What's Worth Your Life?

The first week was packed tightly with heartbreaking, mind-blowing tragedy, but this week? This is when the routine begins.

wake up. maybe run. get ready. eat breakfast. spend and hour with Jesus. pray. leave for school. sit in class. meet students. eat lunch. hang out. go home. have a meeting. eat dinner. hang out. go to sleep.

I love schedules, but schedules make me nervous. They make me nervous because when I'm in a schedule or routine, it makes it really easy for me to become apathetic. But I read about people like Paul who shared the Gospel (the very reason he was imprisoned in the first place) with his prison guard in Rome, and I know that I've got it easy. I live in a country where the only thing that keeps me from sharing my faith is the fear not that I would lose my life, but my reputation, my image. So as I travel all the way to India to share this very same truth with very different people, living in very different circumstances, with very different beliefs, I feel a little bit sheepish because I know that there are so many people incredibly dear to me already that are completely unaware of the Jesus that I know (who is, by the way, the REAL Jesus).

So this entry is about me. It's about why I'm here. Why I live the way I live and act the way I act. It's about what defines me and drives me. What brings me hope and joy and peace. It's about what, or who, rather, is worth every inch of my heart, every moment of my time, and every breath that I breathe. So really it's not about me, it's about my Rescuer, my Hero, my Knight in Shining Armor. So if you know nothing about me, but you're on my blog, this is why. If you know me, nothing about Jesus, and you are reading my blog, please forgive me, and I beg you--read on. If you are a Christian, I encourage you to humble yourself before the cross and be reminded of the beauty of our Gospel. No matter who you are, this is for you because you, my friend, bear the very image of God and He loves you dearly.

So earlier, I mentioned a man named Paul. This Paul character was once a hater of the followers of Jesus. He imprisoned men and women of faith, and even killed many many Christians. You see, Paul (Saul at the time) was a Jew and he believed that Christ-followers were a part of a cult that was dishonoring to God, until one day, God came to Saul. He spoke to him and removed his vision for three days. Then, God sent a man named Ananias so Saul could regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. (Acts 9:18). Saul (also called Paul) immediately proclaimed that Jesus is the Son of God, and people were amazed because this was the same man that was persecuting the church just days before. These people who were amazed at Paul's sudden conversion realized that he believed what he was proclaiming with all that he was. They realized that he would be devoted to the Gospel until the day that he died, so they began to plot his death. Before they could follow through with it, Paul was warned and he fled. His safety was only temporary, for he was imprisoned, beaten nearly to death, received forty lashes less one 5 times, was beaten with rods 3 times, was stoned, shipwrecked, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from his own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; (2 Corinthians 11:23-30) endured toil and hardship, endured many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in cold and exposure.

After all of this, it is no wonder why Paul said, "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." But what really gets me is what he says in the same breath just after: Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. (Philippians 1:22-24)

So what is it that Paul was so willing to suffer for? What was it that made him unafraid of death? What was it that explained why he lived the way he lived and acted the way he acted? What defined him and drove him? What brought him hope and joy and peace? What, or who, rather, was worth every inch of his heart, every moment of his time, and every breath that he breathed?

Let me tell you--the message that Paul proclaimed is the same message that I came all the way to South Asia to proclaim. The message is the Gospel:

God created the world--the skies and the seas; the land and the sun; the greens and the mists to water the ground; He created animals, and as His specialty, He made man. He called all things into existence, but "the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." (Genesis 2:7). Everything was as it should be, and God told Adam and Eve that they should trust Him, that with Him, they had all they could ever need. So He instructed them to refrain from eating an apple from one forbidden tree. Because Satan--an angel that wanted to be God, tempted Eve to eat it, she did. Then Adam did as well. After eating it, both Adam and Eve were naked, embarrassed, and afraid--feelings they had never experienced before. It was that moment that God kindly asked with tears in His eyes, what they had done? For God knew that His perfect creation would never be that way again. For things would keep getting worse--all the good would unravel, and God's children would forever believe the lie fed by Satan that God didn't love them. Because God is holy, He could no longer have full contact with Adam and Eve.

While this may sounds like the end, it's not. the space between man and God was formed by sin. Scripture says that as a result of our sin--which we were born into as a result of the fall, we have earned eternal separation from God. The only thing that could bridge the gap between God and man was blood--the blood of a sacrifice to atone for our sin. For many years, animals were sacrificed to cover sins temporarily, but relationship with God could not be fully, forever restored until an eternal sacrifice was made. So God sent from His right hand, His one and only, Beloved son Jesus Christ, as the one and only, forever provision for our sin. Fully God and fully man, Jesus lived a perfect life--one without sin so that He could bear God's wrath on our behalf. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turne--every one--to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).

Although no guilt was found in Him, Jesus was given up to be crucified. He was beaten and bloody, flowing from the whip marks on His back. He was spat on, struck on the head, and forced to carry the Roman cross to the "place of the skull" where His broken and weakened body would be nailed and raised. "For hours we see Him hanging suspended between heaven and earth in a pain we can't imagine--and yet without complaint, without protest. Instead, we hear this: 'Father forgive them, for the know not what they do.'" We can identify ourselves as the angry mob screaming and spitting. "Even if you can't recognize yourself among the angry faces, or distinguish your own strident voice...He can. And in response to those sinful shouts and curses from you and me, Jesus yields to the sentence of death." --C.J. Mahaney

Three days after His gruesome death, Jesus rose from the dead showing that He overcame sin and death, and showing that God accepted Jesus as the one and only sacrifice for all who choose to accept Him as their Savior, their Rescuer, their Redeemer. It is Jesus who paid the price for our souls. It is through Him and only Him that we will ever see heaven. As a result of Jesus' death and resurrection, God says that we are free from the death we deserve for our sin, but not only that, but we are free to go to Him in relationship. We now have peace with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So what do you do?

You simply pray. God knows your heart, for with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved (Romans 10:10).

So Paul preached this truth with all of himself, with reckless abandon no matter the circumstance. It was worth living a life of temporary misery so that more may be saved from eternal suffering. That is why here, in South Asia, in a place of pain and brokenness, they must know that their false Hindu Gods will not satisfy their thirsty souls. That is why we--with our false treasures must know that Jesus is the only thing worth our whole life, our whole heart.