Hope

The Great Exchange

A few years ago, I wrote about a trip to London and a moment that forever changed my view of Christ. Being an American, I did not grow up with the reality of royalty as a part of my everyday life. Kings and princesses were the things of fairy tales and Disney movies, and so many of the titles that we use to describe Christ weren’t as readily meaningful to me as they would be to someone who was accustomed to the presence of a monarchy. However, standing outside of Buckingham Palace and realizing that the King of the Universe had died for me, when normally it was the subjects who were sacrificed for the sake of the Ruler, it was as if a brick hit me:

The King was killed.

The One who ruled was slayed.

For me.

It’s a moment that I often come back to in my mind, and it seems that the frequency increases during the Christmas season. Perhaps it’s because I’m reminded that not only did Christ my King die for me, but He also gave up His royal throne so that I may be saved. He gave up power, for weakness; He gave up majesty for lowliness; He gave up prestige for disregard. He left a place where He would never get tired, never cry, never hungry and never be without, in order to enter a place where all that would be His in abundance. He gave up answering prayers from Heaven’s throne, to offering prayers from the dredges of Earth. And He became dependent, reliant on the care of His teenage mother when He could of had angels at His very command.

It wasn’t a fair trade –  especially if you look at it from His perspective. We often aren’t willing to give up our place in line for the sake of another who is deemed undeserving,  but He gave up everything for people that couldn’t offer Him anything of worth in return. He became a baby – with all the inconveniences of infancy – for our sake. He left the throne room to reside in a manger.

May we in turn give our lives back to Him.

Continue Reading

Hope

On Deposit

My husband works in a bank. Part of his job is to help potential customers see how his bank might be able to serve their needs better than their current bank. It’s not an easy proposition. After all, the customers have a relationship with their current bank. They know and presumably like their current financial provider. Not only that, but their current bank literally has control over some of the business’ assets. There is a dependency there and it’s a hard bond to break.

As Christians, we also have been entrusted with a deposit. According to 2 Timothy 1:14, our deposit is the Gospel message which we have heard. The fact that this message has been given to us should strengthen our resolve to hold fast to the One Who’s message it is. In other words, just like a customer and a bank are inextricably bonded when the customer gives the bank some money to hold on to, because Christ has given us His message of salvation, we should more fully grasp on to Him.

The wonderful thing about this verse in 2 Timothy is that right before it, Paul is writing about all the suffering he has had to endure. Paul demonstrates to us that the reason he is able to suffer well is because of the fact that Christ entrusted him with the salvation message. It’s because of the Gospel that Paul knows that his suffering is not in vain. It’s because of the Gospel that Paul knows that the work he does here on Earth can have an eternal reward. And it’s because of the Gospel that Paul knows his suffering is temporary but his salvation is secured.

So it should be for us. We should suffer well, work hard, and proceed with confidence because we too have been entrusted with the Good News of Christ.

(And as a side note, we should recognize that when banks take a deposit from one customer then often turn it into a loan for someone else. May we similarly share the deposit that we’ve been given so that we can bless others and receive eternal returns.)

Continue Reading