However, there is one Legend who died and lives again. There is a Champion who is crowned Victor of every battle, named the Famous One, and is the source of all these gifts, talents, and legacies I write about. His name is Jesus and although He died, He lives. Although He was buried, He rose. Even though He was crucified, He has conquered sin and death, and now His legacy, His Spirit, and His freedom live on in us.
Each storm has been an invitation to rest in His perspective. Each battle has been an opportunity to recognize that victory is already my portion.
Our goal is to be with God, not to simply do for God. He's already done it for us so that we can be with Him. That's the Good News. Now our doing is from what's already been done so that our focus can be on staying in love with Jesus and connecting with others and ourselves in that love. After all, we're human beings, not human doings. Prioritize connection.
The good news is that although I said, "but," so did my King and His "but" is bigger.
I write all of this to say that as Christians we do not celebrate the Resurrection one day a year but every day of our lives. The resurrection is our life and our breath is the Risen Savior's Spirit of victory in our lungs. Our existence is held together in the love of God who is ALIVE.
Yes, it is true that you cannot earn redemption. And yes, it is also true that God is the only One who redeems eternally. And the most beautiful truth yet is that in this redeeming relationship He puts the pen in your hand to write with Him. What a partnership!
However, the main reason that I would propose we honor and celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. is that he faithfully loved Jesus, imitated Jesus, and preached His Gospel as the only way through which transformation, reconciliation, and societal change could take place.
As 2018 has drawn to a close and 2019 is upon us, I believe that the best is yet to come. I don't know what this last year held for you. I don't know if your story was filled with happiness or sorrow, peace or anxiety, transition or stability. I do know that God is faithful and that as we enter into this new year of life, the Lord is covering it and us with grace, completion (fullness), and increase.
However, Jesus stepped foot into our history of performing for love and showed us that our performance could never earn us more or less of His affection. It was while we were still in sin that Jesus died for us (Rms. 5:8). It was before our Savior did any teaching and miraculous deeds that the heavens opened up, the Spirit descended upon Him, and the voice of the Father spoke over Him, "This is the Son I love, and my greatest delight is in him (Mt. 3:17, TPT)."
It is this celebration of unbridled creativity that I believe flows in each one of our veins and is in the very fabric of our DNA. I believe and know that God is Creator. I am not the Creator; I am the created. I am made in the image and likeness of this Creator (Gen. 1:26-27), which means I am creative. Creativity is part of my humanity. The way I think, the way I see, the way I talk, the way I walk, the way I live and move and have my being, it's all creative.
We don't exalt my story over her's or her story over mine. We proclaim with both last names that we are equally important in oneness and that each of our lives matter. We declare the significance and testimony of the Lord's work in both of our families, and now our new family symbolized in the union of our last names.
Religion is relationship. Relationship is religious. We need not separate the two or create a faulty argument. We just need to live out relationship with God, others and ourselves. Why? In doing so we are revealing the full message of what Christ Jesus calls us to: to be loved, and to love.
Friends, we are consistently surrounded by feelings, emotions, and circumstances that attempt to define us. We live in a culture that states we are what we feel and that we should live our lives based on our temporary desires. Today, I boldly and confidently proclaim to you: we are not what we feel.
I believe Jesus came for all people. I think that the color of one's skin does not dictate the worth of their life. I hold that colorblindness is racism justified with a misconception of truth. Why would the Greatest Artist ask for us to be colorblind when He created color?
My prayer is that we would shift our perspective, commit to the Lord and each other beyond our emotionalism (whether we feel like it or not), and open space for the Lord to lead us into the way everlasting in covenant relationship and partnership.
I write all of this to say that when it boils down to the very bottom, everything does happen for a reason, but it's not the reason we think and project most often. God is not the reason for your disease, our wars, or natural disasters. God is the reason for the goodness that takes place in the midst of all these things.
However, I am stating that when the symbol is a mark of possession and points to Who created you, to Whom you belong, and even to Who holds your family members and calls us into a larger family, that the posture of our heart's tattoo matches the symbol of body's tattoo.
The most impressional aspect to all of this is that five and a half hours in God’s presence felt like thirty minutes total. There was no rushing, there was no competition, there was no performance, there was no numbing out, and there were no walls put up to the Lord’s love or to our time in worship.
My wife asked me, “What was that one white guy’s name again?” and it caught me off guard in the best way possible. When had we ever said these words following a huge box office movie? When had we ever asked for the name of one of the minority white characters in a superhero film? When had we ever talked through so many prominent themes dealing with theology, politics, and societal systems after watching a Marvel flick?
So from my heart to yours, move forward with courage and assurance. The Light will illuminate the path, remind you of where you are going, calm any storms, and breathe Wind into your sails. You may just find that as you journey ahead that there is more certainty then we can feel or see.
