Day 31 | The Audacious Plan

The Three gathered in the grand hall for one final time.  It was a closed door meeting.    Just three.  Three who would change the course of time.  Three who would determine the path of destiny.  Three who devised a plan to triumph over all other plans. 

Tension snapped in the air like a downed wire, as they gathered around the table.  This was a plan for the ages!   

It had all the makings of a good movie; a reckless rescue mission, drama, death, abandonment, resurrection, life.  But this wasn’t a movie, this WAS life.  Eternal Life.   

Each one turned to the other . . .  

“You will watch Your only Son live in a broken world, die a horrible death on a cross.  You will have to turn Your back on Him.  Are you okay with this?  Are you sure you want to do this for a people who hate you?” 

“You will be a vulnerable baby in a broken world, you will be misunderstood, hated, bruised and afflicted and hung on a cross to die a brutal death?  Are you willing to do this?” 

“You will be called to power this venture, to expend yourself for a people who are unworthy of such love. Do you want to do this?” 

There is no hesitancy, no doubt, no faltering.  A resounding “Yes” echoes down the ages of time. The pain, sorrow and difficulty of the plan would make the ENDING even that much more intoxicating.  

They could hardly contain their joy.  Unbridled pleasure rippled in the room like waves rushing to shore. A roar of laughter burst from the room like a rushing torrent of water and made its way throughout the heavens, pouring into every nook and cranny.  The angels paused in their activities as the merriment washed over them.  They found themselves giggling uncontrollably!  What was happening?  What were they be planning that would cause such contagious beautiful joy?  

The time was finally here!  Could they even wait a moment more to see their elaborate audacious plan carried out?    

All of this . . . this adoption, redemption plan . . . was for their CHILD.  The one they LOVED!  Their masterpiece. Their creation.  The one they have been waiting for, all this time! 

This grand design of theirs would be at great personal cost to each one of them.  But it was of little consequence.  They were ready.   Let it begin . . .  

 

. . . In the beginning God . . . (Genesis 1:1)

 

Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure.  Ephesians 1.4-5

 Father, You adopted me and made me Your child.  Jesus, You found me in the depravity of my own making and bought me with Your precious blood. Spirit, You marked me as, Forever Yours.  There are no words.  No language that can ever express the depth of my gratitude.  May my life demonstrate in ways my words cannot, the thankfulness and the depth of my appreciation for what You have done for me!  Amen.

 

-Kristi Huseby

Broken and Redeemed Blog

Day 30 | What is God's Currency?

 

What is the currency of God?  What medium of exchange does he operate in?  Matthew 25 lays out three compelling stories from the lips of Jesus which talk of valuable commodities; oil, silver, and livestock.  All three were the measures of wealth in the time of Jesus’ presence on the earth.  We all have ways of substituting our own agendas into these stories, but I have to ask when I read these,

“What currency does God deal in?”

 Consider Love.

Think of it.  Five of the ten bridesmaids have a love relationship with the bridegroom.  They may all fall asleep, but when they finally awaken at his return, their love for him is still sustained, still burning, and still desiring him.  They are invited into fellowship with the object of their desire, because they know him, and he knows them!  The others, who simply have an intellectual assent to his love for them, but have never entered into intimate fellowship with him, he simply looks at them and says, “Who are you? I don’t know you.”

In the next parable, two of the three servants have understood the desire of the Master for them, they have entered into a loving intimacy with him and they, in turn, “invest” that love they have received from him into others.  The disarming love from the Master flows through them and produces a great harvest which doubles their respective “investments”.  The other servant simply acknowledges the Master’s love for him, but doesn’t reciprocate.  He bottles up the Master’s love and keeps it contained so nobody else benefits from it.  Then he simply attempts to give it back to the Master upon his return. 

In the third parable in Matthew 25, it distinguishes between sheep, who are notoriously dependent upon their shepherd and live in community with each other, and goats which are obstinate, stubborn creatures who are fiercely independent and difficult to manage.  The shepherd comes and separates the sheep, who know and love the voice of their shepherd, from the goats, who are indifferent to his call.

