I think most everyone is familiar with the story of the first public miracle that Jesus performed. He and his mother were attending a wedding when the wine ran out. As the host family scrambled to figure out a way to avoid the embarrassment that was sure to follow, Jesus' mother said, "Get my son, he can help." They bring Jesus over and tell him of the situation. Jesus tells them to bring him some containers of water and he turns the water into wine. The wine wasn't just any wine either, it was the best wine any of the guests had ever had. Jesus had taken ordinary water and turned it into extraordinary wine. I think this is what Jesus does in our lives. He takes our ordinary, sinful lives and turns them into extraordinary righteous ones. What a glorious miracle that is.
Unfortunately, many of us then spend the rest of our lives trying to undo what Jesus has done. We may not be doing it consciously but we are still doing it. Once we encounter the risen Lord, we should live a victorious life, instead many continue to live a defeated one. We should be different, we should be changed, we should be wine, not water. Stop trying to turn your wine back into water.
This video was filmed at a church in South Bend, Indiana, insert your town and state.
This post is what happens when a student's chapel at our school passes through my mind. In this case, I must thank Mary Kate Arnold, a senior at Heirway Christian Academy, for the inspiration for this post.
We are all born into sin, and for this sin we have been sentenced to death. We live our lives chained to the wall of a jail cell; left to wallow in the filth of our sin, waiting for the day that our captor will come to carry out our final sentence. When the day comes that we must pay the price for our sinful life, we will face the executioner. He will draw back his arm to deliver the blow that will end it all.
It is at this moment that Jesus steps into the gap before us and the blows meant for us will fall on Him. As the blows land, the blood of this innocent man will splatter on us. As the blood falls on us, the filth of our sin is washed away and the shackles fall off.
For all too many Christians, this is where the story ends. Their shackles are released and their sins are washed away, but there they sit in that jail cell still, the filth of their sin all around them. Jesus doesn't free us to continue sitting in the filth of our sin in that jail cell. He calls us to get up and check the door. If we do, we will find it open with the whole world outside of it. Becoming a Christian isn't a one-and-done event, it is a process that continues every day. We need to stand up and push that cell door open and exit into the life that God has laid out before us.
She used this video to open up her chapel and it is very powerful. It is a little long, but please take the time to watch it.
We spent all of last month eagerly awaiting the arrival of Christmas. We decorated, we shopped, we baked, we were excited for the coming of Christmas day. We were looking forward to the arrival of the Christ Child. Well, now Christmas has come and gone. The decorations have been put away, the tree is gone, the food has been eaten, and the new has worn off of the presents. Did anything really change? What was all of the excitement for? Here we are only a few weeks later and it is like Christmas never happened.
Unfortunately, I think as Christians this is all too often true of us. There is much excitement, rightly so, about Jesus' arrival in our life, but then a few weeks later nothing has really changed. The first Christmas changed the world forever. With the arrival of Jesus, man was provided with a way to escape the destiny that sin demanded. Jesus did more than change history, He changed eternity. We can now spend eternity with Him in heaven. His arrival in our life should leave a noticeable change in our lives, it shouldn't be a one day event. It isn't something we celebrate and then put away in the closet. We should live our lives as if we are meeting Jesus for the first time every day. Every day should have the excitement of Christmas.
