Jesus Said “Yes” to the Mess!

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For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ . . . — 2 Corinthians 1:20

Life is messy. People are messed-up. And it doesn’t take too many things to go wrong before we can really feel like we’re in a horrible mess.

That’s because we live in a broken world. As military serving around the world and at home, you know that probably better than anybody. Ever since Adam and Eve and that fateful choice in The Garden (Genesis 3), the relationships between God and man, man and man, and man and this earth have been broken.

But there’s hope, and His name is Jesus.

As we start this new year of 2012, perhaps it’s a good time to examine our brokenness, just as a reminder of how utterly helpless we are and in need of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I’ve been reading a book recently by Ann Voskamp entitled One Thousand Gifts. In Chapter Eight she beautifully summarizes the gift of hope with these words, “There is no joy without trust! I can feel all the sinews releasing, the opening of the heart chambers, the unfurling of a life into one reverberating, exultant yes! . . . Yes in Christ! To the Enfleshed. Yes who said yes to this moment and yes to last year’s illness and yes to the cracks of my childhood and yes to the nail and yes to my name in the book of Life, hear me say YES! . . . Hear me say thank you. Hear me say YES! Watch me live a life of yes . . . In Christ, the answer to the questions of every moment is always Yes. The answer is always YES!” (p. 159)

When I really studied that, and thought about the mess in my own life that Jesus said “Yes!” to, I didn’t have to think too long or too hard. There was all of that in my past . . . and all that my eyes are open to see in my present . . . and I can quickly feel like Paul speaking truthfully in Romans 7:18,20,24: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. . . Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. . . What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (italics mine) Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

No more guilt; no more shame . . . only my repentance followed by His forgiveness and peace. His promises continue to be “Yes” with the ultimate promise being eternity in Heaven.

Jesus said “Yes!” to the rescue!

And there’s more, because since He said Yes to the rescue He also said Yes to the redemption!

Over Christmas I read this blog posting from a friend in ministry, Jody Landers, who works tirelessly to creatively help people around the world experience redemption from poverty with The Adventure Project (theadventureproject.org):

“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.”

We sang this carol/worship song this morning. I’ve probably sung it hundreds of times before. But today, this line almost took my breath away.
The weary world rejoices.
If I had to describe myself right now in one word, it might be “weary.”
If I had to describe the world I’ve seen this year, it might be “weary.”
Something extraordinary has been at work in my own life for the past couple years.
And when I look at this past year, I can see the continued refining.
I am living with a very keen awareness of my own depravity.
A very keen awareness of the depravity of my husband.
The depravity of each of our kids.
We know it.
We need a thrill of hope.
The new found responsibilities at The Adventure Project have caused me to spend hours every single day wrestling with brokenness.
I have traveled and walked in a number of different places all over the world this year.
And every day and in each place. I know. I am keenly aware.
Just like me, they need a thrill of hope.
And with that awareness comes weariness sometimes.
Which makes the miracle of Christmas so profound.
Because I need Jesus.
My family needs Jesus.
The world needs Jesus.
And thank God He came.
Because that means I am only who Jesus says I am.
My family is only who Jesus says we are.
The people around the world are only as Jesus says they are.
Beloved.
Forgiven.
Free.
“For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”
So on that night when Christ was born.
And every day thereafter.
We fall.
Fall on our knees.
A thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices.
Amazing.

Jody writes “Beloved . . . Forgiven . . . Free. . . The weary world rejoices.” Such great words from the heart to remind us that because of God’s gift of Jesus at Christmas, we can know His gifts of rescue and redemption from our broken state and its effects.

As Paul’s writing in Romans 7 takes me directly to Rescue, Romans 8 takes me to Redemption.

No matter how ugly, no matter how confusing, no matter how messy . . . Jesus says Yes. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose . . . What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:28,31,32,35,37).

Yes, Jesus said Yes to redeeming all seemingly bad circumstances; yes to being “for” us; yes to being given by the Father to rescue us—and He continues to give in grace and mercy for the purpose of redemption; yes to loving us unconditionally under every situation; yes to creating victory. For the rescue. . . for the redemption. . . Thank You.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. — 2 Corinthians 1:20

Amen!

Work Cited:

Blog for Jody Landers:  http://jodyrlanders.com/2011/12/a-thrill-of-hope/

Voskamp, Ann,  One Thousand Gifts (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 2010), p. 159.

Questions to Share:

1. In what way have you allowed Jesus to rescue you from the past, present. . . and possibly a future hell?
2. Can you recall a bad situation which God redeemed and made into something good?