Filling in the Blanks (blog)

Remember Mad Libs? Soliciting all of those nouns, adjectives and adverbs from each other and then reading the ridiculous stories out loud was fun, but the best part was turning the page to a whole new set of blank lines. I'm ashamed to say that my siblings and I didn't always choose the nicest of words. Years later, I don't get that same thrill when I look ahead at what's to come and all of those blank spaces. I like certainty, and the spaces make me anxious. Life isn't a game that we play for fun. Accidents and illnesses happen. We're fearful and we fail. We're tempted and we sin. The wonderful message of Easter is that we can know, and trust, that God has filled in those spaces for us with the very best of words, like "loved", "forgiven" and "saved". He writes them in, around and over top of all of the other not-so-nice words that come up along the way, and He makes beautiful sentences for us to fit the fragments of our lives into. I'm not left with 'my sin and failures' anymore! 'Because He loves me, Jesus died on the Cross for my sin and failures, so that I can be forgiven and be with Him forever!' That's what Easter is all about. So grab hold of that thought that plagues you, the one that says "you will have trouble", and plug it right into the Bible, into Jesus' own words to you: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) Keep His words in your heart, and keep them in the right order. Jesus said that He "did not come to judge the world, but to save it." (John 12:47) That's so important to remember when you're reading your Bible and come across words and ideas that don't seem to fit together, like how God's judgements save people (Psalms 97:8, 105:7). Like with Mad Libs, context is everything. "Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you," Jesus said to His followers, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." Before Jesus' crucifixion they "did not understand" what His words meant and were "afraid to ask him about it". (Luke 9:44-5) But a short time later their hearts were "burning" within them on the road to Emmaus, as Jesus spoke the same words in the context of His resurrection and their salvation: "Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" (Luke 24:32, 26) God's righteous judgement and the punishment due us were written in Jesus' life even before He was born into the world. His death on the Cross for our sin and His glorious rising to life were God's plan, so that we could be restored to relationship with Him. When we come to Jesus in repentance and in faith, He forgives us and writes a new story for our lives, one of walking with Him and serving Him, of knowing and loving Him, of living forever with Him and of waiting for His return.