Becoming “un-numb”

What God has shown me the most this summer is that as a Christian culture, we have become numb to the phrase “Jesus died for my sins.” One weekend, I heard it and questioned myself: What does that really mean?
People in America base Christianity around themselves. When people say “God loves me” they are making themselves the object of Christianity. David Platt writes in Radical, “The message of biblical Christianity is not ‘God loves me, period,’ as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is ‘God loves me so that I might make him-his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness¬-known among all nations.’ Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is.”
What I’ve really been learning about this summer is what the cross really means. As a Christian culture, we typically see the cross as a sign of God’s love. But it’s so much more than that. C. J. Mahaney writes in Living the Cross Centered Life, “For Jesus, the cross will bring incomparable and unprecedented suffering of wrath and abandonment.” When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, He wasn’t crying out to God and sweating blood because He was afraid to die; He knew He was about to face all of God’s wrath toward sin poured out on Him. When Jesus prayed for God to “remove this cup,” He was pleading for the Lord to save Him from His wrath. What is this “cup?” It is a reference to the wrath of God for our sins. Isaiah 51:17 says “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up O Jerusalem, you who have drank from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.” In the words of Mahaney, “This cup contains the full vehemence and fierceness of God’s holy wrath poured out against all sins, and we discover in Scripture that it’s intended for all of sinful humanity to drink.” When Jesus prays in the garden, He is not worried about dying; He is in fear of the agony of being abandoned by His Father. Habakkuk 1:13 says “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…” God is so holy and so perfect that He cannot even look at sin. When Jesus called out “My God my God, why have You forsaken me?” He felt God look away because He could not look at all of the sin on Jesus.
So what does “Jesus died for my sins” really mean? “Bearing our sins meant utter distress of soul as Jesus confronted total abandonment and absolute wrath from His Father on the cross, a distress and an abandonment and a rejection we cannot begin to grasp” (C. J. Mahaney). What should this mean to us Christians? Jesus freely took on ALL of our sins, past, present, future of all humanity past, present, and future “so that He could look down on us and whisper our names and say ‘I drain this cup for you-for you who have lived in defiance of Me, who have hated Me, who have opposed Me. I drink it all…for you’” (Mahaney). And accepting this gift of mercy and grace isn’t just a prayer and commitment to a church. When we say this is all you have to do to become a Christian, we are reducing the Gospel. It makes Jesus look so puny and desperate for us to come to Him. Even though God does draw us to Him and pursue us, does Jesus need our acceptance? Don’t we need Him?!
So what is a proper response to the Gospel? Radical, reckless surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that He is. With that comes a new heart; a heart that desires God and only God. Casting Crowns sings a song that asks the question “What does it mean to know God?” The answer: to want to know Him more. We get God. That is enough.
This summer has inspired me to live a radical life for the Lord and for others. I am totally turning my back on the American Dream, thinking I can make a life for myself without help. I need help and it only comes from my Savior. I want to give my life away and make disciples of all nations. I want to teach in inner city schools where they are in desperate need of the Gospel. I want to teach in orphanages overseas. I want to disciple young women my whole life. I want to disciple my children so I can send them out to make disciples. I want to stand before the Lord and for Him to tell me “Well done good and faithful servant.”
So I challenge you: How do you define Christianity? What does “Jesus died for my sins” mean to you? Have you surrendered your life to Christ or to yourself and the American dream?
Stay tuned. Only 2 weeks left.
In Christ,
Christine ><>