More than 2,000 years ago, God made himself human by sending his Son to this earth to die on a cross. Not just to die though, but to die and then resurrect 3 days later. So what does that mean for my life? For your life? For the lives of those here in Bolivia? Does it really change anything?
This week I met a 15 year old girl at the local high school in town who asked me these same questions.
Why does it matter, and why should I care?
She told me that sometimes she thinks about God, and about her life. She thinks about how she wants her life to change, and wonders if choosing to follow Jesus might be the answer.
Our team invited her over for dinner a couple of nights ago. We ate and talked and laughed and cried… Jesus showed up that night and reminded each one of us that when he died on the cross, it was more than just a sacrifice. It was an exchange.
When we make the decision to receive Christ and live for him, we are agreeing to make an exchange.
So what are we trading in this beautiful exchange?
We are agreeing to give up…
Our sin for his salvation
Our chains for his freedom
Our lives for him to live in and through us
Our pain for his joy
Our unworthiness for his holiness
Our past for his redemption
Our worries for his sovereignty
Our weaknesses for his strength
Our inability for his power and authority
Our uncertainties for his steadfastness
Our unfaithfulness for his great faithfulness
Our suffering for his comfort
Our exhaustion for his rest and renewal
Our dreams and desires for hisplans and purposes
Our darkness for his light
Our failures for his forgiveness
Our insecurities for his truth
Our sickness for his healing
Our story for his
Our heart for his own
Are we willing to give up the old, so that he can bless us with the new?
Are we willing to give up who we think we are, so that he can show us who we were created to be?
It is not an easy decision. In fact, it is the most important decision you will ever make.
Why?
Because knowing Jesus changes everything.
When you choose Jesus, your life is no longer about you.
It is about him, and about who HE says you are. And he says you are pretty stinkin incredible.
His Word says that you are beautiful (Song of Songs 4:7), that he has engraved you on the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49:15-16), that he delights in you and rejoices over you with singing (Zeph. 3:17), that you are worth dying for (John 3:16-17), that you are made in his image (Gen. 1:26-27), that you arefearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14), that you are his child and his heir (Gal. 4:6-7, 1 John 3:1), that you are deeply and unconditionally loved (Jer. 31:3-4, Romans 8:37-39, 1 John 4:9-10), that he has great plans for you (Jer. 29:11-13), that you are his and that he has redeemed you and called you by name (Psalm 100:3, Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 44:22), and that you are precious and honored in his sight (Isaiah 43:4).
God has given each one of us an open invitation to participate in this beautiful exchange. To give up the way we see ourselves, our past, our dreams, our failures, and our struggles… in order to be filled with something greater; with truth, with love, with joy, with purpose, with value and with strength.
The gift of salvation, redemption, and new life in Christ is like a gift sitting on a table in the middle of an open, deserted room. No one but you can enter the room and receive the gift. But upon receiving it, your life will change forever.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself in Christ. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” –2 Corinthians 5:17-18, 21
