better than life

November 16, 2007: Psalm 63; John 18-19

your steadfast love is better than life...
my soul clings to you...
(Psalm 63:3,8)


When I read of Jesus' Passion, it's almost too much to meditate on. "Amazing love, how can it be that Thou my God shoulds't die for me?" It is striking how John insists, over and over again in all different ways, that this sacrifice fulfilled the Scriptures. And he is clear that Jesus knew what was going on and what was going to happen. And yet he pressed on, for the joy set before him, despising the shame and enduring the cross.

When I read Psalm 63 in conjunction with Jesus' Passion, I see some of the "secret," the source of the hope and of the strength he displayed that night and that day. His soul clung to God because he knew and trusted that the Father's steadfast love was better than life.

I pray that I, and you, might cling to God, following in the way of self-sacrificing love, in dying to all our sins day by day, because we know the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life.

We're on our way to Atlanta for the weekend (so if I miss Saturday, that's why). Peace and joy.