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| My Jesus story: Joy, Peace, Hope, Grace, Faith |
Every believer has a story about how Jesus has touched our lives. So many times we get seduced and caught up in the stories of those who hit rock bottom and Jesus lifted them out to pull the work load to lead people to Jesus's love. In fact, we get so caught up that those who haven't had to go through those experiences often don't feel they have a testimony. I fall into that latter group.
I have lived an extremely blessed life. I haven't known a lot of real, gut wrenching, soul twisting, life altering heartache. Tonight we were reminded and discussed how that, in and of itself, is a testimony, a fantastic one. We discussed and worked together to come up with words that sum up the Jesus story of our lives and then we painted them and a Bible verse that reminds us of those words on a board. We all had a great discussion over our words. I could have come up with a bunch of them, but finally I settled on FIVE. (I just kinda like five. It is an excellent number.)
My first word is JOY. I am obsessed with the idea of the joy God's love gives us. In this world we are so consumed with, "Do what makes you happy." The thing about happy and the things of this world though is THEY DON'T LAST. Happy is temporary. Happy is a moment. Happy is the Gamecocks winning a football game. Happy is screaming my head off at a New Kids On The Block Concert. Happy is finding a fantastic new dress at the mall. On Sale. All those things are wonderful. All those things make me feel like a bagillion dollars, but guess what- - -THEY GO AWAY. As soon as the football game is over, you have to start thinking about next week's game; the concert ends and it is back to the real world; the dress goes out of style so you don't wear it anymore. This is not JOY.
Joy is permanent. Joy is ever present. Joy is there even when you feel like the world is falling down around you. God's love gives you joy. My life long love of this word goes back 21 years and is found in the promise of Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning." In this promise, God didn't say we would always be happy. He said we would weep; we would hurt, but what He did was was that no matter how deep and badly the hurt works is because joy will always be around the corner waiting on us to learn the lesson the Teacher is teaching us, and this promise gives us something that I can't imagine living my life without. . . .
HOPE I was asked by a friend a few months ago how I have the strength I do; how have I picked myself up when I lost my parents and kept smiling through the pain. Without missing a beat; without thinking about my answer was, "Hope." After Psalm 30:5 my favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11, "'For 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.'" Knowing God intimately gives you the knowledge that He loves you, that He has planned a purpose for you since before you were born and that He has reserved you a spot in Heaven where you won't know anymore pain or suffering or hurt. How can you not have hope knowing that? No matter how bad things are on this earth, no matter what pain you are experiencing you know it is temporary; you know it has a purpose; you know there is a promise out there that it will be worth it. There is no way to feel empty when you are confident in that great promise God has made you.
And with this joy, with this hope comes a PEACE unknown to those who aren't fully aware and accepting of these promises. In Romans 8:6, the Bible says, "to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Do you know what peace is? Peace is calm. Peace is quiet. Peace is knowing that you don't have to get worked up and up in people's faces when they wrong you. You don't have to get even with people. You know that hurting others only hurts yourself. People with peace walk in a confidence, not arrogance just . . . .for lack of a better word. . . peace. They don't have to jump up and down to get your attention. They just know. They know. They are confident in the joy given to them by God because they know it is eternal. They are confident in the hope that have for a better day tomorrow and the promise of a life in Heaven with the kind.
An important word to every follower of Jesus is GRACE. This word's meaning is two fold. On our end, grace is akin to kindness, but elevated. Grace is treating everyone, regardless of circumstance, with dignity. Remember, Jesus made his story and purpose known amongst the sinners and "lesser" people. He didn't hang out with the big wigs in the temple or trying to schmooze with the Roman leaders. He was out talking to those were often considered undesirable. I know the Bible warns us against cavorting with sinners, and I do believe this, but we have to treat everyone with grace. Grace can be firm. Grace can be serious. Grace should always be honest, even when it hurts, but it about dishing honesty in a way that the person on the other end knows that caring is involved not simply judgement. We are not fit to judge anyone. All we can do as followers of Christ and Jesus is to show the light, love, joy, hope, and grace of His love and believe that through this grace others will come to know Jesus.
The second part of grace, is the grace God showed us when He sent his Son to be brutally murdered and crucified on the cross to forgive us of our sins. Guys, this is the ultimate act of grace. Why do we forgive? Why do we love? The answer is simple. God is love. The reason we all love is because God loved us enough to give us this emotion. I had a conversation with a student the other day about sin. She didn't understand (a lot of people don't) about followers of Jesus who sin and why do they sin if they are Christians. What is it so hard to get others to see is that we know we sin. God knew we would sin. That is why He sent Jesus to understand human temptation and to pay for our sins. We are not deserving of this grace, but it is ultimately what makes Christianity THEE religion. I teach world religions, and they all have beautiful aspects. A lot of the world's main religions have a lot of theology that is similar, but the thing that sets Christianity apart from the others is LOVE and GRACE. It is the only religion where they people are so loved by their God that He saved them from eternal damnation by the ultimate act of love. That is why we have to show grace to others because it is God's grace that allows us to be saved. Romans 5:2 says, "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Grace is God's most beautiful gift, and as this scripture says, it is given to us by . . .
FAITH All of these gifts, all my Jesus words are given to those who have true, undying faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith seems so easy, but sooooooooo hard, even for those with the strongest faith. It is so hard to have faith in God's timing. Every fiber of our flesh says, "I want it when I want it. I want what I want," but God is about His timing, His plan, not ours. We have to have faith in that. He promises it to us over and over and over, and God does not break His promises. The wonderful thing about it though is that the best part of faith is the easy part. All you have to do is accept it. All you have to do is say, "God, I have faith in you. I accept your grace. I want to know your joy and hope and experience true peace. " All you have to do is say it and believe it in your heart, and all this wonderfulness is yours. It already is.
It is like the best present ever sitting there beautifully wrapped waiting you you to open it and use it.
So, those are my Jesus Story words. What are yours?
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