Roots

We were created to be in relationship with our Creator. We were created to know His love. When sin entered the world, however, we become separated from perfect love. The consequences of this separation are devastating.

Before the fall, Adam and Eve felt no shame. Why? They had nothing to hide. They were in perfect relationship with God.

After Adam and Eve sinned they experienced shame: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (Genesis 3:7). They felt the need to hide from each other and from God: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8-9).

Rather than be rooted in the unconditional love of God, Adam and Eve became rooted in shame. From this root of shame came much brokenness.

The dictionary defines shame as the following: “The painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another.” Shame leads to negative feelings within causing men and women to search for positive feelings without. Perfectionism, achievement, people pleasing—even addictions all stem from this deeper heart issue. If a person does not find value within him or herself, he or she will search for value elsewhere.

To be whole we need to be whole within—in our souls. If every external thing we rely on for value were stripped away would we still feel valuable?

If your answer is no allow me to share a deeply beautiful truth: The holy and perfect God of the universe loves you. He deemed you so valuable that He died in your place. He who knew no sin became sin for you, so that in Him you might become the righteousness of God.

Isaiah 61 illuminates the redemptive ministry of Christ. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” The passage continues saying: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor” (Isaiah 61:3).

The Lord longs to uproot His people from the root of shame and replant them in Himself. He longs to flood our hearts with His unconditional love, and He longs to bear fruit through the broken.

Being uprooted is deeply painful. One by one the Lord will remove every external thing we have relied on for self worth. We will feel more worthless than we have in our entire lives. This is such a beautiful place to be, however, because Christ Jesus remains. The truth is we are not enough but in the Beloved we are more than enough. We are unworthy and unrighteous, but in Christ we are completely worthy and fully righteous.

Being uprooted is painful, but it is oh so sweet. If you feel the Spirit prompting you to be uprooted, I encourage you to take a step of faith and allow the Lord to bring healing and restoration to your life. May Jesus be glorified in our brokenness.

Revival and the Glory of Jesus Christ

Last Spring I met with a dear friend for breakfast. As I sat sipping my coffee, my friend passionately shared her longing to see God’s glory fall on the UW-Madison campus. I listened attentively, but my heart struggled to connect with her words. I did not share her zeal, and her obsession with God’s glory quite honestly made me uncomfortable. I left the conversation feeling restless. Why wasn’t I passionate about God’s glory like my friend? And for that matter, what was God’s glory?

This conversation was the start of a great work in my heart. As a light illuminates a dark room so my pride was laid bare: I could not understand God’s glory because I was too focused on my own.

In our flesh we will never comprehend the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Satan has blinded our hearts to God’s glory, and we thus need spiritual assistance to behold spiritual realities: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Hebrews 1:3 says: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” To behold God’s glory is to behold Jesus Christ, and to behold Jesus Christ is a work of God alone. This is horribly humbling! I have done nothing to behold the glory of Jesus Christ! It is a consequence of God’s mercy alone!

And so what are the implications of these truths? Revival will only happen when we humble ourselves before an all powerful God and ask Him to move: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place” (2 Chronicles 7:14-15). As believers we need the Holy Spirit to awaken our hearts to the glory of Jesus Christ! We need to truly hold Him as our highest treasure!

When believers hold Jesus Christ as their highest treasure a beautiful work will transpire: Rather than seek to advance individual fame, brother and sister will join arm in arm to chase after His fame. Believers will forsake pride, boasting in their weaknesses and the power of the cross over those weaknesses. Believers will walk in brokenness before each other and before a dying world. They will forsake worldly wealth, comfort and security. They will bear the cross thereby showing a dying world the ultimate worth of Jesus Christ!

One person is not intended to carry the burden of revival alone. It contradicts the very purposes of Christ: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20-23). Christ longs for His body to be unified in purpose. Will you brother and sister join with me in asking the Lord to reveal His glory to our hearts and to our campus?

