What Is Eternal Life?--Christmas 3

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent."
John 17:3

Several years ago when I was a volunteer in our youth group I went on a short-term mission trip. During the trip, the youth pastor threw out deep questions for us to ponder and discuss through the day. One of his favorite questions was, "Do you know God?" That particular question haunted me every time he asked it. When I came across the above verse I became more intrigued by his question. Early in my Christian life I would have simply said eternal life is life that lasts forever and that is a true statement, but I have come to understand eternal life is so much more than that. This verse describes eternal life as knowing the only true God--the God that is found in the Scripture as well as knowing His son, Jesus Christ.

Every single book in the Scriptures speaks of God. In Genesis we see God as the Creator whose creativity knows no bounds. Just realizing there is nothing that wasn't created by Him blows my mind. The next four books contain God's laws that reveal His Holiness, His love, and our need of a Savior. They also point us to Christ who is the ultimate Sacrificial Lamb who fulfills the Old Testament sacrifices. We miss something significant when we view the law as only a list of "do's" and "don'ts." It reveals the character of God and His loving protection over us. God is the author of life and we were created in His image. He wants His image bearers to love like He loves. Loving means we can't murder because God is the God of life. God is truth and to bear false witness mars His image in us. God is a giver and if we covet and steal we give the impression that God is a taker. When we fail, we not only fail to bear His image, we grieve the heart of a loving God who views us as children. We hurt others who are watching us to see what the Christian faith is. We hurt ourselves because sin and its consequences has negative impact on us, our lives, and on our relationships to God and man. Sin, big or small, always has serious consequences.

The instructions on worship reveal to us that God is holy and we're not. This exposes our need for a Savior, giving us the knowledge we need to be reconciled to God. The next books are historical books and show us how God relates to nations. The books of poetry reveal to us the thoughts men had when the Holy Spirit was inspiring them and the creative freedom they had in pouring their hearts out to God. The next books, the prophetic books, continue to expound on Gods' judgment on sin, His sovereign plans for man, and the way they could be reconciled to Him. His judgement may seem harsh, but they were always designed to draw people back to His heart and to preserve His chosen people.

The gospels reveals God Incarnate through Jesus! If we walk through the pages of the gospels we see a God who partied, who wept, who deeply loved, who confronted both gently and boldly, who laughed, who prayed, who taught. and who was so humble He served those He created. Jesus rubbed shoulders with the unlovely, the hated, the hateful, the sinful, the self-righteous, the sick, the demon possessed, the poor, the rich. He served men, women, and children just like me. He served those who were seeking Him, and those who were not. He served both Jews and Gentiles.

Acts reveals how God relates to us as He indwells us through His Holy Spirit. He works in our hearts, melting the hardness caused by bitterness, pain, and rebellion. He empowers us to honor God with our lives, our words, actions, and our attitudes. The remaining books are letters the Holy Spirit inspired men to write to teach, encourage, exhort, and confront churches and individuals as they learned to walk as men and women reconciled to Jehovah God. Most of the epistles begin with doctrine that reveal the heart of God and what we posses as His children. The last part of the books appeal to us to live for Him on the basis of all we possess in Him. The Bible ends with the book of Revelation describing God's final judgment on sin and our glorious reunion with Christ--a reunion that will end pain, illness, death, sin, fear, and sadness once and for all.  

Which brings us back to the original question--"Do you know HIM?" There are so many possible answers we could give to the question. "No", "I am not sure", "I know about Him,." "I think I do." "I think I am starting to." "I know Him better than I did last year." Hopefully we are all honest enough and love Christ enough to say, "Yes, but I want to know Him more." If that is the desire of your heart, I have some suggestions that might help it become a reality. First, we can make a commitment to spend time with Christ daily by reading His Word in small chunks and meditating on it! If He is to be our closest friend, our heavenly father, our comforter, our teacher–we will spend time with Him to know Him. When we read His word, it will help to remember the words on the page are the expressions of the heart and mind of a living all-powerful, omniscient, tender, loving God. The words are truth, even when our circumstances seem to contradict it. We benefit by spending time in prayer, discussing with Him what we've read and everything pertaining to our lives and our relationships. We can ask Him to give us hearts totally devoted to Him and then sit quietly at His feet so He can remind us of the Scriptures and bathe us in His love. Sometimes, I sit next to my husband and he puts his arm around me and we don't have to talk to feel connected. But we often find that out of the silence we're sharing we're prompted to tell each other something we hadn't planned on saying. The same thing happens when we are silent before God. He brings to mind things we need to discuss with Him or by bringing to mind a verse or a name of someone He would like us to pray for. He gives us a strong sense of His presence and simply whisper His love into our hearts.

