Heart Tracks - The Supplement

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. I TImothy 1:15...."Jesus did not come into the world to improve us. He came to rescue those who are lost, broken, and helpless." Chris Tiegreen

Supplements. Our culture has a lot of them. We are always looking for new ways to supplement our lives, make them better, more fulfilling. Whether it be simple vitamins to supplement our diet, self-help books to supplement our overall well-being, or professional counselors to supplement our self-image, we're into finding something, anything, to improve the state of our life, something that we can add on to it. In many ways, I think we have made Jesus just such a supplement.

Though it may not have been the intent, I think we have reduced the King of Glory to someone who offers improvements to our flesh. He can help us be more patient, more stress-free, have a more positive attitude, and a host of other good things. He can make us a better person, and in the making, give us a more rewarding life. He offers a "wonderful plan" for us, and if we'll give Him a chance, He'll show us just how wonderful life can be. He can make a bad life good, and a good life better. Yet none of this is the reality, though the enemy is very satisfied with such a message. He doesn't care if our lives get better so long as we stay lost. Someone said that His wonderful plan for our lives is to make us holy. Our fallen flesh cannot be made holy. It can only be brought to the cross, crucified, and made new in Christ. His ultimate means of "helping" us is to bring our fallen flesh life to its death at the cross in order that we might enter into His risen life from the same place. He did not come to make people who were mostly good, better. He came to transform people who were hopelessly lost and separated from God by sin, into new creations in Him, reconciled to a Father who gave His only Son that they could be made so.

Every year around Easter, there comes a flood of programs asking "Who was Jesus?" I've never seen any that hit upon who He was, and more, who He is. He was not a good man with good ideas and philosophies. He was fully man and fully God, sinless, perfect, and the only acceptable offering for the penalty of sin which all of us, you, and me, are born under. He is no add on, or author of a great self improvement program. He's the King of kings, Lord of lords, and the conqueror of sin and death. He did not come to help flawed people become less flawed. He came to save and deliver those who have absolutely no means of saving or delivering themselves from sin's penalty...eternal death.

So here we are again this Easter. How do you see this Jesus? And how do you see yourself in His Light? As One who can give you a helping hand? Someone who had led an exceedingly wicked life once said to me, "I'm a good guy, I just do bad things." Their blindness to their soul's need was deep, and yet they had and have lots of company in their view. Contrast that with Paul. Was he truly the worst of sinners? In his own eyes, confronted with the beauty and holiness of Jesus Christ, he was. To truly see Jesus is to truly see ourselves; lost, broken, helpless. The worst of sinners. And then, if we'll have it, to truly see the spiritual transformation only He can bring about. He doesn't add on to fallen lives, He cleanses and removes our sin and the penalty of it. The old really does pass away, and the new really does come. Has it been so for you? The old hymn says that He brings us out of the miry clay. Have you been brought out? Are you ready to be? Or, do you just look for Him to make your conditions in the clay better? That same hymn says He sets our feet on His Solid Rock. Are your feet in the clay, or on the Rock?

Blessings,
Pastor O