Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Relief
When I was in kindergarten, there was this girl that liked me. She was always flirting with me, ya know.... picking at me... slapping me then running away, pulling my hair, kicking me in the shins & stuff like that. I did not have the same feelings towards her. I strongly disliked her. Girls had cooties. Cooties kill. Stay away from girls and build forts to defend against cooties. That was my mentality. Most boys are like that I guess.
Well, one day when we were standing in the lunch line, she snuck up behind me, and kept poking me in the back & giggling. I got frustrated to say the least & so I turned around, slapped her lunch tray to the ground & spit in her face. My teacher, who also happened to be my Sunday School teacher at the Baptist Church at the time, saw all this go down and before I knew it, I was dangling in the air by one arm & moving at a very rapid speed towards a hallway while I watched that little girl cry and all my other classmates laugh. Then I got my first school paddling.... I think it was my 3rd or 4th day there.
When I think about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, invading my life, a lot of what has happened over the years is similar to this story.
Here's what I mean....
Jesus loves me. He pursues me. He seeks me out. He is radically wrecking my life daily with grace and mercy and blessings..... when I was dead in sin, He made me alive. when I was lost, He found me. when I was blind, He gave me sight. when I was deaf, He made me to hear. when I was perishing, He rescued me. when I was the object of God's wrath because of my sin, Jesus stepped in and took the wrath for me. when I was unholy and unable to enter God's presence, Jesus made me holy by being holy for me. when I was seeking out pleasure & satisfaction in temporary things that wouldn't fulfill me, Jesus fills me with everincreasing joy. when I try to make it on my own & fail, Jesus steps in and brings the victory for me. when I stumble & fall, Jesus picks me up, dusts me off, & encourages me to keep going. when I can't carry the burdens of life, Jesus gives me rest & carries my burdens for me without making me feel embarrassed for being weak. when it comes time for me to die, Jesus is going to give me immortality. when it comes time for me to step out into eternity, Jesus is going to take me with Him to a place He has prepared for me, a place that is good, beautiful, unstained by sin, a place where death will be no more, neither will there be hunger or crying or pain anymore, a place filled with the love of God. Jesus has done, is doing, and is going to do everything for me to bring me to His Father, to reconcile me to God. even right now in my life, He is doing everything for my good. He is so loving towards me.
You would think my response to all that Jesus is doing would be a very thankful, worshipful, loving response.... right?
well.... not really.... I want to... but I have a hard time trusting Him, I can't seem to believe what He says sometimes & even when I do believe it, I don't usually obey what He says or rest in what He says... I have a hard time surrending my life to Him even though I know He is good and does good... I have a hard time giving up control to Him even though I know He works everything for my good and His glory... I am sinful, hateful, ungrateful, narcissistic, unloving, & rebellious towards Jesus.... it's like spitting in His face.
and I think to myself.... "How could I repay Him this way?"
the next thought that comes to mind is usually some elaborate plan of how I can make it up to Him.
This is where I need the Gospel.
The Gospel tells me that Jesus Christ died for my sins and rose from the grave (1 Cor 15). In Hebrews chapter 9, it says that Jesus Christ died once for sins and only once was it needed and that He now stands in the presence of God on our behalf until the day when He will return to save those of us that are eagerly waiting for Him.
Because Jesus died for my sins, I don't have to die. Because His death was only needed once, He doesn't have to die for me everytime I sin. And because He is standing in God's presence on my behalf, I don't owe God anything. I am not in debt to Him. Not only can I not repay Him, He doesn't expect me to. Christ has made the payment for my sins. Christ has purchased me, rescued me, has me.
God graciously gives us everything, provides everything, does everything for us to know Him and love Him. That's a piece of the good news of the Gospel, that it's all free. If the bank gives you a loan, you have to pay it off. Our salvation is not loaned out to us. Everything about our salvation is a free gift (Ephesians 2).
This might be a terrible illustration but humor me here....
I am a father of two precious little girls. Those little girls could not do a single thing in the world to make me not love them. They have never had to earn my love. I just love them. And when they get older, I am not going to make them repay me for anything that I have given them. Now, my littlest one is still in diapers. Sometimes she fills those diapers up with some smelly poo. I'm not keeping a tab on my little girl that I'm going to wave in her face one day reminding her of her smelly poo filled diapers & demand some repayment for it.
Don't miss this. God sees us as His children. He loves us no matter what we do because Jesus Christ has done everything to make us right in His eyes. He gives us everything. The same way I give my baby diapers and she ruins them, when we think we have ruined what God has freely given us, this isn't really funnny, but, our efforts to repay God is what really looks like smelly poo (Philippians 3). And in the same way that I don't beat my daughter up for ruining those diapers, God doesn't beat us up when we mess up. Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin. So we don't have to try to repay Him and make a real smelly pile of things.
This is beautiful for real. Knowing that God is for us because of Jesus frees us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, & strength and frees us from tiring ourselves out in pointless efforts to repay Him. Instead of wasting our lives trying to repay God, we eagerly wait for Him to return like the writer of Hebrews says & like Paul says in Philippians 3, we count all our righteous deeds (our efforts) as smelly poo in order that we might gain Christ and be found in Him and know Him and share in His life, sufferings, death, and resurrection.
