"It is finished...Peace be with you."  John 19:30; 20:19


The last words that Jesus speaks before His death are, "It is finished."  And the first words He speaks to His disciples following His resurrection are, "Peace be with you."  Jesus came to proclaim and demonstrate God's love.  And not coincidentally, He came to bring us freedom and peace.  He died to demonstrate the power of love over hate, submission over revenge, and peace over fear.  He came to talk about these principles, and He came to live them.  Did the power of love back up His message?  Yes!  Death didn't have the last word.


But I wonder, how many Christians who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus actually have peace?  When Jesus appeared to His disciples in that locked room, they were terrified.  They were hiding-out, and with good reason.  They had seen Jesus be crucified, and they feared they were next.  Fear is the absence of peace, and when He appeared to them in their confused and terrified state, He offered them what they needed most.  


"Peace be with you," He said.  And then He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  He wasn't offering them a momentary peace, but a lasting peace: the promise that God would always be with them.  It was finished.  The work had been done.  The full extent of His love had been shown, and the way of love had won!  There was nothing more to fear.


Jesus offered them peace, and He also informed them of their mission.  "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  Jesus came with a message of love and peace, and He was appointing them to go and do likewise--with His peace, presence, and power going with them.  He had lived the glorious path of completing the work the Father had for Him, and He wanted to help them do the same.


His first and only "assignment" for them, if you will, was forgiveness.  "If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven."  He commissioned them not to merely tell people God had forgiven them, but to demonstrate that unconditional love by being forgiving people.  He sent them with a message that was meant to be lived-out.  To not hold on to how others had oppressed and persecuted them and would do so in the future, and to not fear them or anything in this world.  Letting go of their anger and fear would bring peace.


How much of that reality are you experiencing?  Are your daily thoughts and actions rooted in fear, confusion, hopelessness, or anger?  Or is your heart and mind consumed with peace, love, and forgiveness?  Are you living-loved, or living-scared?  Living-loved, or living-stressed?  Living-loved, or living-bitterness?  


"It is finished...Peace be with you...love...forgive...let go."   




The Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

Christmas Hope

Advertising is big business.  Wikipedia defines advertising as "a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience to continue or take some new action."  Most commonly this means that advertisers are trying to get us to buy stuff that we may or may not need.  We see this all year round in our consumer-based society, but Christmas is a time when they really bring out the big guns.  Special deals on products, one-day sales, limited-time offers, and let's not leave out "the newest best thing your Christmas won't be complete without!"

It can be overwhelming.  With so much demanding our attention, time, and money, it's easy to get distracted from what Christmas is all about.  But I think we can also learn something from those who are demanding our attention during this Christmas season.  Letting people know what is available to them and convincing them that they need it is the key to good advertising.  And advertising is not always bad if you have something that's worth something to someone.

Advertising at Christmas is not just a modern-day practice.  God is in the business of advertising too, and that's really what the first Christmas was all about.  He had something that people needed, and He sent messengers to proclaim the good news.  But He started way before Christmas Day.  Black Friday retailers don't have anything on God's advance planning.  Many of the Prophets of the Old Testament proclaimed that a Savior was coming hundreds of years before Jesus arrived, and months ahead of time God sent an angel to tell Mary and Joseph all about the role they would play in bringing this Savior to the world.  

On the night of Jesus' birth, more angels came to announce His arrival and proclaim, "Peace on earth and goodwill toward men."  But this wasn't the end of God's marketing scheme.  He sent John the Baptist to "prepare the way for the Lord", and when Jesus began His public ministry, He was a walking advertisement of what God wanted the people to know and take hold of.  "The kingdom of God is near," He said.  Salvation had come.  God's mercy was alive and well.

I was doing some searching this week on the word "hope" in the Bible.  I was looking for encouraging verses to share with those who need hope in their lives because of difficult circumstances they are facing this holiday season.  In the Old Testament I found it 70 times, used in both positive and "I have no hope" ways; and from Acts to Revelation, it is used 60 times.  But in the gospels, it occurs once, and only as a figure of speech rather than as a reference to having hope in God.

Doesn't that seem odd?  When the Old Testament Prophets and Poets talked about hope, they were talking about God bringing salvation to His people, in both broad and specific ways.  Oftentimes they were talking about Jesus, the Savior that would come and deliver them. And the New Testament writers were speaking about the same thing.  And yet Jesus Himself never used the word. 

