Jesus tattoo

 

A small child shuffled down the sidewalk of a tree-lined boulevard. His head was down as if he were ashamed to look the world in the eye. He kicked the pebbles in his path with a carelessness that said life did not matter. Cars sped by without noticing the meloncoly scene a few feet from their path. A dog barked from a fenced yard as if to say "stay away!" 

Day after day he walked this path. Rain pounded the earth then heat blasted the ground making it too hot to walk on. He looked up at the trees, thankful for their covering. Soon the leaves fell and snow covered the world in its icy grip. 

Each day the boy stopped by this one tree that stood between his house and the path. He sympathized with the falling leaves and cursed the winds and the snow as the elements tried to destroy the beauty of this tree. 

Today he left the house like every other day. He locked the door, turned and walked down the steps but ran smack into his tree. Bewildered, he looked over where the tree always stood wondering how it moved into his path. 

He looked at the trunk to see if he in any way damaged his favorite tree and noticed an inscription etched into the trunk. King of kings and Lord of lords. 

He looked up and realized his tree was never a tree. In fact Jesus stood before him. Jesus stopped down and took his head in His hands. 

"I don't understand," the boy stammered. "Every day I pray and every day I see my prayers go unanswered. Where have you been?"

"I have been here all along," Jesus replied as He lifted the boy into His lap. "I shelter you from the storms and provide shade in the desert times. I block the icy winds of winter. Every day I walk beside you. I love hearing your voice when you talk to me. I love hearing your problems and your thoughts."

 

"Then why didn't I see you before now?"

 

"You were so busy focusing on the ground and your next step that you did not notice I was the one walking beside you. I stood between you and the road."

 

Puzzled, the young man looked down the road. No trees lined the boulevard as he always thought. 

"You are not as small as you think," Jesus said as He put the boy on his feet. He put His hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. 

 

"Even before you knew me I equipped you with everything you need to live life. You are competent and capable. You are my son and you are made in my image. This means you are capable of loving because I am love. You are fully equipped to live in peace because I am the Prince of Peace. 

 

"I have my name tattooed on my leg so that when you run into me you know right away what you ran into. I am over everything and I want to take care of you. You can let me carry your burdens for you." 

 

The boy took off his backpack and handed it to Jesus. When he did, he realized he was standing as tall as Jesus. There was a lightness in his heart he forgot he could feel. The young man felt like he could do anything. 

 

 

 

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

- Revelation 19:16

Groundbreaking Greetings

For those of you who do not know me well, it is important to know that I love studying the historical context of the Bible. I relish learning new facts about the ancient world in which the Bible was written. There is so much depth to these passages when you know the culture and context of the Bible.

Ancient letters followed a certain formula. The writer would state who they were followed by who the letter was written to and end with a greeting. In the Greek world, the salutation was grace (charis). In the Hebrew world, the word was peace (shalom).  Peter and Paul combined these two greetings in their letters. By doing so, they acknowledged Christianity was not strictly a Hebrew religion but had also spread to the Greeks (a.k.a. anyone who was not Jewish). They knew both Jews and Greeks would read their letters and did not want to alienate one culture by writing strictly to the Jews or to the Greeks. Many of their letters included calls to unity between the believers in different cultures.

The early Christians were the first group that spread throughout different cultures without trying to fundamentally change the cultures. Kings and emperors came through the ancient world and tried imposing their systems and beliefs on their conquered enemies. The Romans were no different. They came along and set their own leaders over the people. Their end goal was to Romanize the world. They built roads, standardized currency and enforced the Roman way of thinking as best they could. With this increased ability to travel, the cultures began to spread out. This lead to increased animosity between cultures. Cities became divided into cultural sections instead of simply by profession and class.  

This is the world into which Christianity first began. Now, this is all vastly simplified, and there were exceptions to every circumstance mentioned above. However, the point is that the early Christians were groundbreakers of their time. They did not have books on how to interact cross-culturally. They could not attend seminars and classes on intercultural awareness or communication. They simply relied upon Holy Spirit and trial and error.