Lastly, a question that comes to mind when the pastor posed the question to us was, "How do I know if I know Him?" The following questions might help us discern that: “Do I cry over the things Jesus cried over?” “Do I rejoice over the things that Jesus rejoiced over?” “Do I get angry over the things Jesus got angry over?” “Do I think about the things Jesus thought about?” “Do I love the lost the way Jesus loves them?” “Do I love other people in my church the way He did?” “Am I humble enough to wash other people's feet the way Christ did?” “Am I adopting His perspectives on the circumstances in my life that He has?” And most importantly, “Do I want to know Him more?” So let me ask you this Christmas season, do you know Him?

Prayer: Father, You are beyond our comprehension. Yet, it is Your desire to for us to know you. Please place in each of us an unquenchable thirst for you. Please continuously turn our hearts and minds towards You. In Roman 11:33 it says "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" We praise You for the riches found in knowing You and accept that we will never be able to fully understand and comprehend You. Help us never to be discouraged by what we don't comprehend but thrilled by what You choose to reveal to us and through us as your image bearers.

Amen.

A Sacrifice of Forgiveness

"Then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said, "I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? " In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Matthew 18:32-35.

     These verses contain a part of a parable the Lord used to teach about forgiveness. I had come to think of forgiveness as only as exercise of the mind, but these verses strongly refute that. While forgiveness begins with a decision to choose to forgive, healing comes from emotional forgiveness that follows the head decision. In looking through the Psalms we see that David presented not only his godly thoughts and praises to God, but he also presented his ungodly thoughts. He shared his feelings of fear, anger, frustration, and anxiousness with Him. He expressed his frustrations and anger concerning other people with God. He told God not only what happened, but what he thought and felt about it.
     In our culture we often say we're not angry, but we say it through clinched teeth. As believers, we are especially guilty of this because we are taught that "good Christians" don't get angry, don’t feel or express hurt, and never admit to being afraid. We stuff, deny, and often bury feelings deep in side where they smolder, fester, and intensify. Sometimes our denial is so deep that we can easily say with our mouth that we have forgiven someone, but when we pass that person we find ourselves looking the other way, to avoid surfacing anger or hurt. Sometimes we experience anger coming out in unrelated situations and we don't understand it. At those times we need to sit down before God and ask God to create in us a clean heart. We also need to ask Him to reveal any buried bitterness and emotions that we have stuffed. Ask Him to let the emotions surface and talk to Him and a trusted mentor about them. One way to work through stuck feelings toward people is to choose to forgive them by writing out the following exercise:

"Lord, I choose to forgive____________________________, for___________________________, but__________________________________________________.

     Repeat the above exercise over and over until no more "buts" come to mind and you feel the peace of God instead of anger. It may take only a couple of times, but if the offense was very serious and caused a lot of pain it may take many times to reach the point of rest. As you express negative emotions to God, ask Him to replace them with His joy and peace and to help you see the person and the situation the way He does. If you have been hurt don't be surprised if you cry as you release the "buts" to Him. Don't be surprised if as you cry experience Him as your comforter. He delights in you even when you are crying – Psalm 56:8 says that He collects tears in a bottle! He knows that forgiveness is not easy, that it is sacrificial, and that it is painful, but keep in mind that no person will ever sin against us as much as we have sinned against God. Forgiveness is for our benefit – without it we cannot be in fellowship with God and become more like Him. Forgiveness doesn't mean we will forget, but it does mean we won’t use the offense against that person again.
     Forgiveness is also costly – it costs us our pride, our sense of fairness, our sense of justice, and our desire for revenge and it cost Jesus His life. He still loves us, even after all we have done and all that we will do in the future. He still desires an intimate relationship, still calls us sisters, and still calls us friends! Doesn’t His love compel us to be more like Him? If we become like him, we will learn to look at situations in which we are hurt as an opportunity to be more like Him, forgiving like He does. I do a similar exercise when I feel angry at God--I express the anger or disappointment to Him and ask Him to help me see things from His perspective and or to help me accept His sovereignty in the situation. Sometimes He does help me see it from His perspective. At other times, I feel like He simply asks me to trust Him and to cling to His goodness and His promises! And slowly I am realizing, I have always had irrational beliefs that if I can just understand something I can make it through. The truth is, I can make it through, because I can rest in the truth of God’s unfailing love. Some things in this life will never make sense. They just are…understanding them won’t lessen the pain they cause. But my God is big enough to heal my hurting heart.