How do we learn to become “lovers of God”?  How do we learn to receive his love for us and to allow it to change us?  He pleads with us all throughout his word to know him!

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.                                                                                                                        Deuteronomy 6.5

 

“Oh, that we might know the Lord!   Let us press on to know him.  He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of the rains in early spring.”                                                       Hosea 6.3 

This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:  My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!                                                                                   Zechariah 8.2

 

Lord, teach us to deal in the currency of your Love.  Make us rich with it, then grant us generous hearts to risk it all for your glory.  Allow us to delight in your pleasure over us as we learn to be as lavish in our love for you and others as you are with yours for us.  Place in all of us a curiosity which compels to seek you with a new determination to truly know you.

 

-Doug Bishop

Day 29 | Beware but Be Not Afraid

 

Exploring the concept of desire has been an intriguing journey for me. The image of God's passion has grown to thrill my heart with the pondering of his pursuit of me. 

"You are precious and special in my sight, and I love you . . ." Isaiah 43: 

We've explored the WHY of God's pursuit of us; the root being Love. I say 'explore' because I don't think we will ever reach fulfillment of understanding. The pondering of this absurd and glorious truth can exhaust eternity. 

Over the past several days a parallel image has sharpened as well; the persistent, competing force of the enemy. 

"The enemy said, I will chase, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, and my desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them." Exodus 15:9 

The next obvious question is the WHY of the enemy's interest in us? What does this hideous, powerful, creator of evil want with me? With his minions of spirit-servants and generations of humans willing to wreak havoc on his behalf to God's good earth and people, why does he bother with me? 

There are the Sunday School answers:

             He is bent to thwart God's plan of salvation.

             His pride drives him to destroy any and all God has created.

             He hates God and anything and anyone God loves.

 And these are all true. But, I believe there's more. 

Satan is jealous of me. 

He is jealous of my grandmother, gone to Heaven in 1996. He is jealous of my godly mother, gone since 2006. He is jealous of my son who lives for Jesus and my unborn grandson who has yet to choose whose pursuit he will accept. 

Satan is jealous of you. 

He is jealous of the beauty of simple faith, of a believing heart. He is jealous of the affections that flow between the Creator and possessor of all beauty to his children.  

Consider the contrast:

God burns with a holy jealousy for those he does not need but intensely desires.

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24

 Satan is captive to an insatiable lust to destroy those whom he hates.

"Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

Let's be careful here to keep firm to God's truth. These images may be parallel, but they are not equal. God will prevail.

"He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hate me, for they were too strong for me." Psalm 18:17

"I continually look to the LORD for help, for he will free my feet from the enemy's net."  Psalm 25:15

 "Indeed, you are my shelter, a strong tower that protects me from the enemy."  Psalm 61:3

"He delivered them from the power of the one who hated them, and rescued them from the power of the enemy."   Psalm 106:10

The enemy is not up to the task in which he is engaged! He will claw and tear in a jealous rage for our hearts, but Jesus has purchased the one-way ticket that binds us to him forever. 

Lover of my soul, thank you for the warnings in your Word. Help me stay alert to this enemy that would have me forget your love and the power it brings. Even more, help me remain focused on your passion for me. Help me see your love more and more clearly. Free me from the snares of the enemy that keep me from reflecting your desire to those in my world. Amen.

- Sonia Sundberg

Day 28 | Legacy

I think everyone of us longs to leave a legacy to our loved ones. For some, we hope to leave behind a faithful marriage that stands the test of selfishness. For others, we hope to create an atmosphere in our home that helps our kids cultivate a deep love for God and His ways. Yet, for others, we try to use the gifts and talents God gave us to build a family business that will provide for our family long after we are gone. I think legacies are important and I think they are important to Jesus.

On the night that Jesus was arrested he invites his closest friends, his disciples, to a meal. At this meal in the Upper Room, Jesus would laugh, tell great stories, reminisce, grieve, and then do something quite astounding. He gave the disciples a gift. He gave them his legacy.
 

