core story

So I might have had a little too much going on lately to keep up with my reverb 10 prompts... I have lots of friends in town for New Years and Passion and people are slowly beginning to arrive by the masses. I was honestly going to quit blogging but I had a friend read me today's prompt in the car at 1:30 last night (or this morning, depending on how you spin it) and I decided that today was absolutely too good to miss.

the question: What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world?

my answer:
This is the question that sums it all up and pulls it all together. Some might call is a testimony... if you work for CentriKid you might call it a journey, but regardless here it is. Here is just a small piece of the most important story that makes me who I am at my core:

I grew up in the church. A lot of people do. But going to church makes me no more a Christian than spending time in my garage makes me a car. I began to piece together the beauty of what the Lord has done for us at a young age and would often think about the fact that each of us are born into sin (Romans 3:23-- for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.) and that because of that sin, each of us were going to die and spend eternity separated from God (Romans 6:23-- For the wages of sin is death...). And that, friends, is a scary place to live. It's frightening to me to think that I lived for a while grasping that half of the truth before moving onto the beauty of what comes next in the story. A lot of us live here, knowing that we are insufficient in every way, never good enough to get to the Lord or even to get to Heaven. None of us, not one. This thought scared me as a child, but I've come to realize that the gospel of Christ isn't about scaring people by telling them they're going to go to hell. It is a story of redemption and ultimately of love and should be treated as such.

When I was in the eighth grade, I can remember the specific weekend and location that the Lord flipped the lightbulb in my brain and I began to fully comprehend the other half of that same verse. Romans 6:23 doesn't stop there. It goes on to tell us "but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." How cool is that? And Romans 5:8 tells us that "God demonstrates his own love fur us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." I love the verse at the beginning of Romans 5 that talks about how that happened at "Just the right time" (5:6).  Because, see, people used to make these sacrifices of their most precious animals so that the blood could cleanse their sins and the Lord would forgive them. But then God sent His actual son to be that sacrifice, to die on a cross, and to shed enough blood for the rest of us for all time. Why on earth would he willingly go through that?

Because He loves us, oh how He loves us. But the story doesn't stop there. Because hey, anybody could die... in fact, lots of people died on crosses throughout history. What makes the death of this Jesus so special? The thing that sets this apart is that for three days He was dead and then rose again to ascend to Heaven. He conquered death, conquered the grave, so that we too might be able to do that same thing. That still blows my mind daily... And Romans 10:9 goes on to tell us that if we simply "confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in you heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

So that might be the quick version of my  core story, but it's the quick version of your core story too, whether or not you are aware of it. Because here's the thing, Christ didn't endure all that suffering simply so that Laura could spend not just eternity in Heaven but also life on earth with Christ, He did it for every single one of us. Every single one. Whether or not we choose to accept that and latch onto it is up to us. He is patiently waiting for each of us to realize His glory and enter into a life with Him. But in the word's of Reading Rainbow, don't take my word for it.... Ephesians 2 puts it this way:

 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,  in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

So that is my story. That is what boils down at the core that makes me who I am, and more importantly who I strive to be. Seeing as this is the last day of my reverb 10 challenge, I'm leaving each of you with a challenge. Think as we enter into the new year about what it is that makes you who you are? Are you living up to that? How does the story of Christ apply to your life? Do you choose to let it in daily?

Just a thought, friends. It's been an adventure. I wish you all the best as you head into 2011! Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!