At the beginning of each year I like to spend some time sorting things out and tidying things up before starting new projects.

I usually have a lot of Christmas stuff on my computer that needs to be filed away correctly. Artwork for Christmas cards, poetry of lyrics for a song, mailing list & gift etc. And there is also a lot of other stuff on my computer that needs backing up at that time of the year. And there's always a number of emails in my inbox that need sorting out and many to delete.

And then I like to address each room in our apartment and give it a clean from top to bottom. I like to look in every cupboard, go through all my things, and get rid of items I no longer need and tidy up what's left.

In order to address each challenge and not leave anything undone … I write lists! I find it satisfying to check each off item when done, and when the list has been completed I like that satisfying ritual of tearing up my completed ‘to do’ list and throwing it away before moving on to the next task.

But this year is different. It is now in the middle of the year and I'm still sorting through a lot of accumulated things. Having completed all of my usual tasks at the beginning of the year, I am now addressing some issues in the home that have been overlooked for quite some time. I have now committed myself to spending the whole year addressing all of these things until they are finished.

But it is organised clutter. It’s all neatly packed away in boxes that look nice on the shelves. But no matter how pretty I try to make these pending tasks look, they are still there and I am finally going to address them all and be done with these pending tasks once for all!

Being a sentimental type, I have a large collection of special cards… Cards for each of my children were born, special birthdays and other special events. Random cards from loved ones and friends conveying something they wanted to tell me; perhaps it was a ‘thank you’ note, 'get well soon' note, or a bereavement one.

Now, when I look at the life of the Lord Jesus from beginning at conception right through until the day He dismissed His spirit, I see that there were a number of things that He came to do, a large number of prophecies that needed to be fulfilled, a number of people that He was set to encounter for healing or deliverance, there were important conversations He needed to have, and a number of places He needed to go before taking his journey to the cross to suffer and bleed and die for poor sinners like ourselves.

✅ He had to be born at a certain place and at a certain time … (Micah 5: 2)
✅ He needed to go to the temple as a young lad and speak with the doctors and elders so they would wonder these questions and answers … (Luke 2: 43-49)
✅ He needed to be at a family wedding to perform His first miracle in turning water into wine … (John 2: 1-11)
✅ He needed to speak with the woman at the well so that she would go back into hometown and point others to Jesus … (John 4: 3-30)
✅ There was an appointment He had to keep with a man named Nicodemus. To him the truth about being born again was revealed, and the mention of the serpent being raised on the pole in the wilderness set in motion his thoughts about his future role in a unique type of service He had in mind … (John 3: 1-21) We would later see Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea attending to the body of the Lord after His crucifixion … (John 19: 38-42)
✅ He needed to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey to fulfil prophecy. (Luke 19: 28-40)
✅ He had to go to Gethsemane and pour out his heart before God. There the blending of two perfect wills was displayed. (Luke 22: 39-46)
✅ There was also the need to suffer a fake trial and the abuse to follow. (Matthew 27: 26-31, Luke 22: 63-71)
✅ Then He had to go to Calvary to be crucified. (Luke 23: 33)

There were a multitude of things the Lord did that were all scheduled into His short life and even shorter time of ministry, but every one of those things were completed perfectly to the delight of His Father in heaven.

Everything He so faithfully did was on God's checklist, and one by one as Jesus fulfilled every item on this list, God as it were was checking each item off with great satisfaction.

Then came the moment of time when the work of the Lord Jesus was finally completed and from the cross at the end of His suffering as our Substitute He mustered up His strength and cried with a loud voice: