Tuesday, November 29, 2011

122. He Was Speechless

Isaiah 53:7


What if you lost the ability to talk? What if all of a sudden, you couldn’t communicate with anyone? How frustrating would it be to go through tomorrow not being able to use words or string sentences together? If something suddenly prevented you from speaking, you would feel so limited and stifled. When Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem on that very first Christmas, He experienced something just like that. You see, Jesus wasn’t like other babies. He didn’t start existing when He was conceived. Jesus was and is and always will be the Eternal and Almighty God. He existed before time began. He invented the laws of thermodynamics before He jump-started them into motion! When Jesus became a baby, He emptied Himself. He limited Himself. The One who spoke the universe into being willingly entered into a situation where He could no longer speak. He became a real human baby, so He didn’t have the ability to string sounds together into words and words together into sentences. The One who gave life and meaning to the world wasn’t able to convey His meaning to anyone in the world. The Word of God wasn’t able to speak any words. Wow. That must have been so frustrating! It must have been staggering and disorienting for Someone so limitless to suddenly be so limited. And yet, there would come a day when accusations and fists and spit would fly into His face and Jesus wouldn’t say a word. A whip would fall on His back over and over again, and He stayed silent. He was led to a cross without having committed any crime and He was speechless. Maybe, becoming a speechless baby was just practice for the real thing.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

121. He's Going To Transform Us

Philippians 3:21


Do you ever get frustrated with the way you look? Are you disappointed with your body type, your hair, your athletic ability or lack of ability? Are you fed up with being sick, weak, tempted and small? Are you sick and tired of living in the body you have? I know that for me, of all the things in my life that are longing to take this walk with Jesus farther, the main thing that seems to be holding me back is this old body. As Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” The longing I have is to follow Jesus with reckless abandon every moment, and in every area of life; but dang, sometimes I just get tired, or sick or hurt and I have to sit on the bench. These bodies hold us back. They don’t define us. Your body is not a great representation of who you really are, but more like a schematic - a simplified representation of a person who is incredibly complex and eternally valuable. Here’s a beautiful truth: Jesus is going to upgrade your body. He’s going to trade in this current model for something so glorious, you can’t even imagine it. When you’re in heaven, you won’t be the same old you, just holding a white robe and a harp. No way! You’re going to be this mind-blowing, world-shatteringly powerful and wondrous creature that will never get sick or tempted or tired. You’ll be outrageously powerful and eternally able to love Jesus with every beat of your indestructible heart. Jesus is going to change your schematic, and it won’t be long. We’re just pilgrims here, waiting on an much-needed upgrade.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

120. He Saves The Best For Last

John 2:10


Doesn’t it seem like the more you get to know some folks, the more junk you find out about them? Folks that seem great on the outside oftentimes turn out to be a total mess. To tell the truth, this is the way most people are. What I mean is, we’ve all got a past we’re ashamed of, dark secrets we wish we could undo, habits, prejudices and hypocrisies that we don’t want anyone to see. Thing is, the more you really get to know someone, the more you find out who they really are. This is actually one of the hardest things about marriage - that you find someone you really love and then hand them an all-access pass into everything about your life, including all the darkest parts of who you are! Now, I’m not saying everyone deserves life without parole behind bars, but we’re all a mess on the inside and all capable of all kinds of darkness. This is true of any person alive: The deeper you dig, the darker it gets. Well, it’s true of everyone except one... Jesus. He’s the exception. Jesus just gets sweeter and sweeter the more you learn about Him. The more you love Him, the better He gets! One time, when Jesus was a guest at a wedding where the couple had run out of wine, Jesus made more. When the master of the banquet tasted it, he praised the groom, saying: “Hosts always bring out the best wine first, and then when everyone’s good and drunk, they serve the cheap stuff, but this groom saved the best for last!” That miracle was like a parable of who Jesus is. The deeper you go, the better He gets.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

119. He Loves Failures

John 2:10


Have you ever felt like a failure? Maybe someone labeled you as a failure or has said something to you like, “You never finish what you start.” or, “You always quit when it gets tough.” When people decide that you’re a failure, it feels so final. What I mean is, when you get labeled as a failure, it almost seems like being diagnosed with an incurable disease, as if you’ll only ever be a failure no matter what. The thing is, the label of ‘failure’ is really just a clever lie. It’s not that only some people are failures and other people are successes. Everyone fails from time to time. Everyone quits something. There’s no one who simply succeeds at every single thing for their whole entire life, but it doesn’t feel that way, does it? It seems like it’s us against them. They succeed, we fail. They rock, we suck. Well, if you’ve ever felt like a failure, I have great news for you: Jesus loves failures. His heart beats for people who aren’t good enough and don’t quite have what it takes. His love is irresistibly drawn to the folks who strike out and can’t cut it. Once, Jesus was at a wedding where the couple ran out of wine to serve their guests. Jesus didn’t pull this couple aside and give them a lecture about etiquette and the social gravity of their miscalculations! No, He just made more wine. When no disciple knew what to do, Jesus fed 5,000 people. When Peter and his boys fished all night without a catch, Jesus provided fish. If you feel like a failure, Jesus’ heart beats for you, and He turns failures into world-changers. He just wants you to ask.

