Nothing But the Blood

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh! precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, Nothing but the blood of Jesus; Naught of good that I have done, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace, Nothing but the blood of Jesus; This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing But the Blood -- words and music by Robert Lowry. It is so cool to just see God's love poured out for me. Nothing but the blood of Jesus, as the above song says. But not only was I saved by His grace, I am completely kept by his grace. I think my favorite part of that song is the last stanza that we sing (There's 3 more, but I've never heard them sung, so I didn't post them). Jesus' blood is my righteousness. I am no longer dead, I am alive. I have hope and I have peace through Jesus Christ and Him alone. I have nothing else of worth, nothing else that'll make a difference in my life. Not church, not concerts, not blogs, not sermons, not drama, not work, not school, not songs, not anything. My whole righteousness is wrapped up in Jesus. I have an eternal hope through that blood that He spilled for me. I have peace through the cross, through the work that God did for me. I can spend my life in freedom knowing that I don't have to fear anything, because no matter what my redemption is taken care of. That's amazing peace. Quinmoztla, Sarah

It makes me smile.

It's cool when you get mentioned in anyone's blogs. But I got mentioned in two this week. First of all the very cool Traci gave me a mention in her new feature called Yeah Man. That was pretty cool. And then the Third Day blog got a very special guest post from Mac Powell (Mark Lee normally posts). And guess what? I was mentioned (Sarah, that's me) there too. Pretty neat, huh? And then on top of all that coolness, I got second row at a GA concert I went to today, with 16,000 people. I've never been to a concert that large with that good of seats. It was really awesome. And I got to see Wendy (Yes, the Wendy that was also mentioned in the 3D blog post) and her husband, and a friend of theirs, Kyle. It was really cool. I'm going to miss going to concerts with Wendy. Then there's adventures with plane tickets, and then there's adventures with one of my best friends locking us out of her house and having to break back in. Oh, and having to drive through a gang, and it being really cold at the concert. My life is not boring. Not at all. Life is so awesome. Tam biêt, Sarah

Because of that good news..

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Titus 3:3-8 We devote ourselves to doing what is good because of the great rebirth, that wonderful grace, and the hope of eternal life. Our motivation to do what we do comes not from a "because I said so", but because His love for us compels us. I find that love often is what spurs me on much more than hatred or legalism. If you tell me that want me to be healthy because you want me to be around as long as possible, than I am much more likely to change than if you said "you are a big fat lard and need to lose weight". Extreme, yes. Truthful? Even more yes. But will it motivate me to change? Not so likely. What's so great about God is that, in the words of Donald Miller, He "changes our character with the passion of His love". He doesn't say "CHANGE BECAUSE YOU ARE A FAT LARD BUCKET!". He says "I love you so much I died for you. I want what is best for you". That kind of love moves mountains and awakens my heart. Thanks God, for loving me enough to not leave me where I am. Toittazqueh, Sarah

Not that I have already obtained it..

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7-14 Sometimes I get frustrated with the fact that I'm not a "good enough" Christian. I sin too much, I don't trust God like I should, I don't maintain my spiritual life. I just am not to "that point" that we all have in our minds as the "ideal Christian". I'm just not there. And a lot of times that discourages me. I want to be closer to God, I want to continually seek after Him, I want to not have the desire to sin. But I fail. And a lot of times it's like "Well, will I ever be there?" But for the first time, I actually am enjoying that feeling. I know, it sounds strange, doesn't it? Enjoy not being a good enough Christian? Do I have my theology on straight? Yes. I do. Let me explain. Have you ever heard or read an interview with someone who is at the top of their sport? Vince Carter after winning the 2000 dunk competition, an Olympic medalist, whatever. Most of them have one thing in common. They don't know what to do. There's a specific goal, one that can be achieved, and they have achieved it. Most often those atheletes end up sounding--empty. Once you've climbed the highest mountain, what is there left? The wonder of Christianity is that we can never obtain that perfection. But we can share in the victory. We can say that we have been made righteous through Jesus at the same time that we are pursuing righteousness. I can seek God my whole life and never get to know the complexities of his nature. But when it's all over I can live in Heaven and know Him fully. I can taste all there is to taste here on earth of His glory and still only get a miniscule glimpse of what is waiting in Heaven. Nothing comes even close to comparing to the greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. Nothing. Nägemizhehesai, Sarah