Prayer: Father, sometimes forgiveness is so hard and so painful. It makes us vulnerable to emotional pain that we would rather not feel. It also makes us vulnerable to people and to getting hurt again. Please place in each of us the desire to be like You; even when that includes forgiving. Help us remember the cruelty of the beating that You received, the humiliation of being stripped and mocked, and the horrible cruel death You suffered for us so that our offenses could be forgiven. Help us to extend that same mercy and love to others no matter who they might be. To be like You, we have to learn to forgive like You do. Please give us the courage, the humility, the compassion, and the gracious hearts we need to be a true reflection of YOU! Amen.

One Very Thirsty Woman

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet without sin."

Hebrews 4:15--Story from John 4:4-30, 39-42

In this account Jesus and His disciples were traveling by foot through the country of Samaria when they stopped by a well to rest. Usually the Jews avoided this region, because they believed contact with Samaritans would defile them. While the disciples went shopping for food, a Samaritan woman approached the well where Jesus was resting. It was customary for people to get water early in the morning or evening when it the temperature was cool, but she came to the well around noon--the hottest part of the day. She was carrying her water pot and even from a distance Jesus noticed the slump of her shoulders, her eyes cast down, the lack of a spring in her step, and her face void of expression. He knew she came to the well at this time to avoid the disapproving looks and the rude comments of other women in her community. As she approached, she was surprised by Christ's presence and avoided His gaze.

As she began to draw water from the well, Jesus asked her for a drink. Surprised, she asked Him why He, being a Jew, was speaking to her. Glancing at the well, He told her that if she knew who He was she would have been asking Him for a drink of living water. She was puzzled by his comment. To her living water meant fresh pure water that was used for drinking. She glanced at Him, but did not recognize Him. He spoke to her again, asking her to her to bring her husband to see Him. She squirmed under His gaze and responded saying that she did not have a husband. He smiled ever so slightly at her discomfort and knowing her statement was a half truth. He caught her eye and held her gaze as He told her He knew she was five times divorced, now living with a man not her husband. She instinctively understood Jesus knew five men and declared her unfit as a wife and was amazed He was still engaging in a conversation with her.

However, she didn't realize He also understood that with each divorce her feelings of rejection had grown deeper. With each rejection she bore a growing sense of failure at fulfilling the role she was born to fulfill. We aren’t told why she did not marry the sixth. It could have been that she was afraid to marry him thinking it would save her the public humiliation of another divorce or maybe he was just using her for his own pleasure and she needed his provision. 

Christ recognized an unquenchable thirst growing deep inside of her--a thirst to be known, loved, and accepted. She desperately needed some one to see the ugly parts of her heart and not walk away. She needed to have some one care enough to instill in her the hope that she could become the woman God designed her to be. As she listened, she recognized Him, not just as a Jew, but also as a prophet and asked Him where people should go to worship. Maybe she was dodging the personal issues Christ exposed or maybe she was actually seeking truth. He answered her question and it was then that she became aware that she had met God. He knew she had been rejected repeatedly and she had a long pattern of sexual sin and He still loved her! He was different from the men she knew. He gave her His pure love, His righteousness and met her needs instead of demanding she satisfy His. He satisfied her thirst to be known, her thirst to be loved, and her thirst to be accepted. As a result, she was forever changed from a vessel of dishonor to a vessel of honor.

Christ not only went out of His way to offer His grace to this one rejected lady; He used her to offer it to an entire rejected race. We can know she was changed, because she willingly told the people in her community who had shunned her about her encounter with Jesus. We each have similar stories. We were separated from God by sin, and He sought us out, bringing us face to face with Him so He could offer us a relationship with Him. All of us were born with the same needs that she had. Christ meets those needs if we let Him.

Interestingly, Jesus, like the lady, was well acquainted with grief and rejection. He was cast out of synagogues when He began to reveal who He was. While His neighbor's questioned His heritage His brothers questioned His sanity. Religious leaders accused Him of being demon possessed and His own disciples deserted Him. His countrymen traded His release for that of a murderer and His Heavenly Father poured His wrath on Him for sin He did not commit – it was for our sin that He died.

