Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Your Sin is Nailed to the Cross {No Matter What Monday}

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Many of us are familiar with the parable of the unforgiving servant—the story Jesus told in Matthew 18 about the servant who had his massive debt forgiven by the king and then went out and demanded payment of a smaller debt from someone else. We often focus on the second part of the story and how wrong the forgiven servant was to not forgive the debt of another. But today I want us to consider the unbelievable forgiveness offered by the king. 

Like the servant in the story, we owe the King a debt we cannot pay. We have sinned and broken God’s law, and if we had a thousand lifetimes to do good works, we would never be able to make up for the wrong we’ve done. But the good news of the Gospel is this: 

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)

When we were dead in our sin, God made us alive with Christ. Our debt of sin doesn’t just vanish into thin air. Someone had to pay our debt—and that someone is Jesus. When His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, our sin was nailed there with Him. The King forgives our debt because His own Son paid the price on our behalf. 

If you are burdened with guilt or shame today . . .

If you are trying to earn God’s favor with your good behavior . . . 

If you know you can never be good enough, because no matter how hard you try, you keep messing up . . . 

This is good news for you, friend. 

“My sin—oh the bliss of this glorious thought!—My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!”(Taken from the hymn It is Well by Horatio G. Stafford)

No matter what you face this week, your sin has been nailed to the cross. 

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Delight Yourself in the Lord {No Matter What Monday

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I’ve noticed a trend in my life—maybe you’ve experienced this, too. I have my eye on something new for awhile, and I finally get it. At first, my new possession makes me happy. It’s shiny and pretty, or it makes my life easier, or it’s just a fun new toy. But then I find that this new thing doesn’t bring me as much joy as it did at first. A catalog comes in the mail, or a friend gets a new car, or I notice a cute pair of boots at the mall, and suddenly there’s something else that I want. 

I know it’s true, but I still so often forget: the things of this world will never truly satisfy my heart. No matter how much I get, I’ll always want more. There’s only one way to get the desires of my heart once and for all: 

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

This verse doesn’t mean that if I delight myself in the Lord, I’ll get everything listed in the latest Pottery Barn catalog. But as my delight in the Lord grows, my desire will be for Him and the good gifts He gives. And He is always faithful to give us every spiritual blessing in Christ (see Ephesians 1:3). 

God has given His Son to die for you. He’s given you His Spirit to dwell in you. If God gave up His own Son for you, you can have confidence that He will also give you everything else you need (see Romans 8:32). 

When your desire is for the Lord, you will have all you could ever hope for. When God gives you Himself, He also gives you His strength, His peace, His joy, His promises fulfilled, and eternity with Him. 

No matter what you face this week, delight in the Lord who has given Himself to you. 

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His Power is Strong {No Matter What Monday}

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We saw last week in Mark 4 that Jesus led His disciples into a storm on the Sea of Galilee. As the waves threatened and Jesus performed a miracle, the disciples learned more about their weakness and His strength. 

“And [Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” (Mark 4:39-41)

The disciples’ faith was weak. They knew where to turn in their troubles—they ran to Jesus. But their fear of the storm’s power outweighed their confidence in Jesus’s presence. Can you imagine that moment when Jesus calmed the sea and then called them out for their fear and doubt? 

But the disciples’ weak faith put Jesus’s strength on display. When He spoke to the wind and the waves, there was immediate and complete calm on the sea. The disciples had seen Him heal diseases and cast out demons, and yet they were amazed and asked themselves: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  I would imagine that their fear turned to faith and their confidence in Christ grew. 

Maybe today you’re in the middle of the storm of suffering, and God hasn’t stilled the wind and the waves yet. You’ve pleaded and begged, but the storm still rages. I don’t know why you’re suffering, but I do know this: God will use your suffering to show you more of your weakness and send you running to Him for strength. In His perfect timing, He will speak peace to the waves that threaten to drown you, and you will arrive on the shore with greater confidence in His power. 

No matter what you face this week, when your faith is weak, His power is strong. 

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Jesus is With You as You Suffer {No Matter What Monday}

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I have many parenting moments that I’m not proud of, but one of my worst mom-fails happened as I slept. My daughter was frightened in the middle of the night and came to my room to wake me up. She shook my shoulder and said my name, but I kept snoozing. My neglected little girl eventually gave up and went back to bed. 

As I read Mark 4, I wonder if the disciples felt a little bit like my daughter that day on the Sea of Galilee. They were scared, and Jesus was sleeping. 

“On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to [his disciples], ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:35–38)

Let’s pretend we never heard this story in Sunday school, and we don’t know what the next verses say. (We’ll get to them next week.) What does this passage teach us about being in the middle of the storm of suffering? 

When the waves are crashing over the side of your boat and it’s filling with water, it’s doesn’t mean Jesus  has abandoned you. Jesus was right there with the disciples, and He’s right here with you. 

If it seems like Jesus is sleeping while you suffer, it’s not because He doesn’t care. It’s because He cares about you that He’s waiting for the perfect time to calm the storm. As we’ll see next week, He always has a purpose to His timing, even when we can’t understand it. And in the meantime, you can trust that He is with you.  

No matter what you face this week, Jesus is with you in the storm of your suffering. 

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