It's always going to be like this...
How many times does a variation of this phrase whirl around your head?
How many times do you look around and convince yourself that there has been no progress, no change?
How many times have you given up because you've resigned to the fact that whatever
this you're standing in will always be here?
How many times?
I have a bad habit of looking at my current circumstances and projecting them onto my future. At times, I can't make plans because I always think, if I don't have the money, time or resource now, I probably won't have it in the future.
My small mindset limits my vision to see the more that is possible.
And maybe it's not something that you do but something that you've been born into. You walked into a legacy, a tradition, a pattern that's entrenched into your family's history, embedded into your family's DNA that you know, more likely than not, it will pop up into your own life. And this norm influences the way you live.
To live in fear, to live stuck, to live small, to live on a hamster wheel, exhausted and getting nowhere.
There are three accounts (and countless others) where Jesus meets people in their habits, in their patterns and they have to choose: what's familiar or what Jesus has to offer.
1. The woman at the well
The samaritan woman leaves her house to draw water from the well. The town she lives in knows about her life. They know that she hops from relationship to relationship and the current man under her sheets wasn't even her husband. Intent to avoid hushed whispers and unabashed stares, the woman leaves home when the sun is highest, knowing that she'll be alone. But lo and behold, once she arrives, there's a man sitting on the well.
2. The man at the pool of Bethesda
He's been disabled for 38 years, he's alone and what's worst, for a long time, he's been a few feet away from his miracle. If only he could get to the pool first when the angel comes in the morning to stir the waters. But every time he got within an inch of the edge, someone else beats him to it and he has to wait for the next day. Then one day, the man looks up to see someone standing over him. And the person asks, "Do you want to get well?"
3. The woman caught in adultery
The Pharisees and the teachers must have been watching her for days. How else would they know where to find her? The man she was sleeping with must have made a deal with them. Why else would she be alone, dragged towards the center of the village with just a blanket that could barely cover her body, let alone her shame? They throw her at the feet of some man named Jesus, demanding to know what sentence she deserves. She watches her accusers pick up the stones. Everyone knows that this warrants death, they didn't need the input of this man. She braces herself but nothing comes. She lifts her head and finds Jesus looking at her. He asks, "Where are your accusers?"
In the middle of their normal, Jesus shows up.
In their routine, Jesus interrupts.
In these cases, they've settled into their lot, into what the world has offered them. Then Jesus comes and offers all of them something different.
He enters their usual, looks around and says that they didn't have to stay this way, that
this is not the only way and showed them another: He showed them Himself, that He was the way, the truth and the life.
They thought that
this was all there was but Jesus said no.
No, you don't have to hide in shame. No you don't have to do it like everyone else. No, you don't have to wait to be healed, to be filled from a broken cistern. No, you don't have to go back to your old ways, to your sins. No, you don't have to be okay with
this.
This is not here to stay.
Jesus came in and broke down cultural barriers and decorum.
He revealed to a Samaritan woman, an outsider, that He was the Messiah.
He told a lame man to walk.
He showed mercy and forgiveness to a sinner.
The world thought that they knew what to expect from the Savior but Jesus trumped everyone.
They thought they knew what He would do but He didn't come to condemn. Jesus came to love us.
He didn't hold Himself back from the outsider. He drew near.
He didn't push the man into the pool. He told him to stand.
He didn't sign her death certificate. He forgave her.
Jesus came into the world as God fleshed out into the form of a man and gave Himself up as the sacrifice. He came to redeem us from sin and death by taking on the wrath of God. He paid our price so that we can have His life. He died so that we could live. The nails that kept Him pinned to the cross were our sins, our insecurities, our fears, our
this, whatever
this got you thinking that you'll never change.
Jesus died for
this and destroyed its hold on us. We are free.
We are subject to nothing but Him and His love, His mercy, His grace, His truth, His sovereignty.
This has nothing on us. If we are in Him then
this has no power over us, no matter how
this looks like.
Bonus: The woman with the issue of blood
It's been twelve years of blood rushing out of her. It's been twelve years of being an outcast, of people avoiding her, of being contagious. It's been twelve years of trying everything and I mean, everything. She's been to doctors. She tried all the home made remedies. All her money has been spent, investing in anything that can stop the flow. But nothing's worked and it's been twelve years. But in the middle of her despair, she hears the crowd rushing to the shore outside her village. And she hears that Jesus, the Jesus who heals, who saves and who frees, is coming here, to her neck of existence.
Like this woman, we know who Jesus is. We've heard what He can do.
And like us, this woman had to not only push through the crowd, but she also had to hurdle through twelve years of false hope, twelve years of doubt and twelve years of disappointment in order to get healed, delivered and freed from her
this.
I don't care how long
this has been with you, always remember that one touch, one second in His presence causes
this to change.
So with this new year, be resolved to push through
this because
this lost its power to stop you.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14
