My Thoughts + Organization =

God’s Signature

Ever think of God’s mercy as sort of a business deal? I know some of us are kind of uneasy thinking about it this way, but let’s be honest with ourselves. Jesus talked about money more than any other subject in the bible…even more than love. He knew that we understood how money works, and that it’s central to our lives which is kind of sad if you think about it. Anyways, it’s actually great imagery! Picture this…you’ve gone through your life paying for things left and right with your credit card. You’ve just bought this beautiful home and a new car, and then you receive the monthly bill. The amount of zeros on your bill breaks wide open your eyes. After years of spending, you’ve realized that you will be paying off your debt until you claim bankruptcy or die. But what if someone came along and took not only your monthly bill, but your full mortgage, the car bill, and every other existing debt you owed and paid it in its entirety. All of your debts paid off! Financial freedom! This is how God refers to salvation. It’s like a debt. Sin is the debt, and only he can ‘pay off’ or forgive us of our sins! In Isaiah, there is a poem that depicts this quite beautifully.

Isaiah 40:1-2 “Comfort, comfort my people, says our God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” What a story of God’s mercy! But you’re reading it and, like most people, are thinking, ‘how is this a story of God’s mercy if He’s giving to Jerusalem a double dose for their sins?’ In reading it at face value, it seems this is showing God’s anger rather than His mercy, but this is not the case when you look deeper into the passage. During this time period, people had to deal with debt as well. In this era, when someone had debts to pay back, a government official would come by and post a person’s debt on their front door to let them know. This was also a means for public humiliation, because everyone who walked by the house could see that this person didn’t pay off their debts. BUT if someone had mercy on this person, they could walk up to their door, take the paper with the person’s debts written on it, fold it, or double it over, and sign their own name on it. This would signify that they are paying off this person’s debts! When this passage speaks of receiving double for all her sins, this scenario is what Isaiah was referring to. She’s not receiving double the punishment. She’s receiving that her paper with the debts on it, in other words her sinful actions, is being doubled over and completely paid off!

So the next time you feel as though you’ve done too much wrong, or feel as though you’ve messed up too much in this life for God to ever forgive you, remember “You are not your own. You were bought at a price!” 1 Corinthians 6:20 No matter what you have done, are doing, or will do, God loved you enough to give his only son to die on a cross. He paid that price at calvary for you! He gave his only son that He might gain you. So don’t ever think that you are out of the reach of God’s mercy, because it is forever extending. All He wants you to do is accept that. After all, He took yours’ and everyone else’s sins, folded them over, and signed His name on the front so that we would not have to bare them anymore.

Touching the Tassels

When people read or hear about the woman with the issue of blood, they think about it as a story of faith on the woman’s side or a story of Jesus’ incredible mercy and love, but the central theme of this story is one of salvation! This is a story that starts over 400 years before Jesus even came to walk the earth. It begins with Malachi 4:2 “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings;” The sun of righteousness with healing in its wings refers to the Messiah who is to come. Matthew 9:20 “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’”

She pushed through the crowds just to do what?! Touch the edge of his cloak! Why? And how did she know that touching the edge of this man’s cloak would heal her? Some question whether she knew that touching this man’s cloak would heal her or not, but she did know! This woman knew that this man was the Messiah! It links back to Malachi 4:2 which says that there will be healing in the Messiah’s wings. Rabbis often wore cloaks wherever they went, and they, including Jesus, probably had tassels at the corner of their cloak. This was a jewish practice deriving from Numbers 15:38-39 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments…it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all of the commandments of the LORD.” In later Jewish history, these tassels were incorporated at the corners of jewish prayer shawls. In this passage in Malachi, it stated that there would be healing in his wings, the Hebrew word for ‘wings’ can also be used to identify the tassels at the corners of robes that the jewish men wore.

This woman said, “If I could only touch his cloak…” If I could only touch the edge of his cloak… If I could only touch the tassels at the edge of his cloak… If I could only touch his wings…then I will be healed. What was this woman actually saying? By pushing her way through the crowd and falling down to touch the tassels at the edge of this man’s cloak, she was proclaiming that this was the man we were taught about in Jewish law. This was the man that was talked about in Malachi 4:2 who would rise up as the sun of righteousness and there would be healing in his wings! She was essentially saying, I believe that this is the Messiah!

