By Harve Platig – Peachtree City, GA
“He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:14 (CSB)
Let’s discern together. Discern what? The Lord’s body.
I want to ask you to take a phrase from the Scripture very personally. It is from Jesus to you: “This is my body which is broken for you.”
“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19 NKJV
Please ask God for fresh revelation of this truth, that you may see the love of your Savior for you (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-30).
As you discern the love and power imparted in the giving of the Lord’s body for you, darkness, sickness, weakness, and even death are banished to their defeated state in your life. You have nothing to fear in this world, ever, because you are SO loved.
All weakness, all sin, all sickness and all lack of every kind crashed into the cross where he took these things into his sinless body – for you.
These calamities died in the body of your Savior. They fell powerless into the grave, and when he rose in victory, they stayed behind, permanently defeated. He took them out of the way, nailing them to his cross.
“…having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:14 NIV
This discerning, this fresh revelation, this connection with his great love are a constant in our lives.
Your New School Lunch
God knows that assaults and temptations will come again and again. So, he made provision. Like a loving mom for her school child, he packed you a lunch! Only this meal is life to your body, healing to your soul, and freedom from all guilt and condemnation.
Communion. Not just any communion. Your communion. Your communion with God and his wonderful son Jesus is a personal discerning, a setting aside, a fully separating out this amazing love and its gift from many demands on your time and attention.
At our home, the cup is always in view and ready. My wife or I will say “want to have communion?” The answer is always “Yes!”
And so we partake often. And when we do, we show the Lord’s death. It’s as if it happened yesterday. We show the Lord’s death until he comes. Visions, revelations, discerning – the Lord abides with us in this memorial.
“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” 1 Corinthians 11:26 KJV
Wine. Remembrance. The cup. This cup is the new covenant in his blood. This covenant of the Savior’s blood is the covenant under which we dwell in righteousness.
We brought nothing to this relationship but our “Yes, Lord.” Our own righteousness was as filthy rags, and the sooner we discerned this and cast them aside, the sooner our blood-bought new nature could emerge unencumbered (Isaiah 64:6; Philippians 3:9).
We need no self-justification. And that’s good news because, in truth, there can be none.
God did not send us a life coach to help us refine our flesh for a few upgrades. He knew our desperate and hopeless condition long before we did.
So he sent us, not a life coach, but the Savior, the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
“The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”” John 1:29 NKJV
There is blood on your door post, saint. And the destroyer of this world must pass over (Exodus 12:22-23).
Accept nothing less, ever. You are free. And as you lift the cup, “Do this,” he said, “in remembrance of me.”
Image by Mandy Fontana from Pixabay
Oh friend, let’s remember him! His sacrifice, his cleansing blood, his fearless advance into his own death for each of us. When he said, “I go to prepare a place for you,” he knew what that would cost (John 14:2-3).
And he shared why he did it. He said that you may be “where I am.” When he comes, these realities will be face-to-face.
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV
Until then we powerfully show his death until he comes. And healing, deliverance and joy flow like rivers of living water in our bodies, our souls and our world.
Take and Eat
Take. At times, this word has a negative connotation. I don’t want to be a “taker,” you might say. We remember that he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
But that more blessed state about which he spoke occurs in our horizontal relationships. It is great truth.
But in our communion, what does he ask us to do? Take. How can we give if we don’t receive?
Our ability to love is completely dependent on receiving from him. In our flesh dwells no good thing. So if we are to be the givers we would like to be, we’d better learn to receive.
And how is this done in communion? Take. Eat.
“And as [the disciples] were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”” Matthew 26:26 NKJV
In this context, be a taker! Take, and take, and take some more! He said, “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and lives by me” (John 6:56, 57).
It’s very humbling to realize that not only was our natural condition so desperate, but the cost to fix it was so astoundingly high.
You are free.
Harve Platig is a student and minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He and his wife Margaret have faithfully pastored in various capacities since 1976. They were married in 1981 and have two children and three grandchildren.