Every year at Christmas I take some time to quietly reflect on the birth of my Savior. The birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the reason for Christmas after all. And though Jesus was most likely born in the Spring, Christmas is when we celebrate His birth.
Yesterday I read Luke chapters 1 and 2 and it was like I was reading it for the first time. I was amazed at the thought of Jesus being born of a virgin, at Zechariah's prophecy after John's birth, and at the prophecy of Simeon at the temple. I was reminded that we so often forget the awesomeness of this event and the reason for why it even happened. Even Israel at the time didn't have a correct understanding of the Messiah's arrival. He didn't come as they expected Him to and He didn't act as they wanted Him to. And now we, all these years later, even with the Word of God to direct us, do not have a correct understanding of His arrival or of what He came to do. Like Israel, we expect Him to act in a way that fits our desires and our understanding of who He is. We still fail to "get it" and many of us never will until Jesus returns to establish His kingdom.
Jesus didn't come as a king to overthrow the Roman government; He came as a baby meant to die. Jesus didn't come to make us happy and safe; He came with a sword and with the message "repent and believe." He came in such a way that it was completely different from what anyone expected or desired, yet the way He came was completely right. And His ministry, His message, and His death was completely right. Jesus never got it wrong, He simply did and said things that we, apart from Him, would never find acceptable. My heart swells with the knowledge that Jesus is so not what any of us wanted and that He still does not fit into our man made mold of Him. I am so over joyed that Jesus is not what we would have Him be. He is God and as God He is holy. He possesses wrath and grace, hatred and love. He is holy and He is just. He is, and defines what is, right and good. I am so thankful and humbled that He came as a baby to die and that He did that to bring me to Himself for His glory. Without Him, I would hate Him. I would oppose Him. I would never choose Him for myself. He chose me and He had grace on me when He could have condemned me. There is no better reason to celebrate Christmas.
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Thinking about Baby
I haven't been posting as much as usual the past few months mainly because so many things are going on and my mind is kind of everywhere. Pregnancy has certainly made things harder and is changing my life. School was harder to accomplish, cleaning is harder to do, the laundry detergent is a horrible smell to me now, and though my energy has been returning, I still wear out faster than I used to. My body is also changing in ways I never even considered pre-pregnancy. My emotions are kind of everywhere and I now cry easier and at things that normally wouldn't phase me. I was watching a movie the other day and just started bawling at a particular scene. Before pregnancy I would have been moved by it but I wouldn't have cried, let alone bawl. I also forget things more often and feel like an idiot sometimes. I've walked into rooms and have totally forgotten why I was there. That's never happened before. So, there have been lots of changes and there are plenty more to come.
The morning sickness seems to have subsided. A few things still make me sick every now and then but for the most part I am done with throwing up. Now, it's dealing with gas and indigestion which can be uncomfortable. My back will also start to ache if I sit or stand too long. I guess I better get used to that because I'm assuming it will only get worse the bigger I get. I'm definitely not as miserable as I was a few weeks ago so I'm thankful for that.
The two things I am looking forward to in the near future is showing more and finding out the gender of our little one. I have an unltrasound at 20 weeks so only four more weeks to go. Hopefully the baby will cooperate and, for this ONE time, be "immodest." ;) I REALLY want to know what we're having so I can stop calling the baby "it" and starting using a name; as well as pick out baby stuff!! I feel like I'll also be able to bond a little bit more with the baby knowing the name and gender. Kyle and I both would like to begin our family with a boy but we wonder if, because we want a boy, that it's a girl. Either way I will be happy and hopefully Kyle will too. If it's a girl, I can totally see our little girl having her daddy wrapped around her little finger. :) I'm sure he will fall in love either way.
Christmas is only three days away and I am looking forward to spending it with Kyle and his side of the family. We have presents all around the tree and stockings hanging over the fireplace. We even have a little sock tacked up there for the baby. :) Though it will be over far too soon, it will be a nice Christmas and the year ahead is full of new journeys and good changes. I can't wait. :)
The morning sickness seems to have subsided. A few things still make me sick every now and then but for the most part I am done with throwing up. Now, it's dealing with gas and indigestion which can be uncomfortable. My back will also start to ache if I sit or stand too long. I guess I better get used to that because I'm assuming it will only get worse the bigger I get. I'm definitely not as miserable as I was a few weeks ago so I'm thankful for that.
