Take, Bless, Break, Give - Part II

BLESS

As I mentioned yesterday, it is the material we bring to the table that Jesus uses in salvation. Five loaves and two fish are taken by the Lord and transformed into a meal with twelve baskets left over. Jesus takes what we bring and calls us to come just as we are.

But what does He do with our hodge-podge ingredients of sin and brokenness that we bring to the table? He blesses!

Our High Priest takes what we bring and offers it up to the Father as only he can do. In our name and on our behalf he takes our offerings and turns them into something right and good and usable in the economy of God's gracious work of salvation.

Have you ever played basketball? You're dribbling up court or the ball has been passed to you and there before you a shot opens up. You take aim, launch the ball toward the hoop and... and... nothing - AIR BALL! The embarrassment - the shame - you fell short of the glory of 2 more points on the board.

Rewind the tape - You're dribbling up court or the ball has been passed to you and there before you a shot opens up. You take aim, launch the ball toward the hoop and... and... on your team is Shaquille O'Neal. Your shot is still an airball but Shaq takes your airball and ALLY-OOP slam dunks it for two. Two points are registered and you go down in the record books as having an assist.

An ally-oop is nothing more than an air ball made good by the center under the goal. And the blessing of our air ball lives is that we have "Shaq-Jesus" under the hoop taking all our air balls and slamming them home to the Father for us. He succeeds with what we have to offer and it goes down graciously in the stat books of heaven as an assist.

We hear "Shaq-Jesus" say to us at His table - "I'm open! Just it throw it up and I will bless it and take it home for you!"

We often forget that it was the murdering soldiers and religious leaders who received the prayer of forgiveness from Jesus - "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing." and it was their conniving actions that were used to bless the world through his death that he willingly sacrificed but that they tried to orchestrate.

They didn't take His life - He laid it down. He took their failure and used it to bless the whole wide world! The worst day of human history - the day we killed the Son of God is the very material that Jesus used to bless the world with salvation.

The worst of human air balls does not hinder Jesus from taking it and blessing it for His glory and the outworking of His Kingdom.

Jesus takes what we give Him and blesses it. Jesus takes our failures and transforms it into something that he can use... but not before breaking it.

Tomorrow!