The Scriptures describe it this way…

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

                                                                                                                        Matthew 26.26-28

In that Upper Room, Jesus did not leave his favorite trinkets, a well-worn Hebrew scroll, he did not give these guys a motivational speech. He gave them himself.

In church this past weekend we celebrated Communion which reenacts and remembers this sacred event 2000 years ago. If we are not careful, we can easily miss the significance of celebrating Communion and the legacy Jesus has left us. The bread is spiritual nourishment that reminds us that Jesus gave his body in order to redeem ours. The cup is spiritual nourishment that reminds us that the blood of Jesus has washed away our sins. The bread and cup make words like forgiveness, mercy, grace, love, restoration, and redemption come to life.

However, we will never appreciate the gravity of this legacy if we do not try to understand the gravity of our sin. We will never understand the value of Jesus giving his body for us if we do not understand how worthless the idols are that we create on a daily basis.

Jesus is for us in a way that we will never fully grasp. What if the bread and the cup nourish us in such a way that we are reminded God loves us more than we can ever imagine? What if the bread and the cup invite us to serve unconditionally and with great generosity? What if, we are called to leave the same kind of legacy?

-Dan Wright

Day 27 | While We Were Sinners

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.  “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.  Matthew 9.9 



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/CaravaggioContarelli.jpg

In Jesus’ day tax collectors were considered some of the worst kinds of sinners by the religious elite.  Matthew himself records that when Jesus came to dinner at his house, many “tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.”  (Matthew 9.10) 

Tax collectors and sinners. 

The Jewish people hated tax collectors because tax collectors worked for Rome, collected Roman taxes imposed upon the Jews and were known to be extortionists of large sums of money with which they filled their own pockets. 

The tax collectors were often Jewish…working for Rome…and hated by their own people.

Thus, tax collectors and sinners. 

What is striking about Jesus’ calling of Matthew, the tax collector, is not so much that he called Matthew to follow.  Jesus is known for calling sinners to repentance and to follow him. 

What is striking is when Jesus extended the invitation to Matthew. 

Matthew is sitting at his tax collector’s booth when Jesus calls, “Follow me. 

Jesus doesn’t wait until Matthew clocks out for the day.  Jesus doesn’t wait until Matthew’s day off.  Jesus doesn’t wait for Matthew to repent and resign from his position. 

Jesus calls Matthew to follow him while Matthew is in the very act of that which makes him a sinner.

I used to think of church this way:  Imagine a mom getting her house all clean in preparation for visitors.  While she cleans, her two boys are playing football in the yard.  When it’s time for the boys to come in, the mom stops them at the door and commands, “Go into the garage and take off those dirty clothes.  I just got the house clean, company is arriving soon and I don’t want you to mess it all up.” 

Now I think of church this way:  Imagine an emergency room in which the tile floor has been made spotless, the bed sheets are pristine white and all the surgical instruments are bright, shiny and sterilized.  When a car accident victim arrives and hemorrhaging blood, the intake person stops the gurney at the door and commands, “Stop!  Don’t bring that person in here!  We just got the room clean and sterile.  I don’t want you to mess it all up.” 

That’s not how it works.  The patient is accepted into the room in the midst of their pain.  A bloody mess. 

And that’s how Jesus calls us.  We’re accepted into his care in the midst of our sin.  A bloody mess.

Jesus doesn’t wait until we get our act together to call us to follow him. 

Jesus calls us while we’re sitting in our tax collectors’ booths. 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5.8

-Kevin Baker

Day 26 | Desiring God Above All Else

God works in our life when our desire for serving Him outweighs our desire to fit in, to not cause conflict, to please the eyes of man.   

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.  Galatians 1:10.  