He offered the Samaritan salvation because He understood the pain of her unmet needs and her life of rejection. It’s comforting to know that Christ was touched with the feeling of her infirmities and that He understands ours as well. He also understands the struggles we have with our weaknesses. He hates our sin, but He definitely understands the needs driving it. The question we need to wrestle with is, “Will we let God expose our deepest needs that drive our behaviors?” Sometimes we admit we sin, but we avoid facing the needs beneath because we it is painful. We can share our longing to be known and loved with God and trust Him to meet us there. We can let Him see the darkest parts of our souls and know He won't leave. We can confess our sin and know He still loves us. We can trust Him to mold us into women He intended us to be.In truth, we are all very thirsty women and He is the "living water" who can fill us with His love and goodness not just to the brim, but to the point that it overflows!

Prayer: Father, I know that each of us has been rejected in some form or fashion and it truly hurts. Some have been rejected to the level of this woman and I cannot even imagine that kind of pain. I pray that You will heal those that are hurting and that each person will be comforted by the fact that You have felt the feelings of their infirmities and understand their failures and unmet needs. Please meet their needs and satisfy the longings of their souls! You are good and You are faithful! We love You…Amen.

Unashamed and Testifying

"So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me, His prisoner. 
But join with me in sufferings for the gospel by the power of God, who has saved us 
and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done, 
but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus
 before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light
 through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher."
2 Timothy 1:8-11

In these verses Paul instructs Timothy to not be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ. That may seem odd unless we keep in mind that the Jewish community often associated suffering with unconfessed sin and the early church suffered because of their faith. However, Paul knew that although God’s Son did not sin, He suffered tremendously during His life on earth. He suffered even more in His death because He paid for our sin. To demonstrate His love, Christ took on our shame and our sin and gave us His righteousness! I hope our desire is to not be ashamed to speak His name or to testify of His love and goodness. If we ever find ourselves in a situation in which we are ashamed I hope we will figure out way and turn back quickly. When we hurt, I hope we will rest in His love and comfort, praising Him in the pain. I hope we will never be afraid or ashamed to be mocked, ridiculed, or rejected for His name's sake because Jesus was not ashamed to call us friends, to be mocked, ridiculed, and rejected for us.

These verses point out how Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. I remember receiving an email that said one of the men from a former church needed prayer. His 21-year-old daughter had gotten spinal meningitis and died very unexpectedly. They are a family who loves God. I want to quote a part of the email Glen sent out when she died. “"Britt is with the living and loving Lord, celebrating in wonderment the beauties of His heart, His hands, and His works --"This day you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43) -- "In Thy presence in fullness of joy; In thy right hand there are pleasures forever" (Psalm 16:11) -- God delighted in her homecoming and welcomed her -- "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." (Psalm 116:15). Though we grieve (in the mist of a supernatural peace that under girds my family at this time), we do not grieve as those who have no hope (I Thessalonians 4:13), for we will join her in His future -- many lessons learned, many changes made upon us, miracles of comfort abounded -- the goodness of His heart and tenderness of His care was so obvious to my family, in the midst of anguish, despair, and sorrow…"

I have not seen Brittany's parents for years, but we have heard her dad, Glen, preach and know He loves God with all of His heart, soul, and mind. He has led many people to the Lord and will continue to do so. Because of Christ's resurrection, we each have the same hope Glen expressed in his letter. The pain and suffering in this world will be nothing compared to the fullness of God he will experience with Him in glory. In this life all of us will grieve, but we will not grieve as people without eternal hope. Because of Christ, our grief will not turn to despair, but it will lead us into a deeper intimacy with the God who passionately loves us! It will make us homesick for heaven.

Salvation is not just fire insurance to save us from hell. While we never want to get over the fact that in love Jesus took God's wrath for our sin, we remember He called us with a Holy calling according to His purpose and grace. Each of us has been called to grow in holiness and to develop and use the gifts Christ gave us. If we seek Him with all of our hearts He will reveal Himself and His plans. As we offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, there is no safer place to be than in the center of His will. God may lead us to become a missionaries, teach school, come along side the hurting, encourage others to trust God, or exhort others to follow Him more intently. Maybe you will lead a person bound in sin into a relationship with the Creator. You don't need to wait until "you grow up" or until you are perfect, for God to use you. Life will knock you around and hurt at times, but in the center of His will, there is hope, purpose, peace, and courage to face whatever comes your way. I encourage you to reflect on Christ's life, death and resurrection and ask Him to reveal His purpose for Your life and then live life unashamedly knowing He holds you in His hand.

