Christmas #16: He is Purity

He is Purity


Instant purity.  Just add Jesus!
Yeah, another cheesy one-liner.


Purity, holiness, and righteousness are important, because without them we can't stand before the Father.  That's why the Father has given us Jesus.  Jesus is our purity and our righteousness.  The best news you'll hear today is that the message of "God is holy; you're not; you must try harder in order to be a good Christian"  is false!  The truth is this: "God is holy; He has given us Jesus; through Jesus we have the holiness and righteousness that God desires for us."  The Christian Life is about becoming what we already are.  We've been made holy and righteous by His death on the cross and by His resurrected life dwelling within us.  We put on that holiness by clothing ourselves in Christ -- not by trying to be better people, and not by trying harder to imitate Jesus.

Eph. 4:22-24
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Gal. 3:26-27
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Romans 13:14
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.



We are merely to make provision for Jesus.  To submit to Him.  We sin when we make provision for sin.  And yes, we will all sin and continue to stumble, but the purity that comes from putting on Christ is always ready and available to us.

This topic is extremely encouraging to me.  It's especially nice in the morning just after waking up.  Try starting your day with a prayer like this:  "Thank you, God, for granting me the free gift of purity and righteousness in this very moment.  I thank you that you've given me Jesus to put on just as I put on my physical clothes for the day.  I thank you that I can start this day with purity of Christ -- a perfectly clean score card.  Help me resist putting back on the 'old man' today."

Something like that.  I'm sure you can come up with something better.


Sin is sin.  Don't think that sinning in one way makes you less pure than sinning in a different way.  Even if you somehow go 24 hours without "sinning," your purity is only found in Christ.  Sin is in your nature (your OLD nature), and Christ is your new nature.  We are new creations in Him!

There is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ, who live according to the Spirit.  So enjoy clothing yourself in Christ's purity and holiness!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas #15: He is Healing

He is Healing


Jesus' ministry wasn't limited to teaching people about the Kingdom of God, showing love to sinners, and taking away the sins of the world.  A significant part of His ministry on earth was healing.  It certainly didn't have to be part of His ministry -- but it was.  God is in the business of healing, and He does it in Christ and through Christ.




Luke 4:16-21
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”


[tangent warning]:  This passage above is astounding when you "put yourself there" and imagine what it was like ....  You're sitting there in church on Sunday.  It's "open mic" scripture reading time.  You see Jesus is back in town.  Where's he been for over a month?  Didn't he just take some strange 40-day "vacation?"    It's Jesus' hometown, so everyone knows him, and they all know that on Sunday he likes to be there and likes to get up and read a little scripture.  This time it's different.  Jesus thinks to himself "Well, here it goes.  I'm about to proclaim my true identity to these folks.  They're not going to know what hit them...seriously they're not going to have a clue."  They hand him the book of Isaiah -- perfect.  He finds chapter 61 and reads those powerful opening verses.  The he closes the book, hands it back to the dude, sits back down!, sees that literally everyone is staring at him, then says "Hey so, uh, today that scripture is fulfilled, guys."  Then he elaborates some, further confusing them, then they literally chase him to a cliff!  This Jesus guy that they all knew starts speaking what they can only interpret as heresy (because they know him! Imagine if one of your friends stood up in church after 30 years and said "hey by the way, I'm the Messiah"), and they respond by literally running him out of town.

Okay, back on track.  Healing.

"He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind."   Jesus knows that healing "brokenheartedness" is just as important as physical healing.  Healing is just a gracious way of showing His love to us.  He desires to heal.  And what I've learned through the Vineyard Church is that emotional and spiritual healing are just as real and just as necessary as (often more necessary than) physical healing.   When we allow Him, He will often find and expose the deepest part of our hurt and shame.  With the Samaritan woman at the well, He asked about her husband situation.  He knew that was where she needed healing the most.  As much as we don't like it, He wants to uncover those things deep within us that still cause us pain today, whether we're aware of it or not.  And He CAN heal those things!  He's come to set the captive free.

With physical healing, God still desires that we have the faith of a child.  He's still in the healing business today.  It still happens.  But even if we receive Jesus and don't receive a physical healing that we're seeking, we still get Him.  And we've seen Him use tragedies and physical conditions to work miracles in the hearts of people.

I believe that Jesus' healing ministry on the earth was a picture of the greater thing that He was doing for the souls of mankind.  He gave us spiritual sight, the ability to walk in Him, spiritual resurrection, and healing from the disease that is sin.

I'm going to conclude with this passage from the Psalms.  Enjoy God's love and healing!


Psalm 147:1-5
Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.

Christmas #14: He is Grace

He is Grace

It'd be silly to talk about Jesus without talking about grace.  Jesus Christ IS the grace of God.  We can talk about Him being the creator, being eternal, etc, but when He came to this earth as a man, He didn't come flaunting those things.  His primary mission was grace and love.


What is Grace, exactly?  (thanks C.a.t.  ;)

One of the definitions on dictionary.reference.com is "a manifestation of favor, especially by a superior."  A definition that I've commonly heard, when referring to God's grace, is "unmerited favor."  When comparing it to mercy, I've heard a definition like this:  "mercy is not getting what you DO deserve for sin, and grace is getting what you DON'T deserve: favor, love, forgiveness, a clean slate, etc."  As humans born into sin, we're guilty; and no amount of "good works" can outweigh our sin.  (Try telling a judge "but look at the GOOD things I've done! Doesn't that cancel out the crimes I committed??).  Grace is when Jesus comes in, takes the blame for your sin, and offers you the favor of God through belief and trust in Him.  Grace is when I wake up in the morning and suddenly know and feel that God loves me, forgives me, and sees me as holy and blameless because of the blood of Jesus, even though I may have rebelled against Him the night before.


