This article can be
found at this
link from http://misfitmag.com and
written by the founder of the magazine, Guillermo Gonzalez. This article made me stop and think and
desire to live with passion while radically serving the people God puts around
my life. Read on, and may God use these
words to inspire us to live with courage.
Jesus was a radical. He always
took things to a different level. He did
extreme things. Fasted for 40 days and
40 nights. Healed people in the Sabbath,
which was a day no one was supposed to do such things. He loved so much, served so much, and forgave
so much that it costed His own life. I
guess loving and serving so much isn’t a sin, yet is so costly. It takes a courageous man.
Indeed Jesus was so radical that the words He spoke was just an
expression of what was in His heart and the things He had already done. He said to His disciples, “If you want to
follow me, deny yourself” This wasn’t
anything new for Jesus. He Himself had
already denied Himself as God by becoming a human like us. Where in the world do we find a God that would
love to become human? This is nuts! No wonder in Philippians, Paul writes of this
denying as follows, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as
something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he
took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”
I truly don’t know where this comes from, but as far as I can tell, this
is straight out humility. God denies
Himself and considers Himself a slave, a servant.
This Jesus is so nuts that though He was still a human, He never ceased
to be God as well. Jesus was the human
God. If that makes any sense. He was so much of God that He had the power to
save me, and He was so much of a man that He had the courage to die for me.
Jesus was such a servant and a slave that He willingly washed His
disciples dirty feet. This wasn’t
anything new either. For God in the
beginning got dirty for us too. When God
created us in the beginning, it says that He created us from the dust of the
earth. If you notice in the previous
verses God speaks things into existence. But when it comes to the creation of man, He
doesn’t speak us into existence. Instead He gets up from His throne, comes down
to earth, touches dirt, and creates us from there. When He created us, He got dirty. He touched the dust of the earth.
And so, several thousands of years later, He comes from heaven to the
same dust He once touched in the beginning. But it gets worst. He is with His disciples, takes off His
clothes, throws them on the floor. Picks
up a towel. Wraps it around His waist. And washes the disciples feet.
This is crazy! Jesus is crazy. Why would He do such thing? Why would he wash someone’s feet? That’s kind of nasty. Maybe no one told Jesus that the reason why we
wouldn’t do such thing is because of something we call pride. Maybe Jesus didn’t knew that word.
So when Jesus tells His disciples if they want to follow Him they must
deny themselves, He knew exactly what that meant. He had already done such thing. But then He tells them that if they want to
follow Him, they must pick up their cross as well.
This Jesus is so crazy that He decides to say the truth of who He is…
publicly!
He said that He was the “I am”
This almost costed His life. As
Pharisees picked up stones and wanted to stone Him to death. I guess when you tell your true identity to
the world, they might not always like it. In fact, the enemy has always tried to blurred
our identity, He doesn’t want us to say that we are the sons of the “I
am”. Our enemies doesn’t wan us to recognize that we are full of the “I
am”. The world doesn’t want us to say
the “I am” lives in us.
But I thank God that I recognize who I’m really are now, and because I’m
full of the “I am”, then I’m able to say:
I am – capable
I am – valuable
I am – beautiful
I am – strong
I am – not suicidal
I am – not worthless
I am – God’s chosen one
I am – God’s son
I am – God’s daughter
I am – God’s beloved
Now a days is a crazy thing to recognize all this in the midst of our
problems. But because Jesus was crazy, then I’m able to be crazy for Him. Because Jesus was radical, then I’m able to be
radical for Him. Because Jesus knows who
He is, then I’m able to know who’s I am.
Jesus is so radical that one day He sees a blind man. He spits on the ground. Makes mud. And touches the blind man’s eyes with the mud.
He tells him to go wash himself. And
Jesus actually believes that He is going to heal this guy.
I guess in life, sometimes all it takes to see the miraculous power of
God is to have some faith. To say, “If
Jesus could, then I can”
The sad thing is that sometimes we never see God’s miraculous power in
our lives because we don’t believe that God can. We rationalize the power of God. But the power of God cannot be rationalized. The power of God is more powerful than our
minds. Our minds are so little when
comparing it to God’s infinite wisdom.
That’s why when we come to church it shouldn’t surprise us when someone
gets healed or someone speaks in tongues. It’s not us, it’s God!
If there is anyone in the church or in the world that should be more
excited about God is us the young people, because God has chosen us to be His
warriors.
We should have faith that God can do the miraculous through us.
This is the faith that makes people go radical and crazy. This faith allowed Phillip to be
tele-transported from one place to another. This faith allowed Peter to walk on water.
This is the faith that is going to take us far in life. This is the faith that makes heroes. This is the faith that makes legends. This is the faith that makes warriors. This faith makes us do crazy stuff like loving
others while everyone hate each other. This
faith is the faith that makes us give hope to people in this hopeless world.
What we need is young people that have the faith of David. Facing giants with a rock. Killing lions to
save what belongs to him. Fighting with
bears as a hobby. Singing to God while
lonely. Writing poems to God while being
persecuted. David is indeed a legend!
What we need is young people that have the faith of Jacob. Taking by force what belongs to him. Standing
up for himself. Dreaming about God while sleeping. Hard workers in whatever
situation God put them through. Having
courage. Wrestling with angels! Jacob is indeed a legend
What we need is young people that have the faith of Joseph.
Understanding his identity in spite of what people said. Loving people while
they hated him. Persevering in the darkness. Always standing for truth and
integrity when Potifar’s wife wanted to have sex with him. Always hopeful even
in prison. Always humble even in the palace. Always wise when it came to
managing God’s resources. Joseph is a legend!
What we need is young people that have the faith of Abraham. Trusting
God when he doesn’t know where he’s going. Always providing for his family. Believing God even when God takes forever to
respond. Always willing to obey God even
when He asked him to sacrifice his son. Abraham is a legend!
What we need is young people that have the faith of Noah. Even if he was
the only one on earth, he still stood for the truth and had integrity. Obeying God in everything He commanded him to
do. Preaching the gospel even when
people thought he was crazy and nuts. Noah is a legend!
What we need is young people that have the
faith of Moses. Even if he didn’t knew how to talk he still preached the
message of God. Even if an entire country hated him and was against him, he
still did what God asked him to do. When
there was no exit, he lifted his hands and worshipped God, God then parts the
red sea. Moses is a legend!
Again, this article can be found at this
link from http://misfitmag.com and
written by the founder of the magazine, Guillermo Gonzalez.
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