Jesus. Is. Better.

When things get hard, you want to go back to what is easy - the path of least resistance. The author of Hebrews keeps saying, "Don't go back to where you used to be - that place was full of shadows - it is here that we have clarity. Jesus is the Light!" 

Jesus - the final Word from God.

The author is communicating that Jesus fulfilled all the longings of the Jewish people - indeed, of all people. Look at the first 3 verses of chapter 1:

Hebrews 1

(Verse 1) "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 

(verse 2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

(verse 3) He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power."

Break it down carefully, so you don't miss anything. Recognize that the author has pre-supposed you understand a few things.

First: When God speaks, it matters...most. Above everything else.
Second: We as humans are made in God's image (Gen 1:26). This means we have a need to hear what God says, because we have a need to be in relationship with Him.
Third: We have heard about Jesus Christ, his life, miraculous deeds, claim to be the Son of God, and his subsequent crucifixion and reported resurrection. We believe that God was/is able to raise a man from the dead, and was/is able to come to earth in human form.

Now, notice the differences and similarities between verse 1 and verse 2:

SHADOW

verb: "spoke"

subject: "God"

object: "fathers - patriarchs"

by means of: "prophets, Scriptures, OT"

time frame: "long ago"

CLARITY

verb: "spoke"

subject: "God"

object: "us"

by means of: "His Son"

time frame: "recently/now"

God speaks to us TODAY through Jesus, the Word. And like the guy who wrote Hebrews does, we need to constantly speak to each other with the words of Scripture, to encourage each other to stay out of the shadows and keep walking in the Light.

It's not easy for us, and it wasn't easy for the folks who received the letter to the Hebrews. They were Jewish-heritage Christians facing severe persecution for their faith - persecution from the Romans, from other Jews, from Greeks...from everyone! So when things get tough for us, we need to do what the author of Hebrews did and remind each other that JESUS IS BETTER than anything the world has to offer - security, acceptance, riches, you name it. Jesus is better than it all. 

the testing ground

Fighting for faith on "the testing ground of evils?"

I know what that's like.

Full of heart-ache, constantly having to put the future and the past back into God's hands, constantly preaching the Death-will-be-no-more Gospel to my sorrowful heart...for the past 5 months it feels as though I've been camping out on the testing ground of evil.


But you know what's amazing?
Christ is camping with me.


He's there, when I'm battling tears in the thrift store because look at those adorable baby clothes. He's there, when a friend's thoughtless, condescending comment cuts into the rawest part of my heart. Or when I find out there are new tumors on James' spine; when I get a call from a lawyer trying to sort out family problems gone crazy.


Christ knows.

He's there, standing like a champion fighter watching a young apprentice get beaten with the flat of a sword. "Like we practiced, Cate! Face your opponent! Remember how I taught you to parry? Do it! Imitate me!"


Jesus turns the testing ground of evil into an opportunity to become like Him. Each new encounter with some form of evil serves as a reminder that Christ has defeated it once and for all. All of it.
Even death. 

As David Powlison puts it, Christ has defeated this last enemy:

"Paul describes the Holy Spirit is the unseen, inner ‘downpayment’ on the certainty of life. By faith, the Lord gives a sweet taste of the face-to-face reality of eternal life in the presence of our God and Christ. We might also say that cancer is one ‘downpayment’ on inevitable death, giving one bad taste of the reality of of our mortality. Cancer is a signpost pointing to something far bigger: the last enemy that you must face. But Christ has defeated this last enemy: 1 Corinthians 15. Death is swallowed up in victory. Cancer is merely one of the enemy’s scouting parties, out on patrol. It has no final power if you are a child of the resurrection, so you can look it in the eye."

I admire how John Piper and David Powlison, both diagnosed with prostate cancer, acknowledge how heavy the shadows can be. I also admire how they simultaneously insist/exhort/remind us that God is in absolute control and He can turn every trial (even the heartbreaking ones) into blessings.

"The blessing comes in what God does for us, with us, through us. He brings his great and merciful redemption onto the stage of the curse. Your cancer, in itself, is one of those 10,000 ‘shadows of death’ (Psalm 23:4) that come upon each of us: all the threats, losses, pains, incompletion, disappointment, evils. But in his beloved children, our Father works a most kind good through our most grievous losses: sometimes healing and restoring the body (temporarily, until the resurrection of the dead to eternal life), always sustaining and teaching us that we might know and love him more simply. In the testing ground of evils, your faith becomes deep and real, and your love becomes purposeful and wise: James 1:2-5, 1 Peter 1:3-9, Romans 5:1-5, Romans 8:18-39." 