I'd love to just open up this post to all my friends to write about God's grace themselves, because it's so easy and pleasant to talk about!  Anyone who has truly experienced Christ can attest to His amazing grace.  Maybe some people are initially attracted to Him by something like His healing, His peace, etc.  But for me, when I realize that He loves me regardless of what I do and gives me His unmerited favor, that's the most attractive thing to me.

A few things that stick out to me about Jesus and how He showed the grace of God are: when He saved the adulterous woman; His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well; the fact that He spent time around the worst sinners; and when He saved Paul.  Were any of these people seeking God when they encountered Jesus?  No.  They weren't seeking to better their spiritual lives or turn over a new leaf.  They weren't looking for Jesus, or preparing their hearts for the coming Messiah.  No, they were merely going along with their miserable lives.

Read John 8:1-12

This event is a picture of "salvation through Christ" as it applies to every human being.  This story sums it all up.  Think about it:

1) We all start out dead in our trespasses -- sinful and unrepentant.
2) The #1 sin that rebellion against God was compared to in the OT was adultery.  Anyone who rebels against God is an adulterer in the sense that they are violating the covenant relationship that God made with His people.  This woman from the story is almost certainly a Jewish woman who knows the Law.  So, just like anyone who knows the law, by sinning in ANY way, she was "cheating on God."  Any time we sin, we're betraying our First love to seek pleasure elsewhere.
3) Satan is the "Accuser of the brethren."  We eventually become aware of our sin, as Satan drags us through the streets, shaming us, filling us with guilt and condemnation, bringing us before God and telling us that we deserve nothing less than death.  (And he's right -- living in the sinful nature only leads to death.  Just as the pharisees were right -- according to the law, she should be stoned).
4) As our sinful, dead lives bring us to the point of death in every sense of the word, Jesus enters the situation; His voice pierces through the darkness.  When we are truly hopeless and can't do anything to "clean ourselves up" for God, He comes through anyway.  First, He gets rid of the accuser.  He removes the outside condemnation and covers our shame.
5) Finally, He says "neither do I condemn you."  By facing your creator, having broken every rule that He's established, and hearing Him say "I do not condemn you," you are now freed up to live a life in adoration of Him.  The one who has every right to punish and condemn has instead taken upon Himself the condemnation of your sin, even though you did not know Him.

I'm gonna throw in a plug for my friend Joel who pastors Vineyard Blue church in San Diego.  He tells the story of the adulterous woman beautifully in one of his messages.  This link will take you to the 4:12 point.  Listen from that point until about 13:30.  8 and a half minutes, if you can manage it.  It's really great.  If you don't have that much time, then start it at the 11-minute mark.

http://youtu.be/OSsWxbrsllM?t=4m12s


The primary aspect of God's grace that I'm pointing out is that grace not only comes to someone who doesn't fully deserve it.  It comes to someone who isn't even expecting or seeking it.  It blows me away how Jesus broke all social boundaries and rules to talk to a Samaritan woman and reveal amazing truth to her.  She didn't deserve it, and she certainly wasn't looking for the Son of God.  Not only was she a Samaritan (despised by Jews), and a woman (no social rights or respect), but even for a Samaritan woman she was at the bottom of society.  She was guilty of a shameful lifestyle.  And He came and showed love to her in spite of everything.

If Jesus can do that, then we have no reason to hesitate to approach Him and receive His grace!


We all just want to be accepted.  We all want to be loved.  And any time that feel like we're lacking those things, we can turn to Jesus, who showers us with grace.




Romans 8
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.



2 Corinthians 13
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Christmas #13: He is Alpha and Omega

He is Alpha and Omega

I've been saving this one for a long time!  Probably because it's the coolest.  I'm going to let scripture do most of the talking, though.


There are many today who are seeking to distort who Jesus is.  The #1 way to distort the Gospel is to change the identity of Jesus.  Many people and religions make the following claims:

1) Jesus never existed
2) Jesus was just a man who died and was not resurrected
3) Jesus was a liar
4) Jesus was just a good teacher or prophet
5) Jesus is more than human, but was a created being like the angels
6) Jesus is the literal son of God, conceived via some sort of procreation between The Father and ?

All these teachings seek to reduce who Jesus is.  I can tell you right now that based on Biblical Christianity, Jesus is bigger than you or anyone can fathom, and any single idea that reduces who He is must be false according to real Christianity.  He is Alpha and Omega, meaning that in the great, grand story of the cosmos, Jesus' part isn't J through Q.  He's from A to Z.  He's at the very beginning of the story and at the very end.  Let's look at scripture now before continuing:


John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.


Colossians 1
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

John 8:53-58

53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Revelation 1:8
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 22:13

13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”



All of these passages specifically refer to Jesus Christ.


Jesus didn't merely live some pre-mortal life that had its own beginning.  He IS the beginning.  He's been part of God for all eternity, and will one day be finally glorified by all of creation when He reveals Himself for the second time.

Before Abraham was born, "I AM."  Jesus exists outside of time.  Creation -- which includes time itself -- all exists within Him.  Therefore, your past and your future is God's present.  Jesus is at the end right now, and He's at the beginning.  He can SEE the entire timeline.  How reassuring is it to know that in His eyes, your tomorrow has already happened!  Jesus is looking at the whole picture and sees what we call "next week" just as clearly as He sees last week.  It's all reality for Him, while for us, it hasn't happened yet.