Do our actions say that Jesus is the Messiah? Think about it. First, the woman is proclaiming that if she just touches the edge of this man’s cloak, she will be healed. But it doesn’t stop there! She actually does it! Her actions back up her words. She pushes her way through the crowd and lets nothing stop her. She finally falls at Jesus’ cloak and touches the edge of it. How many times have we claimed with our mouths that Jesus is LORD and yet have not followed through with our actions? Matthew 7:22 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who DOES the will of my father who is in heaven.” Our salvation is not found in mere words, but it is found in our actions and doing the will of our Father.

Filthy Rags

How do we respond to conviction? It sounds like a simple question that we learn the answer to in sunday school, but think about it for a minute. If we are honest with ourselves, we’ve all messed up a good deal and we still do. But what now? I don’t know about you, but for the longest time when I messed up, I would beg and plead God for His forgiveness and then get out my Bible that day and read a lot more than usual. Or I would try and do something like help a friend out or give extra in the offering, and this would satisfy my heart…but did it satisfy God’s? Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with these things, but in response to my conviction, It was wrong.

Isaiah 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” This is some pretty intense imagery! The term ‘filthy rags’ directly translates to used menstrual cloth, or in other words, used tampons. This is so eye opening! This is saying that our RIGHTEOUS acts are like filthy rags. Not even the bad things that we do, but the good things that we do are like that of used tampons. When we mess up, how many times do we try to balance the bad out with the good. What we are essentially doing is throwing used tampons at God. We feel convicted, and we are not satisfied in knowing that all we have to do is ask and God will forgive us and make us whiter than snow. And this might even step on some religious toes, but at the end of the day, God doesn’t care what you did today worth Christ dying for. Don’t get me wrong, the natural effect of being in love with God eventually shows through our actions. But while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8. We didn’t have to do anything to bring worth to Christ’s death. We could never do that. The bottom line is, is that He did it because He loves us. All He wants is for us to come before Him with a genuine heart to love Him back, because at the end of the day, He just wants us to be with Him.

This song speaks beautifully about God just wanting us to be with Him. Take some time to listen, and just allow God to minister to your heart through it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-vjd6LJFi0

Dear Future Wife,

Hello, I’m not sure if we know each other yet, but someday we will. Wherever you are, whether I know you already or not, or maybe you could be reading this even now, I just wanted to let you know a few things. I thank God that He has kept me pure in waiting for you as I pray He does the same for you. But even if you mess up, know that it’s O.K. If no one has ever told you that, then just hear it again. It’s O.K. God is ever forgiving. Run to him and he will purify you no matter what you’ve done and no matter how many times you’ve messed up or will mess up. But know that you will be my one and only love. I pray for you every day of my life. Whatever it is you went through, are going through, and will go through, know that I am constantly praying for you. Know that God has you in the palm of His hand. Know that no matter what happens, God is still God, and God is still good. He is forming you into the woman of God He has called you to be. And when you look in the mirror and think that you aren’t good enough, know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by the creator of the universe who makes no mistakes and does not mess up. Know that you are beautiful. When you feel a sudden urge to not eat when you should because you think you could be skinnier, know that even if you did lose five pounds, you were still beautiful five pounds ago. Stop listening to whatever people are telling you. Stop looking at those magazines and T.V. commercials that think they can set the standard for what is and what isn’t beautiful. I can’t wait to look you in the eyes and let you know how incredibly beautiful you are inside and out. I also pray for your family as well! I pray that God keeps you and your family safe. I pray for your entire family’s salvation if not already. I pray that they would be a loving and caring family who will accept me for who I am. Know that I pray for myself as well as part of this. I pray that God would be forming me into a man after His own heart. I pray that He forms me into a man of integrity. I pray that He forms me into a man of God worth following to a woman of God worth leading. I will be there for you to lean on when you’re not strong enough to stand alone, but know that you won’t have to. I will be the man of God that you need me to be in your life. I can’t wait to walk down that aisle, gaze into your eyes and say, “I do.” And there will be days where we will struggle and feel emotional pain, but know that I will love you the whole way through it. We will get through it together, because God will be the very foundation that holds us together. And know that when we eventually do enter a relationship together, I will never stop pursuing you! I will win your heart but also help you to guard it as well. I will pursue you every day of my life and even every day afterwe are married until the day that I die.

Sincerely,

Yours and Yours Alone