This is not an easy thing for me though. I still find myself falling back into the mindset of being in debt to God & I am in constant need of the Gospel to remind me that I am not in His debt and that He loves me, that He is for me, & that He is doing everything for my good and His glory.
I hope this is good news for you & pray God will invade your heart with His love for you.
Well, one day when we were standing in the lunch line, she snuck up behind me, and kept poking me in the back & giggling. I got frustrated to say the least & so I turned around, slapped her lunch tray to the ground & spit in her face. My teacher, who also happened to be my Sunday School teacher at the Baptist Church at the time, saw all this go down and before I knew it, I was dangling in the air by one arm & moving at a very rapid speed towards a hallway while I watched that little girl cry and all my other classmates laugh. Then I got my first school paddling.... I think it was my 3rd or 4th day there.
When I think about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, invading my life, a lot of what has happened over the years is similar to this story.
Here's what I mean....
Jesus loves me. He pursues me. He seeks me out. He is radically wrecking my life daily with grace and mercy and blessings..... when I was dead in sin, He made me alive. when I was lost, He found me. when I was blind, He gave me sight. when I was deaf, He made me to hear. when I was perishing, He rescued me. when I was the object of God's wrath because of my sin, Jesus stepped in and took the wrath for me. when I was unholy and unable to enter God's presence, Jesus made me holy by being holy for me. when I was seeking out pleasure & satisfaction in temporary things that wouldn't fulfill me, Jesus fills me with everincreasing joy. when I try to make it on my own & fail, Jesus steps in and brings the victory for me. when I stumble & fall, Jesus picks me up, dusts me off, & encourages me to keep going. when I can't carry the burdens of life, Jesus gives me rest & carries my burdens for me without making me feel embarrassed for being weak. when it comes time for me to die, Jesus is going to give me immortality. when it comes time for me to step out into eternity, Jesus is going to take me with Him to a place He has prepared for me, a place that is good, beautiful, unstained by sin, a place where death will be no more, neither will there be hunger or crying or pain anymore, a place filled with the love of God. Jesus has done, is doing, and is going to do everything for me to bring me to His Father, to reconcile me to God. even right now in my life, He is doing everything for my good. He is so loving towards me.
You would think my response to all that Jesus is doing would be a very thankful, worshipful, loving response.... right?
well.... not really.... I want to... but I have a hard time trusting Him, I can't seem to believe what He says sometimes & even when I do believe it, I don't usually obey what He says or rest in what He says... I have a hard time surrending my life to Him even though I know He is good and does good... I have a hard time giving up control to Him even though I know He works everything for my good and His glory... I am sinful, hateful, ungrateful, narcissistic, unloving, & rebellious towards Jesus.... it's like spitting in His face.
and I think to myself.... "How could I repay Him this way?"
the next thought that comes to mind is usually some elaborate plan of how I can make it up to Him.
This is where I need the Gospel.
The Gospel tells me that Jesus Christ died for my sins and rose from the grave (1 Cor 15). In Hebrews chapter 9, it says that Jesus Christ died once for sins and only once was it needed and that He now stands in the presence of God on our behalf until the day when He will return to save those of us that are eagerly waiting for Him.
Because Jesus died for my sins, I don't have to die. Because His death was only needed once, He doesn't have to die for me everytime I sin. And because He is standing in God's presence on my behalf, I don't owe God anything. I am not in debt to Him. Not only can I not repay Him, He doesn't expect me to. Christ has made the payment for my sins. Christ has purchased me, rescued me, has me.
God graciously gives us everything, provides everything, does everything for us to know Him and love Him. That's a piece of the good news of the Gospel, that it's all free. If the bank gives you a loan, you have to pay it off. Our salvation is not loaned out to us. Everything about our salvation is a free gift (Ephesians 2).
This might be a terrible illustration but humor me here....
I am a father of two precious little girls. Those little girls could not do a single thing in the world to make me not love them. They have never had to earn my love. I just love them. And when they get older, I am not going to make them repay me for anything that I have given them. Now, my littlest one is still in diapers. Sometimes she fills those diapers up with some smelly poo. I'm not keeping a tab on my little girl that I'm going to wave in her face one day reminding her of her smelly poo filled diapers & demand some repayment for it.
Don't miss this. God sees us as His children. He loves us no matter what we do because Jesus Christ has done everything to make us right in His eyes. He gives us everything. The same way I give my baby diapers and she ruins them, when we think we have ruined what God has freely given us, this isn't really funnny, but, our efforts to repay God is what really looks like smelly poo (Philippians 3). And in the same way that I don't beat my daughter up for ruining those diapers, God doesn't beat us up when we mess up. Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin. So we don't have to try to repay Him and make a real smelly pile of things.
This is beautiful for real. Knowing that God is for us because of Jesus frees us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, & strength and frees us from tiring ourselves out in pointless efforts to repay Him. Instead of wasting our lives trying to repay God, we eagerly wait for Him to return like the writer of Hebrews says & like Paul says in Philippians 3, we count all our righteous deeds (our efforts) as smelly poo in order that we might gain Christ and be found in Him and know Him and share in His life, sufferings, death, and resurrection.
This is not an easy thing for me though. I still find myself falling back into the mindset of being in debt to God & I am in constant need of the Gospel to remind me that I am not in His debt and that He loves me, that He is for me, & that He is doing everything for my good and His glory.
I hope this is good news for you & pray God will invade your heart with His love for you.
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