This weekend my family made the trip down to Charleston, SC for one of my cousin's weddings. My mom is an only child, and only one of my dad's sisters has kids, and she only has 2, so it's a pretty big deal. Will and Amy had a very beautiful, simple wedding. If you don't know me well, you might not know my "thing" for weddings. So I'm letting you know now. I LOVE weddings. I love the white dresses and the flowers and the vows. It's all just so magical. Will is a bodybuilder. He won a strongman competition in Charleston recently (So he's the strongest man in Charleston), and is a personal trainer. He and Amy actually met because she picked him up at the bar where he was working as a bouncer. He's a very strong man, and definitely not a really emotional guy. Well, Amy and Will had seen each other on Saturday before the wedding. He saw her in her dress before the wedding, they took pictures before the wedding, so it wasn't like he had no clue what she'd look like. But as we all stood in the hall and the wedding march played, I turned to look at Will. As Amy walked down the aisle, the train of her elegant white dress behind her, her face aglow and bright with happiness below her airy, white veil, Will watched her. And as I looked at him, I saw something in his eyes. He nearly started crying. He fought the tears as he watched his bride walk down the aisle. The minister who performed the ceremony did a beautiful job. I really, really, really liked the minister that they chose. But as we were having a moment of silence to pray, the power of what had just happened really hit me. My cousin is a strong man. I could hit him and he wouldn't flinch. Earthly pain wouldn't cause him to break. Torture probably wouldn't make a difference. You could hate him with all your might, and he probably wouldn't care. But the one thing that could get inside him is love. Love is more powerful than anything in the world. It makes strong men cry in front of their brides, it makes women kill for their children. It causes us to keep ourselves closed and to give ourselves away. It causes children to scream for their mothers, and old men to hold on to their wives. It causes men and women to give their lives for their countries. Our lives are constantly lived in search of love. But more than all the powerful things that love does, love is what drove the God of the universe to lessen His might so He could come down and sacrifice His entire being so that we could be with Him. That is the love that is more powerful than any ordinary romance, than any wedding. That's the love that we are destined to be with. Thank you Jesus, for loving me even at my ugliest. Permisi, Sarah

Beautiful

Did you know that the NIV version of the Bible only uses the word "beautiful" 70 times? And one of the only times it is applied to people in the New Testament is when the woman poured out the oil for Jesus. After the Pharisees scorned and rebuked her, Jesus came to her rescue. He said (Matthew 26:10) "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me." Imagine being that woman, scorned and feeling the ridicule of the Pharisees. You just want to do something for Jesus and when you try everyone rebukes you. Yet in that moment of great condemnation Jesus comes in love and says that you have done "a beautiful thing". I want my offerings to God to be "beautiful things". Ximopanolti, Sarah P.S. I need to start posting more...it's a goal of mine. But this weekend I will be out of town visiting a college and going to my cousin's wedding.

The Romantic Gospel

More and more I am coming to realize how very romantic** the gospel is. The cross is not a place where we face lists of technicalities, as we often like to make it. A cross that is full of medical terms such as "asphyxiation" isn't a powerful cross--instead it is stripped of its very power and mystery. So it is with the whole gospel--a story stripped to the bare bones will never resonate. But that is what we do, limiting the story to mere facts. It seems then as if we have taken the very essence of the story, the emotion, away. A marriage is not simply a legal contract. The legal aspect is one of the least important. No, it is the unity of souls and lives that change us. As humans, we want to thing purely logically, but it will never happen. We are emotional creatures, made not for but for function but for fellowship, not responsibility but relationship. The Gospel of Jesus invades our lives slowly--we can't see it changing until the day we wake up and realize we are in love. We look at those who love so passionately as if they are fools, but when we fall in love ourselves we know it is those "normal" people who are missing out. The Bible says that it is God's love that compels us. I don't think that truer words have ever been written. It's not only true after one experiences the Gospel, but also before. Every life pursues that love, and the desire to know that love draws us closer to the cross. The truest stories are often the most romantic. Only when reality shines through does the true and pure romance come through. How can the phrase "A naked and bloody man hung dying on the cross, separated from the Love He had always known" be at once horrible and romantic? Because it is real. God didn't come to the earth to save us because it makes a good story; He came to earth because He wants to be with us. Romance for the sake of romance is empty. Romance for the sake of love is glorious. In the same way, a life sacrificed for the sake of sacrifice is meaningless. A life sacrificed for the sake of love is beautiful. We were made to experience God's love--to cram it into our box of rules is to deprive ourselves of true existence. I want the romance of the Gospel to compel me. But most of all I want His love to compel me. I don't want to keep taking the story of redemption and making it into a list of bullet points and sequences. Lists don't change lives. Love does. Matcaci, Sarah. **For those who are against any sort of deep and profound expressions of love used between us and God (Those who say they don't like the phrase "falling in love" with Jesus), I want to explain. A romance is a love affair. And I consider my life with God a love affair. The Gospel is in its truest sense, a romance. A story of a victim who needs rescuing and a Savior who comes to rescue, then they ride off into the sunset together. So I did mean a romance in that sense. But also "romance" can mean "A mysterious or fascinating quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful". Jesus' pursuit of us and His life, death, and resurrection are all of those things. I can't think of a better word.