Contemplations while I Have Strep

From Saturday to Tuesday I had a fever, never consistently below 100-101 degrees, but it was usually higher than that. Yesterday (Tuesday) the doctor told me I have strep throat, and I was so surprised because---praise God!---I didn't have any kind of sore throat at all. The wonderful thing is yesterday God reminded me of the beauty of the Gospel. I had stopped preaching the Gospel to myself every day, and constantly I had sort of fallen from my first Love. It is so easy to compare myself to the people at school---all of whom claim to be Christians, few of whom actually care about God---and think "I'm doing fine." Do you know what I mean?

Yesterday I was listening to CJ Mahaney's sermon Gethsemane. I was so moved by what Jesus did for us on the cross because of how grieved He was in Gethsemane when he had a foretaste of what it means to be the sin-bearer. What caused Him so much distress was not thinking about the physical pain (though that was indescribably great) but God's wrath is what He dreaded the most! Jesus was so horrified at this very thought that He prayed three times for any other way...if there was any other way, God would have answered the Son's appeal. But this is the only way God could save sinners, by Jesus bearing the wrath of the Father for our sin! CJ Mahaney said that John 3:16 means that God so loved the world that Jesus asked for an alternative and God was silent. Jesus took on the cup of wrath should have been in my hand and he replaced it with the cup of salvation! If I ever doubt God's love for me, I can look back at not only the cross but at Gethsemane...the intense suffering of the Saviour. Wow.

Thinking about the Gospel, considering how much Jesus did for me---taking God's wrath upon Himself that was supposed to be given to me for my sin!---oh, why? Why would the LORD have mercy on someone like me? I feel so unworthy---probably because I am so unworthy!---and I am almost upset with God for loving me when I am such a disobedient child who loves sleep more than my Saviour, who wastes time so frequently, who gossips when I know God hates that. Oh how thankful I am for being a recipient of grace, chosen and covered. We cannot exaggerate God's love for us. It's impossible.

So I encourage you to preach the Gospel to yourself every day. Remind yourself of what Jesus did for you. Remind yourself of the victory He had when He rose from the grave. Do it. I dare you. :)

What God Has Taught Me From 2 Corinthians

I have been taking my time through 2 Corinthians because each passage is so stinking incredible.

God has used this book to make me want to change everything about how I live. It's pretty crazy because as I was praying for God to do all these things in me (I prayed pretty specifically), a random freshman came up to me, gave me a folder, and said "I wrote my journal entry about you for English class." I read her entry in which she wrote about how there's a difference between joy and happiness, and she said that she has happiness but can see that God can give joy and peace like He has given to Hope Chambers (me!) It was really cool to read this because it had very little to do with me and mostly to do with God and how HE can give joy; I'm just an example of someone who has received such joy. A friend gave me some really good advice last time I talked to him and expressed to him my discouragement about seeing such little fruit on my mission field (a lukewarm Christian school): he told me that my job is to be satisfied in the LORD and to let that shine to those around me. Once I stopped focusing on what I was doing and focusing more on who I was becoming, life became much less depressing and I relied much less on myself and much more on God. I suppose the effects of ministering to God foremost and ministering to people as overflow have been more successful also. I hope that doesn't sound prideful or anything; really, it's just so amazing that God answered my prayer and satisfies in a noticeable way!

Here's a brief stroll through what I have learned so far from 2 Corinthians...and I know a lot of it seems straightforward but seriously, these concepts are so unbelievably deep.

-Christ leads us in triumphal procession, proclaiming to all creation what He has done in the lives of His people. We should be a beautiful scent to the people around us, spreading the knowledge of Him everywhere. (See my most recent entry.)
-The Holy Spirit is more permanent and more glorious than the 10 Commandments, and the 10 Commandments were extremely glorious. WE HAVE GOD'S SPIRIT. We cannot underestimate His power!!! My goodness, how I underestimate the Holy Spirit that I posses!
-Christ has torn the veils off our faces, and by this freedom from the Spirit we can behold His glory and be transformed to be more like Jesus.
-We are ugly horrible broken jars of clay but we contain a great treasure: THE GOSPEL. We must let the Gospel emanate through our lives in everything we do.
-We must look "not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:18) If something can be seen or touched by humans, it is probably not everlasting. Praise God that His Word is more than a book, His church is more than a building, and His love is more than goosebumps. God is indestructible. I now see the beauty of faith. If something doesn't require faith, it is probably not eternal.
-I am thankful that GOD is my inheritance. In Joshua 13, Moses was giving different tribes different portions of land, "But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them." They received no tangible portion, but He is their inheritance, and that is more than enough. God has given me good things like a house, a family to snuggle with, friends to have fun with, a bed, etc., but all these things can be destroyed by fire, killed, or stolen. My heart cannot stop praising Him because He is everlasting by nature! The things of God cannot be seen, this is true, but I am so glad that He requires faith because things that can be seen aren't guaranteed and are not constant. We don't need to worry about anything for two reasons: 1) What do I have to lose? My life? Yay. My car/house/stuff? So what? The only important thing (God's love) cannot be taken away from us because He promised us so. 2) The safest place in the world is the center of His will...and even then we are not promised that we won't die or get hurt; but even then we know that's according to His perfect plan and He will be glorified through it. The LORD has promised us everlasting life, and He has never backed down on his promises. There hasn't been another earth-cleansing flood. His love for his people is secure because of what Jesus did. I have said words similar to this before, but they develop more and more meaning as time passes. The weight of His truth becomes heavier and heavier, and deeper and deeper imprinted on my heart. The LORD is my inheritance.
-God, who said "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine how powerful that command was that God made? "Let let shine out of darkness." Can you imagine the world if He had not said that? And that same God has shone light into our hearts! What power!

