“We often confuse what we wish for with what is.”
The Christian is, quite simply, a child of God by adoption through the power of the Holy Spirit as He imputes grace in our souls while our sins are taken away.
God is immutable, omnipotent, and acts with finality.
Therefore, when God gives us His grace and takes away our sins, making the individual a child of God; the act of God is as permanent as His Son dying on the Cross.
Friends, that is what is - and it will always be.
Yet, when we sin, when we fall short, when we betray, when we act contrary to who we know we are and should be - we will forget the truth, as guilt overtakes our consciousness.
If I could wave a wand and make one thing in the New Year different for every Christian's life, it would be that we never forget who we are and whose we are - regardless of our actions and thoughts to the contrary.
The various branches of the Orthodox Church use a massive amount of art and icons which point to Jesus; this is what we are to do as the "living stones" Peter spoke of so many years ago.Yet, we must go beyond being an 'icon' for Jesus and be real, tangible; and being a true reflection of the Lord is never easy.
Generally, we fall way, way short; but so does the art of the Church.
The art and icons of Christianity often portray Jesus as a tame, mild-mannered man.
But the Gospels show us a man who was far from tame; certainly, a man never tamed by the world or the religious structure.
Jesus is seen in the four Gospels with searing honesty, righteous bluntness and at times, He had little tact.
Jesus was unpredictable; for most, He was even hard to understand.
The problem with man modern Christians is that they want a tame Jesus; or, to put it another way, the 'Sunday School Jesus.'
But Jesus of Nazareth is unlike any person who has ever lived.
Do you know what the difference is between Jesus Christ and you or me?
You and I try to "live the life" of being a Christian.
Jesus Christ is the Life.
Unlike many in the Body of Christ today, Jesus was and is the sinless friend of sinners.
I wish more could say the same today; but most cannot.
In His time, the religious types rejected Jesus because He simply didn't fit their preconceived notions as to what the Messiah should be. Like many good Christians, He just didn't fit the religious mold.
Today, I believe we are doing the same thing in the opposite direction; while in His time, He was rejected because He didn't fit the religious model of the day, in our time the Gospels are being so dumbed down in many churches that Jesus means very little.
In some churches, Jesus is more like a benevolent, spiritual Santa Claus rather than a crucified, risen and returning Lord.
On the other side of the pew, there are still those to whom Jesus does not fit their pious attitude.
The truth is piety at the price of rejecting the very people Jesus loved makes for confusion among the brethren rather than unity.
Jesus had grace toward the sinner, while owning an unending hostility toward sin.
Remember the woman who was caught in the act of adultery?Jesus' simple command was 'go and sin no more' after calling her 'daughter.'
And I believe in that one simple act, Jesus showed us the Father's true feelings concerning our sin in our lives; compassion for the weak sinner and forgiveness for the truly repentant.
Sadly, we live in a time when some would want to soften Jesus' hard line on morality or misrepresent it.
After the era of gay bashing, ostracizing divorced believers, hurting rather than helping those caught in sexual sin - it isn't hard to see why many in the world think the church is the enemy of sinners rather than their friend like Jesus.
Before Jesus was arrested, with His disciples, He boldly stated, 'I am the way...'
Another time, 'I and my Father, are One.'
If Jesus is not God, then He was one of the worst deluded people who has ever lived.
In contrast, Moses would have never compared Himself with Yahweh and certainly Mohammed would have never stated, 'I and Allah are the same.'
I bring these statement to the forefront because they show that Jesus was never confused about His identity nor His role in this world.
How unlike Christians today!
But Jesus' entire life stands or falls on His claim that He is indeed God in flesh.
I cannot trust His promise of forgiveness and grace unless He can back it up with authority.
Calvary and the Cross is either the greatest act of love for fallen mankind or it is the worst form of cosmic child abuse in history.
In His live and death, Jesus is the corrective to all our notions and assumptions about God; He showed us exactly who God is, what He does and how much you and I mean to Him.
That is why, without confusion, Jesus is who I want God to be.
And He is who I want to direct others to, without confusion, as I model His love and grace in my life.
Jesus is history's grand focal point.
Things begin to get fuzzy when we start to debate endlessly of our free will and divine Providence; yet, if we concentrate on Jesus and how He treated actual people in real pain, our mission in this world clears up considerably.
Jesus brought God near; He is Emmanuel. And Jesus reveals a God who comes in search of us; a God who seeks us in love.
The Koran never once applies the word 'love' to God; it is sad and so different than the New Testament Christ who knows that God is Love.
When Pilate stepped out before the angry mobs and stated, 'Behold, the man...' he could have just as easily said, 'Behold, the best example of humanity.'
For in Jesus, we see a God who would rather die for us than to allow you and I to die without Him.
Not long ago, I was facing death; not in a flash of a second, but in a real way, painful way, a manner in which my body was deteriorating quickly.
When I prayed, as others in the same condition do, I prayed in facing death to the One who has died; He knew all of what I was experiencing because in His love, He too died.
Scripture teaches us that by Jesus' wounds we are healed; not by His miracles, not by His teachings, but by His wounds - in other words, by the power of His sacrificial blood.
Now, that healing is first spiritual; but at times it is also physical.
I know, because I experienced both; the spiritual deliverance many years ago and the physical deliverance more recently from cancer.
But what I experienced is only a foreshadowing of what Jesus will bring to all believers in a massive, universal way.
As we go forward in this life, remember that we live our lives on 'Humanity's Saturday.'
We live in a time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday; it's Saturday to the world because Christ hasn't returned to resurrect the saints.
Our history is taking place between the promise and fulfillment.
It is a day which has no name, but should be lived to the fullest, without confusion, in truth and full of grace.
Until next time, Happy New Year and go win one for the good guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment