At the Cusp of Life

Jesus could have died at the cusp of fulfilling his salvific act of mercy on us. 30 years after he was born and his family moved away to Egypt, Jesus was back on the scene in Israel about to start his ministry when he was lead into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting. Jesus could have died in the wilderness, but he didn’t die there and neither did his vision. And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'” – Luke 4:5-8 The exact reason he came to the earth would have been nullified if he had been enticed by the devil’s offer to be given the authority over the world. But Jesus didn’t want to die there. Jesus could have given up at any point on his journey here on earth. Even at the very end we find Jesus praying at the Garden of Gethsemane and says to God, “I don’t want to do this—go through this pain.” And then he quickly says, “Well if it is your will, then I’ll go through it.” Jesus wanted to begin the rest of eternity, not at the cusp of the promises of God, but in the promise of God. Your death here on this earth is the beginning of an eternity awaiting you. It is a near impossibility that Jesus would die on the cross to raise us from the dead. In fact, the Bible says that very few people would even die for a good man. That God would die for a wretched soul like mine is a miracle! Jesus died in God’s promise. He was motivated by his love for us and drove past the cusp of death and into new life. Jesus’ death in God’s promise allows us to also die in God’s promise. Because until this point in history, before we knew Christ, before we ever decided we were going to have a rational mind, the closest thing we could have ever come on our own terms was at the cusp of God’s promise. We could never get to God’s promise, the fear of death would always trump God’s promise without the work of Jesus. So understand that we can live beyond the cusp of life because of what happened on Calvary. Jesus died at Calvary. With his death was atonement for our sins. If you don’t believe you have any sins, I’m sorry to hear that—but you have to start looking in the mirror because your face is marred with it. Sin is not plainly doing a relative “wrong,” it is the inability of people to reach their true potential, hidden within the depths of their souls by their creator. Isn’t that the reason women wear makeup? To cover up their oily faces so blemishes won’t be seen. Your sins are there and it’s obvious, you’re the only one pretending that its not. Jesus died in God’s promise when he was resurrected from the grips of death and sat at His rightful place. It is this that says we will not die at the cusp of our lives! Yes, we know this is true because the apostle Paul says to the Colossian church to go ask the 500 or so people who saw it all happen. 500 people testifying to an event not a conspiracy. It’s not a fairy tale made for Catholic bishops. It’s not something to guilt you into coming to church week in and week out. It is a testimony of our calling to live a life beyond the cusp of life. Now I want you to understand this because this is essential for your life as a Christian. Some of us need to escape the clutches of fear. Some of us are curious about living beyond that cusp. God ordains the purposes of your life to be beyond what you can see as the goal in the horizon. He wants you to end where His promises lay in realization. We need to have faith for that life, even if we can’t see it now. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. – Hebrews 11:1-2