The two things I am looking forward to in the near future is showing more and finding out the gender of our little one. I have an unltrasound at 20 weeks so only four more weeks to go. Hopefully the baby will cooperate and, for this ONE time, be "immodest." ;) I REALLY want to know what we're having so I can stop calling the baby "it" and starting using a name; as well as pick out baby stuff!! I feel like I'll also be able to bond a little bit more with the baby knowing the name and gender. Kyle and I both would like to begin our family with a boy but we wonder if, because we want a boy, that it's a girl. Either way I will be happy and hopefully Kyle will too. If it's a girl, I can totally see our little girl having her daddy wrapped around her little finger. :) I'm sure he will fall in love either way.
Christmas is only three days away and I am looking forward to spending it with Kyle and his side of the family. We have presents all around the tree and stockings hanging over the fireplace. We even have a little sock tacked up there for the baby. :) Though it will be over far too soon, it will be a nice Christmas and the year ahead is full of new journeys and good changes. I can't wait. :)
Friday, December 9, 2011
Your Jesus is Too Safe
The following three posts are Facebook notes that I wrote last year. I was reminded of them because I've been thinking over these issues again. I highly recommend Your Jesus is Too Safe by Jared Wilson as well as The Holiness of God by RC Sproul (which I am currently reading). These two books will rock your world and shape your view of Jesus as He was on Earth and as He is as God.
I wonder why terms like "get saved," "ask Jesus into your heart," and "relationship with God" make me wanna puke. It's not that I'm not "saved" or that Jesus isn't a part of my LIFE or that I don't have a relationship with God, it just may be that these terms have become so...lame. I didn't GET saved...Jesus chose to have grace on me. And I certainly didn't ask Jesus into my heart! I thought I had when I was younger but now that doesn't make any sense to me. What would Jesus be doing in my heart? What does that even mean? lol No, Jesus isn't in my heart but He is my leader and the One that I look to in everything. He is King and Lord. And I may have a relationship with God but it's not like the relationship I have with my parents, my friends or even my boyfriend. It's not like God and I hang out at the coffee shop or go to the movies. God isn't just another person I pal around with. He is more than that. Yes, I do see Him as a Father, a Friend and even a Lover but He is still so much more than that. Yes He's personal in these ways and I adore that about Him but He is also a ruler, a mighty ruler, who acts out of justice and sometimes wrath. He is a King and He is sovereign. He holds all things within His power and will. He is so much more than even my mind can fully comprehend. I don't like to talk about my "relationship with God" as if I'm discussing my relationship with my boyfriend. Am I communicating the difference here? I hope so...I don't want to sound heretical. I just think that Christians, especially American Christians, forget who Jesus is and why who He is is so important. We've gone into a spiritual slumber. Do we even recognize Jesus' power? Are we so caught up in Christianity that we forget about Jesus and the Gospel? Do we forget to follow? I've said this before and I still believe it...we've watered down what Christianity is suppose to be. We've changed it and made it more like the world....it looks like everything else. Jesus was radical but do we express that at all? Scripture is incredibly radical so why do we find it so boring? The very plan of creation and redemption is amazingly radical but we don't seem to even care! We go to church every Sunday but then live the rest of our days as if Jesus is not who He said He was, as if we have no grace, as if there is no hope, as if there is nothing to live for but ourselves! I find it incredibly sad. I can't say that none of this is true for me because it is and I hate it. But praise God that He is patient and full of grace because He remains faithful even when I do not. So no, I don't consider myself as one who "got saved" or as one who "invited Jesus into my heart" or as one who has a "relationship with God." I am one who was chosen by God to be brought out of the slavery of sin into a hopeful life of grace to be lived for His glory. I am one who follows God by allowing Him to lead every part of my life and to use me as He will. Do I hang out with God? In a sense, yes I do, but not like I hang out with other people. I read His unchanging Word, I can pray to Him whenever and wherever I want, and I learn more about Him and grow closer to Him in intimacy. Do I often screw this up? Heck yes I do and God will judge me but He still offers grace and hope. I know I should be a better follower but I don't want to forget why I'm even a follower in the first place.
