This One Is Mine

"So then remember at one time you were called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised," done by hand in the flesh. At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the chosen of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world...." -Ephesians 2:11-12

This chapter has become just as imprinted upon me as 2 Cor. 5:17 (what I claim as my 'life verse' alongside many who now are "made new in Christ.")  Ephesians 2 has become something I can so deeply resonate with. It is something the Spirit has opened my eyes to over and over and over again.

The other day I was sitting down with my roommate and showing her one of my many scrapbooks. Full of oddly cut pictures glued to the cardboard from cereal boxes, covered with inside jokes, song lyrics, sermons notes, and random memorabilia. She marveled at the collection and made the most profound statement. She said, "No one who knows you could ever make something like this. This is so special, so you. It shows everything that was going on around you, everything from your point of view... "

'Everything going on around me' struck a chord. I was left pondering that; how profound that seemed. It wasn't necessarily showing who I was, but what I was about-from school, to family, from youth group, to numerous youth group trips. It showed smiles, laughs, trips, and camps. It showed pictures of me, but that picture is only complete if you know me now and how those images shaped me. Those photos didn't show you what was going on in the inside. It only showed part of the story. A glimpse of a person never brings justice. 

I've been learning in my Spiritual Formation Class at Talbot Seminary taught this semester by Kyle Strobel that "we are always mirroring something/someone. That it's impossible to self-define because we can only know our true selves in Christ since that is where we are hidden. The 'observed I' or who I think I am, is really only ever the 'observing I.' This meaning ,what others are observing, I let define me and have been doing so since birth. We do this naturally and unknowingly. We were in a way made purposely with this mirroring dynamic since we were made to reflect only ever Christ in me. To really know me, I must know Him; to really know Him, I must know the I."
(You can message me if you want more explanation.)

Thus, the question returns to who was I and who am I?

This is why I love Ephesians 2. This is where or answers lay.

We can put the verse into a paraphrase as such:

"Christian-don't forget where you come from or from where you began. How before you were once called 'unholy and outsiders' by those who are holy and on the inside. You were without the Chosen One (Jesus), you were not part of the family, the eternal bond of their company and God's. You once had no hope, you felt alone because you hadn't known or acknowledged your Maker..."

Being born into this world I reflected this world. Broken and lost. I once was unholy, excluded, and without hope. What I mirrored I also became.

Like a photo revealing the years, there can come a change-

"But now in Christ Jesus, you were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down there dividing wall of hostility."-Ephesians 2:13-14

There were and are many things that could be my mirror, but only one will show the depths of who I am truly. That mirror comes through scripture and that face is Jesus.

An old pastor of mine once claimed "There's no greater conjunction in the Bible than the word "but.""-Mark Luepke. "But now in Jesus you are now all one. By what He has done for you-by His sacrifice of Himself, He has united you. He is your comfort, our hope, our future, our love, our portion; there's no more division between His people & you. There is only 'we' now." (my paraphrase) 

To all believers of Christ Jesus there is only we now.

As the previous verses of Ephesians points out, this was none of our doing. If we were left on our own we would be continuing to reflect only what was going on around us. BUT now with Christ's Spirit inside us we can reflect Truth. Truth was we were sinners deserving of God's wrath (2:3). But Truth now is God's kindness didn't give us what we deserved, instead His gift of grace has made us masterpieces! (2:4-10).

How beautiful!

Can you imagine if God designed a scrapbook of your life? How would it reveal the "observed I /the real you"?

I think the scrapbook of my soul would have this song's lyrics written over it's cover. What about your's?

"Father God,

I thank you for who you are!

You are rich in kindness,

in goodness,

and in grace! 

There is no one like you

and without you I am nothing.

Forgive me Lord

 for the times I have let other things

define me,

when I have let others take your place in my heart.

Thank you for you son Jesus who did what I could not

and that was making things right with you

 and within myself.

Thank you for uniting me with you Holy Trinity

and with other believers.

You are my Hope.

Holy Spirit, help me reflect that peace today.

In Jesus name, Amen."