To quote one of my favorite (and most hilarious) books, "Space is big.  Really big.  You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is.  I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space."  (Douglas Adams)

And yes, Jesus is bigger.  Nothing contains Him, because He contains everything.  "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool" (Isaiah 66:1).  And yet He has created us, given us free will, and initiated relationship with us.

In Jesus dwells the "fullness of God."  Everything that it means to be God has been poured into Jesus.

Colossians 2:8-10
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

And HERE is the Gospel (The Good News):  As Christians, the fullness of CHRIST now dwells in US!

And here's the other point I want to make (which verse 10 above hinted at): Jesus is the end as much as He is the beginning.  He's not merely the starting point of our faith.  He's the goal, too.

Ephesians 4:11-13
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;


1 Peter 1:6-9
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith ... may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

Growing as a Christian does not mean getting better and better at "doing the right thing."  Nor does it mean praying more, giving more, etc.  Christian growth is simply growing in your knowledge of, understanding of, and relationship with .... Jesus.  This is a challenge to those who believe more in a works-based "progression," where you reach higher levels of "sainthood" or draw nearer to your ultimate goal of perfection and glorification through obedience.  Growing in Christ leads to growth in all those other areas.  They are the results -- the fruits -- of being part of the Tree.  You don't need to explore other things or find anything else.  "You are complete in Him!"  That's a huge statement, and it gives most of us a relief that we didn't imagine possible before.  He grows us from within, and all we have to do is stay connected to Him, the Head.

Thanks for bearing with me.  It's difficult to be coherent when you're talking about something so huge.  Now go do your own exploring of Him!  He's inexhaustible.

Christmas #12: He is Rest

He is Rest

Sometimes we have to remember that life in Jesus is not primarily about this idea of "Okay, we're Christians now, so it's time to put our noses to the grindstone and be productive, hard-working Christians for the Kingdom, never tiring and never slacking off."  But Jesus didn't come merely to be our boss.  He came to take away our sin through His death, and to satisfy our needs and our souls by His resurrected life.  If we REALLY know who He is, He doesn't make us weary.  He makes us happy.  As we've been looking at for the past few posts, He satisfies our hunger, quenches our thirst, and He also is our rest.

Matthew 11:28-29
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus' claim is that you find rest for your souls in Him.  I think it's safe to say that this is a rest for your soul that you won't find elsewhere in the world.  Sure, there's yoga and meditation and entertainment and all that other stuff in which people find rest and restoration, but do those things leave you with the lingering knowledge of the love of your Savior?  A relationship is so much bigger and more effective than just a "thing" or an activity.  God is a relational God, and that's why we are relational people.  I don't know about you, but I'm never more at peace than when I'm with a person that I share a mutual love with.  God wants to be a person to us -- in Jesus -- not just an idea or some abstract thing.


Mark 2:27-28
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

God knows that we humans have a very finite supply of strength and energy.  So He prescribed rest into His universal plan for humanity*.  The Sabbath (which the Israelites were instructed to "keep holy") was a gift TO His people.  In fact, all His commandments are for our own good.  God created people, so He knows the blueprints for what makes society work best.  And one of those things that humans and society require is rest.  In the same way that God's best is to obey your parents, be honest in all that you do, keep yourself pure for your future spouse, etc, His best is also that you not work hard 365 days a year.  His absolute best is that you take one day off per week.  For a lot of us, that can be a tough or impossible routine to keep steady.  I believe that we're allowed flexibility.  Remember, Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not vice versa.  I think He was addressing the problem of following the Sabbath commandment so religiously that it actually became more of a burden instead of a gift of rest.  So use it as a gift!

Finally, any amount of rest can be resting in Christ if we choose.  Most of us these days end our day with some TV or reading, followed by bedtime.  But even if your "quiet time" takes place in the morning, you can take a few minutes to focus on resting in Jesus before going to sleep.  Or, you know, any other time of day.

Remember to rest and to be intentional in your rest in Jesus.

*The Sabbath actually started with the fact that God Himself rested on the 7th day, after which He blessed and sanctified the 7th day of creation (Gen. 2:2-3).  God did not NEED to rest, necessarily.  But I think He knew what He was doing.  Ultimately, the Sabbath points to Jesus.  Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath" (Mark 2) and therefore always HAS been, especially considering that He was there at its beginning following the creation of all things, since everything was created by Jesus and for Jesus (Col. 1).

Christmas #11: He is Sustenance

He is Sustenance
or Food, Nourishment, Bread, etc...

In addition to the previous post -- He is Water -- Jesus has made a point to use...well...food!...to further describe Himself to us (and the more we know *about* Him, the better we can interact with Him).  He explicitly said it Himself -- He is the Bread of Life (John 6:33-35).  (Don't worry, my "intolerant" friends, He's gluten-free did i just make that joke? ugh, yes i did).  He is the new manna from heaven (again, John 6).  Jesus really drove the point that He wasn't merely some teacher with clever things to say.  He didn't say "follow my teachings" as all the other philosophers and founders of other religions have said.  He said "Follow ME."  And even at the risk of majorly confusing His followers, He said things that no other teacher had ever said -- things like "my flesh is food, and my blood is drink."  What He was saying in John 6:53-58 is worth pondering for quite a while.  Christianity isn't about a teaching, it's about a Person.  Again, unlike any leader before or since, He didn't say "eat this food I give you... take these teachings and believe on them."  He said "I am the bread of life... believe on Me."  His teachings are not the way to salvation -- HE is.