I think back to how, after my mom died, my Oma became so spiteful and angry at God.  Never a conversation would go by without bitter words towards God being uttered from her lips.  Years went by and my Opa died.  The night before the funeral, I sat with pen and paper and wrote her a letter and wrapped up a book.  Oh, how I didn’t want to do it, I was scared.  Yet, I obeyed God’s prompting.  The next day at the wake, I clutched the gift in my hands and approached her.  She was seated in a straight back chair, and standing behind her with his hand on her shoulder was my intellectual agnostic uncle.  I couldn’t shake the impression of Satan staking his claim on her soul. She unwrapped the book, and half-heartedly thanked me with blank empty words. 

Years later, I write in my journal of my last moments I had with my  Oma … 

I sit beside her.  We both know this will be the last conversation we will have together here on this earth.  Small talk floats around the room awkwardly, then a moment of silence except the humming of the lights and the clock ticking.  Relatives make an excuse to leave the room, giving us a chance to talk alone.  I breath deep, knowing this is when I need to speak of “it”, the ugly inevitable thing called death.  I take in the smell of this run- down hospital, and I exhale.  I look at my Oma and know she is ready for life’s end.  This will not be our first conversation of death, just our last.  I say what we both are thinking.  “You will be with my mom soon.” And she responds, “It is because of you, daughter of my daughter that I will be there, with my Ada (her daughter, my mother) and Jesus.” 

A few weeks later, as my mother’s sisters sang Silent Night on a hot summer night in that smelly hospital room, she left this world with a smile on her face as she was welcomed into Jesus’ arms. 

When we desire Him, when we delight in serving Him above all else, we can be used by Him in ways we cannot imagine.  I had no idea God would use me to bring my Oma back in His arms.  Listen for His whisper and obey. 

Father, forgive us of our silly ways in which we fear speaking about your truths to those around us.  May we be bold as we rest in confidence in your love for us, and through your love, we reach those around us that are hurting and lost.

- Sue Parrott

Day 25 | Never Give Up, Always Surrender

There have been many times where I have wondered, “At what point does God give up on me?” I screw up so much, there’s got to be a breaking point, right? There have also been times when I have wondered, “Why does a God so big care for me at all?” In my mind these are not abnormal questions, and I have a weird feeling that most of us have asked them at some point in our lives.

 I’ve always told my students and friends that I love the Old Testament, not only for the awesome accounts of the prophets, or for the beauty and poetry of the Psalms, but because it’s a book of Israel’s failure and of God’s faithfulness. I mean c’mon…the Old Testament is chock full of people screwing up, and in the end what does God do? There are times when He’s angry and prophets have to plead with Him to bear with the stubborn Israelites, but in the end, He does something crazy. Instead of abandoning or destroying this stiff-necked people, God sends a savior. Not just any savior, but He sends His own son, Jesus, to die for them. When’s the last time you’ve wanted to sacrifice anything for the person who cut you off on the freeway, or for the person who yelled at you because of a mistake they made? For me, the answer is never. But God, being rich in mercy and full of grace decided to go to extreme lengths to bring His people back to Himself. He never gave up on His people, and in return, all He asks is surrender. 

I must admit, God’s love and mercy never really made much sense to me, but I started understanding it a little better almost a year ago. In late March of last year, my little niece Ara was born. She was born two months premature, so she lived the first two months of her life in the intensive care unit at Ohio State Medical Center. I remember holding her for the first time, just a little over two pounds, and as she started to grow I remember thinking, “she’s probably going to make some mistakes when she’s older…” I know, kind of pessimistic for an uncle to think, but the thought that came next caught me. I thought, “she’s probably going to make some mistakes when she’s older…but that won’t change the way I love her.” It was then that God’s love started to make a little more sense. We are God’s children, and we will and do make mistakes, but He loves us anyway because His love is not conditional on our successes or failures. Just like I love my little niece, and I will even if she makes mistakes, God loves us and nothing we can do will change that.

 

 

Father, thank you for loving us so much. At times it is hard to understand Your love, especially when we mess up and stray away from you, but You keep brining us back. Thank You for your intense love, and most of all, for sending Jesus to save us when we could not save ourselves. We bless You and thank You in Christ’s name, Amen.

-Jake Houf