HUNGRY HEART

My scapegoat

I had a fairly fraught conversation with two men at my front door the other day. They had come to tell me about Jehova. They told me that they did not believe that Jesus is God but rather “God like”. These two men could not, or rather did not want to, grasp that Jesus Christ was God in human form but instead wanted to tell me about his role as God’s sidekick. They did not irritate me or anger me, but rather left me feeling truly and deeply upset.

Jesus Christ came to this earth as God in human form so that he may take all our sin, anguish, and hurt away from us and let us enter into the most wonderful and awesome (in all truest senses of the word) relationship with God, our Father. This should make us more joyful than you every thought was humanly possible! 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

Jesus is our scapegoat: He took our sins upon himself and left the camp, separating us from our sins and removing the shame that separated us from God. Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, was not a suburb of Jerusalem, but an execution venue outside the city wall. Jesus was killed outside the city walls, outside the camp, to demonstrate that he was the way in which our sins were not just cleansed but also removed from us. As he walked out of the city that his power had founded, and of which he was the true king, carrying a cross and with his back ripped to shreds, he carried the shame of everything you and I have ever done. He carried it out of the camp, into the wilderness, onto the cross, never to be seen again. The ultimate scapegoat.

The past has been dealt with. The terrible consequences of sin, guilt and shame, have been overcome. The effects of sin on both man and God have been atoned for, forgiven to the uttermost. If that doesn’t give you reason to tear up your drab suit and jump for joy, I don’t know what will!!! 

Identity

My thoughts recently have been dominated hugely by identity. By how we allow ourselves to be viewed and ultimately shaped by the words that others speak over us. I know that I am hugely guilty of allowing my own view of myself to be shaped by how I think people view me, how I wish people viewed me, and what people say to me or about me. This however, is not how we should see our identity. The only person’s view of ourselves that we should be concerned with is God.

Exodus 12:12-13 reads, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am Yaweh. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Passports, PIN numbers, and club cards are all symbols of memberships that allow you certain privileges, and they allow you these privileges regardless of your suitability or behaviour. Cash machines give me cash because of my PIN, not my ability to handle money. It doesn’t matter whether I am good, or clever, or deserving – the only question is whether I have the symbol of membership. If I do, no matter how stupid or thoughtless I am, I get all the privileges of belonging. In the story of the Passover, the blood on the doorpost was the symbol of membership, and it made all the difference.

This is grace. It is how God works. So when we look at Jesus, our Passover Lamb who was sacrificed (1 Cor. 5:7), we see the same principle in operation. We see that our rescue from the slavery of sin is not based on our performance but on his sacrifice. We see that through faith in his blood, rather than through our efforts, we are not destroyed. We see that when the Father looks at our lives, he justifies us on the basis of Jesus’ obedience and law-keeping and zeal for God, not on ours. The only factor, the only factor, that he takes into consideration is whether or not we have cried out for the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus, to save us.

It makes all the difference. 

Easter

People say that you only can know the true value of something by what someone is willing to pay for it. God sent his only Son to die for us on a cross to pay for our sins and set us free by grace, showing just how much he values and loves us. That is MASSIVE!  

Home

I think I might actually explode I want to make a home so much! Help needed… ideas on a postcard. 

God’s Mission

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke 24:45-47

God has a mission. It’s the biggest mission there is: to fill the earth with his glory by covering it with people who bear his image.