Jesus Offers More than Forgiveness

In Luke 4:14-21 Jesus makes a beautiful proclamation:

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus references Isaiah 61 and proceeds to announce He is the fulfillment of this scripture. This is deeply profound! While Christ came to pay the wages of sin by dying on the cross, Luke 4 suggests His ministry extends beyond mere forgiveness (which in itself is no small gift!):

We are spiritually poor, lacking every merit of our own. We have each rejected God, and rather than worship our Creator we have worshipped ourselves and creation.

Man’s rebellion rightfully deserves punishment, but God is slow to anger and abounding in love. 1 John 4:10 says: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Christ is the good news! He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus died the death we deserve to die. He died that we might have life! This is true love!

When we accept Christ’s gift of forgiveness by faith we inherit the hope of eternal life: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). We stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ and we stand before the throne of God free of accusation and without blame. Isaiah 61:10 speaks of this: “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness.”

Isaiah 61:1 expands the ministry of Christ further: “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Christ has come to bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free!

No striving of self will bring about lasting freedom from sin. Freedom is found only in an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. In John 8:31 Jesus says: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus says the truth will set you free. He is the truth! Jesus Himself will set us free as we submit our lives to Him and allow His Spirit to empower us: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). And as John 8:36 says, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!

Christ not only frees us from the power of sin—He also frees us from the effects of sin. He binds up our broken hearts, and He brings restoration and healing: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5). As we submit every wound to the truth of the Gospel, our bleeding hearts find healing in the blood of Christ.

Isaiah 61:3 continues: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” Christ heals and restores for His name’s sake. He is setting aside a people for Himself. This holy people—the redeemed—are to be a display of the Lord’s glory and the very medium by which His glory is spread: “They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God” (Isaiah 61:4-6). The children of God are the carriers of the Kingdom. They bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim good news to the poor. They plant seeds of truth and trust Christ to grow His Kingdom: “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” (Isaiah 61:11).

The redemptive ministry of Christ ought to humble us. Christ died not only to forgive us, but to free us and heal us! How deep is the love of Christ!

Christ Heals the Brokenhearted

Colossians 1:16 says: “For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.” We were created for Christ. We were created to worship Him, to know Him, and to love Him. We experience abundant life when we walk in submission to Him. Likewise, we experience nothing but emptiness and disintegration when we direct our own lives.

As humans we attempt to play God by deciding how life should operate. The problem, however, is we are not the Creator. We do not know the ultimate design.

Our stubborn disobedience results in nothing but brokenness. In my own life I have experienced much pain as a consequence of living outside of Christ’s Lordship. The tragedy is my spiritual blindness prevented me from seeing the damage I was inflicting, and it has only been since submitting my life to Christ that I have obtained the faintest glimpse of the latter.

I love this verse: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). I believe our God is a healer. I believe Christ wants to mend our bleeding hearts for His glory. I believe Christ came to redeem and restore. I believe God is near those who are crushed in spirit. I believe wholeness is not reserved for those who have never left the path of obedience. Rather, I believe abundant life can be shared by the broken and wayward, and I believe God deeply yearns to extend healing for His glory.

If your heart is broken find solace in Christ. Cling to Him dear brother and sister. He who promises is faithful.

Christ's Covenant With An Impure, Adulterous Bride

Colossians 1 says that all things were created for Christ—all things were meant to glorify Him and point to Him. Marriage is no exception. God patterned marriage very purposefully after the relationship between His Son and the church, which He planned from all eternity. This is evidenced in Ephesians 5: Wives are instructed to submit to their husbands, as the church submits to Christ. Husbands are likewise to love their wives as Christ loved the church—namely by dying to themselves and putting their wives' interests before their own.

"'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:31-32). The Apostle Paul says that the union of marriage points to the covenant relationship between Christ and the church. The reformer Martin Luther describes this beautifully: Faith “unites the soul to Christ, as the wife to the husband, by which mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul are made one flesh.” One with Christ, as a wife is to her husband, the possessions of the believer and the possessions of Christ become likewise one. Christ, as Luther writes, “is full of grace, life, and salvation,” while “the soul is full of sin, death, and condemnation.” Tainted by depravity, therefore, “the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life and salvation of its Husband Christ.”

