Finished
Well, you know I'm busy when I forget to blog. On top of being busy, though, I've been thinking about so much lately that it's hard to write about it. I'm kind of ADD about everything. God keeps finding something new to show me every couple hours, before I've digested the last hundred.
As I wrote about in my last post, one of the major ways the Lord has been communicating to me lately is through beauty. I would tell you to please go walk to Belmont and stand under the red trees and look up into them and see God, but the truth is that you might not see Him at all. You might just see red leaves.
And I would tell you to please get on Spotify and listen to Ronnie Freeman's "Perfect Love" album and hear God. But you might only hear some really cool worship music. I don't know.
God has been playing in my life lately with the idea of completion.
At the end of my shifts at work, I always grab a case or two of water bottles from the back and set them out for the next day's clients. Pretty regularly, God comes along with me and puts the perfect amount of water bottles in the case to fill the spots for them out front. Pretty regularly. And I promise you, this is an incredibly inconsistent number. But He saves me a couple trips back and forth, usually.
Completion.
Last week at church, I stepped out of my car and into a man who appeared out of nowhere. "I noticed your bumper sticker, Love Wins? I was wondering, can I talk to you about that? Why do you have that sticker? Did you read the book? Do you know about the heresy in it?"
As we walked toward the sanctuary, I explained to him that Rob Bell put out those Love Wins stickers years before the book, and that they were based on a sermon instead. The sermon, unlike the book, mentioned nothing about hell or the other controversial issues everyone has raged about. Instead, the sermon presents the idea that Jesus reversed the natural order of the universe. Instead of condemnation winning, redemption does. Instead of sin winning the battle for our hearts, freedom wins. Instead of retaliation, love is the new rule. Jesus responded in every situation with love. Beaten? Love. Mocked? Love. Betrayed? Love. Accused, hated, spit on? Love, love, love.
My heart was beating really fast as I entered church and parted ways with the man who was so worried for my theology. I found myself nervous at the prospect of needing to defend myself. I found myself nervous because I didn't want to be condemned at my own church, but that anxiety didn't make me want to back down. It made me want to get angry and tell him he didn't know me, and actually that I don't think Rob Bell's ideas are so terrible anyway, I think it's quite possible that God might save everyone, because he saved us, and that's pretty miraculous too when you think about it.
I didn't say those things. I just nodded my head as he said his peace about Rob Bell, and told him to be blessed and have a good Sunday. As I left church a few hours later, though, I thought again about the conversation and decided to go listen to Rob's sermon again.
And the sermon is really my point in telling you all this. Because he says something that we rarely articulate as Christians, which is that when Jesus died on the cross, he actually changed the nature of the universe. He showed by his life that it is possible to return love for hatred, blessing for curses. And when he took on the weight of our sin, he defeated death in such a way that the universe is now metaphysically different. Sin does not have to equal death anymore. Sin in Christ can equal life again. Love wins. Love won the battle for our souls. Love wins.
And that's complete. That happened before my cells were in existence. Love already won the battle for me. Completely.
Another example of this little theme showing up in my life is that I have just discovered a song called "Finished" by Ronnie Freeman. Or really I don't know who wrote it, but he recorded it at least. It's one of the newer songs for us in church, and basically it has been stuck in my head for the past 3812039 hours. Some of the lyrics go like this:
And now I sing a song of praise for my King who saved me
I’m so glad You made a way for me to be set free
You paid for life and conquered death
What You started, You finished
Finished
Now today, for all the world
Hope’s alive! Hope’s alive!
Now today, for all the world
Hope’s alive! Hope’s alive!
Now today, for all the world, hope’s alive!
(And yes, Ronnie did actually write it. I googled it.)
When I look at my life (which is what blogging is all about, right?), this is one of the things I see. I also see something brewing about Shane Claiborne's talk this week at Belmont, which I'll write about soon enough. And I see things like an incredible safety net of, for instance, health insurance for my allergist appointments, supportive parents, and wise people at my church who want to hear about my life. Good friends. A good roommate. Good classes that give me things to think about and rage against. The good hand of our God is upon me, as Ezra the priest said.
(Maybe blogging isn't about looking at your life...maybe it's about a lot of things, but Dr. Curtis says that the spiritual life is about looking at your life, so maybe I'll claim that for now.)