God used the people the world saw as the most uneducated and rebellious people to change the world by focusing on people, not systems and power. (Unfortunately, this became grossly taken advantage of in the years and centuries to come.) The Bible is full of stories of God’s redemption. God continues to use people who believe they have nothing left to offer.

What is your story? Where do you need to see God’s grace and redemption? Does your dream seem impossible? Ask God how He sees your circumstance or your dream.

God is Faithful

Moses stood atop Mount Sinai with the stone tablets of the Law in his hands. He spent forty days transcribing God’s words. He brought these words to the people but saw they already turned to worship idols. Smashing these words on the ground Moses again made the trek up the mountain. God repeated these words for Moses and at the end of it, Moses made a request of God. He wanted to see God’s glory. God came and stood with Moses and declared His name as He passed by. One of the ways God described Himself as was faithful.

God cannot deny Himself. He cannot change His nature to be something He is not. He is faithful. He keeps His promises. Psalm 146:6 (NIV) says God “remains faithful forever.” The NLT translates it as “He keeps his promises forever.” A promise is not something one can earn nor can it be taken away. It is something someone else says they will do for you. They can be delayed if I am not cooperating with Holy Spirit in preparation for their fulfillment but they will not be taken away. If I did not earn the promises then it follows that I cannot work to keep them. God is not going to take His promises from you. God’s gifts and call are irrevocable (Ro 11:29).

If you want proof that God keeps His promises, you need look no further than yourself. We are a fulfillment of a promise. God promised Abraham that not only would he have children but that nations would come from him. This promise of children to Abraham was based on his righteousness, not based on the law (Ro 4:13). If it was based on his actions, then his actions could prevent the promise from coming true. We are children of this promise. And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (Gal 3:29 NIV). Because of one man’s faith nations are blessed with the knowledge of Christ.

We can see God’s fulfillment of promise in the books of the prophets as well. In Ezekiel God promised to give His people a new heart and place His Spirit in them. In Isaiah and Jeremiah God promised to never remove His Spirit from us. He promised to restore us and renew us. We are living in the fulfillment of these promises.

Q&A with God

I really like asking God questions because the answers are not what I would expect. If you want a fun devotional time with God here are some good questions to ask Him: 

- What does it look like to be a son or daughter in your kingdom?

- What does your goodness look like? 

- What does your love look like? 

- Are you proud of me? Why? 

- What do you love about me? 

- When you were creating the world, what were you thinking about? 

- Tell me a story. 

- What character traits are you growing in me? How do I partner with you in this? 

- Jesus and Holy Spirit, what are you praying for me? 

These are just a few questions I like to ask. What questions do you like to ask God? 

Adopted

Ephesians 2 says we were dead in sin. Dead. As in a doorknob. Not mostly dead. All dead. Paul says we once walked in the manner of the world following Satan. We were self-focused, self-consumed and self-motivated. We lived for self and worked for self. We were our own idols and our own worst enemies. When we chose the kingdom of darkness in the Garden of Eden, we threw out our batteries and exchanged them for batteries that did not work. We then tried to fix ourselves because we knew we were not functioning properly. We knew something vital was missing and took on a mindset of trying to fix ourselves and solve our problems even if that meant trampling on everyone else to do so.

In Ephesians 2 there is this beautiful phrase: But God.... God saw the state we were in. Instead of recharging those batteries, God threw out the batteries and in their place gave us a power source that never runs out. We got the upgrade, the new and improved. We got Holy Spirit living inside us. It is like your favorite childhood toy or blanket. We may patch them up trying to make them last longer, but they still look ratty and dirty. God, instead of patching us up, threw out the dead and put a new source of life in us.  Despite our state of deadness, God redeemed us. We were so favored by and deeply loved by God that He wanted to make us new. We do not work for our salvation. We are given freedom. Now we are learning how to let go of the brokenness and old ways of thinking so we can live in freedom as children of God.