So in conclusion, I think I have been underestimating everything...the power of the Gospel, how much it means for God to shine through us, our inheritance through Christ, the God-ness of the Holy Spirit. This is real stuff, not fiction, not "a part of our lives." Religion is not something God made. He just is, and the universe is to respond accordingly.

And I've been really humbled too. God has convicted me of a lot of sin in my life, which is very good because I was becoming extremely self-righteous and my heart was disgusting. It hurts to be humbled and sometimes I feel like I can hardly breathe because I hate myself so much, but through this I can also learn a lot about God's grace and how He is faithful even when I am unfaithful. (2 Timothy 2:13)

A Triumphal Procession

    This morning, 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 blew my mind. There is so much to unpack in these few verses:
    But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
    I would like to primarily focus on this idea of the triumphal procession in verse 14. My ESV Study Bible told me that this is referencing lavish victory parades that the Romans had during this period, with the victorious leader in front and his captives trailing behind in defeat. I can imagine the people on the sidelines jeering the losers and being in awe of the greatness of the general. If Christ has captivated your heart, you are joining in this triumphal procession daily, (Christ being the victor over your old sef!) but the difference is your face now expresses great joy to the people who see us. This beautiful procession---our everyday intentional living, displaying God’s goodness---is like spreading a fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.
    Romans 8:15 describes such a transformation:
    For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
    Our spirits are still crying out, but now they are crying praises to the Father!
    At the Passion conference in January, Louie Giglio shared a really good example of this showing-the goodness-of-God-on-your-face concept. At the end of Extreme Makeover Home Edition when the family is about to see their new house, and the bus that was obstructing their view is finally moved, the camera does not pan to the house as much as to the expressions on the family’s face. The family’s reaction---tears of joy---is what moves the viewers at home and reveals just how beautiful the new house is. In the same way, the world can’t really see Christ directly, so they should see the His beauty through how much His people are amazed.
    Remember that we cannot fake awe. We cannot put on “radiance powder” on the days when joy from Jesus just doesn’t naturally radiate from us. Our aim should not be to grab the attention of everyone anyway. That’s what I like about John the Baptist. When his followers left him for Jesus in John 3, John the Baptist was ecstatic! He was losing glory and Christ was gaining it, which was delightful, for “He must increase, but I must decrease.” But if you really want to make a difference for the Kingdom, if you really want to know the heartbeat of the Father...spend time with Him!
    True change does not start from circumstances then make its way to change your heart. In Mark 7:15, Jesus said that what goes inside someone isn’t what defiles him, but rather what comes out of him. The heart, not the external stuff, is what matters! We have seen this over and over again. You can take drugs away from an addict for a month, but he will still crave them, or at least he will still crave something to fill that void. The reason Jesus could hang out with really bad people and remain sinless is because His heart was pure. The hypocrites were sinning just by hanging out with each other because their hearts were far from God. This is not to say avoid Christians and instead go to bars all the time, but please understand me when I say that change happens from the inside out. The Spirit alone can transform our hearts, so ask Him to do so! Spend serious time in the Word! There is some kind of perfect balance between our effort and the Holy Spirit’s work, but to the best of your ability pursue Him wholeheartedly.
    I often get discouraged at school because it seems like all my efforts from the past four years have been for nothing. However, I should instead focus on being obsessed with the LORD rather than being obsessed with what He is doing through me. He will cause everything to happen naturally in His time; my job is to trust in the LORD and do good (Psalm 37.) It is very rare to see people who have actually been changed by God; there are many who can pray extravagantly and who even read the Bible frequently, but God is still a 9 to 5 job for them. The world is hungry for a God that satisfies and consumes We must show the world that this is the God we know, or rather, this is the God who knows us.
    However, this is very difficult to do. For example, I believe that God calls us to show His impact in our life by obeying our earthly masters as if we are doing it for Him. Colossians 3:22-24 changed my life and is my main motivation for completing busywork or doing chores. Show your teachers and parents, that God’s love is so great that it has caused you to obey them. They’re a lot more likely to see that God is real if He brings about a real change in His children. And if you are indeed His child, He should be bringing about a real change in you.
    So may our lives be reactions to His greatness. May the world see Him on our faces. May He use us to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.
    He is so worth it.