March 16, 2016
“Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God — a scrawny seeding, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look.” Isaiah 53:1-2 The Message
God didn’t make your life complicated. You did .. by trying to make life work on your terms with good intentions .. good motives .. and good efforts. No matter how hard you try .. life in this world leaves bruises and scars. You were born into a wandering-off and gotten-lost world. Easter came looking for you. He’s described as a scrawny nothing that was overlooked and easily dismissed. He didn’t require a second look. How many “second looks have gotten you in trouble .. trapping you? Easter looks like “His bruises” that made you whole. It was God’s plan all along to look for you with nail scars. He is approachable because He knows your brokenness firsthand. This is how God planned to come after you and make you whole. Easter brings a resurrection-filled life of love. He knows every bruise you are carrying and every bruise you have inflicted. It all got piled on Him. Maybe that’s why grace gets packaged so commonly .. so ordinary .. so easter disguised. And Jesus does the most incredible act of love ever known: He takes away all of the archived and active sin-piles that you have carried and even now may be carrying. He wears them as his own .. they are his now .. and don’t belong to you anymore. Jesus never asks you to hold on to part of your past .. or to try a little harder today. He comes .. He asks .. and He is always-ready-at-anytime to receive your pile as His own. Easter wasn’t packaged for appearances. He arrived so that we would not have to live alone .. wandering .. lying to ourselves .. isolated .. and hedging our bets to protect our lives. There is a real Easter look: the one you see and the one others see in you. It only takes a moment …
” … He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.” Isaiah 53:5-6 The Message
Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent to Easter-shaped followers of Jesus (kchesterp1@gmail.com)
