Jesus Is Changing My Life

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR Acts 14:21–22 NIV They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. CONSIDER “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. I think I missed that sentence in my first dozen or so readings through the Acts of the Apostles. And still I hardly grasp it. So who said this? Paul and Barnabas, also known as the son of encouragement. How could we finish an entire series on encouragement and not meet up with Barnie? We see him first in Acts 4: “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet” (vv. 36–37). We might also call him a “son of generosity,” right? Later, we see Barnabas sent to Antioch and we get this bit: News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. (Acts 11:22–24) News of what reached the church in Jerusalem? News of the hardships of the followers of Jesus. Whenever the gospel is about to spread, it is met with opposition of all sorts. The opposition comes in the form of “trials of many kinds,” to borrow a phrase from James. And these “trials of many kinds” being experienced by many people all around us all the time create the conditions for the kind of encouragement we have discovered over these past sixty days. It brings us to this word from Barnabas: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Anyone out there seen this one on a bumper sticker lately? It seems to be the opposite of the so-called prosperity gospel, doesn’t it? While this may not be suitable for framing or for cross-stitched pillow covers, it does offer the perfect and perfecting framework for real faith. No one ever taught me this. Say it aloud: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Why is this? Why must we go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God? Because this is where the kingdom of God breaks in—places of loss, suffering, hardship, brokenness, and pain. For the followers of Jesus, when you are being broken down, it is a sign that the kingdom of God is breaking in. Hardships are a sign Jesus is about to promote you to the next level of entrustment in the kingdom of God. This is why the ministry of encouragement figures so prominently in the spread of the gospel of the kingdom. In the kingdom of Jesus, we don’t have merit badges; we have grace scars. Imagine those early Christians still telling their stories and showing off their scars around the campfires of heaven. Remember that time Peter was in prison . . . or when Paul was murdered and left for dead . . . or when Mary the Virgin got the “good” news of the miracle baby . . . or when Lazarus died . . . or when Dad got cancer . . . or when our house burned down . . . or when alcohol consumed a decade of your life . . . or the car crash left you paralyzed . . . or . . . It brings to mind the lyrics of the great hymn of the church “Crown Him with Many Crowns” by Matthew Bridges: Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hands and side, rich wounds yet visible above, in beauty glorified. You know what a rich wound is? It is a grace scar, gleaming with the glory of God. You know the difference between an unhealed wound and a scar of grace? Encouragement. It’s why encouragers are always the forerunners of awakening. PRAY Father, thank you that hardship is the doorway into your kingdom. Thank you for the glorious, gleaming scars of Jesus, who is the suffering one and the risen one, the broken one and the healed one, the High King of heaven and the joy of every longing heart. Thank you that Jesus is changing our lives. Thank you for the hardships and trials because we know in your hands they become the holy transformations we never wanted but would never trade. Holy Spirit, you are the great encourager. Fill our hearts with courage and make us to be true encouragers—the forerunners of awakening. For your name’s sake, Jesus, amen.