Jesus.
If you or I just pause and think about that name for a second.
Words and actions like love, grace, forgiveness, teaching, obedience, example, miracles, sacrifice all come to mind.
What about "dangerous rebel?" Probably not.
But if you look in the book of John, you see the crowds confused and stunned. Religious leaders were convinced he was completely out of his mind. They wanted to arrest him, and I doubt that killing him wasn't far from their minds.
If you look at the compound title, "dangerous rebel," it's not hard to conclude that Jesus was in fact that: a rebel who was dangerous.
He was a rebel because He taught and lived completely upside down compared to the religious leaders and the society they created.
What made Him dangerous was that through this rebellion, He had followers, He had influence. The real danger wasn't necessarily Him (although in hindsight, I'm sure the religious would think otherwise), but rather the uprising He was creating. The uprising could be described with words used at the beginning of this blog: love, grace, forgiveness, teaching, obedience, example, miracles, sacrifice.
What made Him a rebel was the fact that He went against the religious flow. He died for it. He rose again to defeat it.
So the question now becomes this: At what point do you go from rebel to righteous?
It's as soon as perception is changed. Jesus changed perception with His life and death on the cross.
It was then that He went from being the black sheep to being the Shepherd.
-NW
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Reality O.T.V.
What I love so much about God's word is that you can read a story you grew up with and it comes to life in a whole new way. For example, the story of Jacob and Esau fighting over the bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup.
Their dad is getting old and wants to give Esau his blessing. Jacob overhears, probably while watching The View or HGTV with his mom and the two start scheming to steal the blessing. He then goes into Esau's closet and steals his hairy Armani clothes and tries to pass as his brother so he can get the firstborn's blessing.
He dresses up like his brother and steals the blessing right from under his nose hairs (the Bible says he was hairy). Then he flees for his life and stumbles into what appears to be West Virginia because he ends up working 14 years just to marry his cousins, Leah and Rachel.
There are so many people to blame in this story. You could blame Jacob for lying and deceiving his dad. But it was his own mom's idea! So you could blame her for going against her own husband. But then you could blame him for not even knowing the difference in his own son's voices. It's almost like an episode of Desperate Housewives of the Old Testament.
Doesn't matter. The point is this: Jacob had to dress up and cover up his own identity to fool his father into giving him a blessing because he didn't even come close to growing peach fuzz compared to Esau and his snuggy-like body hair.
What appeared to be his reward turned out to be his curse. He took the easy way out by conning his own brother and father but got conned in return by his uncle. It's reality-O.T.V. at it's best.
This really is a funny story and you're almost amazed at the fact that it happened. But what isn't funny is this story re-occurs in our lives everyday.
We dress up and cover up our sins and lifestyles, thinking we can fool our heavenly father into thinking we are the children He really loves and wants. We'll put on a smile and bring our Bibles to church with us. We'll serve in ministry and tithe 10%. But we'll also delete our internet browsing history or spend too much time off the clock while staying on the clock.
We dress up and fake it because we're afraid of approaching the Father the way He desperately wants us to: humbled, open, honest, vulnerable and as sinful selves.
Man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. You can't hide from God. And that isn't news that Fox News or CNN broke.
What is really interesting and really amazing and really impossible to grasp is this: Whether it is Jacob's lying, deceiving or conning or our very own, God still makes promises and reaffirms His love for us.
What does that say about His character and the relationship He seeks with us?
-NW
Their dad is getting old and wants to give Esau his blessing. Jacob overhears, probably while watching The View or HGTV with his mom and the two start scheming to steal the blessing. He then goes into Esau's closet and steals his hairy Armani clothes and tries to pass as his brother so he can get the firstborn's blessing.
He dresses up like his brother and steals the blessing right from under his nose hairs (the Bible says he was hairy). Then he flees for his life and stumbles into what appears to be West Virginia because he ends up working 14 years just to marry his cousins, Leah and Rachel.
There are so many people to blame in this story. You could blame Jacob for lying and deceiving his dad. But it was his own mom's idea! So you could blame her for going against her own husband. But then you could blame him for not even knowing the difference in his own son's voices. It's almost like an episode of Desperate Housewives of the Old Testament.
Doesn't matter. The point is this: Jacob had to dress up and cover up his own identity to fool his father into giving him a blessing because he didn't even come close to growing peach fuzz compared to Esau and his snuggy-like body hair.
What appeared to be his reward turned out to be his curse. He took the easy way out by conning his own brother and father but got conned in return by his uncle. It's reality-O.T.V. at it's best.
This really is a funny story and you're almost amazed at the fact that it happened. But what isn't funny is this story re-occurs in our lives everyday.
We dress up and cover up our sins and lifestyles, thinking we can fool our heavenly father into thinking we are the children He really loves and wants. We'll put on a smile and bring our Bibles to church with us. We'll serve in ministry and tithe 10%. But we'll also delete our internet browsing history or spend too much time off the clock while staying on the clock.
We dress up and fake it because we're afraid of approaching the Father the way He desperately wants us to: humbled, open, honest, vulnerable and as sinful selves.
Man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. You can't hide from God. And that isn't news that Fox News or CNN broke.
What is really interesting and really amazing and really impossible to grasp is this: Whether it is Jacob's lying, deceiving or conning or our very own, God still makes promises and reaffirms His love for us.
What does that say about His character and the relationship He seeks with us?
-NW
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