“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
-Acts 2:36-37 (ESV)

I am so thankful and often perplexed that Christ, the perfect Savior, died for the atonement of my sins. Jesus, who was “pierced for our transgressions” (Isa 53:5) delivered himself into human hands to be crucified (Gal 2:20)… not because we deserved it, but because of His unfailing love while we were “yet sinners.” (Rom 5:8) That is such a powerful message that strickens my heart in a way I can’t even describe: that a selfless Savior came into this world to set us free from the sin and shame that we brought upon ourselves.

Imagine, though: what if you were there, physically taking part in the crucifixion? The difficulty in receiving this message would be even greater. The same ones that crucified Christ were the ones Peter was speaking to here, and they were “cut to the heart” from hearing this, to which they ask the question “what shall we do?”

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
-Acts 2:38

The message of Christ crucified changed these men; with understanding of what they had done, they were ready to repent and the Holy Spirit was ready to work in them to restore them.

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
-Acts 2:41

What a powerful message…

So, I’m finishing the book of Numbers today. I find a lot of Christians think of Numbers as that dreaded book of the Bible that you just have to get through, gnashing teeth and all(ok, so, maybe I’m exaggerating). Myself, I enjoy the historical accounts and genealogies. I’ve found a great deal of wisdom in this book… something that stood out to me today is:

‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ Numbers 32:11-12

And I think to myself, how many of the Lord’s promises are unfulfilled in our own lives due to the fact that we have not wholly followed the Lord? What does it mean to wholly follow the Lord?

“And I said, ‘O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,” Nehemiah 1:5

“Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.” 1 Kings 8:61

Keeping His commandments and statutes is key to living wholly for God. Chew on this:

“for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. ” Psalm 119:47-48

Generally when somebody refers to those dreaded “four-letter words” we associate them with negative four-letter words that Christian’s just don’t say. But what about love? Love, the most positively powerful four-letter word of them all, the word that destroys all of the hatred that any other four-letter word may possess.

Colossians 3:14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Which brings me to my second favorite four-letter word is hope, another positive four-letter word. Hope strengthens our walk, hope is what makes us pray, hope causes us to rejoice, and hope fills us with peace. The Bible even says it’s the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us hope

Romans 5:5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

My prayer is that when you think of four letter words, you will think of these.

(In case you were wondering, my third favorite four-letter word is food, but I don’t have any scriptures for that…