Prayer: Father, I praise You for abolishing death’s sting. Thank you for the tremendous testimony Glen has had over the years. Father, I also pray that each of us would be unashamed of the gospel of Christ, that we would willingly suffer loss for the sake of spreading Your word. Please give us the courage to proudly proclaim Your truth and testimony of Your love to those at home, at school, our neighborhoods, and even to those in our youth groups and churches that might need to be reminded. Teach us each to use the gifts and answer the calling to a life of service and a life of love. Amen.

Justified By Grace

"After the suffering of His soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied, by His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, and He will bear their iniquities."
Isaiah 53:11

The early morning air was still damp and chilly as Christ entered the temple. He sat down as a crowd began gathering around Him and He began teaching them from the scriptures. All of a sudden the sound of His strong clear voice was drowned out by a group of angry men as they drug a scantily dressed woman into the temple. A thud was heard as they thrust her into the midst of the crowd at the Saviors feet. There she sat trembling, both from fear and the cold with her eyes cast down, her countenance displaying the shame with which she was filled. Claiming they had caught her in the act of adultery, they pelted Jesus with questions, asking if they should stone her as the law required. He glanced around the crowd for the man of being caught with her, but he was nowhere to be found. She alone lay crumpled at His feet.

As Jesus looked into the face of the woman, His heart burned with compassion. He knew she was burdened by the weight of her sin and she had been trying to meet her needs in ways that would never satisfy a hungry, broken heart. Just as her partner used her for his own selfish needs and disappeared, leaving her to bear the brunt of their sin, Christ discerned she was being used again--this time by pious religious leaders. Their real problem was with Him and they were using her to trap Him. As the questions kept coming, Jesus bent over and wrote in the sand. The crowd grew quiet. If He were to tell them to set the woman free, He would be accused of not following the law. If He were to tell them the woman should be stoned, the people shackled by sin would be afraid to come to Him. He stood to face the leaders. Unwilling to play into their hands, He spoke quietly, but firmly. His words echoed into the stillness of the morning and into the coldness of their hearts; "He who has not sinned may cast the first stone." He sat down and again and continued to write with his finger in the sand.

In the presence of the holy Savior, even the accusers' stony hearts began to burn with conviction. Maybe each was remembering their sin or maybe they were being convicted of their collective sin of using this woman for their agenda of trying to expose Christ as a fraud. As their consciences were stirred, one by one, from oldest to the youngest, the men stole away. In the light of Christ's righteousness, those who had exposed her sin, realized they were just as sinful as she was. After her accusers were gone, the broken woman was left alone in the midst of those who had sincerely come to learn from Jesus. She realized that out of all the men there that morning, Jesus was the only one who had the right to condemn her. The silence grew as the angry men departed and the rest of the crowd waited to see what He would do. He stopped writing and looked around as He asked, "Where did your accusers go? Is there no one left to condemn you?"

She responded quietly, "No one, Lord."

He looked at her intently, but kindly, "I do not condemn you either; go and sin no more."

As she turned to leave, she noticed something in Christ's eyes she had not expected to see. Where she had expected to see judgment, she saw grace and forgiveness. Where she had expected to see anger, she saw compassion. Where she had expected to see hatred, she saw love. Where she had expected to see condemnation, she saw acceptance. She knew that while He hated her sin, He hated more what her sin did to her. The dignity that had been stripped by her sin and her accusers was restored in that glance. She had looked into the eyes of God – the God who had every right to condemn her, but had chosen to forgive her. She did not realize until later that Jesus would be the one to die on the cross to pay for the sin He forgave. Even though His forgiveness was freely given, His act of mercy cost Him His life.

Just as Christ bore the sin of this woman, He has born our sin. If any of us were drug to a public setting and thrust at His feet as she was, we, too, would find forgiveness. When we fail and the enemy accuses us and tells us God can't forgive this time, we know Jesus paid for it all. When we are feeling the guilt and come expecting to find condemnation, we will always find grace! The look of disappointment we often expect will never be there. But, compassion and concern will be. He has promised to never push us away, no matter how bad we blow it. He has born all of our iniquity, and his arms and heart remain forever open to us. I want to make sure I fully understand God’s grace and the depth of my sin, so that I never become like the men who were so hateful to this woman. I want to always be someone to draw others into His presence for the right reasons.