How cool is it that when God sent down manna for the Israelites (Exodus 16) He was already thinking about Jesus:  how He would provide a new form of sustenance and survival for His people; how He would fulfill and renew the covenant through Jesus -- the new manna that will NOT get old.  He's the new Tree of Life, the new Adam, the new Ark, the new Moses, the new manna, the new and best wine, the new temple, the holy of holies.  In Him is the fulfillment and presence of God.


In the last days of His ministry, Jesus again made the connection with bread. 

Matthew 26:26-29
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

This is where we get the tradition of communion or the sacrament.  It's about recognizing that Jesus Himself is what we fill our life with in order to gain spiritual nourishment.  It's not about increasing our wisdom and knowledge, reading theology books, going to leadership or discipleship seminars, etc.  It's about Him.  The other side of communion -- opposite the bread -- is the wine which reminds us that it's by His actual, physical, human blood that we've been saved from sin.

Growing up in church, and having taken countless communions before, it wasn't until some time in 2011 while living in Utah that it finally became something huge for me.  Between the verses we associate with it (whoever drinks this in an unworthy manner drinks judgment upon himself), and the tradition of "examining" oneself and confessing sin before partaking in communion, I guess my mindset was a little askew.  It's easy to fall into the thought process of "I have to be worthy (and what we really mean is almost sinless!) in order to receive His blood and body."  When the reality is that's when we need Him most.  In 2011, during my season of being taught "brokenness" and the importance of it, I was pursuing a dependency on God and praying regularly that He would replace whatever force was driving me at the time with Himself.  And it was during this season that I took communion at my church with a brand new understanding.  I now felt that it was a symbol of being consumed with Jesus, a picture of living our life by His power.  I'm suddenly infused, and His blood becomes my blood.  Just as your body takes food and uses it to build muscle and give you energy, when we consume and digest Jesus, the same process happens.  You can't "will" your body to grow or get energy.  You just lay your will aside and eat food!

As with all these posts, this is just a starting point.  It's significant that scripture teaches us that Jesus is like bread that must be eaten (not necessarily like a book that must be read).  So I encourage you to let this post inspire you to think about Jesus as the Bread of Life and all the implications and applications that come from that.


AND REMEMBER.....

Christmas #10: He is Living Water

He is Living Water

I could probably spend this month just looking at the way Jesus is reflected in nature.  He is the Tree of Life, the vine, light, water, earth, lion, lamb; we see Him in the sun, the moon, a seed, a river, the ocean, the rain, and in the songs that creation literally sings.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

Creation was made through Jesus Christ, and every square inch of creation contains the fingerprint of its maker, the Son.

In the same way that we did with Light, we can look at what water is and see characteristics of Jesus.  Water is a source of life.  It's a requirement for virtually all living things on this planet.  Life thrives in and around water, and water attracts all sorts of life to it.  You just have to go to my parents' back yard, walk down the hill, and sit by the creek quietly for 15 minutes to see it absolutely full of life -- sitting in that very spot I've seen fish, turtles, alligators, insects, squirrels, owls, hawks, and other birds.

Water is refreshing and satisfying.  Water cleanses.  Whether you wash yourself with it or drink it, it supports your health.

All of these things could be said about the Son of God, Jesus.  He attracts life and life flourishes within Him.  He cleanses.  He provides clarity! (John 9:6-7 He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." So he went and washed, and came back seeing.)  Jesus could have easily told this man "Be healed," and he would've been able to see.  But Jesus wanted to reveal Himself in dynamic ways.  I guarantee that for the rest of that man's life, he never washed his face again without being reminded of His savior.  I guarantee the woman at the well never drew water again without thinking of her life-changing encounter with the source of Living Water.

John 4:10-13

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Any time someone asks me these days what my favorite "story" from the Bible is, I mention this one.  You have to read at least from verse 1 thru verse 30 of the chapter.  The text is miles deep and rich with content.

"Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst."   We could discuss the implications of that verse for hours, so as usual, I'll be brief.  Everything in this life leaves us wanting more.  Every good thing in this world eventually leaves us unsatisfied and wanting more.  One of my all-time favorite quotes is one by Albert Camus, and I wouldn't know of it had my pastor in SLC used it in one of the most powerful and important sermon series I've ever heard ("Unpacking the Hot Dog Buns").  The quote is actually quite bleak:

“Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.”

― Albert Camus

Everything in this life leaves us unsatisfied EXCEPT CHRIST.  Not only does He give us something that lasts forever -- our salvation -- but He is an inexhaustible fountain that you can keep returning to over and over and over again for more life, love, wisdom, clarity, life, love, and more life.   You can drink coffee and coke for a day or two, but eventually your body is going to shut down until you satisfy it with H2O.  In the same way, your spirit cannot survive on anything but Him.  Pushing through life, especially a "Christian" life, without regular drinks from Him actually feels like dehydration.  When you're not plugged into Him -- when you're not drinking the Water -- you've got all this artificial energy that slowly begins to crumble, your brain function declines, your mood declines, etc.  It's fascinating how our spiritual life can be so similar to physical life.  Jesus has made it very easy to grasp Him and have relationship with Him, by imprinting His DNA and fingerprint onto everything that we see with our physical eyes.

Now today, remember Him each time you have an encounter with water  :)

Christmas #9: He is the Lamb

He is the Lamb

John 1:29

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

John the Baptist was the MAN!  He was an incredible human being, and what he said here is the most insightful and powerful statement any human being has ever made.  I'd encourage you to read the verse about five more times to yourself right now.