In Hebrews 13:5 Christ promises: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” From the moment of true, repentant faith, Christ makes an eternal covenant with the believer. If we are faithless, he remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). In John 6:39-40 Jesus further promises: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” Christ will never forsake His bride, and nothing can separate the church from His love (Romans 8:38-39).

How deep is the love of Christ! The Lord makes a covenant not with a pure bride, but a disobedient and adulterous one. Hosea 1:13 says Israel went after other lovers and forgot the Lord. The Lord's response is immensely beautiful: "Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her...In that day...you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master'...In that day I will make a covenant for them...I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will acknowledge the Lord...I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'" (Hosea 2:14-23).

Christ laid down His life for those who did not love Him. He pursues the hearts of the disobedient and He calls not the righteous but sinners. He woos them with His love, and He clothes His bride in a spotless, white garment of righteousness. His covenant love can never be broken. How deeply beautiful!

Lukewarm Lovers and a Relentless God

In the book of Revelation, Jesus addresses the church at Laodicea: “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:14-16).

The church at Laodicea is lukewarm: The believers do not blatantly reject Jesus, but they have no zeal or ardent love for Christ. Such a state is not tolerable. In fact, it is appalling—so much so Christ threatens to spit the lukewarm believers out of His mouth.

Jesus continues: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17). These believers claim to be rich, but they are utterly impoverished. They have forsaken the true Treasure for the fleeting treasures of this world. They desire the gifts more than the Giver.

How can such a state be overcome? Lukewarmness is cured by Christ alone: “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:18-20). Notice Christ does not call the believers to work harder or attempt to muster up passion. Rather, He urges the believers to accept Him into their hearts. He urges them to be with Him.

When we are in relationship with Christ we cannot be lukewarm. It is impossible. All is rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. His love is better than life.

The church is the bride of Christ. A bride does not have halfhearted love for her groom. Rather, she longs ardently to be with her lover—so much so that her heart and mind are bent towards her groom. In the same way, our love for Christ ought to be zealous. We ought to long to be in His presence and we ought to wait in anticipation for His return.

Christ is relentlessly pursuing His bride. May we, the bride, respond to His relentless pursuit. May He cure our wretchedness and present us to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.



Will You Stand in the Gap?

"So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one." -Ezekiel 22:30

This world is in desperate need of men and women who are willing to stand in the gap between an all-powerful God and a dying, broken generation. This world needs men and women who are willing to weep and ache over the lost. This world needs men and women are willing to die to themselves that Christ might live through them.

This world is not our home. Our citizenship is in Heaven. As followers of Christ, the only reason we exist on earth is to know Jesus and make His name known. We waste our lives when we store up treasures on this earth. We waste our lives when we cling to comfort and security. We waste our lives when we live for our glory rather than the glory of God.

We have the Spirit—and we hold the power of God. The Kingdom of God dwells within us. Jesus promised we would do greater things than Him. Do we believe that?

God uses the redeemed to spread His glory. He uses the redeemed to proclaim good news to the poor and bind up the brokenhearted. We are the body of Christ; we are His hands and feet.

Will we complacently hold the truth of life to ourselves? Or will we love by pointing others to what they need most deeply—namely, Jesus Christ? Will we live comfortable American lives under the guise of Christianity? Or will we walk in the way of the cross that others might see the Christ on the cross?

We stand before the throne of God clothed in Christ’s righteousness. We are free of accusation and without blame. We do not deserve such a pardon, and we are certainly not entitled to such a garment. Look dear brother and sister to your left and to your right. Look at the men and women who stand clothed in their sin. They stand condemned. They do not share your hope. They face an eternity separated from Love. How can that truth not grip your heart?

Oh Jesus, break our hearts for what breaks yours. Lord stir us from complacency. Lord empower us by your Spirit to live for you. Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.