I want to share my post-Resurrection Day thoughts to you ladies. My daily prayer is that God would raise me up, so that I could raise Him up and His message of love for the unlovable. I am thinking of those three out of five people who are experiencing chronic loneliness, or the 60% of teen girls who report experiencing severe sadness and hopelessness. What might the message of the Cross mean to them?
I know a 20-something Christian woman, Bible school graduate, who shared that she bailed from her church because one Sunday she had this overwhelming feeling that she didn’t belong. The congregation had raised their hands to worship the victorious Jesus, but she just couldn’t find any comfort in that, not in her fractured life. So, she left.
She should not be judged for this. She was being real. She needed a Jesus who loved her as she was and who had the power to break through the emotional defenses. She wasn’t feeling that love. She knew her sin was paid for. And yet, she wondered what Jesus really felt toward her.
Listening in on messages from a variety of pulpits this Resurrection Day, I heard repeatedly that resurrection is about the forgiveness of sins and eternity in heaven. I say Amen! If that were all there was, it would be enough.
But praise God, resurrection is about far more than that, particularly for that woman who wonders if God still sees her as loveable or worries if he regrets saving her in the first place.
Put yourself in that lady’s sandals—and so many others. She would 100% agree with the atonement theology, but she just doesn’t feel comfortable in Jesus’ loving arms. She is not alone. Amen?
Let me be clear. Among other things, Jesus-Follower, the Resurrection proclaims to unlovables that all the love in the universe is now in your grasp. You may not be experiencing it as much as you would like, but you can’t be more loved than you are right now. That will go on forever and ever.
Maybe no one else feels that way toward you, but He does. Our identities are so fractured, we desperately need someone who is that irrationally crazy about us. You, the Bride of Christ, no matter who you are, what you’ve done, or what’s been done to you, you have that one person.
To be crystal clear, among other things, the Cross is the marriage-price fully paid by your bridegroom for you. He adores YOU that much. The empty tomb testifies that your bridegroom and his undying love for you is also very much still alive. He stands in Heaven gazing lovingly into your beat-up, weary eyes. He will soon return to sweep you into his loving arms forever.
The Resurrection is about many things, but it is mostly about a unique celestial love that is “as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave (Song 8:6). And it burns for you.
Want to hear more about this love song? Follow me as I go through the Song of Songs on my podcast Gospel Rant (www.gospelrant.com). The Song of Songs, though widely misunderstood and panned, is the greatest love song ever written about the pursuing God who has wed himself to an unworthy, unloved bride. His love powerfully changes the Queen. I want that.
On the webpage, go to the store and get the Simple Uncluttered Gospel bookmark. Say it aloud 2-3 times a day for at least 30 days. You are preaching about the reality of this present love to that nasty critical inner spirit in your brain that tries to strangle the music before you can hear it.
If you feel a little like dancing, don’t resist. Thoughts? [email protected].