Can you relate to any of the people in this account? May He draw you to His feet and may you rest in His grace and His love.

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your mercy and your grace. Thank You for Your compassion and Your love. Thank You for Your acceptance and for restoring us to a right relationship with You. Thank You for restoring our worth as people that You created with a purpose. Help us never take for granted the forgiveness that was so costly to You. May we demonstrate Your grace and mercy to those around us as we learn to forgive as you do…it may never cost us our life, but it could cost us our pride, our own sense of fairness, and our "right" not to be hurt again. Amen.

Outrageous Love

"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her sheerer is silent, so He did not open His mouth."
Isaiah 53:7

If there were ever a man who deserved to live a life filled with joy, it would have been Jesus. He deserved to be clothed in royal robes, crowned with a golden crown, and handed a scepter. He deserved to be honored and respected. His character was marked by a righteousness no other man has ever achieved. Miracles, forgiveness, teaching, and healing that transcended from the physical realm to the emotional and spiritual realms characterized His ministry. He exhibited power and authority over nature, illness, death, and demons that taunted men's souls. More importantly a sacrificial unconditional love was the motivation for every act He performed and for every word He spoke. To begin to understand the depths of Christ's outrageous love we have to look past the life He lived to the death He died. It was in His life that He set aside His right to live eternally to experience our sin. It was in the death he died that His love poured out. He set aside His glory to bear the burden of all of our ugly sin. He chose to set aside His relationship with His Father to feel our deepest pain—separation from the Heavenly Father.

During His life, Christ expressed His love through teaching, confrontations, miracles. transparent relationships, and continuous prayer. He also chose to express His love another way. As He was arrested, tried, beaten, and crucified, He chose to love through a determined silence that spoke as loudly as the words He preached and as loudly as the actions he demonstrated. To prove His love to us, the same mouth that spoke the universe into being remained silent in the face of accusations. The same mouth that calmed angry seas remained silent as crowds mocked Him. The same voice that preached to crowds was silent during illegal trials. It was silent when the earth darkened and as sin was poured out on Him. The same voice that called a dead man out of  the tomb refused to answer false accusations hurled, refused to call down angels to help Him. The same voice that caused soldiers to fall back when they arrested Him was silent as He endured brutal beatings. 

He was God. He was innocent. He was sinless. He had every right to defend Himself and He had the power to walk away from the hate and the sin—yet He chose to remain silent, sentencing Himself to die. He even remained silent when soldiers took whips with sharp stones and bits of bones embedded in the end and beat Him, ripping His flesh wide open. He was silent when they put a scarlet robe on His bleeding flesh and jammed a crown of thorns onto His head. So enraged by the perfect life He lived, they slapped Him and pulled hairs out of His beard, hurling curses and spit at Him. They even drew lots to see who would get His clothes. He was silent as they placed His hands on the cross bar and hammered nails through His hands and His feet. With each clang of the hammer, the searing pain of the nails tearing through flesh and bones, emphasized His silence, As they picked up the cross and dropped it into the ground He faced faces filled with hate. He remained silent when the searing pain of nails intensified with each breath He took. He remained silent when His bloody, raw back rubbed against the wood grain. He remained silent as the thorns dug in His brow and the blood trickled down. 

Hanging suspended between heaven and earth every breath increased the pain, He did we could never have done. He looked at the people below him and broke His silence to ask His Father to forgive them. As our sin was placed on Him, a cold darkness blanketed the earth. Christ was thrust into another realm of pain He had never before experienced – it was the emotional pain you and I feel when we are bound by sin--He felt the same loneliness we feel when we walk away from God in guilt. He felt the same hopelessness and despair we feel when we no longer go to our Father to have needs met. He felt the same sense of being forsaken as we feel when we are buried beneath a mountain of shame. Jesus, alone for the first time in all eternity, was separated from His heavenly Father. Then and only then He broke His silence. It was not a cry for His release, but a heart-rending cry that rose up from the deepest parts of His soul. "My God, My God why have You forsaken me?" With a heart broken by separation, He died our death.

