Jesus is Greater
So today I was doing a little reflecting and looking through past journal entries and came across the one below. It encouraged me this morning as I was confessing sin and preparing myself for a weekend of discipling high school girls at my church. I hope it encourages some of you as well. Jesus is so much greater and more powerful than our sin, and His truth sets us free:
8/18/11
June 27, 2011. Jake Fowler, my first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first love, my husband, died.
June 27, 2011. Jake Fowler, my first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first love, my husband, died.
Today, I am single. I am alone.
These statements are hard to swallow, and sometimes I say them to myself in order to avoid “denial,” but in reality, each of them is only a half-truth, if such a thing exists. For Jake did not die but lives on in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And today I remain a bride, betrothed to Christ, awaiting and preparing for the day when my Bridegroom will return for me. And I AM NOT ALONE, for the LORD, the I AM, is constant; He is with me always. Of these complete truths I am more convinced than ever, more convinced than I was even on my wedding day when the picture was so clear. The reality is so much clearer now that the picture has been ripped away and I have only the reality to look to. I am thankful for this clarity, despite what it took to bring it about. That is not to say that I don’t still experience pain and hurt over what I have lost. But praise God, I can look at that loss through the eyes of Christ, through the mind of Christ. “But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Cor. 2:16. I have found in these days that the battle of the mind is the battle I have had to fight most diligently and fervently. I fight for complete truth in my thoughts. I war against the half-truths that people sometimes share to comfort us, for although those words may bring momentary comfort, only the truth will set me free. Only THE Truth, Jesus, the Word become flesh, will bring me healing. I do not want to fill my mind with things that would allow me to justify my sin. Hurt and pain and broken-heartedness is no excuse to sin before the LORD, and no sin against Almighty God is excusable.
But praise God for His unspeakable gift! Though I am unworthy, though I sin, I am justified before Him because of the precious blood sacrifice of Jesus. How can we think our sin so trivial when we look at the cross, when the LORD of All crushed He who was from the beginning in payment for it? Sin is a big deal. It demanded a great payment. Jesus was delivered a heavy blow because of it, because of OUR sin, not any of His own, for He had none. Yet, after taking on the full extent of God’s wrath He rose again in power. He, being Lord and Christ, is the only one who could have borne God’s wrath and not been forever obliterated. Don’t think the cross bearable because Jesus overcame it, for anyone else it would have been unbearable. Don’t think God’s wrath not terrifying because Jesus bore it and now lives again, anyone else who would bear the full wrath of God faces not eternal life but death... Think Jesus great! Only He could bear the shame of the cross, become sin, endure God’s wrath, and yet live on. Think Jesus great! He lives on because He is God! He did what no other could possibly do! You cannot justify yourself before God, and NO sin is justifiable before Him. Our works are not good enough, yet we can be justified by Christ’s work : His death and resurrection. Praise GOD for truth. May I ever preach it to myself daily.
These statements are hard to swallow, and sometimes I say them to myself in order to avoid “denial,” but in reality, each of them is only a half-truth, if such a thing exists. For Jake did not die but lives on in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And today I remain a bride, betrothed to Christ, awaiting and preparing for the day when my Bridegroom will return for me. And I AM NOT ALONE, for the LORD, the I AM, is constant; He is with me always. Of these complete truths I am more convinced than ever, more convinced than I was even on my wedding day when the picture was so clear. The reality is so much clearer now that the picture has been ripped away and I have only the reality to look to. I am thankful for this clarity, despite what it took to bring it about. That is not to say that I don’t still experience pain and hurt over what I have lost. But praise God, I can look at that loss through the eyes of Christ, through the mind of Christ. “But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Cor. 2:16. I have found in these days that the battle of the mind is the battle I have had to fight most diligently and fervently. I fight for complete truth in my thoughts. I war against the half-truths that people sometimes share to comfort us, for although those words may bring momentary comfort, only the truth will set me free. Only THE Truth, Jesus, the Word become flesh, will bring me healing. I do not want to fill my mind with things that would allow me to justify my sin. Hurt and pain and broken-heartedness is no excuse to sin before the LORD, and no sin against Almighty God is excusable.
But praise God for His unspeakable gift! Though I am unworthy, though I sin, I am justified before Him because of the precious blood sacrifice of Jesus. How can we think our sin so trivial when we look at the cross, when the LORD of All crushed He who was from the beginning in payment for it? Sin is a big deal. It demanded a great payment. Jesus was delivered a heavy blow because of it, because of OUR sin, not any of His own, for He had none. Yet, after taking on the full extent of God’s wrath He rose again in power. He, being Lord and Christ, is the only one who could have borne God’s wrath and not been forever obliterated. Don’t think the cross bearable because Jesus overcame it, for anyone else it would have been unbearable. Don’t think God’s wrath not terrifying because Jesus bore it and now lives again, anyone else who would bear the full wrath of God faces not eternal life but death... Think Jesus great! Only He could bear the shame of the cross, become sin, endure God’s wrath, and yet live on. Think Jesus great! He lives on because He is God! He did what no other could possibly do! You cannot justify yourself before God, and NO sin is justifiable before Him. Our works are not good enough, yet we can be justified by Christ’s work : His death and resurrection. Praise GOD for truth. May I ever preach it to myself daily.
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