Recently two of the choirs I play for joined to perform Mozart's Requiem.  Just like any liturgical mass, it contains an "Agnus Dei" movement.  Agnus Dei is Latin for "Lamb of God."  So this semester, as we worked with the Latin text "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis" during one of our rehearsals, I was not thinking about the meaning of these words at all.  But in a brief moment between singing, our choir director very quickly pointed out the English translation -- qui tollis peccata mundi -- who takes away the sin of the world.  And any time I hear that phrase, it hits me hard.  Jesus didn't come to help us fight our sin.  He came to remove our sin.  John the Baptist hit the nail on the head concerning the identity of the Son of God before even meeting Him.  He (Jesus) came that we might have life, but in order for that to be possible, there first had to be death.

He is the sacrificial Lamb of God.

The story of Abraham and Isaac is the story of Jesus.  God provided a ram to be a sacrifice to take the place of Isaac.  And God provided Jesus to be the ultimate sacrificial lamb to take OUR place.  In the story we see that Isaac is spared... well 2,000 years ago YOU were spared while Jesus was NOT spared the wrath of God.

In fact, the entire Old Testament way of paying for sin -- transferring it to a pure, spotless lamb and sacrificing it -- was a signpost pointing to the coming Jesus.  Interestingly, most of the Jewish people weren't expecting a lamb.  They were expecting a Messiah sent from God who would liberate them from the oppression of governments and people.  But what they got instead was a final and permanent solution for sin -- a sacrificial lamb to end all sacrifices and to pay for all sin.  The sins of the world!  That's a lot of sin.  He didn't come to make you feel bad about it.  He came to receive the blame for it and to give you a new life of freedom.

Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.


Jesus encompasses SO MUCH.  We can peel back layer after layer and never come to the end of who He is.  He's been at every extreme:  Creator of the universe, and baby sleeping in a feed trough in a barn.  Sitting at the right hand of the Father, and suffering brutal execution.  The Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5) and the Lamb of God.  Only Jesus the Christ is Lord, King, Lion, Lamb, the Creator, the Source, the Conqueror of Sin, the loving Savior who became human, and the Omnipotent God.  He laid His life down for us, and He calls us to lay our lives down for Him daily.  Take full advantage of the sacrifice of the Lamb that was made on your behalf by letting go of your life and letting His life drive you.



Colossians 1:21-23
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, ...

Christmas #8: He is Joy

He is Joy

Yes, Joy.  Some of us struggle with joy so much that when you even mention the word in some kind of serious conversation, we run into our little cave of guilt and criticism.  Good news:  He is the source of joy!  If joy wasn't a big deal, it wouldn't be mentioned in the Bible a gazillion times.  [what? Google doesn't point out a spelling error when I say the world "gazillion??" PROGRESS!]  The Bible is teeming with stories of joy and instruction to be joyful.  But like instruction to do anything, it's about letting Jesus be/do those things in you.

One of the most famous stories that illustrates the joy of God is the prodigal son.  When someone returns to the arms of God, there is much, MUCH rejoicing.  I'm sure I don't need to tell the story.

I guarantee Jesus was a joyful person while he lived His human life on this earth.  How else could He be the "life of the party" when He's at a party with tax collectors, drunkards, prostitutes, etc.  He's still the life of the party today.

Joy is linked very closely with Hope.  And the only real hope in life is that of Jesus.  Think about that.  You can hope in wealth, family, success, happiness...but happiness will die away.  In fact, even "happiness" in anything you can find on earth does not satisfy you!  So that hope is shallow and temporary.  If you lose your hope, you lose your real joy.  If you remember that your only hope is in Him, then you will be free to feel joy as well.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...

The thing about the fruit of the Spirit that you might have mis-learned as a child is that these are not commandments.  These are fruit. They are RESULTS.  They are an end, not a means to an end.  And just like you can't force a tree to bear certain fruit, a person cannot force fruit either.  An apple tree bears apples, and someone who is plugged into Christ bears love, joy, peace, patience, etc.  This is very good news for those of us who go through life without much joy.  You want joy?  Get Jesus.

If you see a friend who is struggling with being loving, joyful, patient, kind, gentle ... it's not because she/he is forgetting to be those things.  It's not because she's not trying hard enough or because he didn't read Galatians 5 today.  It's because there's an underlying issue of being connected to the Head, Jesus, the only source of spiritual life.

God doesn't give us fruits, He puts the tree inside of us.  He gives us Jesus.  And He already HAS given you Jesus!  So go enjoy the Lord and all His wonderful qualities that will shine through you.  Ask for a fresh revealing of who He really is, because it's only in this way that we are able to love Him and live Him.

Christmas #7: He is Longsuffering (Patience)

He is Patience

I don't know about you, but when I see an article or message on "Patience" I tend to tune out pretty quickly.  I think it's partly because I don't particularly struggle with being patient with people (though it hit me last night when planning this topic that where I excel in being patient with people, I make up for it by being VERY impatient with myself in certain situations).  Also, patience just isn't a sexy word these days, unless we tie it to something specific like being patient in your singleness as you wait for a spouse, patient with your children, etc.  But even those are just common-sense teachings.

We're looking at JESUS, how He is patience, and thus how we have His patience because we have Him.  So let's start there!

The first thing I thought of when thinking about patience in Jesus' life was His relationship with His disciples.  If you've read through the gospels, you may notice that for being THE disciples of THE Messiah, they were a little...dense.  Out of all the men in the region, He chose these dudes who were not professional scholars or priests to be His "students" and the ones who would carry on His ministry.  (Now, to be fair to the disciples, no one had dreamed that the Messiah would be the way Jesus was.  And anyone would've had great difficulty comprehending the Kingdom that Jesus brought and presented and taught).  Jesus definitely had to exercise patience with His disciples AND others around Him.