By looking at His death, we get glimpses of the depth of His love and we see the high cost of grace. He loved enough to die for fearful disciples who ran when He was arrested, to die for Peter who vehemently denied knowing Him, to die for those who arrested Him, for those who beat Him, for those who mocked Him, for those who hammered the nails. He even loved deeply enough to stay on the cross when sin made Him feel alone and forsaken. His outrageous love was enough to endure the cruelty of the cross for the joy of presenting us to His Father—not as sinners, but as beloved children, purchased and purified by His blood. He loved with a love so outrageous it killed Him. I want to remember that when I face trials and God seems silent. His silence has been one of the loudest declarations of His love we will ever hear. He has chosen to be a peculiar person, a priest, and an adopted child. He has promised to never leave me or forsake me. So, when He chooses to speak to me through His silence again, I want to hear what He is saying?

Prayer: Father, thank you for the love that Christ demonstrated to us in His suffering and His death. We also thank you for your forgiveness. Please help us love those who are difficult to love. May our commitments of love not be here today and gone tomorrow -- but be firm and steadfast through every circumstance imaginable. May we always experience Your love at it deepest levels when You seem to be silent. AMEN.

Avoiding Unwholesome Talk

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, 
but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, 
that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 
with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, 
along with every form of malice. 
Be kind and compassionate to one another, 
forgiving each another, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Ephesians 4:29-32

One of the ways we can shine brightly in a world filled with darkness is by the words we choose to use in our everyday lives. Before people trust Christ, their speech is often characterized by angry, corrupt communication. Paul, who wrote Ephesians, is a good example of this. Before he trusted Christ, he was known for "breathing out threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." After Paul trusted Christ, his words reflected a life governed by love and a passion to share the gospel. His words reflected a desire to teach believers how to relate to their heavenly Father and each other. 

The Holy Spirit, in sealing us as God's children, called us to a higher standard in the area of speech. Sadly our speech is not all that different from nonbelievers'. Our speech often reflects what's going on in us. To change speech we need to begin to keep our hearts pure by letting go of bitterness and working through our anger. Doing this has the potential of keeping us from evil speaking we might be tempted to do. We cannot get rid of those things without confessing them to God and asking Him to remove them and replace them with His tenderhearted compassion.

Pure speech is also easier if we are quick to forgive each other. I found this easier to do when I realized I have already sinned more against God than any person has sinned against me. The least I can do is to forgive those who offend or hurt me. While that realization excites me, it also makes me feel pretty vulnerable. It means I have to become willing to take risks and be willing to put myself in the position of being hurt again and again. To be honest, there are times I want to protect my heart and put up walls so thick no one can penetrate them. However, after I spend time sitting at Jesus' feet and experience His love, I find I don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit by building walls. After spending time with Him, I become more willing to love and risk being hurt. 

It is important to remember it is in living in Christ's presence, that the Christian life becomes more than a set of rules or a fear of making God angry. It becomes a relationship with a living, personable, loving God. I realize my actions can hurt Him because of the love He has for me. In His presence I am more willing to risk being hurt by forming Christ-centered relationships. In His presence, I am willing to risk ridicule by being “different” and using words that edify and minister grace to those who hear them. In His presence, I want to love as boldly as He does—even if it means rejection. I at times even get brave enough to risk a person's anger by pointing out the sin that hinders their relationship with God. 

I have come to realize to have the kinds of words I want in my mouth I have to walk with the Savior and let Him reveal the hurts with which I haven't dealt and allow Him to heal them. I've had to be humble enough to ask Him to replace anger with tenderhearted compassion. I've had to ask Him to melt my bitterness and replace it with His limitless forgiveness. I've had to ask Him to replace the fear of being hurt again with a bold faith that counts on His faithfulness to heal and sustain me with His love. I've had to ask Him to deal with my pride that handles relationships apart from Him. I have to let Him peel away the layers of self-protection so His love shines brightly through me!

Hebrews 10:24 says that we are to provoke one another to love and good works. I think that includes spurring one another to speak words that reflect love. I want the Holy Spirit to fill me so my words minister grace and love to those who hear them? May I encourage you to let the Holy Spirit strip you of the things you use as self-protection so the light of His love can shine brightly though you?

Prayer: Father, thank you so much for the intimacy that comes from having your Holy Spirit seal us into your family. Thank you so much for loving us and for dwelling in us even though at times our words and our actions grieve you. Thank you for the Spirit's work in our lives that melts anger, dissolves bitterness, and erases evil words before we speak them. Thank you for giving us the grace to forgive. Please fill us with Your love and let that overflow into words that edify others. Father, we live in a hurtful world where angry hateful words are hurled at us and around us daily. Please let Your truth and Your love reign in our hearts and minds so that we meet those words and situations with Your grace being protected by your love. Amen.