ApprehendingGrace.com

During this Christmas season, it seems that all my prayers look toward Good Friday more than Christmas – toward the death of Jesus on the cross instead of the baby born in a manger. When my husband pointed this out to me, I began to reflect on it. Christmas, the season of rejoicing at the birth of a Savior, is inextricably linked with Good Friday, a day of extreme sorrow. Christmas, the day of the birth of a King, stands next to Easter, the day of the murder of a King. Hmmm.

The more I reflected on it, the more I realized how appropriate this juxtapositioning is – because the entire purpose of Christ’s birth was fulfilled in His death and resurrection. Without Christ’s death and resurrection, His birth would have simply been a footnote in history. Instead, his birth, life, death and resurrection are the turning point of history.

The angel Gabriel declared the purpose of Jesus’ life to Joseph in a dream when he said “And she [Mary] will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, NLT).

Jesus’ purpose for being born was to save His people from their sins! What a lofty sounding destiny! Of course, another way of saying it is much less lofty sounding – Jesus was born to die! You see, the payment that is required for our sin is death. Someone must make that payment. Christ was born so that He could make the payment for us. His death enables us to bypass death and experience life forever.

Christ also suffered when He died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners that He might bring us safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit. 
      1 Peter 3:18, NLT

For the wages of [required payment for] sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
      Romans 6:23, NLT (bracketed words are my amplification)

Christ was born to die, and it was a destiny that He obviously knew from some very early age. I can’t help but wonder how knowing that His destiny was to die affected the way He lived His life. How would it affect mine? How about yours?

And then it hit me…we do have that destiny! Read this passage:

It is destined for each person to die once, and after that to face judgment.
      Hebrews 9:27, (my paraphrase)

We are also destined to die! After our death comes judgment. For those who have accepted God’s free gift of eternal life, we are raised from the death, just as Jesus was, to live eternally with God. For those who have not accepted God’s free gift of eternal life, death rules in judgment.

I find myself agreeing with Paul who wrote the following to the Corinthians:

¹As God’s partners, we beg you not to reject this marvelous message of God’s great kindness. ²For God says,
    ”At just the right time, I heard you.
    On the day of salvation, I helped you.”
Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation.
      2 Corinthians 6:1-2, NLT

What does it mean to accept God’s free gift? It means to agree with Him and give Him control of your life. Agree first that you have done wrong and need His forgiveness. Believe that Christ died on the cross as the payment required for your wrongdoing. Yield your will to God’s will by determining to live according to His plans for your life instead of your own plans.

Then set about learning more and more about what those plans are. Because although our destiny might be to die and face judgment one day, God also has purposes and plans for our lives that go beyond ourselves.

My [Jesus’] purpose is to give life in all its fullness.
John 10:10b, NLT

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 
      Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

Accepting God’s free gift of salvation not only brings eternal life, it also enlarges our earthly life. Can you dare miss out on such a “marvelous” opportunity to receive “God’s great kindness?”

Hear the heart of God in the following Old Testament passage:

¹But now, O Israel, the LORD who created you says: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. ²When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ³For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave [your enemies] as a ransom for your freedom. ⁴Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
                                               Isaiah 43:1-4 (NLT)

This passage speaks of how precious Israel (that is, the people and the country) is to God. They are His chosen people and he tells how He sacrificed their enemies to save them, how He gave up some lives to save Israel because she is so precious to Him. God even says simply “I love you.”

Don’t just read the words. Feel the emotion. Imagine that it is your husband or wife saying the words to you. How would you feel? Your spouse is saying that he/she paid a ransom for you – the life of someone else for your life. You must be incredibly precious!

But perhaps you’re a skeptic and think, “Well, they were Israel’s enemies that God gave as a ransom. It’s not like they were important to Him.” Au contraire, my friend. All life is precious to God, and those He calls enemies are those who have chosen to be His enemies. A message that sometimes seems to get lost in the Old Testament is that God called “His people” not only the Israelites, but all who chose to trust Him. Rahab and Ruth, for example, were not born Israelites, but they chose to align themselves with Israelites. As Ruth said, “Your people will be my people and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16).

God shows the same attitude in the New Testament toward His people as He showed in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, the Israelites have clearly rejected God.