We were children of wrath, sons of disobedience (Eph 2). Jesus came to the orphanage of the world and saw you. He looked you in the eyes and said, “I choose you. I want you.” The Law runs the orphanage. It is a works-based environment. Jesus came to release us from this system of works. He came that we could be adopted into His family as children of God. As a child, you do not earn your standing in the family. You simply are a son or daughter because you were born. That is all that was required. You did not have to fill out an application and go through an interview process to become a child. You simply are one because you were born.

God created us. We are His masterpiece, the pinnacle of His creation. That means He knows how to fix us when something is broken. He tears down the broken walls and crumbling foundation. He may ask us to help clear away the rubble and rebuild walls, but He is the one that does the actual work. It is like asking a child to help you build a bookshelf. They may pound in a few crooked nails, but they are not the real builders of that bookcase. We cannot fix ourselves. That is something only God can do.

When we were adopted into God’s family as children, we were given a place to belong. God seated us with Jesus in heaven so he could show us the vast riches of his grace and kindness. We were not only given a place to belong but we were also given purpose. God created good things for us to do (Eph 2:10). He created dreams and desires for us, not us for them. He created these things for us to walk in. This means we do not just dream about them but we can actually step into them and do them.

God is for you

In Romans 8 Paul explains we are set free from sin and death and brought into the family of God. He goes on to explain we are adopted as sons into God’s family and given an inheritance. He concludes the chapter with an awe-inspiring statement about God’s love:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

Paul looked at everything God did for us and concluded nothing could stand between him and God. God gave everything for him. He is the one who stands as our judge and Jesus is the one who took our punishment so condemnation has no longer has a place in our lives. Jesus and Holy Spirit both pray for us and come before Father on our behalf. We are also more than conquerors through Jesus. Everything is under His feet. We are in Him and He is in us so by extension we have conquered everything as well. This means nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from God’s love. Condemnation no longer has a place. Things in the physical and spiritual realm no longer rule over us.

This is available to everyone. God longs to adopt you into His family. A few chapters later Paul states, “For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in [Jesus] will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Ro 10:11-13).

God has such good things in store for you. His heart is completely turned toward you. He wants to pour out blessing over blessing on you. We cannot earn holiness by what we do for Him. We cannot earn righteousness by the number of people we help. We cannot earn a relationship with God, but we can accept one with Him. He chose us as His own. He adopts us as sons. He gave us a big brother Jesus we can model ourselves after and Holy Spirit to live in us and teach us how to do so. Father God did not stop there either. He gave us purpose. He gave us a kingdom to rule over. “It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32). It is His good pleasure to do so.

God wants you to know His deep love for you. He is not trying to buy our love with all these blessings. He is a good gift-giver and cannot wait to give you these things. He has dreams abundantly for you. He has assignments for you that will challenge you and bring adventure and refinement. He is with us every step of the way. Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, so when we do not know what to do (and even when we think we know), we only need to ask His help because He is right there with us.

Don't Forget about Holy Spirit!

Jesus imitated the Father. He did what He saw His Father doing and said what His Father said. He represented the Father and did the Father’s work. We now represent the Son for the Son lives in us just as the Father lived in Jesus.  We do this by the power of Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, Holy Spirit lives inside you. How often do we think about that? God lives inside me. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me (Ro 8:11). Think about that for a moment. We were dead in sin but made alive through Jesus. The only way we can live as a child of God is because of Holy Spirit. We are in the family of God by the power of Holy Spirit. He is the seal on our hearts declaring we are sons of the Father. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you slaves again to fear but you received the Spirit of Sonship (Ro 8:15 NIV). Holy Spirit is a deposit of what is to come, a taste of heaven and our inheritance (2 Co 1:22).