You've Been Pushed Aside From an Oncoming Bus. Now What Do You Do?

Mutilated, unrecognizable, and dead.  That was what had become of a doctor on a TV drama after he pushed a female stranger out of the way of an oncoming bus.  The stranger was so brokenhearted.  This man she did not know saved her life.  She felt like he was her knight in shining armor and that she loved him.  Now he was gone and she could not accept his death.  She felt terribly grieved and guilty.  She sat and cried day after day on a bench outside the hospital where he had worked and died.  Finally one of the doctor's friends exhorted her, telling her that while he was dead, she was alive due to his valiant act.  She should not waste her days crying and grieving. Instead she should enjoy the life that he had made possible for her.

Watching this, I could not help but think about the parallel between this scene and what Jesus has done for us.  Before we knew of Him, before we were even born, Jesus sacrificed Himself for us.  He was brutally beaten, almost to death.  Then He willingly hung on the cross and accepted the punishment for all of our sins.  He did this out of love so that we could have eternal life with Him.

The girl on the TV show couldn't sleep.  Her savior's heroic action and tragic death were all she could think about.  How does Jesus' act of love make you feel?  Do you feel thankful?  Indebted?  Grieved?  Guilty?  Unworthy? Disbelieving?  Indifferent?

This may be something that you have never thought about, or not thought about in a long time.  With Easter approaching, I think it is a good time to ask ourselves what Jesus' sacrifice means to us, personally.  How does it really make you feel?  Then, I think it is important to read the Bible and understand how God intends us to see His Son's sacrifice.  Here are a few verses to get you started:

"Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory." 

Romans 5:1-2

"So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."

Romans 5:11

^"We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin." 

Romans 6:6-7

"Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water."

Hebrews 10:22

^"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Romans 10:9

So, if you have indeed confessed Jesus as your Savior there is no need to look at the cross and feel guilt, shame, or sadness.  May you look upon His death and resurrection with joy, peace, and thankfulness this Easter!

Broken Chains

Things were good: I was loving my tattoo, loving that so many people were reading my blog post about the tattoo, and I was hopeful that all this was somehow going to inspire someone to trust more in Jesus.  Things were good.  Things WERE good.  Then it happened.  Health problems returned, children became obstinate, my husband was working long hours, and my emotions started taking control.  Things were not going my way and I started to become irritated and angry once again.  WAIT!  This wasn't supposed to happen.  I mean I have the tattoo to prove things would be different, right?!

So who was to blame?  I wrote last time how Jesus had cleansed me with His blood.  Did he miss a spot?  Of course not.  It was me.  I am the one who after laying down my will at Jesus' feet, went and grabbed it back with the passion of a possessive two-year-old.  So after some very hard days, I sat in church this morning feeling defeated.  I felt the chains of my sinful selfishness coiled tightly around my body making it difficult to breathe.  Where was that hope and joy I had professed just a week ago?

Suddenly the band's worship song lyrics penetrated deep into my heart:

There is power in the name of Jesus

To break every chain

Break every chain

Break every chain

I had failed, but Jesus remains strong and powerful.  The song continued:

All sufficient sacrifice

So freely given

Such a price

Bought our redemption

Heaven's gates swing wide

It doesn't matter that I acted unworthy.  Jesus is the "all sufficient sacrifice" and the gift of forgiveness and salvation is "freely given".  I went from reading the words to belting them out with all that was within me (for those of you who know me, you know that must have been unpleasant for those around me).  I felt the chains of sin fall away.  I felt the hope and joy return.  I felt God's loving embrace and forgiveness.  It felt so good!

So as Easter approaches I am even more aware and thankful for the redemption purchased by Jesus' death on the cross.  And I know that even when I fail, it is by the power that raised Jesus from the dead that I will be rescued and continually transformed.  I pray that you will allow Jesus to break any chains that bind you and that you will experience FREEDOM!

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains.  

Psalm 107:13-14

song by Jesus Culture

Behind the Tattoo

On Saturday I got my first tattoo.  This tattoo has a great deal of significance to me and I wanted to share it with you.

When my mom was diagnosed suddenly with stage four pancreatic cancer I felt the ground beneath me disintegrating.  Other than my husband, she was my best friend and the best mother anyone could ask for.  She beat the odds and fought the cancer for two excruciating years.  Images of her body wasting away still plague me to this day.  Without my faith in Jesus I could have not gotten through this time.  Philippians 4:6-7 says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." For the first time in my life I experience this 'peace which surpasses all understanding'.  For this I will forever be grateful to God!

About a year after my mom went to be with her Savior in Heaven, a cancer started to grow in me.  My cancer however had no medical diagnosis: it was the cancer of sin.  I became so wrapped up in my expectations for my life, I would experience intense anger when things did not go my way.  I felt like I was truly having a psychological break.  It affected my family and all those around me.  I was certainly not living a life centered on Jesus and His will for my life.

It has taken a lot of time, prayer, counsel, and patience from loved ones, but I feel like I have finally been able to give over my expectations and anger to the Lord.  For the first time in a long time I have hope and joy again.  1 Peter 1:3-4 captures how I feel: ^"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay."

1 Peter also reminds us that even though we face trials here on earth, when we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior we will have the reward of salvation and eternal life.  It also exhorts us to live a holy life of loving others, being cleansed from our sins by Christ's blood on the cross.  This reminds me never to let the cancer of selfishness control my heart again.  I have been reborn (as represented by the plumerias in the tattoo) and with my trust in Jesus I can live a life filled with "glorious, inexpressible joy"!

To read all of 1 Peter 1 click here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+1&version=NLT