Living Outside the Box!

"The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible)

was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve)

the works the devil [has done]."

1 John 3:8b

When I was a child I LOVED to be barefoot.

I can remember a phase my Mama went through,

trying to keep me in shoes while I played outside.

Yeah, good luck with that!

I was in love with being free outdoors.

I tended to really push the envelope in all areas...

When I came to Christ,

(you know that sounds so sanitary, it wasn't!),

my favorite part was GRACE!

It gave me such giddy hope to understand,

that the reason I never felt worthy when I prayed,

or when I thought of God, is guess what?!

It's not possible for me to be worthy!

I really would never be able to follow enough rules!

What a wonderful thing to finally clear up!

Someone else was pointman, someone else was my bailbondsman,

and my attorney, someone else had gone before me!

And made things good for me.

That kind of grace was what I needed to know and understand.

There really was NO HOPE that anything I WOULD EVER do,

would be good enough!

Phew! What a relief!

Now, OUT OF GRATITUDE I offer the good things to Him,

as He leads and empowers me!

This is a relatonship that can work for me!

It was never about what I could do to get to Him.

It was always about what He has done to get to me!

Last year, a few women and I went through the Bible letting God teach us,

"Knowing God As Our Covering".

Christmas evening I was hanging out in the cozy afterglow,

with my husband and sons.

I thought about the coming year and Bible Study, and pondered.

I felt strongly impressed that it was time to shift gears,

and to study the Life of Jesus in the Gospels.

You know, What Would Jesus Do?

But without the sappy pop-culture take on it.

The unvarnished truth, without religiosity painted over it.

Well, last night was our first class.

We meet here, every other Monday night.

We gab, drink coffee, pray and then dive in.

We have a blast!

I am always silly giddy when everyone goes home,

and I stay up too late because I am SO JAZZED!

My BFF has encouraged me to post these, at least in summary,

because who knows?

Someone might like to join in their own home, at their own pace!

So here goes.

We did a general look at some of the highpoints,

in the first chapter of each of the four Gospels.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

And we saw some intersting things.

Each of the Gospels starts off

introducing the various unorthodox ways Jesus approached us.

Like in Matthew 1,

it is recorded the Gentile women in His lineage, along with the Hebrew.

Including the women who had a colorful past,

I mean, Rahab, Tamara? Really?

Are you sure, Jesus?

YUP!

And according to the Hebrew custom,

there really was no reason to record the women,

the lineage was ALL about who the father was...

But, He wanted to make sure all of us women would feel welcome,

and included.

And to understand that the past, in Him, IS the past.

Not the Now, not the Future!

Love that!

Mark 1

And then there was his very strange, off-beat cousin,

who was chosen to be the one,

who would be the "voice crying in the wilderness",

going before Him,

preparing hearts for His arrival.

Luke 1

We meet John The Baptist's parents. Religious. Righteous. Good people.

People who had given up on the dream of having a child. A couple who saw themselves

(and were seen) as an old couple, who was barren.

Boy, wasn't everybody surprised when God chose THEM

to be the parents of the prophesied forerunner to Christ?

When their dusty dream was resurrected!

Then there's John 1.

"In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him;

and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life;

and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness;

and the darkness comprehended it not."

He came like this:

People were looking for this:

In summary, right off the bat,

we see that He purposefully came through,

not an unimpeachable lineage.

But, the sort we could all relate to.

Flawed. Like us.

He showed us Our Heavenly Father's DNA

covers whatever tainted DNA we bring or brought to the table.

He came heralded by a strange, strange man,

born to an odd and surprising couple.

Not who the religious establishment would have thought to be the

"voice crying in the widlerness".

He was and is The Word. The Final Word.

He's The Original Think Outside The Box Guy!

What's Your Box?

He wants to help you bust out!

And run barefoot through life!