DESPISED | Frank Becker

Week Sixteen, 2024

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:3).

It was a familiar hymn that I had sung many times, but when I sang it recently, it spoke to me in a new way and how it affects our culture today. “The Old Rugged Cross” is a popular hymn written in 1912 by American evangelist and song-leader George Bernard. Troubled by contemporary disregard for the gospel, Bernard said he had a vision where he saw the Christ and the cross as inseparable.

What is the meaning behind The Old Rugged Cross? He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. The Old Rugged Cross’ lyrics reflect a life that has been changed by the gospel truth that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; And I love that old cross where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain. Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left His glory above, to bear it to dark Calvary.

What stood out to me were the words despised by the world. How appropriate that is in today’s contemporary world. John 15:18–27 predicts that those who follow Christ faithfully will experience hatred and persecution from the world. The intensity of this experience has varied according to time and culture, but the non-believing world is generally hostile to authentic faith and perhaps today it is now more pronounced than ever.

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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

We all dread the time when our age prevents us from doing the things we must do and the things we enjoy doing the most. It’s not just the physical but also the mental failings. And having a clear memory of when we were younger doesn’t assuage the melancholy we feel.

However, it’s not just old age. How many times have we said this job is getting old. Or all that people expect of me is getting old. Or the general burden of life is just getting old!

It’s those times when we must look to the source of our strength and resilience. Consider the source of your strength. “The Lord is my strength and my shield….” Psalm 28:7 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1 “My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26 With God’s help finish strong. Rich Jensen

WORD OF WISDOM FROM EDGAR APONTE:

• Do not compromise. Be faithful to the Lord. People will dislike you and oppose you.

• Do not reject Jesus. He is worthy of your trust.

• You can be in a Christian crowd but still not following Jesus.

• Faith should lead us to obedience.

• It takes special eyesight to see who Jesus is. It is spiritual sight, not physical sight.

• Jesus is there to help us even when we think He is not paying attention.

• Jesus, the expected King and Messiah, saves us and makes us whole.

• Faith cries to the Lord and is transformed by the Lord. Keep pursuing Jesus!

• People of faith can disobey Jesus. Do not excuse disobedience, instead obey His Word. 

• The crowds are amazed by the Lord but are not transformed by the Lord because they are not following the Lord. Follow Jesus!

• The currency used in heaven is faith.

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The average cost of college in the US is $36,436 per year.

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U.S. consumers spend a record $19 trillion dollars in January 2024, most of it on credit cards.

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New Estimate Shows More Than 1 Million Babies Killed in Abortions in 2023

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According to the latest poll from Gallup, more than one in five Gen Z adults in the US—people born between 1997 and 2012—now identify as LGBTQ+.

But while that number may seem high, it’s right in line with the changes in sexuality from generation to generation. The study found that people in each generation are roughly twice as likely as the one preceding it to identify as LGBTQ+. If the trend continues, then nearly half of those who come after Gen Z will share a non-heterosexual identity.

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

Suffer not the little children to come unto me…Jesus never pushed the little ones away but instead drew them closer to Him. Dwight Short

The uncommitted stand by and watch as the forces of darkness take over. Dan Shock

For all the people who want to see a miracle in order to believe in God, perhaps a trip to the doctor to see just how amazing our human bodies are would remind them that they are not an accident, and in fact a real miracle of Creation. Dwight Short

God’s wisdom is more valuable than any material wealth. John MacArthur

The first generation creates the wealth, the second generation conserves it, and the third generation loses it. This is true to human nature: when we receive a gift we didn’t deserve, we typically acknowledge it with gratitude and seek to use it well. Then we take it for granted as though we deserved it. Then we abuse it until it’s gone. Jim Denison

Jesus will not leave you the way He found you. He is such a great friend and savior that he will not leave you in your sin. He will find sinners in their sin, but He will not leave them in their sin. Edgar Aponte

Don’t expect to make a withdrawal if you’ve never made a deposit.

Our adversary seems to attack us at the very time when we are not fully awake, or at a time when we are least prepared to fend off the attack. And it happens when we’re being productive and least expect it. Take heart. The same Jesus who calmed the storm for His disciples will calm the storm in your life as well. He is always there. Focus your eyes on Jesus, not the storm. Rich Jensen

Your mind cannot be both grateful and anxious at the same time. Chris Dodson

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history. George Orwell

The fear of the Lord may be the beginning of wisdom, but the love and obedience of the Lord’s precepts will be the basis of wisdom for a lifetime. Dwight Short

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. Albert Einstein

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. Eleanor Roosevelt

The things that we love tell us what we are. Thomas Aquinas

We have enough money. We just cannot control our financial appetite. Chris Dodson

You can change what a person looks like on the outside, but can’t change one’s real person on the inside. Too often, we look at people the same way. We form our opinions of them by the outside, when it’s the inside that matters. Rich Jensen

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly. R. Buckminster Fuller

Perseverance, secret of all triumphs. Victor Hugo

Never, never, never give up. Winston Churchill

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Selected portions of Thoughts on Life can also be read at TheLife.com.

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