Jesus Manifesto

This following post is my comment to my son's rhetorical question that he has posed on his blog. Some of his friends are asking Mikael if his faith in Jesus Christ makes a difference in his life. That's a good and insightful question, and Mikael has answered very appropriately on his own. My comment to his post is to affirm his belief and to support his courage in believing.

Why do I believe in Jesus as my God?

• Jesus is the only God who, I know of, comes down from His heavenly throne to my earthly level by demonstrating His true humanity and genuine humility.
• Jesus is the only God who is both love and justice personified. By the standard of justice, I ought to have been totally separated from this loving and sinless God because God and sin are mutually exclusive. But, He is also a God of incomprehensible love for me and you. How does our God reconcile these two qualities? He sacrificed Himself to suffer and die on the cross for me where I ought to have been nailed. To love me and to administer justice, God took my place and carried on Himself my sins and ailments (Isaiah). What an awesome God Jesus is! No other god of any other religion has done that; or would ever do that for me.
• Jesus died to give me what I do not deserve: eternal life and His blessings. That's called GRACE. Instead, Jesus forgives me for what I DO deserve: death and eternal punishment for my sins. That's called MERCY. Which god dispenses grace and mercy like Jesus?
• Jesus, though Creator, King, Everlasting God, is also my Saviour, Redeemer (in redeeming my sin-debts), Forever-Friend, and the best of Fathers who parents me, watches over me, and tailor-makes a plan for my life.
• Jesus teaches me to hate sin, but, love the sinner. He also reminds me that none of us is sinless; only Christ is. However, the way Jesus dispenses His grace and mercy on me makes me feel as if I am made just, pure as snow (Psalm). That's what is meant by JUSTIFIED (as if I am made just and righteous again).
• Jesus forgives whenever we repent our sins. He reassures me that there is no condemnation in Him for those who loves Him and follows Him.
• Jesus is not about religion. In fact, He fought religion while He was walking this earth. Jesus is about doing His Father's will. Thus, as we are supposed to be Christian ("Little Christs"), we ought to reflect a glimmer of His light as His followers and ambassadors. Therefore Jesus is not concerned so much about we going to church and doing "churchy" things as much as about we being His church wherever we go. Do I represent Him as His church on earth? Someone else puts it this way: If I were put on trial in a court of law for being a Christian, a follower of Jesus, do they have enough evidence to convict me? That's the kind of acid test that I should subscribe to.
• Jesus cares about the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, the weak, widowed, fatherless, the sinners, and the homeless.
• Jesus teaches us that His is an upside-down Kingdom where the poor is rich, the powerful is weak and powerless, and the first is the last. He teaches and practises social equity.
• Jesus, by His life, shows us what true leadership is like: that He would roll up His sleeve and become a servant of all by washing our feet and by stepping up to the plate and substituting for me at my death sentence. Wow! What kind of God is our Jesus? He is the only true God. Case closed and Amen.

To Mikael from Dad

December 30, 2008

Blue Print for Christmas

When I previously wrote about "The Blue Print for Easter", it never occurred to me that the birth of Christ is as much an act of divine design as His death on the cross. In fact, Christ's birth and death is one single blue print of God's inexplicable and immeasurable love for me and you, played out over 33 earth years 2000 years ago, but conceived and born in Eternity.

That an almighty and awesome God volitionally traded the glory and majesty of Heaven for a life of incomprehensible humility, suffering, and eventual death on the rough-hewn trunks of a tree is beyond all human understanding. That's why Jesus, God among us, Emmanuel, is mystical and divine.

The human story (history) of our Lord reminds me so much of Mark Twain's classic, The Prince and The Pauper. In his desire to experience what life would like outside the cocooned luxury of the palace, Prince Edward traded places with a beggar boy, Tom Canty, who bore a remarkable resemblance to himself. Thus began the prince's adventure and misadventure in a cold hard world (which was his father's kingdom) where common folks lived. In the end, the prince was restored to his regal state. Trading places is where the similarities end.

God knew how depraved His created world had become. But, the prince never in a million years knew what poverty, injustices, depravity, and selfishness looked like. He traded his throne for the life of a beggar. Whereas, God knowingly humbled Himself to become the least of us by choosing to be born lowly, lived simply, taught passionately, fought hypocrisy and injustices fiercely, and died on a criminal's cross shamefully.

Why did God do that? He did that just for me. God did that because He loves me so much that He could not, and cannot, see me spend eternity without Him. He is the Good Shepherd who loves every single sheep! He would roam around the countryside looking for the lost sheep. When the enemy demands a pound of flesh from me as a result of my debt of sins, Christ offers up His life to pay my unpayable debt. Debt paid and debt-free, I am ransomed by my faithful and loving God.