I think the reason for this is that Jesus said it a different way.  He was much more specific in how He described Himself and His role.  He didn't say, 'Your hope has come.  I have arrived,' and leave it at that.  He said, "I am the bread of life,; I am the light of the world; I am the good shepherd."  I bring healing, pardon from sin, satisfaction, eternal life, peace, joy, and everything that you truly need.  He told them about something they'd had all along.  Jesus didn't come to proclaim anything new.  He came to say, You are loved.  You always have been, and you always will be.

The Prophet Isaiah proclaimed: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."  (Isaiah 9:6)

Isaiah was one of God's advertisers, and I see myself the same way.  I write to "encourage or persuade an audience to continue or take some new action."  But it's not just hype.  It's not about greed or running a successful company or inventing the newest best thing.  It's about sharing a basic truth: You are loved.

In John 17:26, Jesus says these words to His Father during prayer: "I have made you known to them, and I will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them."  What did Jesus come to do?  He came to advertise God's love.  He came to show us what we really need.  And He never stops!  I encourage you to look for ways that God has displayed His love to you.  As you celebrate the Savior's birth this season, think about what God's love really means for you.  What difference has God's mercy and love meant to you in the past, and how can it make a difference today?  


May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

A Place Called...

"You know the way to the place where I am going." John 14:4


Jesus did a lot during his time of public ministry.  He preached.  He taught.  He told stories.  He healed.  He made people happy.  He made people mad.  He spent time with "sinners", He dialogued with religious leaders, He talked to women, He blessed children, and He spent a lot of time with a particular group of disciples: twelve men He called to follow Him, learn from Him, and work with Him.

In the end, before He returned to Heaven in front of their very eyes, He gave them instructions to do the same.  To go and make disciples, teaching them to obey His commands, and immersing them in all that God is, just as He had done.  But He didn't leave them on their own.  He had two things to offer them.  His authority in Heaven and on Earth; and His presence.  "All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples...and I am with you always, until the end of time."

Wow.

I was reading in John 14 this week, and it begins gloriously.  "Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in Me."  He goes on to talk about this 'place' He is going to.  It's a place He will prepare for them.  To go ahead of them to get everything ready, and then to return and take them to this place so they can be where He is.

"You know the place where I am going," He says.  But they don't agree.  They don't seem to have any clue what He is talking about.  Is Jesus speaking in error then?  Do they really not know, or do they just think they don't know?  Since Jesus calls Himself the Truth a few verses later, I'm betting on the second one.  They knew, they simply didn't realize that they knew.

He responds to their confusion by saying. "I am the way, the truth, and the life."  He said the same thing at other times too.  "I am the gate for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd.  I am the living water.  I am the bread of life."  'I am, I am, I am...all that you need.'

When we read the Bible, we see a lot of commands.  God's instructions for right and successful living abound.  He hasn't left us in the dark about what is good and what is bad.  He tells us plainly, and we have a choice: to listen and believe, or to go our own way.  But He doesn't stop there.  He also gives the reader a reason to believe.  He does more than spout commands.  He also teaches about who He is.  He is holy.  He is just.  He is love.  He is mercy.  He is our Father.

He is about goodness, but He is also about something else: relationship.

"You know the way to the place where I am going (to prepare a place for you to be with me)...I am the way."

What is He talking about?  A place of fellowship with Him.  A place called joy.  A place called peace.  A place called hope.  A place called healing.  A place called safety.  A place called...

What does fellowship with Jesus mean to you?

We get no hard and fast description of this 'place' Jesus wants to take us, other than this: He is there.  And the key to finding this place is to know Him.  Allow me to paraphrase: 'You know the way...I am the way!  Don't you know Me after all this time?  Don't you know the Father?  You have seen us both.  Wake up!'   I think Jesus is talking about the same place, a place of fellowship with Him, when he uses the words 'eternal life'.  "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:27-28)  Do you see it?  He refers to His presence once again.  That's what it's all about: being with Him, walking with Him hand in hand, resting in Him.

It's a place called...You fill in the blank.  How well do you know God?  What have you allowed Jesus to be to you?  What have you allowed Him to do for you?  What are you eager to do with Him?  What more do you need to believe?  He makes fellowship with Him possible because of who He is.  Because this is what He wants more than anything.  He invites, teaches, leads, and He is there.  I simply follow, listen, trust, and enjoy.

I pray you will do the same.


You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11