_______________
Your Jesus is Too Safe is a book written by Jared C Wilson. It has been sitting on my bedside table for months now and I just started reading it today. All I had to read was the introduction to know that this is going to be a good read. It is much like my previous note on my thoughts about God. Wilson wrote this book in order to bring to remembrance and realization that there is a real historical Jesus. Our nation has been marketing Jesus as all kinds of things. Jesus has become our "drive-thru, feel good Savior." He has been painted as a long haired, brown eyed, blank stare, "he must be a nice guy" kind of Jesus. What's worse is that even the CHURCH has misrepresented Jesus. "Yes, even the church itself is guilty when it comes to the marketing of Jesus. We've put our own gloss on him, our own spin. It's no wonder the world doesn't get Jesus, because we've spent decades selling a Jesus cast in our own image" (pg. 13). Christians read the Bible and still screw up the Gospel and still view Jesus as their cuddly teddy bear. How can you read the gospels and not understand who Jesus really is? Well, I must remember that I knew the Gospel forwards and back and had a completely wrong view of Jesus growing up. It wasn't until I started at Criswell that I began to learn and know the real Jesus; the historical Jesus and how what He did and said all those years ago meant then and now. I learned how important it is to see and hear Jesus as His first century audience would have. And let me tell you, it's completely different from how the 21st century church sees and hears Jesus.
"The purpose of Your Jesus is Too Safe is to remind us, for the glory of God and the hope of the world, of the original message of the historical person Jesus Christ, who was, in fact, God in the flesh. We're going to remove the gloss. We're going to venture beyond the hype and beneath the misconceptions to see the real, historical figure of Jesus Christ in his biblical and cultural context - and in this way to know God more fully, to see what God wants us to know about the revelation of himself in his son" (pg 15).
_____________
Jesus was a promise. He was a prophet. He was/is a forgiver.
In the Old Testament Jesus was the promised Messiah. The Jews waited for Him and when He came, they rejected Him. They didn't understand Him. They wanted a King to come in and overthrow the Roman government and deliver them from their oppressors. But that's not what Jesus came to do. He came as the fulfillment of the Law. He came to bring a new covenant, a new kingdom. "The deliverance wasn't happening the way that so many people expected, as neither John nor Jesus had a sword, and neither advocated actually overthrowing the government. Instead, they wielded something far more dangerous: the radical message of a new kingdom" (pg. 23-24). The Jews wanted freedom from an oppressing government but Jesus came to offer Himself. He came and said, "I'm God. I'm IT. I'm the fulfillment of the Law. Repent and believe because the kingdom of God is here." The Jews didn't like this so much. They thought He was crazy. What they didn't understand is that they were looking for the wrong promise and the wrong freedom. "The real good news of the kingdom of God arriving to reign over the world is that the promise is not in stuff, but in God himself, manifest in the person of Jesus Christ. The promise is not a monetary or political inheritance. The promise is the king himself. The promise is Jesus" (pg. 25). So many Christians, even today, "accept" Christ because they think they He will give them a better life and that they will be blessed with things and everything their heart desires. No longer do Christians long for Christ. No longer do they yearn for Him and find satisfaction in Him. No longer do we present the Gospel with Christ as the focus. We take Christ to get something bigger and better as a result. Perhaps this is why we have so many fake Christians and pastors in our churches today and in so many Christian organizations. Perhaps so many people who call themselves Christians have not actually met the powerful Jesus Christ of the Gospels. They have only met a distorted figure of Him. Wilson says, "The message of Jesus--that he himself is life and you can't get it anywhere else, least of all in yourself--is the hardest message we could ever hear, because it goes completely against our perceptions and conceptions, our prejudices and our opinions. It goes radically against the bent of our souls" (pg 27). This is one of the things that I have always loved about Jesus. He is radically different. He came to do that which He did in such a radical way, in such a way that no one expected or even wanted. He did come as a promise and He fulfilled that promise. He took the Law, the Law that the Jews followed so closely, and He put the Law in context of Himself. He fulfilled it and now we no longer live under the Law, but under Christ.
Jesus was a prophet. I don't really have much to say about this. Wilson went over five criteria for a prophet that can be gathered from any of the Old Testament prophets and then he showed how Jesus fulfilled each of these criteria. At the end of the chapter Wilson says this, "That is what irritates about Jesus the Prophet. That is what disturbs about Jesus the Prophet. That is what offends about Jesus the Prophet. He has no interest in our self-interest, no concern for our personal space, no enablement for our self-satisfaction. He proclaims and prophesies himself, and he makes no bones about it" (pg 58).
