Preparing our Hearts for Easter | How Great a Salvation!

Hebrews 12: 1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Most us know the basics of what a Christian life should look like on the outside.  The behaviors and fruits that others should see.  But if you’re like me, some days it just feels like you are trying to squeeeeeeze out that fruit in your own power with very little success.  

Our ‘shoulds’ only get us so far.  Sometimes, on a good day, they may even make it out of the church parking lot.  But the things we delight and find joy in, those things motivate and carry us energetically forward.  

In the Psalms, David asked for God’s help to give him a willing spirit.  

Psalm 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

This sounds like a very pious request until our finger drifts up to the opening description of that particular Psalm to find that this request came hot on the heels of his total and complete betrayal and transgression against his loyal soldier Uriah and Uriah’s wife Bathsheba.  It seems that David was painfully aware that he had thoroughly caved to his flesh and was in need of God to infuse in him a willing spirit to be able to obey God again. He knew that a willing spirit was rooted in taking joy in our salvation.  

How fresh is the joy of our salvation?

For many of us, we first met Jesus many, many years ago and may not have a very spicy conversion experience.  It can seem hard to take “joy in our salvation”, when, frankly, we don’t really remember being saved from anything.  

In the weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday, we will spend some time each week remembering what Jesus has saved us from and what he is saving us for.  As we grow in both gratitude for his atonement and excitement for the everlasting life that awaits us, our capacity for joy as we celebrate Easter will blossom.

As we begin preparing our hearts for celebrating the finished work of Christ, here are a few questions to meditate on, take to Him in prayer, and discuss with your small group or accountability partner.

1. Lord, please show me what you’ve saved me from, even if I was a child when I started walking with you.

2. Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life. (from Ps.139 paraphrase, The Message)

3. Lord, please restore in me the joy of your salvation, tune my ears and eyes to see how you are working in my life and the world around me to redeem all things.

I Believe, Help My Unbelief

Unbelief is one of those topics that we Christians tend to steer clear of like a sewer manhole without a cover. Wouldn’t admitting to bouts and struggles with unbelief be tantamount to divorcing ourselves from our very identity?  We call ourselves “believers” for crying out loud!  Not at all.  In fact, we even see in scripture (Mark 9:24) the story of a man who said “I believe, help my unbelief”.  We sometimes chuckle at his mid-sentence realization that what he was saying didn’t match up with what he was actually experiencing.  But I think if we look closer we find almost a formula for how to deal with doubts.  He stated that he did believe, but recognized there were still pockets of doubt lurking in his heart and mind and instead of only saying “I believe” to look good in front of Jesus, he was honest with where he was and immediately blurted out the confession, “help my unbelief”. 

And this, my friends, is what I think Jesus was after all along (and still is).  He’s after a relationship with us and he has already paid dearly to make that possible.  But as anyone with even cursory social skills knows, every true healthy relationship is built on honesty.  We fall into our enemy’s trap when we think that something we have thought or done needs to be hidden from God. Newsflash: He already knows.  Hiding from God when we’ve screwed up is literally one of the oldest tricks in The Book and the Enemy’s purpose of it is to create relational distance between us and the one who created us. 

Interestingly, I don’t think that the answer to unbelief is to avoid every topic we run into that causes confusion or doubt, tossing them back into the corner of our minds until they become an overwhelming avalanche of questions we’ve convinced ourselves that God can’t answer before we’ve ever even asked Him directly.  While the word is clear that we should not waste our time on a lot of pointless debates (2 Tim 2:23) with other people, I do believe that we are supposed to bring those doubts to God; Immediately, if not sooner. (as my 5^th grade teacher used to say).

There was a time in my college years that I secretly began to doubt if God was real or not.   Given that my entire identity, family, and friends were all rooted in the belief in Christ, this was a very real crisis for me.  In some of those really hard moments, I would pray like this, “God if you are real,…”.  I now look back on this time as me banging my fists against God’s chest while He held me in his arms.  While I hope that you are not that far down into the pit of despair, one thing I can tell you from experience.  He can handle it.  He is still God.  His feelings won’t be hurt when you tell him where you’re really at, He, in fact already knows and is waiting for you to bring it to him rather than trying to fix it yourself by drumming up religious feelings and listening to more Christian music.

So I guess my point is, whether you are doubting that He promised you what you think he did, that He really meant what he said in the Bible about (insert countercultural verse here), whether or not Christ is really God, or if you even finding yourself questioning if there is a God at all, TAKE IT TO GOD, regardless of what you believe at this second, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He’s not insecure.  He can take it.

-Renee Moreland

Sea of Galilee, Israel Trip 2016