I Have Been Changed

I grew up in a Christian household. I heard the message of Jesus at a very young age and did receive it. But from the time I hit puberty to the first couple years of college, I was in constant rebellion with the One who died for me. Fulfillment was what I was striving for. I could never truly find it. I was looking in every place that I could…

My athletic ability.

My projection of my “amazing” life on social media.

Addiction, in many varieties.

Lastly, my pursuit of fulfillment from women rather than God.

I was…

Empty.

Lonely.

And had this hopelessness that I could never really pin down and overcome.

Because of the list above I truly could not find true fulfillment in any one of those things.

Then Jesus showed up in my life.

I started to search and figure out what God really did for me and how that affects the way that I live. I started my Junior year of college as a new transfer student at Cornell College. By the grace of God one of my teammates led me to Christ and showed me how the gospel needs to change my actions. It was not an easy process at all, there was pain, suffering, and growth. But I started living life in community, (Met my now wife, which was an unexpected result) serving the local church, and I found the true fulfillment that I was lacking despite the hardship.

That leads to what I want to write about in the rest of this short entry. Nothing that we can do or offer up to Jesus can change our status with him. All that we can do as his followers we accept the gift that he gives to us and attempt to live differently.

One book that I have not attempted to dive into in my time of following Jesus the past two and a half years is Hebrews. Just the context of who the letter is written to and how it does not seem to cater to what I need has turned me off to it. (Which is a wrong attitude to have towards scripture) This book however has so much depth and clarity to the story of the gospel and I thought I would just share a summary of Hebrews chapter eight for you.

The main idea of the eighth chapter of Hebrews is Jesus becoming the new standard of the way to be reconciled to God. Before Jesus was born, lived, and died. The way to reconcile yourself to God was the sacrificial system. The shedding of blood to give God a sacrifice that would make you right with him. The people who would be reading this letter originally would be very aware of this system because they were Jews themselves.

The author of Hebrews lays out these beautiful truths about who Jesus is and how he has already had victory. To quote:

“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.” Hebrews 8:6

That is a beautiful truth of scripture, the old covenant was not something that was completely obsolete when God’s people were practicing it. As Christ came however, the cross is something that is so much more beautiful because he was…

The Sacrifice!

The next verse talks about the idea of there to be no need for a second covenant if the first covenant was perfect. So the killing of animals in the Old Testament and their current context was flawed. The thing that God put in motion before the foundation of the world was the complete and perfect thing to make us right with him, which was Jesus dying for us.

Later in the chapter the author decides to quote an Old Testament passage talking about the new covenant that Christ gives to us. God calls his people to be completely obedient to him and his word. To do this is to continue to repent of our sinfulness, and to look at the goodness of God and we will obtain something that is as beautiful as this verse.

“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12

The last bit of this short entry is something that is not popular, it is not in line with the society that we live in. However, the only thing that saved me from myself is to get rid of my pride, anger, and idolatry. Living a Christian life is not about doing mindless rituals, it is however walking into a relationship with a loving God because of a painful, bloody cross. I am washed clean of my shortcomings by that, and would invite you to be ushered into the family as well.