Jesus is a punk! Yep, I said it. I said that Jesus is a punk and I mean that in the most affectionate of ways. His is a story of redemption and love, but one filled with him being a little bit of a punk.
The word punk can be defined as a lot of things, but I mean it in the manner that he was a stirrer up of trouble. In His time on this earth Jesus roused up a lot of un-comfortableness for people. He would come into their homes and villages showing them what it meant to be better; reminding them of how they’d fallen, demonstrating to them to love each other and calling them higher in His name. It was an environment that the people weren’t used to and one that left them either uncomfortable in said state or renewed through Jesus in His love.
Since I have left for the World Race the Lord has stirred a lot in my soul. He is rearranging my pieces; fitting me better into his image. There have been intimate moments with the Lord where he has reminded me of how far away from him I was and how close I am to him now. He was a punk when he roamed this earth and he remains one even in his physical absence. Let me give a few examples of his disruptions of my being.
- God revealed to me anger I had for a certain little sister of mine because of her life decisions and for her attitude towards change. Not only did he reveal to me that there was anger he walked me through forgiveness and letting go of the pain that it caused.
- God has taught me that I walk in grace and compassion.
- He is teaching me how to better communicate; with an equal amount of truth and love in my communication.
- He showed me that I could love a complete stranger because he loves them through me and he loves me, even when I am like stranger to them.
- He has broken my chains of shame for decisions in my life that I knew weren’t pleasing to him. The guilt associated with these decisions was something I carried daily and he took it from me in Thailand. He has allowed me to walk in forgiveness for myself and to walk in his love for me ever since.
- He is teaching me that I have gifts he has given me; powerful fruits of the Spirit that I can use to bring glory to him and what those look like.
- His voice is something that I am learning to hear and the more confident I am in the sound of it and how he best communicates with me the more I yearn to hear it.
- I am learning that to depend on the Lord is the ultimate lesson of intimacy with him. He wants me and is constantly encouraging me to lock eyes with him and walk in dependence, for he is my ultimate everything. He gives me the words I need when I listen to him, he shows me what he sees when I look, he guides my decisions when I wait on him and he flows through me when I am focused on him.
- He is teaching me that I need to be less “reactive” in my daily walk with him and more “proactive” in seeing with his eyes.
- To wait on the Lord is something I am learning how to do and walking in every day. HE is near, waiting for me and so very present.
- That my security lies in him; proactive security from the Lord our beautiful savior.
- I need him. Fully and every minute of every day… I need him.
This list consists of only the lessons that I can think of off the top of my head. I am positive that if I look in my prayer journal that there would be many more that the Lord is walking me through or has walked me through. I cannot quite put into words the amount of stuff that the Lord has taught me, through emotions, experiences and people, but the paraphrasing above is my best shot.
Jesus has come into my life and rattled me; disrupted the humanly peace I had created. He has come in, full punk mode and shaken my soul to look more like him. He has made me uncomfortable so that I can run towards him with open arms without the baggage that I came on to the race with. He is good all the time. He is good and a punk. He is a punk and he is good. All this disruption he does, he does for the glory of the Father. I will follow and embrace this disruption of my life; for an intimate relationship with Christ is the ultimate partnership and the number one thing I want in life.
Thank you Jesus for your love and your grace. Thank you Jesus for you fruits and your forgiveness. And finally thank you Jesus for being a punk.
Thanks for reading,
Tabbi