Jesus is a forgiver. Not only did He come to fulfill but to bring grace and forgiveness. Wilson discusses how important it is for Christians to have grace and forgiveness. He says that the church is suppose to be the face of grace to each other and to the world. Having grace and forgiving someone is not innate within us. When someone wrongs us we want to have vengeance, not forgive them. But we are to forgive because we've been forgiven and we are to forgive as we've been forgiven. "...it does mean we give up the option for vengeance, that we relinquish the spiritual power that unforgiveness can have over us" (pg. 72). To persevere in forgiveness is to be so unlike the world. To forgive as God has forgiven us is a radical and godly characteristic that every Christian should portray. And if at all possible, to create reconciliation and bring healing to brokenness is a great testimony for the kingdom of God.
______________
I wonder why terms like "get saved," "ask Jesus into your heart," and "relationship with God" make me wanna puke. It's not that I'm not "saved" or that Jesus isn't a part of my LIFE or that I don't have a relationship with God, it just may be that these terms have become so...lame. I didn't GET saved...Jesus chose to have grace on me. And I certainly didn't ask Jesus into my heart! I thought I had when I was younger but now that doesn't make any sense to me. What would Jesus be doing in my heart? What does that even mean? lol No, Jesus isn't in my heart but He is my leader and the One that I look to in everything. He is King and Lord. And I may have a relationship with God but it's not like the relationship I have with my parents, my friends or even my boyfriend. It's not like God and I hang out at the coffee shop or go to the movies. God isn't just another person I pal around with. He is more than that. Yes, I do see Him as a Father, a Friend and even a Lover but He is still so much more than that. Yes He's personal in these ways and I adore that about Him but He is also a ruler, a mighty ruler, who acts out of justice and sometimes wrath. He is a King and He is sovereign. He holds all things within His power and will. He is so much more than even my mind can fully comprehend. I don't like to talk about my "relationship with God" as if I'm discussing my relationship with my boyfriend. Am I communicating the difference here? I hope so...I don't want to sound heretical. I just think that Christians, especially American Christians, forget who Jesus is and why who He is is so important. We've gone into a spiritual slumber. Do we even recognize Jesus' power? Are we so caught up in Christianity that we forget about Jesus and the Gospel? Do we forget to follow? I've said this before and I still believe it...we've watered down what Christianity is suppose to be. We've changed it and made it more like the world....it looks like everything else. Jesus was radical but do we express that at all? Scripture is incredibly radical so why do we find it so boring? The very plan of creation and redemption is amazingly radical but we don't seem to even care! We go to church every Sunday but then live the rest of our days as if Jesus is not who He said He was, as if we have no grace, as if there is no hope, as if there is nothing to live for but ourselves! I find it incredibly sad. I can't say that none of this is true for me because it is and I hate it. But praise God that He is patient and full of grace because He remains faithful even when I do not. So no, I don't consider myself as one who "got saved" or as one who "invited Jesus into my heart" or as one who has a "relationship with God." I am one who was chosen by God to be brought out of the slavery of sin into a hopeful life of grace to be lived for His glory. I am one who follows God by allowing Him to lead every part of my life and to use me as He will. Do I hang out with God? In a sense, yes I do, but not like I hang out with other people. I read His unchanging Word, I can pray to Him whenever and wherever I want, and I learn more about Him and grow closer to Him in intimacy. Do I often screw this up? Heck yes I do and God will judge me but He still offers grace and hope. I know I should be a better follower but I don't want to forget why I'm even a follower in the first place.
_______________
Your Jesus is Too Safe is a book written by Jared C Wilson. It has been sitting on my bedside table for months now and I just started reading it today. All I had to read was the introduction to know that this is going to be a good read. It is much like my previous note on my thoughts about God. Wilson wrote this book in order to bring to remembrance and realization that there is a real historical Jesus. Our nation has been marketing Jesus as all kinds of things. Jesus has become our "drive-thru, feel good Savior." He has been painted as a long haired, brown eyed, blank stare, "he must be a nice guy" kind of Jesus. What's worse is that even the CHURCH has misrepresented Jesus. "Yes, even the church itself is guilty when it comes to the marketing of Jesus. We've put our own gloss on him, our own spin. It's no wonder the world doesn't get Jesus, because we've spent decades selling a Jesus cast in our own image" (pg. 13). Christians read the Bible and still screw up the Gospel and still view Jesus as their cuddly teddy bear. How can you read the gospels and not understand who Jesus really is? Well, I must remember that I knew the Gospel forwards and back and had a completely wrong view of Jesus growing up. It wasn't until I started at Criswell that I began to learn and know the real Jesus; the historical Jesus and how what He did and said all those years ago meant then and now. I learned how important it is to see and hear Jesus as His first century audience would have. And let me tell you, it's completely different from how the 21st century church sees and hears Jesus.
