Psst! It's a Secret!

It may not be a big surprise to any of us that Jesus of Nazareth was a little different than expected for his day. He spoke in mysterious ways -- even for a rabbi! -- and said a lot of challenging things, like "he who saves his life shall lose it." It was enough to make some wonder about his sanity (see Mark 3:20-21). So here was Jesus, preaching and healing people, doing wonderful things that made people think he might be the Messiah that the whole nation wished would show up. When he asks

Walking with Jesus

That Sunday afternoon, two of Jesus' disciples were walking away from Jerusalem. They had been sure Jesus was the prophet who would restore Israel to greatness, but now that he had died, they were totally discouraged. Numb with the shock of having their hopes taken away so violently, they could only walk home slowly, still in anguish. Suddenly a stranger appeared, perhaps coming up from behind, and overhearing their conversation. "What's

Jesus Is our One True...

In life we sometimes believe a false idea that looks simple and convenient. The urban legends cataloged at various websites such as snopes.com feed on peoples' mistaken ideas about celebrities, politicians and fads. But what if you could

The Leader Who Served

Jesus did something the night before his crucifixion that wrecked the disciples. He had told them over and over about serving others, and had served many, many times in their three years together, but they still didn't get it. One last time, he showed them what love is, and

Why are you here?

Last week at summer camp, seprockies.org, one of my friends got to reflecting on life's purpose. I encouraged him to think what he wanted on his gravestone, because that's the last word we get.

How about you? What is your purpose in life? Do you know what God says about it? I find my purpose summarized in 2 Cor. 5:15 -- "He [Jesus Christ] died for all, so that those who live would not live to please themselves. But they should live to please him who gave his life for them and rose again from death." This is part of the Great Reversal talked about many times in scripture: that in Jesus, God has both offered and accepted a perfect human life to replace my sinful (even with the best of intentions) humanity. In Jesus, I have (in effect) died, so I don't have the death penalty for my sins hanging over me: "We are certain that if one person died for everyone else, then all of us have died" (2 Cor 5:14) In Jesus, God has offered me eternal life, so instead of just a temporary reality ending in death, I get to live with him forever in the ultimate reality of his presence.

So, what do I do in the meantime? God answers me through Paul, in that same chapter 5, verses 18 to 20: "And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!' "

My job is to speak on behalf of Jesus Christ in saying "Come back to the Father of all things and live with him forever." My calling is to show how God has taken care of the debt caused by our sin and fallenness by his Son, Jesus Christ, and that he welcomes all people into his eternal home. My joy is to talk about the unbelieveable-yet-true love God has offered us, and to show that love to everyone I meet, regardless how unloveable they are, because that is the same love God has shown to me.

Well, it's not just me. Every Christian gets this privilege. Every one of us gets to show and to tell somebody else about this outrageous offer God has made us. Who do you know that needs to hear about this news? How might you tell them about it? Would you use a story, or a song, or a picture, or modeling clay, or what? And if you're worried about whether it will work, are you willing to give it a shot anyway, and let God work out the results? He's really good at that -- after all, it worked for you!

What will your gravestone say? For that matter, what does your Facebook say right now? Or your face? No sense waiting until it's all over to say it...