Faith
Just finished a book by Joshua Harris "Boy Meets Girl" in the morning. Joshua's book is mainly about courtship/relationship, but it also encourages me to reflect upon my relationship with Christ. I was so deeply touched by a piece of writing he quoted from "When God Weeps" by Steven Estes and Joni Eareckson Tada, on salvation. Would like to share it with you, it's a long piece, but very meaningful indeed. My heart pounded hard and my eyes welled up while reading it:
The face that Moses had begged to see--was forbidden to see--was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow...
"On your back with you!" ONe raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. SOmeone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do "all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on--he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the SOn recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm--the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless--the nerves perform exquisiutely. "Up you go!" They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being--the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father's eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father like this!
From heaven the Father rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at his son, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
"Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped--murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten--fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk--you, who molest young boys, peddle killed drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, forment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp--buying politicians, practicing exhortation, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded flase religions, traded in slaves--relishing each morsel and braggin about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?"
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever commited.
The Father watches as his heart's treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah's stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"
But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
I don't know how you feel about this quote. May be your offenses do not appear on the list, name them yourself. I was deeply struck by this quote honestly. The Salvation was done for US!!! Joshua reminds us of John Stott's words "Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us (leading us to faith and worship), we have to see it as something done BY us (leading us to repentance)... As we face the cross, then, we can say to ourselves both "I did it; my sins sent Him there," and "He did it; His love took Him there." Jesus was condemned for the sins in our past, present, future!! Once we accepted Christ as our Savior, God no longer looks at us as SINNERS; He doesn't see us as dirty/unworthy. He sees us as RIGHTEOUS as His Son.
"Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
"He does not treast us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:10-12) (I love this very much!!!!)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
We "nailed" Jesus on the Cross. If even such (WORST THING ANY HUMAN CAN DO) can be forgiven, then how can anything NOT BE FORGIVEN. Nothing can separate us from God's grace anymore. As long as we truly repent our sins, God's grace is sufficient for us. He's always waiting for us to return to His arms. We often say "We don't deserve this or that!" but God reminds us "It's not what you've done, it's what my Son has done for you."
I can't exactly describe my feelings to you. But I can tell you, my past keeps knocking from time to time, and sometimes I feel condemned/defeated by it. All the time, I would feel so guilty that I locked myself up for several days; not willing to talk to anyone. But after reading this passage in the morning, I can say boldly "I am not ashamed anymore" cuz I've gained a clearer picture of salvation. God has forgiven me, and He sees me "as white as snow". NO! I may not be able to forget my past, but this makes me treasure God's grace even more.
Today's been a special day. I left MOS and went to Wing's fellowship. Met her little earlier so I shared with her some of my troubles. Well, I know exactly that I needed some advice from some elders in church. Sadly, I don't know how to get advice from my church, so I turned to Wing. And she brought me to this minister called "YIN LAN". She gave me a lot of help, and I was really encouraged by her words (in a 30 min chat). Funny! I'm reading this book called "Woman: God's Greatest Weapon", today's chapter was about "God's trusted people" which talks about all these really influential WOMEN in the bible; of course MARY is one of those characters. What a coincidence! At fellowship, the minister talked about the 4 Marys in the bible. Mary's song "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:46-47) (Chinese version is more touching) I think this is the sorta attitude that all of us (men/women) Christians must hold. We must place God at the highest at all times. When we meet up with situations/problems that are seemingly too big for us to handle, remember, our GOD is much BIGGER than the problem, He always has the power/wisdom to handle them for us. Leave them all to God!
Praise the Lord!
The face that Moses had begged to see--was forbidden to see--was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow...
"On your back with you!" ONe raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. SOmeone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do "all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on--he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the SOn recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm--the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless--the nerves perform exquisiutely. "Up you go!" They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being--the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father's eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father like this!
From heaven the Father rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at his son, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
"Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped--murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten--fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk--you, who molest young boys, peddle killed drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, forment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp--buying politicians, practicing exhortation, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded flase religions, traded in slaves--relishing each morsel and braggin about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?"
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever commited.
The Father watches as his heart's treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah's stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"
But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
I don't know how you feel about this quote. May be your offenses do not appear on the list, name them yourself. I was deeply struck by this quote honestly. The Salvation was done for US!!! Joshua reminds us of John Stott's words "Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us (leading us to faith and worship), we have to see it as something done BY us (leading us to repentance)... As we face the cross, then, we can say to ourselves both "I did it; my sins sent Him there," and "He did it; His love took Him there." Jesus was condemned for the sins in our past, present, future!! Once we accepted Christ as our Savior, God no longer looks at us as SINNERS; He doesn't see us as dirty/unworthy. He sees us as RIGHTEOUS as His Son.
"Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
"He does not treast us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:10-12) (I love this very much!!!!)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
We "nailed" Jesus on the Cross. If even such (WORST THING ANY HUMAN CAN DO) can be forgiven, then how can anything NOT BE FORGIVEN. Nothing can separate us from God's grace anymore. As long as we truly repent our sins, God's grace is sufficient for us. He's always waiting for us to return to His arms. We often say "We don't deserve this or that!" but God reminds us "It's not what you've done, it's what my Son has done for you."
I can't exactly describe my feelings to you. But I can tell you, my past keeps knocking from time to time, and sometimes I feel condemned/defeated by it. All the time, I would feel so guilty that I locked myself up for several days; not willing to talk to anyone. But after reading this passage in the morning, I can say boldly "I am not ashamed anymore" cuz I've gained a clearer picture of salvation. God has forgiven me, and He sees me "as white as snow". NO! I may not be able to forget my past, but this makes me treasure God's grace even more.
Today's been a special day. I left MOS and went to Wing's fellowship. Met her little earlier so I shared with her some of my troubles. Well, I know exactly that I needed some advice from some elders in church. Sadly, I don't know how to get advice from my church, so I turned to Wing. And she brought me to this minister called "YIN LAN". She gave me a lot of help, and I was really encouraged by her words (in a 30 min chat). Funny! I'm reading this book called "Woman: God's Greatest Weapon", today's chapter was about "God's trusted people" which talks about all these really influential WOMEN in the bible; of course MARY is one of those characters. What a coincidence! At fellowship, the minister talked about the 4 Marys in the bible. Mary's song "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:46-47) (Chinese version is more touching) I think this is the sorta attitude that all of us (men/women) Christians must hold. We must place God at the highest at all times. When we meet up with situations/problems that are seemingly too big for us to handle, remember, our GOD is much BIGGER than the problem, He always has the power/wisdom to handle them for us. Leave them all to God!
Praise the Lord!
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