Monday, November 14, 2011

118. He Prayed All The Time

Luke 6:12


Why do we pray? Really think about it... What’s up with prayer? Let’s make this even more personal: Why do you pray? Seriously, if you are a person who prays a lot, why do you do it? What do you hope to get from it? What do you need from it? I suppose that most of us are asking God to help us, and pouring out our hearts about our weaknesses and insecurities and troubles, right? That’s what prayer is about for us. Well, if that’s the case, do you ever wonder why Jesus prayed all the time? I mean, of all the people who ever lived, He’s the only One who could have gotten away with skipping His daily prayers. Jesus was different from us. Jesus was Almighty God with skin on. He was and is equal in power, wisdom, glory and eternal authority to God the Father. Jesus calmed a raging storm with a word. He healed terminal, incurable illnesses from miles away with a thought. Jesus raised people from the dead with a simple command... even once with just a whisper. Jesus didn’t need to take His ineptitudes or insecurities to God, because He was Himself God, who is clothed with power. So, why did Jesus pray all the time? Well, I think He prayed all the time because of love. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t know what to do in certain situations, but that He just loved His Father and wanted to hang out with Him. It was love. You just couldn’t keep them apart because they loved to be together. What if we injected a little more of that into our lives? What if we prayed just for the love of being with God?

Saturday, November 12, 2011

117. He Turns Enemies Into Family

Mark 3:16-19


Are there people in your life who just seem to hate you? Like, no matter what you do, they just can’t stand you? And maybe you don’t even know what you did, but they just seem to be against you. Or maybe it’s that you have some people you just can’t handle. Maybe this person has a personality that doesn’t mix well with yours or maybe they hurt you in the past, but whatever it is, being around them is extremely difficult. Do you know what I’m talking about? Well, one of the things Jesus is all about is dissolving those barriers of hate. When He hand-picked His team of guys who would turn the world upside down as a united force for the Kingdom of God, He picked people who really didn’t get along. In fact, some of them hated each other. For example, Matthew was a tax collector, which meant that he was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman government, taking money from his own people to give to them. Translation: Most Jewish folks considered Matthew to be a low-down, two-faced, thieving traitor. One of the other disciples, Simon the Zealot, was a member of a grass-roots terrorist organization that hunted tax collectors! So, imagine you’re Matthew and you start following Jesus, who then recruits a dude that literally wants you dead! How would you get a good night’s sleep knowing Simon the Zealot was three sleeping bags away from you?! Thing is, Jesus turned those guys into brothers who loved each other, prayed for each other and went to battle together. He is turning enemies into family. He is taking over the universe and He’s doing it with love.

Monday, November 7, 2011

116. He Turns Misfits Into Missionaries

Mark 3:13


Have you ever secretly wished that you could do something that would change the world forever? Maybe you’ve never had the guts to say it out loud, but have you ever wished that you could do something that would go down in history? Haven’t you dreamed of playing an important role in something that will change everything forever? Last month Steve Jobs passed away and since then, people have talked about how he changed the world - and they’re right, he did. For years, people will benefit from his genius, hard work and innovation. But what if you could have an even deeper and more meaningful impact than Steve Jobs? Now, I know that you’re thinking... “I’m just a teenager, or I’m just an insurance salesman, or I’m just a stay-at-home mom, so how can I change the world? I don’t have the education, the skills, the money or the connections to change the world.” Well, that’s where you would be wrong. Jesus once called twelve guys to Himself who seemed completely incapable of doing anything together. Most of these guys were uneducated and poor. Some of them literally hated one another. Thing is though, the love of Jesus called them, changed them, gifted them, made them bold, fearless and unstoppable! Jesus can turn anyone into a world-changer. He can use you in ways you never dreamed and make waves that will never end. You might sometimes feel like your little life doesn’t count for much, but Jesus can do things through you (right where you are) that will literally change the world forever. Just give Him your life. Surrender your heart completely to Him and then stand back. The world will never be the same again.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

115: He's Making You Like Himself

Romans 8:28-29


Why did this have to happen right now? I mean, of all the people that this could have happened to, why me? - Okay, you’ve asked those questions before, right? You’ve felt this way before, haven’t you? I mean, have you ever looked at the walls of your life crumbling down around you and thought, “Why, Lord?” Have you ever felt like the problems and pains of your life all come at precisely the wrong time, so that you can never catch your breath or know where you stand? Have you ever looked at your life, then looked around and thought, “Why is it only me?” Well, you should know that if you have ever asked those questions, you are not alone. In fact, you’re in good company. Some of the people God has used the most throughout the history of the world have been people surrounded and overwhelmed by trouble, hardship, heartbreak, failure, disaster, sickness, loss and incalculable pain. People always sort of assume (and tons of false teachers say) that knowing God means that your problems in this life will disappear, but it’s not true. If anything, the people who know God best are the people who have had the most trouble in this world. Why does God allow that? Well, I don’t know. And really, you shouldn’t listen to people who say they do know, because no one does. Here’s the thing: I can promise you that whatever God is up to, He has a purpose in it. The Bible promises that in all your hardship, Jesus is there and He is at work. In fact, He is working everything together to make you more like Himself - 'The Man of Sorrows' - who will one day overcome everything.