Matt. 8:26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”

Mark 9:18-19 "...So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”



Jesus had to frequently explain His messages to His disciples, clarify things they were confused about, and settle their silly arguments. But He was always loving, even when you can catch a hint of exasperation in His tone.
John 11:11-16
After He had said this, He went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but His disciples thought He meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”



And speaking of the story of Lazarus... not only does it contain that small example of Jesus having to rephrase His words to get through to the not-so-sharp disciples, but we have a huge (unfortunately cliche) example of patience which we've almost all heard before: the fact that Jesus tarried for days after learning how sick Lazarus was. The amount of time that he made Mary and Martha wait for Him was offensive. He didn't even show up to the funeral. But He had a plan.


The second thing I thought of concerning the patience of Jesus was His patience with me!! And here's what I mean: I'm still learning things from God every year. He teaches me huge lessons, and the interesting thing is that He takes His time doing so. I look back at the last 5 years and see where God spent about a year teaching me about His grace, a few months teaching me about brokenness, a season teaching me about the supremacy and enormity of Jesus, then more months teaching me more about grace...etc. God takes His time cultivating your soul and spirit and sanctifying you for Himself. It doesn't happen overnight. And YOU can't make it happen overnight, because growth doesn't come from you -- it comes from HIM.

True patience exists in Jesus. We can learn what patience is by looking at Him, studying Him, and listening to Him. And my challenge to you would be to find areas in your life where you struggle not only to be more patient with others and your surroundings, but also patient with yourself. (I laugh at some of my mistakes, but I also really give myself a hard time for other things. I KNOW I'm not alone in this). And then decide to let Jesus live through you and become your patience, so that it's not by your own effort, but simply by yielding to Him.


You are IN Christ and Christ is in you, so not showing patience is out of character for you. Again, we live not of ourselves, but by the indwelling life of Christ Himself.

Christmas #6: He is the Expression of God

He is the Image and the Word of God


Colossians 1:15  He is the image of the invisible God.

John 1   In the beginning was the Word ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.


The first chapter of Colossians is the inspiration for this whole blog series, and I'm very excited to dive more into it soon.  Today I want to simply address these two passages and their connotations, especially when linked together


We worship an invisible God, and we don't pretend otherwise.  To speak very basically, the fact that He is invisible to our eyes is what makes our faith "faith."  But we believe that this God of ours communed with His people, the Hebrews, throughout their history in the Old Testament and spoke to them through prophets.  He loved His people and was feared by His people.  He was also quite mysterious to His people.  As we read the Old Testament, we might often be a little confused at why God seemed distant, serious, and strict.  Well, God gave His people the law that they may understand the gravity of holiness, purity, and sin.  They were given the law, and they broke the law, continually wavering in their trust and obedience.  They were sinful before the law, but the law made them aware of it.  God was giving them a chance to try to make it on their own (but STILL with grace from Him! --see footnote), not because He thought they could, but because He knew they couldn't.

I'm giving all this background because it's important to realize that Jesus was not plan B, nor was He a separate, superhero being that was sent here to fix things for God.  First, God's people needed to be aware of their need for Him.  Then, He came to save them.


Why is it "Jesus" that came to save mankind, and not "God" or "the Father."   Well, simply put, Jesus is God.  But it's even more beautiful than that when unpacked...

When I speak, I speak sounds and you hear sounds.  When God speaks, He speaks Jesus and we only hear Jesus.  When God revealed Himself, it was Jesus.  God Himself came to Earth to pay for our sins, and when He came, we got Jesus.  Jesus is the expression of God (the Godhead, the Trinity).  He is the Word of God and the image of God.  When we look at God, we only see Jesus.  You take away Jesus, you have nothing.  There is no God apart from Jesus.  We were made in the image of God, and the image of God is...Jesus!  He encompasses all.

Jesus was not just a man, nor is He a separate God.  He is God to us.  Imagine if you took away all my mediums of expression -- I would no longer be able to play piano, speak, sing, write, draw, make faces, or even physically move much for that matter.  Would it be possible to know me?  Would it be possible to know anything about me?  No!  Those forms of expression are what make relationship possible, and in the same way, Jesus is every form of expression of the Father and the Spirit.  And Jesus has been the image and expression of God since creation.  He's not an afterthought.  His identity was kept hidden -- shrouded in a mystery until He was born as a man -- BUT He was there the entire time.  When God spoke creation into existence, He spoke it through Jesus.

It's so difficult to not go into the countless off-shoots of this huge message, the identity and eternal Godhood of Jesus.  So I have to make myself stop :)

Just remember that Jesus Christ is the way God expresses Himself.  Christ is all, and there is nothing without Him.



*footnote: the fact that the Israelites were made clean by "transferring" their sin to a pure animal and sacrificing it is nothing but the grace of God.  It was their temporary way out, preparing their hearts for when He would become THE Lamb.

Christmas #5: He is the Bridegroom

He is the Bridegroom

This post shifts our focus to Jesus' unique identity, and yet it still impacts who WE are and how we live.

Matt. 22:29-30  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken...  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

Here's the plot twist: there will be a marriage in Heaven.


The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the center of it all.  He's not just the center for now; He wasn't the center just for the time He was on earth; as I will discuss next week in the "Alpha & Omega" post, He is the center forever.  Life will never be about us, nor is it about family or marriage or earthly, human love.  It is and will always be about Him.  And the Bible clearly points us to this concept.  Not only that, but the Bible teaches us that WE (the church) are the Bride of Christ.  So what does that make Him?  A GROOM!  Or a "husband" after the wedding, if you will.

