to go when that happens? Are you going to run around more quickly? That won't help. The only hope is to go back to the empty cross, where you can always find the risen Savior waiting with all of the mysterious hope of heaven.
—M. Craig Barnes in Hustling God
My Response: Good Friday and Easter put a new slant on the crisis I face because …
Thought to Apply: The same power that brought Christ back from the dead is operative within those who are Christ's. The Resurrection is ongoing.
—Leon Morris
Adapted fromHustling God (Zondervan, 1999) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
1 of 1
 share this page
Lord God, I praise You for Your incredible power that raised Your Son from the dead—and will also raise me.
Men of Integrity
Connect with God | Transform my Mind | Live by His Power
Relate Better | Make an Impact
Home | Archives | Contact Us
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try an Issue of Men of Integrity
Free!
|
 |
|
No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders.
If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless.
Give Men of Integrity as a gift
Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| 
RSS Feed