Faith that is deep. Love that is wise. That is what I need, and only Jesus can give it.
He is Light, and only light can cast out darkness; He is Life, and only life can overcome death.


There are a lot of good thoughts in Piper and Powlison's article, thoughts that helped me look at my pain in light of the Cross and resolve not to waste it. Check it out here:  "Don't Waste Your Cancer"

o heart, rejoice!

"See, the nails have penetrated through, and from both hands and feet gushes forth the blood of the Holy One.

O these nails have rent the rock of salvation for us, that is may pour forth the water of life; have reft the heavenly bush of balm that it may send forth its perfume.

Yes, they have pierced the hand-writing that was against us, and have nailed it to the tree; and by wounding the Just One, have penetrated through the head of the old serpent.

O let no one be deceived with respect to Him who was thus nailed to the cross! Those pierced hands bless more powerfully than while they moved freely and unfettered. They are the hands of a wonderful Architect who is building the frame of an eternal Church-yea, they are the hands of a Hero, which take from the strong man all his spoil. And believe me, there is no help or salvation save in these hands; and these bleeding feet tread more powerfully than when no fetters restrained their steps. Nothing springs or blooms in the world, except beneath the prints of these feet...

Thank God! in that scene of suffering the Sun of Grace rises over a sinful world, and the Lion of Judah ascends into the region of the spirits that have the power of the air in order, in a mysterious conflict, eternally to disarm them on our behalf."

-"The Suffering Savior," by F.W. Krummacher (gracias to Phil Greendyk for drawing my attention to Krummacher)

Heavy heart, why are you mourning?

Heavy heart, why are you mourning?
There is no provision for the longings of the flesh.
You are yearning for Egypt greens – this is not godly sorrow.
God cannot comfort you in your lust.
Rouse yourself! Repent of self-pity.
The wine of disobedience has thrown you into a stupor.
Wake up! Heavy heart, you are eager to justify
Your misery. You are blaming the Maker & His gifts
as if together they have tied the millstone around your joy.

That is foolishness.

God is not robbing you,
You are robbing God. Do you not realize that there is
No joy apart from Christ? You are an errant sheep
Chewing on thistles far from your shepherd’s pasture.
He is not to blame for the bitterness on your tongue.
Repent, you black-sheep heart!
Turn your feet towards His stable,
Bend your knees before His throne.
He, and he alone, is able to lift you…
Without Him you will be heavy for the rest of your life.

Truth & lies

When I lie, I deny Christ in me victory.
I denigrate the authority of the Spirit in my life.
I make an argument, not for the glory and kindness of God, but for craftiness and rebellion of Satan.

I degrade my sonship into willful slavery to evil, I compartmentalize my spiritual identity, rationalize my infidelity, like a promiscuous pragmatist in the bed of a prostitute.

Yet Jesus prayed (John 17?) for me, asking the Father to "sanctify" me in His Truth. I want to yield my whole soul, my whole mind, my entire ends-justifies-the-means heart to the deep plowing work of the Holy Spirit. Furrow me deep, o Lord, uproot and destroy these weedy lies that seek to throttle out the wheat of truth.

Discipline me, o my Father

"If we would put some slight stress on ourselves at the beginning, then afterwards we should be able to do all things with ease and joy. It is a hard thing to break through a habit, and a yet harder thing to go contrary to our own will. Yet, if thou overcome not slight and easy obstacles, how wilt thou overcome greater ones? Withstand thy will at the beginning, and unlearn an evil habit, lest it lead thee little by little into worse difficulties. Oh, if thou knewest what peace to thyself thy holy life should bring,...and what joy to others, methinketh thou wouldst be more zealous for spiritual profit."

-Thomas a Kempis

Loneliness comes over us sometimes as a sudden tide. It is one of the terms of our humanness, and, in a sense, therefore, incurable. Yet I have found peace in my loneliest times not only through acceptance of the situation, but through making it an offering to God, who can transfigure it into something for the good of others.

Elisabeth Elliot