News Flash: It's not about YOU

During the Good Friday service everything clicked. My pastor kept bringing up everything Christ had to endure on our behalf in order for us to be reconciled. He talked about how he had to come to this earth and go through all the pains of being a human all while being fully God and fully perfect.

---

I started thinking that I could not imagine deliberately putting myself into pain and knowing in the end of the whole journey I would be brutally executed and betrayed by my friends. Then it hit me. It's not about me. I would never do what Jesus did. Why would I go and eat with the worst known people around? Why would I go and sit with the women who were looked down upon by all of society? Why would I, the God of the universe, die for these humans who, for all of history, cannot get it together for more than about 2 seconds? Why would I die for all of humanity who brutally beat and betrayed me and will forever curse my name? I wouldn't, but Jesus did. Jesus ate with those who were lowest of the low, he praised the strength of women who were seen as property, he died BECAUSE we always fall short of the glory of God. He died BECAUSE we cannot keep it together for more than two seconds. He died BECAUSE we never would. From the beginning of time God knew we never would. He knew. That's why Jesus did. It is not about me and my little struggles. It's about Him. HE DIED because I never would. He came to this lowly earth and loved us even when he knew we would betray Him because it was the only way.

---

So after I thought about all of this I realized I had forgotten all about HIM. I had forgotten how great a sacrifice I would never make He made. I had started making my faith about me and where God was taking me and what he was doing for me and with me. I had forgotten the beauty, but agony of the sacrifice Jesus made. I had forgotten how much I loved Christ for what he did. I was living in a altered view of God. I started trying to fit him into what I needed or wanted. I only prayed when something went really well or really bad. I sang every song because I thought things were going great in my little altered world. I had forgotten the cross. I had forgotten why I was even believing in the living God. I had forgotten the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made. 

I realized I was making God shape around my world not my world around Him. I said I was doing something because of God, but really I had some personal gain or status I was gaining too. I did things because they were deemed good, but dabbled in the bad. I would say "God will forgive" even as I did them. I was living a double life. One part of me deep down still knew what was good and I can attribute that to the Holy Spirit trying to pull me back. But the other part which, I now see as the flesh still of the world, was pulling me away. Thank God that I am a rule follower by nature or else things could have gone crazy. 

What I learned is God invites us to work with Him to advance His kingdom. He doesn't need us, but he wants us to be a part of this beautiful journey and family. But we have to give up our own kingdoms. I was trying to build an empire who dabbled in God and the world just enough to look good to both sides. The truth is though, God doesn't care what you look like. I mean look through the Bible, he uses anyone and everyone from any and every background. The common denominator is they all gave up their own kingdom to help build God's. 

I really like the picture of family. I have always loved the image of being a Child of God. So in that sense God's family needs more members and we need to be a part of the business. I don't want to be that wayward kid who runs away and ruins the expansion of the business. I want to be the kid who goes all in and hopes to help bring as many people in this family as possible. I want to continue my family's business. I want to make my father proud. 

Now all this to say who cares what you've done. Honestly. We are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God. Yeah we have all done things every day of our lives that are pretty nasty. But we have no reason to live in a pity party forever about something we did when we were 4. No, Jesus died so that we are no longer bound to those things and we can live freely. He can freely live and though we make mistakes along the way we don't have to feel tied down to those things. I think a lie the devil often tried to tell us is we have done too much wrong to be used by God. Oh no that is not the truth at all. Again just look at the Bible. Those people are straight jacked up. But isn't that what's beautiful?

We all are messes who are redeemed by the good grace of God, welcoming those same type of messed up people into the family. 

Now we must surrender our past selves to Jesus and pick up our stuff we have endured and carry it as a story to tell those we encounter. We are able to show those around us that we were once a messed up creature just like they are, now we are just a messed up creature who is now in the family of God. It's beautiful. Those things that we did or endured are not who we are anymore. Now it's not our identity, now our identity is Christ. Now it is not about us. It is not about who we have been before or what we thought we were. Now we are Children of the Living God.

But it isn't about us anymore. Sure some of you may have a crazy redemption story that gets made into a movie. God made your story that way for a reason. You didn’t choose how you were sabed it just happened. God pursued you. You did nothing to find him. He found you. Can we stop glorifying the person for their seemingly “heroic” act of getting saved and look about the beauty that in the midst of such mess God pursued them? Many I know, myself included, were saved in a church at a young age and we didn’t do anything to be saved that young. God pursued us. God has a time and a reason for each and everyone of us, but ITS NOT ABOUT US! All of us ultimately got there the same way. We were all broken and needed a Savior. When we least expected it Jesus showed the way. Not to minimize God's power and work to get you there because that has an amazing time and place. I think our Christianese culture just glorifies the story and not the Savior and we miss the point. We see so much beauty in the crazy mess that the person had before Christ we forget about... well... Christ. It's not about all that you did because you did NOTHING. The story, it's about Christ dying on that cross. How he died in our place when we we did nothing to deserve the great love Jesus lavished upon us. We were once a mess, now we are free. We have nothing to show for. We have nothing to hide. Jesus changed us. Jesus set us free. All we have done is received his gift. So go out telling that first. Jesus saved me when I did nothing to make Him want me. Then get into the details but remember it’s not about you. 

That's our story. We did nothing and yet Jesus did everything.