¹⁰But although the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. ¹¹Even in his own land and among his own people, he was not accepted. ¹²But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan – this rebirth comes from God.
                                               John 1:10-13 (NLT)

God offers His love to everyone, and those who accept the gift of forgiveness and salvation that He’s offered began to be called “Christians.” It’s the term we still use today.

Let’s look at that first Old Testament passage again:

¹But now, O Israel, the LORD who created you says: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. ²When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ³For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave [your enemies] as a ransom for your freedom. ⁴Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
                                               Isaiah 43:1-4 (NLT)

The concepts and words that stand out in my mind are:

• God ransomed us
• He will protect us
• He is our Savior
• Others died that we might live
• We are precious, honored and loved

Remember those concepts and words as you read the following New Testament passages. In this first one, Jesus describes why He came to earth:

[Jesus is speaking] “For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”
                                               Matthew 20:28 (NLT)

Peter amplifies Jesus’ words in his first letter:

¹⁸For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. ¹⁹He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. ²⁰God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.
                                               1 Peter 1:18:20 (NLT)

How precious we must be to God, for Him to pay a ransom, not of His enemies, but of His son! God’s own son is the price required to ransom us from the empty life we would otherwise have. What an honor! What love!

⁸But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. ⁹And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. ¹⁰For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. ¹¹So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.
                                               Romans 5:8-11 (NLT)

God has ransomed us through Jesus Christ. Praise God! He has delivered us from eternal punishment to eternal life!

¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
                                               1 John 5:11-12 (NIV)

I hope you have the Son! Because being in the center of God’s love is life!

⁵    Trust in the LORD with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶    in all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will direct your paths
                    Proverbs 3:5-6

“There is no panic in trust” was our theme yesterday. It’s a good theme! No matter what our need is, God is capable and has the resources to meet that need. He is El-Shaddai, the God Who is Sufficient for the Needs of His People.

But knowing that and owning or apprehending it can be two very different things. Trust can be a difficult thing to “manufacture” if it’s not there already. How can we trust the Lord if we don’t trust Him already? Let me offer three suggestions.

Get to Know God Better

May I first suggest that we get to know God better? We trust the most those we know the best. I’ve known my husband for thirty years - I trust him implicitly. I’ve known my best friend for a dozen or so years. I trust her a lot. I know my neighbor down the street…well, just in passing. I mean no offense to her, but I don’t trust her very much. She may be the most trustworthy person on the planet, but I don’t know her well enough to trust her. God IS the most trustworthy person in all of creation. Yet if you don’t know Him, you probably don’t trust Him.

Get to know Him. Read about Him and how He protected, lead and provided for the Israelites and the New Testament Christians. Talk to others who know Him and ask how He has been faithful to meet their needs. Pray, not just with a laundry list of your needs, but with times of listening and just “being” with God. You can’t trust someone you don’t know. Get to know Him.

Decide to Trust Him

We’ll never trust God in an area in our lives until we decide to trust Him with that area. Yes, this sounds pretty bonehead, but it’s quite true. Often I find that when I am worrying over an issue, it’s something I’ve never actually made a decision to give to God. I’ve never said “Lord, I trust you with ________________.” Instead, I’ve just worried the issue. Or I’ve made a half-hearted commitment to trust Him, saying “Lord, will you take this?” and then just twenty minutes later when I don’t see a change saying (subconsciously if not consciously) “I better help God out by taking this issue back and doing something about it.”

A friend had a great illustration that helps with this. It’s based on 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” For you non-fishermen, casting is throwing your fishing line into the water. In some kinds of fishing, you cast your line into the water with an overhand throwing type motion. Then you sit and watch it, waiting for the fish to take the bait and jiggle the line. In other kinds of fishing you continually cast your line, then reel it back in, cast it out and reel it back in. The movement of the line catches the attention of the fish and the jump on it. When we trust God, we cast our line (worries) out into the water…and then we cut the line. Don’t reel them back in. Don’t even sit there watching the line for any movement. Cut the line and walk away from it.

The sign language sign for trust is to grab the air in front of you with both hands and pull it to your chest. That means trust. Notice the difference between casting your worries - throwing them away from you - and trusting God - capturing Him and bringing Him close. We are to throw our worries to God and hold Him close.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” It is possible. It is worth pursuing. Do it today. Pick one area and decide to trust Him. I am fully confident that He will prove Himself to be trustworthy.

In my next blog, we’ll learn about the partner to trusting God…see you then!