on repentance and COVID-19...

Every Spring, I study through Exodus. It's a rhythm that the Lord and I have found, and it proves to be so good every year. This year, with Easter, Passover, and COVID-19 all coinciding, it seemed especially timely. 

"Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.’ ” 

- Exodus 6: 6 - 8 

The LORD will. There are seven "I will" statements in these three verses. He is declaring who He is and what He will do, despite the circumstances and doubt of His people. 

A few chapters before, He declares that He is the "I AM"; some scholars believe that this translates to "I will be to you all that I AM". And He proclaims that to the Israelites in this portion of Scripture. Right after this, in verse 9, the text tells us that the Israelite could not see past their "anguish of spirit and cruel bondage". And maybe that's where some of us are in this pandemic; we can't see God past the fear, the sickness, the pain, the bondage of being isolated. And I think that we need to repent. 

We must repent of our feelings of torture as idols and comforts are taken away from us. We must repent of the idle, unused time. We must repent of the shallow expectations that we have for the Almighty Jesus Christ in this season. We must repent of our displaced longings and desires. 

Many of us are asking, "How long, Oh LORD?" when instead maybe we should be asking "What do you require of us, Oh LORD?"

If a pandemic doesn't change our heart postures to repentance, shifting our focus, creating a desperation within us to seek Him above all things, then what will?

May we learn to not just seek Him, but be desperate for Him on behalf of ourselves and others during this time. He will be to us all that He says He will be; we can trust the Great I AM. 

after He has risen...

“...Through the obedience of The One, the many will be made righteous... where sin increased, grace abounded all the more..."

-       Romans 5: 19 - 20

Good Friday, a solemn Saturday, and a celebration on Sunday…

Easter weekend.

On Good Friday, I was camping at the beach with my JH students. I asked many of them what was good about Good Friday? Why do we call it that? (Please keep in mind that when I was 13 years old, I knew nothing about Jesus and I didn’t really know the answer to this question until probably my freshman year of college.) Each of them knew, they knew. They knew that we call it Good Friday because it was the day that Jesus Christ’s salvific work on The Cross was completed, it was finished.

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Good Friday is purely good, a good that we can accept

but will never fully understand.

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This week had me reflecting on the sacrifice, and completely brought me to my knees. Saturday night I read Romans 5, and was completely struck by the beauty of the verses in that chapter. GRACE ABOUNDS ALL THE MORE; where there is sin, there is more grace, there is an abundance that will never run out, never be depleted, never dry.

There is a new song from Hillsong United titled, “Touch the Sky”, and it is beyond beautiful. I have had it on continuous loop for days. There is a point in the song when she states, “I found heaven as Love swept low…” Friends, this Christ, this Love, swept low; He humbled Himself, wearing a crown of thorns, being whipped and beaten and mocked, taking the shame and curse for humanity on The Cross… Do you get that today? Not just for me or my friends or my family or my ethnic group, but for humanity.

Currently, I am studying through The Risen Christ with She Reads Truth. We are looking at the people that Jesus appeared to after His resurrection… Mary, the Disciples, Thomas… and it is brilliant. It is brilliant because it has me thinking about the whole idea of the next step.

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He has Risen, so now what?

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As Christians, we make Easter a big to-do; we make sure to plan more services with more lights and more dynamic worship, we make sure to put our best pastors on the stage and our best greeters at the doors. We show the church and the visitors Christ and His sacrifice, some people find Jesus for the first time, and then it’s over. You found Jesus on Easter and we are so glad you did… and that’s all we give, that’s all they get. But, I can’t help but think about how we as a church, as Christians, slide back into the daily routine and forget about those people, the ones who just figured out Jesus. We should have as much excitement for our post-Easter Sundays as we do our Easter Sunday. Excitement and reflection should not only be reserved for the calendared Holy Days, but must be found as we realize that every day has the potential to be a holy day.  

May we remember that grace abounds for us EVERY WEEK, not just on Easter Sunday; may we reflect on His sacrifice for humanity every time we come to Him with our Bibles and journals and through the doors of our church; may we, like Thomas, experience the gravity of Jesus weeks after His resurrection.

Friends, He has Risen, so now what?