Monday, December 12, 2011

Changing DNA

The birth of Jesus is one of the main targets for the season. We celebrate His birth. We give gifts. The churches actually fill up and we see people who usually are never there suddenly walking in to give homage to Christ. This is a season of joy for most and a time to spend with others, but it is also a season of questions. One of those questions is something that Larry King had addressed to him on his TV show one night. The questioner asked him, "If you could interview one person across history who would it be and why?" Larry looked at him and without pause said, "Jesus Christ, and if He truly was virgin born. The answer to that would answer every question in life for me."

I have had this question brought to me in an awkward moment by an acupuncturist I once saw. As I was laying on the table receiving my treatment for my MS, she looked at me and said, "Do you really believe that Jesus was born from a virgin?" How do you really dive into such an enormous subject while you are pinned down? It is not just a question asked by those who do not believe, but it is a question that every believer must wrestle with as well. It is a question that actually weaves itself within all of scripture and it is an answer that deals within all of us as we travel with our faith in how we live out our life.

Lets start with the first obvious question, "Was Jesus truly virgin born?" The question is actually, "Was Jesus God?" John 1, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."

I do not have enough space to really go into everything, but lets assume that we all agree that there is an Intelligent Creator. And lets assume that we all agree that this Intelligent Creator is God and He is the one that Christ clammed to be. So if Jesus is really who He said He was, "God", then why would it be so outrageous to assume that the one who gave nature its laws and ordered the cells within to have intelligence, why is it so hard to grasp the virgin birth? Maybe it is not really the virgin birth at all, but another question all together. Maybe the true question is really all about "me". Maybe the true question is, "What does this say about who I am? And if it really is true, how would I ever be able to live up to the standards that I think the bible sets in front of me?"

Now this is where things get cool. There are some things that we do in which we really do not know why we do them. We all struggle with something that we wonder, "Why do I struggle with this when it seems my friends do not?" It seems to be in our DNA, how we are made up. Our struggles seem to be something that we are born with. Now we turn to the virgin birth. The virgin birth is a change in DNA and how it runs within its laws. If Christ was born because of the change of DNA, how much more awesome are His words, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”... “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’"

"Christ did not come into this world to make bad people good. He came to so that the dead could live," (RZ). He came to give us a new life. A life that we could never manufacture on our own. He came so that He could change our DNA. If we learn to change our focus, He changes our hearts. He changes our desires, by changing what our DNA says we must do and what we assume we have no control over. It is all a supernatural transformation that only the Christian faith provides. All other religions say that we must pull ourselves up, all by our self. It is only in Christ that we are given a supernatural transformation and our lives are drastically changed.

“Richard Dawkins has gone the root of saying, 'there is no such thing as good or evil. It is ultimately all of us dancing to our DNA.' … Its all in our DNA. Its all in our DNA..." When we hear statements like this, we have hope. "You must be born again." Our challenge is in allowing Christ to change our DNA. If we truly turn to Him and start changing our focus, we start to love Him. And when we start to love Him, we start to obey Him. It is not about living out this life so that we no longer have any fun and we become rule keepers. It is all about learning to live free from the prison of our DNA.

“It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life...” (Oswald Chambers)

Allow Him to change your DNA, by changing your life focus. We do this by following His words, "You must be born again."

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Mary and Martha

Luke 10:38-42, "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I once heard Beth Moore teach a lesson on this passage. What I remember has always stood out to me so I will now try and expand. In this passage we will only be looking at Mary, we will look at Martha in another verse.
Jesus stayed with a woman named Martha, and her sister called Mary. Here one sister is named and the other sister is called. If Mary was "called" maybe her real name was something else. What does the name Mary root from and why would she be called Mary?

Mary stems from the name Miriam or Mara. These names in the bible represent rebellion, disobedience, or bitterness. Example, Ruth 1:20, “But she said to them: Call me not Noemi, (that is, beautiful,) but call me Mara, (that is, bitter,)”

What if Mary had been rebellious, disobedient, or filled with bitterness. What if she just needed to sit with Jesus because she was so broken that she could not help her sister right now. Maybe there was nothing wrong with Martha's heart and what she was doing. Maybe she was right where she needed to be because her heart was not broken. Mary may have had a broken heart and the ones with the broken hearts need to kneel at the feet of God until they find their healing with their Savior.

Another passage, John 11:17-37. In this passage Lazarus, Martha and Mary's brother, had been dead for 4 days. "When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 'Lord,' Martha said to Jesus, 'if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.'” After a conversation with Jesus she answered Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

With these passages I see Martha as the one who is strong in faith and who has a strong heart. She is the one who is not broken, but meets Jesus in her pain of loss and says, "But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." She had a "but" in her meeting with Jesus, one that Mary did not have. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to Him. Mary stayed at home until she heard that He was specifically asking for her. When Martha arrived, she had a "but" in her plea of pain. "I am hurting Lord, but I know even now God will give You whatever you ask for. You are the Messiah. You are God."

I absolutely love the twists and turns that the bible can take. So often we hear of the story of Martha as a woman with her priorities out of line with what was really important, but maybe she was a woman strong with her faith. Maybe she was a woman who knew who Jesus was and had a wonderful relationship with Him. Maybe it is like when your good friend comes over and you are always with them, you often do not stop everything and sit and visit. You still wash the dishes while you visit. But if someone comes over who you do not see often, you stop what you are doing and sit and give them your undivided attention. What if Mary was rebellion, disobedience, and bitterness. What if she was a woman who had a sordid past. Maybe that is why Jesus did not make her get up. Maybe that is why He said that He would not take this time away from her. For when you are hurt, you cannot get up and work. Sometimes you just need to sit and soak. You need to be able to sit at your Saviors feet and just allow Him to speak into your broken heart. Maybe where Martha went wrong is that she was not looking at where Mary had come from. Maybe she was only seeing where her relationship with Jesus was. For later we see that she was the one who was strong in faith and knew the strength of her Lord.

Whenever I now hear the story of Mary and Martha, I immediately go back to my own time of being the woman called Mara, the woman of rebellion, disobedience, and bitterness. I hear this and see a woman broken and needing to sit at her Savior's feet and just soak. But I do not want to remain that woman. I want to be in a strong relationship with my Lord so that now I can be the one to go and do as He has done for me. John 13:14, “And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each others feet.” I am loving my time as Martha. But when my time of being called Mary comes again, as often it does in this world, I pray I can give myself enough grace to be able to sit again at His feet and soak. Our needs will differ on our journey. Our time of pain and suffering comes. Can we see when it is time to sit? Can we allow others their time? When it is time to get up, because now we are strong, can we wash others as Christ has washed us? Who are you? What is your name? Is it your name, or are you called mara? Can you find peace in the place where God has you right now? When pain comes again for me am I going to be able to greet Him in my pain with an all important "but".