What themes is God playing with in your life right now?
As I wrote about in my last post, one of the major ways the Lord has been communicating to me lately is through beauty. I would tell you to please go walk to Belmont and stand under the red trees and look up into them and see God, but the truth is that you might not see Him at all. You might just see red leaves.
And I would tell you to please get on Spotify and listen to Ronnie Freeman's "Perfect Love" album and hear God. But you might only hear some really cool worship music. I don't know.
God has been playing in my life lately with the idea of completion.
At the end of my shifts at work, I always grab a case or two of water bottles from the back and set them out for the next day's clients. Pretty regularly, God comes along with me and puts the perfect amount of water bottles in the case to fill the spots for them out front. Pretty regularly. And I promise you, this is an incredibly inconsistent number. But He saves me a couple trips back and forth, usually.
Completion.
Last week at church, I stepped out of my car and into a man who appeared out of nowhere. "I noticed your bumper sticker, Love Wins? I was wondering, can I talk to you about that? Why do you have that sticker? Did you read the book? Do you know about the heresy in it?"
As we walked toward the sanctuary, I explained to him that Rob Bell put out those Love Wins stickers years before the book, and that they were based on a sermon instead. The sermon, unlike the book, mentioned nothing about hell or the other controversial issues everyone has raged about. Instead, the sermon presents the idea that Jesus reversed the natural order of the universe. Instead of condemnation winning, redemption does. Instead of sin winning the battle for our hearts, freedom wins. Instead of retaliation, love is the new rule. Jesus responded in every situation with love. Beaten? Love. Mocked? Love. Betrayed? Love. Accused, hated, spit on? Love, love, love.
My heart was beating really fast as I entered church and parted ways with the man who was so worried for my theology. I found myself nervous at the prospect of needing to defend myself. I found myself nervous because I didn't want to be condemned at my own church, but that anxiety didn't make me want to back down. It made me want to get angry and tell him he didn't know me, and actually that I don't think Rob Bell's ideas are so terrible anyway, I think it's quite possible that God might save everyone, because he saved us, and that's pretty miraculous too when you think about it.
I didn't say those things. I just nodded my head as he said his peace about Rob Bell, and told him to be blessed and have a good Sunday. As I left church a few hours later, though, I thought again about the conversation and decided to go listen to Rob's sermon again.
And the sermon is really my point in telling you all this. Because he says something that we rarely articulate as Christians, which is that when Jesus died on the cross, he actually changed the nature of the universe. He showed by his life that it is possible to return love for hatred, blessing for curses. And when he took on the weight of our sin, he defeated death in such a way that the universe is now metaphysically different. Sin does not have to equal death anymore. Sin in Christ can equal life again. Love wins. Love won the battle for our souls. Love wins.
And that's complete. That happened before my cells were in existence. Love already won the battle for me. Completely.
Another example of this little theme showing up in my life is that I have just discovered a song called "Finished" by Ronnie Freeman. Or really I don't know who wrote it, but he recorded it at least. It's one of the newer songs for us in church, and basically it has been stuck in my head for the past 3812039 hours. Some of the lyrics go like this:
And now I sing a song of praise for my King who saved me
I’m so glad You made a way for me to be set free
You paid for life and conquered death
What You started, You finished
Finished
Now today, for all the world
Hope’s alive! Hope’s alive!
Now today, for all the world
Hope’s alive! Hope’s alive!
Now today, for all the world, hope’s alive!
(And yes, Ronnie did actually write it. I googled it.)
When I look at my life (which is what blogging is all about, right?), this is one of the things I see. I also see something brewing about Shane Claiborne's talk this week at Belmont, which I'll write about soon enough. And I see things like an incredible safety net of, for instance, health insurance for my allergist appointments, supportive parents, and wise people at my church who want to hear about my life. Good friends. A good roommate. Good classes that give me things to think about and rage against. The good hand of our God is upon me, as Ezra the priest said.
(Maybe blogging isn't about looking at your life...maybe it's about a lot of things, but Dr. Curtis says that the spiritual life is about looking at your life, so maybe I'll claim that for now.)
What themes is God playing with in your life right now?
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