"The purpose of Your Jesus is Too Safe is to remind us, for the glory of God and the hope of the world, of the original message of the historical person Jesus Christ, who was, in fact, God in the flesh. We're going to remove the gloss. We're going to venture beyond the hype and beneath the misconceptions to see the real, historical figure of Jesus Christ in his biblical and cultural context - and in this way to know God more fully, to see what God wants us to know about the revelation of himself in his son" (pg 15).
_____________
Jesus was a promise. He was a prophet. He was/is a forgiver.
In the Old Testament Jesus was the promised Messiah. The Jews waited for Him and when He came, they rejected Him. They didn't understand Him. They wanted a King to come in and overthrow the Roman government and deliver them from their oppressors. But that's not what Jesus came to do. He came as the fulfillment of the Law. He came to bring a new covenant, a new kingdom. "The deliverance wasn't happening the way that so many people expected, as neither John nor Jesus had a sword, and neither advocated actually overthrowing the government. Instead, they wielded something far more dangerous: the radical message of a new kingdom" (pg. 23-24). The Jews wanted freedom from an oppressing government but Jesus came to offer Himself. He came and said, "I'm God. I'm IT. I'm the fulfillment of the Law. Repent and believe because the kingdom of God is here." The Jews didn't like this so much. They thought He was crazy. What they didn't understand is that they were looking for the wrong promise and the wrong freedom. "The real good news of the kingdom of God arriving to reign over the world is that the promise is not in stuff, but in God himself, manifest in the person of Jesus Christ. The promise is not a monetary or political inheritance. The promise is the king himself. The promise is Jesus" (pg. 25). So many Christians, even today, "accept" Christ because they think they He will give them a better life and that they will be blessed with things and everything their heart desires. No longer do Christians long for Christ. No longer do they yearn for Him and find satisfaction in Him. No longer do we present the Gospel with Christ as the focus. We take Christ to get something bigger and better as a result. Perhaps this is why we have so many fake Christians and pastors in our churches today and in so many Christian organizations. Perhaps so many people who call themselves Christians have not actually met the powerful Jesus Christ of the Gospels. They have only met a distorted figure of Him. Wilson says, "The message of Jesus--that he himself is life and you can't get it anywhere else, least of all in yourself--is the hardest message we could ever hear, because it goes completely against our perceptions and conceptions, our prejudices and our opinions. It goes radically against the bent of our souls" (pg 27). This is one of the things that I have always loved about Jesus. He is radically different. He came to do that which He did in such a radical way, in such a way that no one expected or even wanted. He did come as a promise and He fulfilled that promise. He took the Law, the Law that the Jews followed so closely, and He put the Law in context of Himself. He fulfilled it and now we no longer live under the Law, but under Christ.
Jesus was a prophet. I don't really have much to say about this. Wilson went over five criteria for a prophet that can be gathered from any of the Old Testament prophets and then he showed how Jesus fulfilled each of these criteria. At the end of the chapter Wilson says this, "That is what irritates about Jesus the Prophet. That is what disturbs about Jesus the Prophet. That is what offends about Jesus the Prophet. He has no interest in our self-interest, no concern for our personal space, no enablement for our self-satisfaction. He proclaims and prophesies himself, and he makes no bones about it" (pg 58).
Jesus is a forgiver. Not only did He come to fulfill but to bring grace and forgiveness. Wilson discusses how important it is for Christians to have grace and forgiveness. He says that the church is suppose to be the face of grace to each other and to the world. Having grace and forgiving someone is not innate within us. When someone wrongs us we want to have vengeance, not forgive them. But we are to forgive because we've been forgiven and we are to forgive as we've been forgiven. "...it does mean we give up the option for vengeance, that we relinquish the spiritual power that unforgiveness can have over us" (pg. 72). To persevere in forgiveness is to be so unlike the world. To forgive as God has forgiven us is a radical and godly characteristic that every Christian should portray. And if at all possible, to create reconciliation and bring healing to brokenness is a great testimony for the kingdom of God.
______________
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