Keeping it Real

Overall, walking in the light has been nothing short of exciting. In the past two years, I have witnesssed the sort of supernatural phenomenon and miracles that a TV evangelist dreams of. I have grown spiritually.  Still, along my walk, I've wandered into the desert and a valley or two. Unsurprisingly, I keep bumping into those well meaning brothers and sisters who seem uninfected from malignancy of mundane circumstances that often accompany this life.  While knowing Jesus as my personal savior excites me, I confess sometimes life gets me down. After a huge spiritual growth my walk feels more like a crawl. Not unlike the past three weeks. Sometimes, no matter how hard I try to spice it up, life is just boring. Worst, sometimes life is painful. Many Christians believe showing negative emotions are a sign of faithlessness. Where did the notion Christians have to always act pleasantly excited come from? Certainly not from Christ's example. Follow Jesus from Bethany to Jerusalem and you'll see His sadness, anger, and disappointment. Yet many Christ followers will force that smile no matter what.  If Jesus doesn't hide His humanity, why should we? Sometimes, I think some of us are false advertising. Odd behavior for people claiming to spread the truth. Pretending your at the top of the spiritual food chain is sort of like lip syncin and dancing to someone else's song doesn't make you a star. It just makes people question is this stuff for real.

The bible teaches us to expect hardships to even rejoice in them. It doesn't say pretend they aren't happening. We need not be ashamed of the hardships. Hope comes from those experiences.  Nothing points it better than Romans 5

 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

When we pretend our lives are perfect , we cheat God, others, and ourselves. We cheat others from the opportunity to grow by helping us. We cheat ourselves of healing and strengthening that can only come from God working through others. We cheat God from the glory He deserves from showing His power at work in people. Some people say, "God never promised us a rose garden." Promised or not that's precisely what we get. Life often shows some occasional beauty while continually surrounding us by plenty of thorns. Christianity isn't pretending the thorns don't exist. It's enduring the thorns for the opportunity to smell the roses. We can allow our experiences to bring hope not only to ourselves but to others but only if we  "keep it real". Let's be honest so we can bear one another's burden. How else are we ever going grow?

Easter Bargain

According to a CNN's website,  the average American will spend over $140 on Easter.  The US alone will spend an excess of $16 billion. There have been some pretty "egg -travagent" Easter gifts ( I know it is corny but I'm just using the made up word CNN did) . A chocolate egg sold for over ten thousand dollars. Trust me, milk chocolate can melt in your mouth for way less. This weekend retailers are discounting merchandise to get you in the door. Easter, like Christmas , has become way too commercialized. Know what else  Easter has become? Despite what America's spending this Easter, we've made it too inexpensive. 

Grace has always been free but we've managed to cheapen it by how we view the cross. There are plenty of commentaries on Jesus's death you can check on the net. Knowing details of His suffering is important but different than connecting yourself to the cause of it.  We simply cannot afford to discount the price Jesus paid for our sins. There wasn't a buy one get one free sale on souls 2000 years ago. Jesus paid the full price for you and me.

The cross proved man had not only brought death into the world, it invented and prefected cruelty to satisfy his lust for power and entertainment.  Still, the  horror of Jesus's death goes beyond the crucifixion. Imagine having every negative emotion you've ever experience happening  to you all at once. Multiply that by 14 billion. Every painful breath, He must have faced the temptation of proving who He was. Worst, He endured this to save those who had brought this injustice on. His first taste of shame and guilt was married to abandonment.  This is emotional agony Jesus must have felt as the Father turned away.

We view the agony Christ suffered as a collective sacrifice for mankind instead of an individual sacrifice for each of us. We tend to forget the cost to save just one person would have been the same to save all. We don't want to see our connection to the cross. We are individually guilty as if we nailed Jesus to the cross ourselves. I'm convinced when Jesus said, " forgive them Father, for they know not what they do " He wasn't just talking about the Romans but all of us.

 Our only salvation is found in the fact that Hope was birthed on the cross. Through Jesus 's pain  "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 ) God died to connect with us. We are that important to Him. What a cure for low self esteem.  Easter doesn't end in death but starts a new beginning in life. Christ arose! What a bargain for us to trade death for life. But the only place you can get this deal is at the foot of the cross. Have you been there yet?