Being conceived in the womb of a mere mortal and born a baby are the beginning steps of redeeming my debts by trading places with me. That's what Christmas is all about! It's God's thirty-three-year-and-nine-month journey on this earth to redeem my unpayable debts.

On the cross, God says,"It's paid in full! It's done!" God defeated the enemy, his evil intent, and death itself as He rose from the dead in the same mystical and miraculous way when He was born a baby in a manger in Bethlehem.

The cuddly gurgling baby in Mary's arms is the same beaten and deformed sin-carrier on the Roman cross. Most amazingly of all, He is the same Good Shepherd, the same Creator, Redeemer, King, and loving God who loves me by offering His "pound of flesh" for me so that I may be free from the yoke and bondage of my enemy.

The blue print of Christmas and that of Easter are, indeed, a single divine design, conceived in love and eternity, for the salvation of all.

"Oh Happy Day when Christ was born!"

No wonder the choir of angels still sings!

God Sighting

In the almost utter darkness on the frozen Assiniboine River, where bare branches reaching out from their snarled trunks sheltering the dim glow of city light above the treeline, appears an unusually tall figure who looks like a 9-foot tall man of Nordic descent. His thick head of silky blond hair appears to glow in the dark as it flows gently. He is dressed in a white cotton tunic with matching loose-fitting pants. The ends of his belt, made of the same material as his attire, dangle breezily as the man gracefully moves on the frozen surface of the river, as if gliding on a layer of thin air. He is definitely not dressed for a minus 37 degree Winnipeg winter. He is unearthly out of place, and out of time (Or, is he?). How very strange!

With a seemingly effortless swish of his arms, this ethereal being gives a desperate young man, who had fallen into the frigid river, a tuck and a push so gentle that the rescued hardly notices anything as he finally succeeds in heaving himself onto solid ice after several desperate attempts.

God shows up and saves my son from an untimely death, again!

Another God sighting in my totally oblivious, insensitive and undeserving life!

Last night, at 10:30 p.m., Mikael decided to go for a walk down the Assiniboine River to the Forks for skating on the river. He dressed for the cold and equipped for the walk and skating.

In his curiosity to check out a riverside sewer culvert, Mikael edged along the riverbank to check out the big metal conduit that looked empty and dry. As he bent down to look closely at knee level, he felt the earth gave way below him. The thin ice cover broke as Mikael slowly sank down while he watched a surrealistic eruption of snow rushing skywards.

His next sensations were the stench of raw sewage and the icy sensation in his back. He found himself nipple-high in the sewer-saturated Assiniboine River.

Mikael tried to grab onto ice pieces, but, they simply disintegrated and floated away. He did not feel any river current swishing him away. He floated on his back and dog-paddled backwards until his head touched solid ice. He turned around and made several desperate attempts to get up onto the ice surface. However, his layers of soaked clothing weighed him down so much that he had difficulty heaving himself up. He simply hung onto the edge of the ice while dangling in frigid water to catch his breath.

That was when God showed up. He sent an angel, a Nordic one out of His sense of humour for the 50% of Mikael's biological and cultural make-up, to save him as He has done so many times before.

God simply loves Mikael so much and He watches over him and saves him in His right time.

Is that ever wild or what!

God has done so for me as well so many times that I, in my absolute oblivion, never even noticed.

Like Michelangelo's famous painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, God reaches down towards Adam (that's me; that's Mikael, that's you) with an extended arm, hand and index finger. All we need to touch Him is to make an effort to believe that He is only a wisp of a prayer away.

God is always as close to us as He can be without violating our freedom of choice. Having come so close to touch us, He allows a little space, like a finger-sized gap, between us and Himself so that we may choose to touch Him, ask for His help, or not at all.

Our God is a gentleman God who never imposes His divine will on us. He gives us the freedom of choice to invite Him to bless us, heal us, save us, dwell in our live, or sadly, leave us alone.

God waits for us to ask.

Yes. Can you believe it? My God waits for me to ask. He is patient, to boot! He has an eternity within which to wait for my response. But, I have only my lifetime to respond. If I were too late, I'd be out of here for good.

Isn't He an awesome God?!

Thank you, Father, for showing up for Mikael last night.

Thank you for being our Creator-Saviour-King!

Amen

P.S. To read a first-hand account of Mikael's misadventure, please go to:

http://mikaelsmisadventures.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-falling-into-river-and-perfect-hair.html

Have fun reading Mikael's account.