Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Guest (Male): Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Let me ask you: are you dying to know Jesus? Joni and I are.

Joni Eareckson Tada: We say it all the time, don’t we? We’re dying to hear the results of a lab test. We’re dying to go home after a long time away. We’re dying to hear what that fallout between friends was all about. It’s common to say we’re dying to know things like that. And of course, we don’t really mean that we’d be willing to kick the bucket to hear about someone’s argument. It’s just a figure of speech, right? Right. Except in one case: are we dying to know Christ? I mean, really know Him?

I shared with you 10 little words that helped change my life when I was first injured: God permits what He hates to accomplish what He loves. Those 10 little words helped me so much because they helped me understand what it means to die in Christ.

You see, when God allowed the hateful death of His own precious Son, He allowed it because He prized something above that horrible death. And what in the world could He possibly prize above the terrible scandal of the cross? How about salvation for a world of sinners? It’s exactly why God sent Christ to the cross. He knew that the world’s worst murder would become the world’s only salvation. And as Jesus carried His cross up the hill to Golgotha, He was dying to bring us into the fold of His fellowship. He was dying to make us His bride, to grant us citizenship in heaven.

When our Savior set His face like flint on the road to Calvary, He was dying to release us from the power of sin. And died He did. And proof that He could make us His bride, grant us citizenship, and release us from sin was that He rose from the dead. Jesus died to live so that we might live to die. Like He said, “He who loses his life for My sake will find it.” The person who dies to himself lives to Jesus.

Now, when I first heard this as a young person struggling with quadriplegia, I wasted no time in applying the principle to my own life. God allowed something that He hated in my life—that is, my diving accident, my spinal cord injury—but He permitted it because He prized something above that horrible accident in which I broke my neck. And what in the world could He possibly prize above the terrible tragedy of a broken neck? How about Christ in me, the hope of glory?

With today being Good Friday, I am mindful that the only way Christ can fully live in me is if I die to self. Normal Christian living is dying daily with Jesus in order to rise and live with Him. This is what I mean when I say that every day I’m dying to know the Lord.

As I put to death fear and doubt, anxiety, anger, pride, and jealousy—as I die to wanting things my way, keeping a record of other people’s wrongs, or cherishing inflated ideas of my own importance—as I die to those sins, I am set free to live fully and happily in Christ. And most often, it is hardship and suffering that forces us to do this. Left to our own devices, our natural inclination would be to stay fearful and doubtful, anxious or angry, proud or jealous. But suffering, it always has a way of driving us down the difficult road to Calvary.

And so, what do you know? God permits what He hates—your pain—to accomplish that which He loves: a fuller, richer life in Christ for you. It’s just as Romans chapter 6 verse 8 says, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.” And friend, on this Good Friday, that is the good word to enter the Easter weekend. Happy Resurrection Day.