Read these passages in this order if you're hesitant to grasp this:
John 3:26-36
Matt. 9:14-15
Eph. 5:31-32
Matt. 25:1-13
2 Cor. 11:2-3

And then read the book of Revelation and Song of Solomon :)

The entire Bible's center focus is Jesus Christ, and it is a love story.  And why would He go through all these lengths to describe Himself as the Bridegroom and the union of Himself and the Church as a wedding if not for the sake of ........ romance?

The Bible is teeming with romance and relationship between God and His people.  Between Jesus and His Church.  The important thing I want us to remember is that His love, our romance, and the great wedding/marriage is in our future.  THIS is what we look forward to.  THIS is what we anticipate!  The idea that I'm countering right now is this idea that "Jesus came and died so that we could go to Heaven and live happy eternal lives."  OR  "In heaven will have nice happy families, be glorified, and enjoy pleasure forever...maybe even possibly progress to something even bigger..."

On the contrary, Jesus came and died so that we could be united with our creator -- Him -- forever, starting today! [spoiler alert!]  He is the end result.  He began all things and all things will end with us joining Him in an eternal romance.  John Piper explained it in this way:  Jesus came to earth as a human to choose His bride (the church), pay for her with His blood, and is now betrothed to her.  When He returns the second time, it will be to marry His fiance.

As the groom, He initiates the relationship.  Your job is easy.  Just listen and respond to Him.  Enjoy His love and favor, and remember the fact that throughout the most horrible strife that this life brings, He is holding your hand through it all and ever drawing you towards Himself for love.

Last thing: While I'm exposing Christ as much as I can this month, it doesn't come close to truly or completely revealing Him.  This is an exciting fact, because we can go our entire earthly life studying Him and getting a bigger and bigger picture of Him, but it's when we are united with Him after death that we will FINALLY see how enormous and exciting our Bridegroom is.

Christmas #4: He is Diligence and the supplier of Energy

He is Diligence

dil·i·gence
ˈdiləjəns/

noun
1. careful and persistent work or effort.




I'm trying to stick to using only one word in these titles. For this one, I would prefer to say "He is Diligence, Energy, Endurance, and Hard Work."

[there used to be a pretty little picture here, but it's gone now]

This characteristic of Jesus is something new to me that hit me a few weeks ago.  It's something I need to be reminded of daily.  Last month as my deadlines for graduate school applications were coming up quickly, I became increasingly lethargic and deprived of motivation and inspiration.  It had not occurred to me that Jesus is just as much the cure for lethargy and laziness as He is for obvious sins like pride, hate, or lust.  When we put on Christ, we get all sorts of bonuses -- not just the desire to good, but the inspiration needed to endure the day-to-day grind or whatever else is consuming our limited supply of human energy!  HE is our supply of energy, motivation, and inspiration to do work.  

And we see this characteristic in the human Jesus. I don't believe that Jesus spent 20+ years of His pre-ministry adult life merely studying or meditating or sitting around.  He was a human, and He had parents and siblings to take care of.  He most likely took up the trade of His earthly dad and was a carpenter.  He got splinters; He probably made mistakes; He spent hours and hours sweating and diligently working with His hands.

But we don't even have to reach into that part of His story to get a glimpse of His endurance, diligence, and hard work.  I've no doubt that His ministry was exhausting.  He was around people all the time, albeit frequently retreating to spend time alone with His Father (Luke 5:15).  He was the center of attention for hours/days/weeks/months at a time.  I can't imagine it.  But He was so connected with the Father -- speaking only what the Father was speaking, doing as the Father was doing (John 5:19, 12:49) -- that He wasn't just operating merely from an independent human self.  In the same way that Christ had the Father, we have Christ.  We speak what He IS SPEAKING and do what He IS DOING (present tense, not past nor conditional tense).

And for this life on Earth that we now live in Him, Christ gives supernatural energy.  He doesn't just want us to come to Him for our "spiritual problems;"  life transformation means... LIFE transformation!  He enjoys when we have fun, He suffers with us when we suffer, and He gives us what we need to WORK!  The most important part of this entire blog series is this: we no longer live from ourselves, but by the indwelling life of Jesus Christ in us.

I'm ever thankful to Him for showing me this facet of who He is, because I no longer have to live life thinking "I'm just a naturally lazy person, and there's nothing I can do about that."

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me

Christmas #3: He is Community

He is Community

[He is community?  Come on, Ben, now you're just picking words that sound nice and trendy.]

Let me expand this statement.  Jesus encompasses a community.  The way He is experienced by His followers is through community.  We've made a big deal about a "personal relationship" with our Savior, but it's important to remember that you don't get the Savior -- the Head -- without His Body.  And His Body is a community.  To say that the Church is the Body of Christ isn't merely to say that we (the Church) reach out to the world as an extension of Him (cue 90's Audio Adrenaline); it means that within the community of believers, we experience Christ together through interaction, and it's only in this way that we fully know, experience, learn from, and receive from Him.  Your body wouldn't be much use to you if each body part had a mind of its own and went its own way.

Now, to be real, I'm just as guilty as most introverts or people my age of being "individualistic" with my Christianity and flying solo much of the time.  Part of that is because I have to go far out of my way to put myself in social situations (yay for being in your 20's, single, and out of school...NOT!) .  But this is part of why I'm part of a ComGroup that meets weekly.  When you're at a stage of life where community is difficult, you just need keep your eyes open for opportunities and also just become a "Yes Man" when it comes to being social with Christians.

