Jesus Is My Rice
2010-07-22T22:52:00So an acquaintance I was talking to this last week related how he had to jump in the pool to try and save his puppy. Apparently, the puppy was not a very sure swimmer yet. He did in fact save the puppy from drowning, but unfortunately the cell phone in his pocket was not so fortunate.
This acquaintance had heard that if a cell phone gets wet, you can dry out the phone by sticking it in a bowl of rice. The rice apparently has the ability to absorb the moisture and draw it out even from the interior of the phone. Well, according to this acquaintance of mine, it works! His formerly drowned phone was restored to full use.
I got to thinking that I could use some rice. There are a lot of things I drown in—some regularly, some just from time to time. Here’s a short list:
- Sin
- Temptation
- Guilt
- Shame
- Self-pity
- Anger
- Sorrow
- Anxiety
- Grief
- Frustration
I’ll stop with my “top ten.” Maybe you can relate. Maybe you have some things that threaten to drown you too.
So let me share my rice with you. When I’m drowning in these things, I look for Jesus. And then I drop myself into him. How I do this is usually called “repentance” in the Bible. When I repent, I “dry out” in a three-step process. Dropping yourself into Jesus is a process you can adopt too:
- First, be authentic with Jesus. Pray and tell him what you are experiencing. If it’s sin, own up to it. If it’s guilt or shame, be real and admit what you’ve done wrong. If it’s worry or grieving or frustration over hurts and challenges in your life, then open up your heart to Jesus and tell him what you feel. Jesus will absorb your sin and take it to himself.
- Second, receive Jesus’ forgiveness. When Jesus died on the cross, the entire world was forgiven. That means you. The person who repents of his sin can know beyond any shadow of a doubt that all sins are forgiven already through Jesus. Jesus will absorb your doubt and give you assurance that your sins too are fully forgiven.
- Third, ask for the Holy Spirit’s strength to do what you cannot do by your own strength. And then, with the Spirit’s support and strength working in you, commit to living a changed life. Don’t go back. Move ahead and Jesus’ blood and righteousness will absorb your past way of life. The good news of Jesus will power you on to live a new, courageous and adventurous life—to the glory of God.
“Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.” (Galatians 3:13-14, The Message)