Some of You Need to Hear This

For those who need to hear this:

Devotional for today Matthew 9:18-26

We read about a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years. She sneaks in-between the crowd to touch the hem/edge of Jesus' garment. She does this because she believes that even if she touches Him, even in the most smallest way, she will be healed. But the other reason she does this is to be undetected. You see in that culture a woman's menstrual made her "unclean" and in fact she was suppose to separated from the town's people until she was "clean" again. This is a law we read in the Old Testament's book of Leviticus 15. Never should an unclean thing touch or even be near a clean thing, but she wanted to be healed. She wanted to go unnoticed as to not cause a scene. She had faith Christ could heal her, but she didn't  know how much He would love her.

We read however that Jesus feels the power leave from within Him and He addresses her-which was probably the one thing she didn't want from Him. For by the law if something unclean intentional or unintentionally touched a clean thing on the low end the spectrum both items were unclean and had to go through a ritual to be re-cleansed or on the high end of the spectrum the unclean thing would be put to death.

But note Jesus doesn't say anything about the law. Jesus doesn't condemn her. He is the only "clean"  thing that can never be contaminated. He calls her daughter. He declares her forgiven.

***
A lot of you don't go to church because you're afraid God's going to send a lightening bolt down on you once you walk in or that the building is going to catch on fire. You think these outrageous thoughts because, "How could God love and accept someone like me?" You recognize the enormous holiness of which you are entering. You acknowledge the fact that God is so much more deserving of anything we could ever offer and yet how could we ever be clean enough to enter His presence?

We read just previous to this woman being healed that Jesus was eating at a houseful of "tax collectors and sinners." The religious people scuffed at Him, but He responded: "It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick." Verse 12

For sinners like me, I want to tell you that God came for people exactly like you.

Jesus is not ashamed of you.

In fact He calls you out of your hiding, calls you out from the crowd, out from the places that are dark, lonesome, and seemed to have been forgotten.

He calls you and names you:
daughter, brother, mother, friend...

There is no condemnation in Jesus.

And His holy place is not contained in four walls, but with His people. People like you and me-the sinners, whom by His sanctification makes into saints.

Everyday you awaken you're given God's grace and are within His presence: for He is everywhere. On the hilltop He can meet you, in the valley He can meet you, in the jail cell He can meet you, and the bathrooms He can meet you, in your bedroom He can meet you, on the street He can meet you, in churches, in buses, in camps, in high-rises, and in shacks, in mud huts, in concerts, in seminaries, in all places you can meet find Him. (Psalm 139, Jeremiah 29:13)

The next thing I want to say is this-
there are those who are coming to Jesus, but oh so tentatively. You believe in His goodness, His mercy, His forgiveness, but you're also keeping an arms length away because you're afraid of what He might do to you if you give Him more than just your immediate need.

Is that true of you today?

Are you afraid of experiencing all of who God is because you're afraid He will be angry at the dark parts of your heart? Are you afraid that coming to Him fully because of what He might ask you to do next?

Later in the gospels we read that little children are coming to hang out with Jesus. The disciples though try to shew them away. Jesus stops the disciples and says, "Let the children come to me, because the kingdom is made of people like this." (Matthew 19:13-15)

Children are so free spirited and sometimes crazy; yet, here is Jesus welcoming even them with opened arms.

Come like a child, let Him heal and pray over you for He is gentle at heart and kind in spirit (Matthew 11:25-30). Like the prophet Isaiah said, "let all who are thirsty come." (Isaiah 55)

Be bold like the woman and I encourage you to keep coming to Jesus!

Yet do know at some point He is going to address you. Do not fear, little one, because the parts you were trying to hide He already knows & sees yet still calls you to be with Him (John 4: 1-26).

Note the woman in our story of Matthew 9 wasn't fully healed, at least spiritually healed, until Jesus SPOKE to her. Don't just take your physical body to God, take all of who you are. Let the Living Water speak to you.

What will He say?

I have no doubt it'll be like the psalmist has said in Psalm 119:97-104

"Father God,

You are my healer. You see and know me. I praise your holy name. I thank you for being the one I can always come to. I thank you that I'm able to because of what Jesus has done for me. Lord, forgive me and make me clean. Thank you for dwelling with me and loving me. Holy Spirit, speak for your servant is listening.

In Jesus' name, let it be so."