Jesus spent the time of His ministry in community.  12 disciples... that's kind of a lot.  Not to mention the hundreds of followers that He had throughout those ministry years.  He values community more than He does individuality -- (and I know that can be tough to swallow since we're taught to love ourselves so much and all these excuses are being made for introverts to continue to be secluded, but trust me, there's something special and life-giving about being in Christ-centered community).  Community isn't just about learning together, but also suffering together, rejoicing together, and loving together.  Put on Christ, and watch as He shifts your heart to a place of prioritizing relationships and community.

Colossians 1:24
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,

John 13:35
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another



EDIT - 12/18/13 - I missed a huge opportunity here to talk about the Trinity.  This is huge.  God exists as a community - Father, Son, Spirit.  Humans desire relationships above all things, because we've been made in the image of a relational, communal God.

Thanks for reading my blog :)  We're only just getting started!  There's so much awesomeness to explore in Jesus, and I've only scratched the surface.  This one is admittedly a little more "teachy" or obligatory-sounding, so hang with me for some special ones still to come.

P.S. photo credit for the seagulls goes to Kirby Trapolino.

Follow him on Instagram: @ktrap

Christmas #2: He is Light

He is Light

The temptation with all these phrases we hear and say concerning God (that we've heard since childhood) is to take them for granted or to assume that we understand the meaning and that it no longer holds any special value to us.  "I've learned that 2+2=4, and now I can move on with my life."  A phrase like "God is love" is not only so common that it becomes white noise for Christians, but it is also an easy phrase for non-Christians to use.  (You don't have to believe in a personal God or in Jesus Christ in order to like the phrase "God is love").  But there is a danger to "tuning out" the basics, or things we "learned" long ago.  The fact about Jesus that we're in danger of forgetting is that Jesus is inexhaustible.  And His attributes must not be taken for granted.  So, with these things in mind, let's look at what we might mean by the phrase "Jesus is Light."

What does light do?  (And even though this candle is a nice, pretty representation of light, let's think more along the lines of the sun).  It obliterates darkness.  It makes things visible.  It provides warmth.  It makes life possible.  Everything that is exposed to the light reflects the light.  Even though we've manufactured imitations of light, only the sun is the provider of pure, all-encompassing light.  And isn't it interesting that as soon as you walk outside, the sunlight reveals things (lint or hair on your clothes, for instance) that your bedroom light failed to reveal?

So we have the physical light of the sun, and then we have what it represents:  Jesus.  Jesus is the one who exposes what's in your heart.  Darkness and confusion cannot survive when exposed to Jesus -- the Logos, the Word, the Wisdom, and the Love of God made visible.  Jesus provides warmth and life to those who bask in Him.  He is solely responsible for making spiritual life possible.  He is so bright that His followers reflect Him when they've been spending time with Him.  In fact, everything that has touched Him continues to bear a residual reflection of Him.  What exactly is reflected? Have you heard that a yellow piece of paper is actually not necessarily yellow, but in fact absorbs every color in the spectrum while REFLECTING yellow?  You might have even heard it said that, in a way of speaking, the piece of paper is every color except yellow.  Well, when we reflect Christ, we reflect all the things that HE is and that WE are not:  love, grace, forgiveness, gentleness, acceptance, humility, honesty, integrity, diligence... and a desire for good that overrides our desires for evil.  It's pretty amazing.  When you put on Christ and let Him shine brightly on your heart, you might actually be surprised at your resultant behaviors and actions.

He is light, so don't expect to be able to see, walk, understand, or survive without Him  :)

Christmas #1: Introduction & "He is Peace"

Introduction
(disclaimer: the rest of these Christmas posts will be shorter than this one will vary greatly in length :)


I love that in these times we live in, Christmas is celebrated for an entire month -- not just for a day.  (Sure, there's the consumer/capitalism side of things.  Then there's the large demographic of people who do not celebrate the coming of Christ, but some other secular or religious winter holiday, which is fine).  But all those things aside, we Christians get this thing called "Christmas" which we use to specifically celebrate and meditate on the coming of Jesus.  What a better thing to celebrate for an entire month?

As a challenge to myself and hopefully an encouragement to others, I've decided to post about a characteristic of Jesus every day from now until Christmas.  I'm not going to be describing Him with adjectives, but nouns, because I believe it is a more effective way to expose the vastness of who He is.  (e.g. God does not necessarily give you patience.  He gives you Christ, and Christ is patience.  He is not just bright -- He is LIGHT.  Etc).
Here we go!


He is Peace

We all know this story from Matthew:  Jesus is on a boat with His disciples, this ridiculously strong wind storm begins, these highly experienced fishermen/boatmen start freaking out, then they wake Jesus up and ask Him why He doesn't seem to care that they're all about to die.  Then the amazing part happens: He calms the storm.

Storms rage throughout all our lives.  They're raging in different areas of our lives right now.  We may become impatient or resentful at God when He doesn't calm the storm AROUND us, but Jesus is ever faithful to calm the storms that rage IN us.  Lately I've felt like as I accomplish one task, two more sprout up in its place.  And even the manageable tasks have been stressing me out.  I reminded myself just a couple days ago that this is not something I have to live with.  It's merely a symptom of not holding fast to the Head (Col 2:19).

Peace for an individual is not the absence of strenuous circumstance.  Peace is a state of mind and the state of your heart.  And it is something that you cannot bring about by manipulating your circumstances.


Phillipians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.


What does "THROUGH CHRIST JESUS" mean? It means that Jesus is the way in which we receive that peace that "guards our hearts and minds." Therefore, there is no peace apart from Christ. You can't earn or achieve peace any more than you can earn or achieve His love.


Jesus the Christ is peace. Put Him on the way you would a huge coat, and let HIM live HIS life through you.