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I once heard a preacher ask the question: “What was the toughest six hours you have ever experienced?”
He then proceeded to give examples of some tough times he suffered. He recalled how he went into the hospital for a short, routine procedure and ended up enduring a six-hours-long major heart surgery. Then he mentioned once having a six-hour audit by the IRS. Then he shared several other examples of such tough day-long events.
What is the toughest six hours that you have ever experienced? No matter how tough it was, nothing you will ever endure will come close to the six hours Jesus spent on the cross. Jesus suffered for six hours on the cross! He was scourged, mocked, spit upon, stripped, crowned, beaten repeatedly and struggled to breathe while on the cross of execution. It was a horrible nightmare of 6 hours. But three days later, joy dawned. Christ came back to life. He defeated death so that we might have the assured hope of life beyond the grave.
“Look to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
Larry Fitzgerald