A Beautiful Exchange

There's a song that we sing at church sometimes, I can't remember the name of the author or the name of the song, but there are words in that song that bring a smile to my face every time I hear them:

"There upon the cross I see,

You're unfailing love for me,

the majesty and mystery,

There upon the cross.

In death you won the victory,

That echoes throughout history,

The promise of eternity,

There upon the cross."

When Jesus was nailed on the cross to die He took ALL our sin, shame and guilt with Him (2 Corinthians 5.21). When I sin, I don't let it get me down. I'm not a sinner. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 2.17). I have all His righteousness because He took my sin and shame.

It's a concept few non-Christians grasp. God loved me so much, He not only sent His son to help me out of the gutter, He sent His son to take my place.

Being part of Jesus' death and resurrection; dying to sin and rising with Him, means that no matter how many sins I have committed, am committing, or will ever commit, my slate is clean. (Romans 8.1)

God is a God of second, third, fourth and fifth chances. His mercies are new EVERY morning. (Lamentations 3.22-23)

Get to know Jesus and get to know freedom.

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A Beautiful Exchange

I'm working through this course at the moment called 'Freedom In Christ' or FIC for short. Its been really good so far, and I would definitely recommend it to someone who has just become a Christian, or has issues that they need to work through.

During one session on it, we were talking about how we handle our emotions and feelings when it comes to God. Chapter 3 of the book Lamentations was mentioned, and seeing as I have yet to read it, I thought it would be good to just read the chapter.

Just to give a little background information on Lamentations, it is a book of five poems in the Old Testament of the Bible, believed to be written by the prophet Jeremiah. The word 'lament' is another way for describing passionate grief or mourning, and in the book Jeremiah mourns for Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by Babylonian invasion (which you can read more about here).

Anyway, the main point of interest for me was the nature of Jeremiah's lament in chapter 3. It starts with doom and gloom; and no wonder, because the city has been ravaged to the ground - and Jeremiah addresses God, talking about how he feels that God has turned against him and surrounded him with bitterness, and left him in the dark (vs. 3,5 and 6). This tone continues until the eighteenth verse, when after getting all of it off his chest, Jeremiah is encouraged in the knowledge that God has already done so much for him and is continually merciful; and he proceeds to bless God's name, with the tone of the poem changing dramatically (vs. 22 and 24).

I guess what I was encouraged by the most was the fact that God is man enough to take all our winging to His face. We don't ever need to worry that we might offend Him by saying how upset or abandoned we feel. God is okay with us acknowledging our feelings to Him, He wants us to get them off our chest so that we can hand them over to Him and know that He is totally in control.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I hope in Him!"

- Lamentations 3.24