Jesus Saves.
Two lessons: A reminder from one of the 7 New Wonders of the World of the hope we have in Jesus. Plus a nudge toward the openness to asking for help.
One thing I’ve found I’m uniquely gifted at is helping others understand the Bible. Some of this is based on natural gifting (teaching), but it also comes from years of personal study of Scripture.
I’ve shared over the years posts on how I work through this process personally, but I thought I would give an example today of two different things I saw as I read the Bible this morning. Let me preface with an encouraging anecdote.
Not every meal is gourmet
A few months ago, scrolling through Instagram, I happened on a clip of a great podcast conversation between two women. One gave an analogy of reading the bible to eating a meal. She said most people don’t expect a gourmet meal every time they eat. Many meals we hope to satisfy our need for calories.
We may hope for a steak dinner, but a ham sandwich is more than enough to get us through the day.
We don’t become discouraged. We don’t stop eating daily ham sandwiches because it’s not steak. We just consume our needed calories. However, when the opportunity for a steak dinner comes along, we savor it.
In this woman’s analogy, the steak dinner was a grand revelation from God. While this is a beautiful thing, it’s not a daily reality. Most days, we read scripture to satisfy our souls. It is more than enough to read the Bible, pray, and meditate, even when we don’t feel spiritual goosebumps.
Many days this is the case for me. I have pages and pages of notes (like the ones you’ll see below) which don’t hold deep value for me.
Some days though, are as if the sky opens up, light shines down and I am literally changed.
But not most days.
Jesus Saves.
I’m in a Bible reading plan that has me reading a large portion of the Bible in 150 days. Right now I’m reading through Matthew and parts of Genesis. This is a verse from Matthew:
A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” -Matthew 27:37
Below you can read the notes I took from this passage (notice I handwrite the scripture passage and then make my own notes from the verse and passage at large. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this, but this helps me embed the scripture deeper into my soul while also capturing my thoughts).
In my head was a post I made on Instagram earlier this week.
I wrote:
It sounds so simple. “Jesus saves.” Shouldn’t it be more complex? Salvation. Relief from my sin, myself. Hope for the hopeless.
Visiting one of the New 7 Wonders of the World - Chris the Redeemer - is a little like that. It so simple. A huge statue of Jesus with arms stretched open.
But standing at the base, in front of this icon, I am humbled. It not nearly so simple as it seems.
It’s massive, complex, overwhelming.
Jesus saves. It’s not so simple. It’s massive, complex, overwhelming. I’m messy. Jesus saves. I’m ugly at times. Jesus saves. I’m small in my thinking. Jesus saves.
But it’s also simple. Jesus simply saves, so I can be transformed. And so can you.
Jesus saves ✝️
This is Jesus, King of the Jews. Most times we see him as a massive statue with his arms stretched wide which we are able to look up to. This is all possible because he was willing to be nailed to a cross with his arms stretched wide.
Jesus allowed himself to be subjected to undeserved abuse.
Thank you, Jesus.
The Humility to Ask
In Genesis, I’m reading the story of Joseph. A few years ago, I wrote a series of devotions on this narrative (find them HERE). It’s a study of God’s faithfulness to Joesph as an individual and to Joseph’s family who will turn into the nation of Israel.
Chapter 40 tells the story of Joseph interpreting the two dreams of two different men - one Pharoah’s cupbearer and the royal baker. After Joseph tells the cupbearer that he will be restored to his position within three days, Joseph makes this request:
And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place. -Genesis 40:14
If you are familiar with this story, you’ll know Joseph ticked off his older brothers, so they sold him into slavery. He landed in the home of a high official in the Egyptian army but was wrongly accused of rape and thrown into jail.
Any point in this story was a perfect time for Joseph to turn his back on God, but it actually drives him closer to the Lord. Joseph was not unwilling to ask God for help, and he looked to him as his source. In fact, this is what he tells the baker and cupbearer before he interprets their dreams:
“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.” -Genesis 40:8
These are the notes I took (I was cut short in my devotion time, so I took the notes later on my computer - hence type instead of handwriting).
Joseph is more than willing to ask God for help, but he isn’t unwilling to ask others for help.
Rejection. Slavery. False Accusations. Prison. Any one of these will drive pride from a person, but Joseph deals with all of them. It allows him to humble himself to ask for help. Interestingly, the help doesn’t come for two more years (as we learn in the next chapter).
Where do you need to ask for help?
I’m no different than Joseph or you. I need help, but I don’t like to ask for it. I don’t want to be a burden. I don’t want to appear weak. I don’t want people to forget or ignore me.
So let me be really practical and put this into practice.
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Writing Playlist
I don’t know if we have the same taste in music, but here are some songs to explore. All the links go to Spotify. While writing this post, this is some of what I was listening to:
Joy in the Morning - Elevation + Tauren Wells (2nd time on the list)
Sweet Ever After - Ellie Holcomb + Bear Rinehart
Devastating - Johnnyswim (ring on my finger/tag on my toe/that means we made it)