Good News

I love when the Holy Spirit reveals or awakens a new understanding of a verse that has been read hundreds of times. As I sit here on the day deemed "Good Friday" I am humbled when I think of how truly good the news of Jesus Christ is. As I went through my day today, I realized that even my indifference towards the cross of Jesus Christ and my inability to fully grasp the depth of love displayed that day points even more to how great this sacrifice really was. He died for me knowing that in my sinful flesh I would never be able to worship Him as He is worthy of. My flesh can't possibly contain the praise that this sacrifice demands and it certainly can't express that praise fully. So when I read verses such as the following, I am humbled even further that the God whose hands formed my very substance would die for someone who is incapable of bringing Him the praise due His name and who rebels against his holiness every single day.

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according

to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout

the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from

the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable

things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Chirst,

like that of a lamb without blemish.

1 peter 1:17-19 (ESV)

In the NIV translation, it reads, "live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." Here's the deal: because of what Jesus Christ has done, my brief life is to be lived in reverent fear. He rescued from the empty life that my forefathers lived. They lived their lives in fear of judgment and execution. Blood had to be shed for every sin they committed. And even though I look at their lives of doubt and worry and unfaithfulness to the Lord and think that their foolishness is too great for my understanding, I know that my heart is just as prone to sin as theirs apart from Jesus Christ. But now, I have hope through Jesus Christ because He has ransomed me from a life of emptiness and self-service and slavery to sin and given me a life of reckless abandonment and freedom to love and serve Jesus Christ, to know Him and be known by Him! And the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is complete and finished. The blood shed was shed by a lamb without any blemish or stain and it was shed for someone as shameful and dirty as a sinner like me!

Think of how complete the blood of a perfect Savior is. "For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:13-14) That's the most beautiful part: the blood shed not only forgives me of my sin and makes me right before the holy and perfect God, it enables me to live a life of service to Him! I am in a time of exile here on earth, I am a stranger. And yet I have been forgiven and redeemed by the Creator of the universe and can now live a life of service to Him. The forgiveness of sins is not the end. Jesus Christ came to die to forgive me of my sins as a means to me being able to live a life of service to Him which points to the end of God being glorified! I have been enabled to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ because of what He has done. I am no longer a slave to sin, but I can live for and worship my Savior and serve the living God! That is good news!