32. He Was A Carpenter

Mark 6:3

Did you ever wonder what happened to Jesus after Christmas, that is, the first Christmas? The Bible tells us a whole lot about the birth of Jesus, then gives one little snapshot of Him at age 12, but outside of that, we aren’t told really anything about His life from birth until He was around 30 years old. Almost everything we know about Jesus took place in the last three years of His life on earth, which means we're basically in on one tenth of His life story. In fact, one of the only things we know about all those years before His public ministry is that Jesus was trained to be and in fact became a carpenter. Jesus spent most of His life quietly minding His own business in the carpenter's shop. The question is, of all the things for God on earth to do, why carpentry? I'm not totally sure, but maybe it has to do with the fact that carpenters take fallen, dead and dry wood into their workshop and use care, skill and time to transform a lifeless thing into a treasure. Jesus has always been about this work. I love Jesus because when He found me, I was fallen, dead and dry, but He's planing, cutting, sanding and building me with His skill into something totally new.

31. He Wanted To

Mark 1:41

Every single person God ever made has rebelled against Him; and ever since this rebellion began with the very first man and woman, one of the main results has been a fearful shame. Interestingly, one of the ways the Lord teaches us about the effects of sin in the Bible is through a sickness called Leprosy, which is like a living parable of what rebellion against God does to the human heart. A person with Leprosy has basically lost the ability to feel, so they don't know when they're doing something that is harmful to them. They are completely unaware of being burned, cut or having a spreading infection. As a result, the disaster on the inside starts to affect the outside and as they physically fall apart, they become isolated, alone and ashamed. Lepers were outcasts; people no one wanted to know or be around. One of the first things Mark includes in his narrative is the story of a man with Leprosy who comes to Jesus and basically says, "I know You have the power to heal me... I don't know if you would want to or not." Mark tells us that as Jesus heard this, He became "filled with compassion" and not only healed him, but reached out, touched him and then healed him. I love Jesus because not only did He have the power to take away my sin, He wanted to; and in so doing, took away my shame.

30. He's Not Afraid Of A Good Fight

Matthew 4:1

Right before Jesus' public ministry began, He had this strange encounter with Satan where He was tempted to sort of short-circuit the will of God for His life and take the easy way out, which would have ruined any chance for all of us to be saved. Before Satan showed up, Jesus didn't eat food for a month and a half. He was alone in the wilderness for six weeks with no comfort, no friends and no nourishment. This is the moment the Devil showed up. Now, my whole life, I've felt sorry for Jesus in this instance because it seems like Satan is trying to kick Jesus while He's down, but that's not the whole picture. Your see, not only did Jesus win the fight, but the very first verse of the story tells us that Jesus was led out into the wilderness for this fight by the Holy Spirit and not by Satan. In other words, this battle was God's idea, not Satan's. The Lord provoked this altercation. He was picking this fight. He wasn't afraid to face Satan, He wanted to! I love Jesus because He's not afraid of anything and in fact, if there is a malevolent enemy out there who wants to take me out, Jesus wants to get in his face and take him out first.

29. He Died To End Racial Tensions

Ephesians 2:14

I heard recently that the the most recognizable face in the whole world is the face of Jesus. Now folks, that is about the weirdest thing ever, because no one in the world knows what Jesus looked like! I guess they mean that painting of Jesus where He’s basically a white dude with flowing, light brown hair and blue eyes. Hmm. The New Testament never gives even one physical description of Jesus, but we at least know He wasn’t white. He was Middle Eastern, born in Israel. We do know that He had at least six Africans in His genealogy. But there is something more strange than the white Jesus painting everyone knows and way more sad, and that is that there have been people who claim to love Jesus but hate people of other races. The racial tension and hatred that has existed within the church has been one of the greatest tragedies of the church’s history and is absolutely detestable to the tender heart of God. In Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul says that one of the reasons Jesus died on the cross was to remove the wall of hostility that exists between different races. I love Jesus because He loves everyone and He died so that everyone could stop hating and love one another.

28. He Keeps His Promises

Micah 5:2

When the very first humans walked away from God for the very first time, the world broke. It has never recovered from that initial act of rebellion, but even before the dust settled from the destructive convulsion of that sad treason, God promised that He would fix everything. He told Eve that she would have a Descendant who would overcome the snake, but where would He come from and who would He be? The entire human race have been the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, so who would the Rescuer be? Well, many years later God specified that out of all the people in the world, He would be one of the descendants of an old desert wanderer named Abraham. Abraham's grandson Jacob had 12 sons, but God said the Redeemer would come from Judah. Of all Judah's families, God promised David that his would be the line that would produce the One. Of all the places in the world, God said that this Hero would come out of Egypt and be raised in Nazareth, but that He would be born in a little village called Bethlehem. And on a quiet night in Bethlehem, when no one was paying attention, Jesus was born. I love Jesus because He has kept every promise God ever made to a broken, weary and needy world.

27. He Came On A Mission

Hebrews 10:5

When all three of my children were born, I remember having this feeling in the hospital that I wish I could talk with them. I remember rocking them in the middle the night, those brand new little eyes staring at mine so alertly and saying to them, "What a day you've had! I wish you could talk to me... I wonder what you're thinking about right now." One of my favorite Christmas verses in the Bible isn't even in the Gospels. It's in the book of Hebrews, where the author quotes Psalm 40. You see, thanks to the writer of Hebrews, we know exactly what was going through Jesus' mind when He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger and staring into the faces of Joseph and Mary on that first Christmas. I love Jesus because from the moment He came into this world, He was on a mission. Right there in the beginning of His life on earth, from the moment He started living in a body, His thoughts were, "God, you've given me a body and I'm here to use it to do Your will." Jesus was always on a mission to pay for us, to win us back, to give Himself. The word 'Christmas' means, "the mission of the Christ." The baby in Bethlehem was on a mission of love.

26. He Will Redeem Even Our Secrets

Revelation 2:17

Everyone has secrets. Everyone, even the most transparent and open person has things they are hiding. Everyone has old moments, thought patterns and destructive tendencies that we don't let anyone into. I bet most of the time we don't even acknowledge these ultra-dark sides of us to our own selves because we are trying to forget them and get away from them, but the truth is we can't. We can't change the past and we can't outrun our own dark hearts. I love Jesus because He is not only forgiving our sin; but somehow, in some feat of spiritual alchemy, He's not just going to sponge out our darkest stuff, He's actually going to turn it into something beautiful: an eternal heirloom of His transforming power. In Revelation 2, Jesus wrote a letter to the church in Pergamum where He says that in the end He will give to His overcomers a white stone with a new name, known only to the one who receives it. Wait... secrets in heaven? Yes. Jesus will give you a pure and unchanging new name that only you will know. It will be a little secret between you and Jesus, like an everlasting memorial of the way He buried your darkest stain and brought new beauty to life from the grave.