Listening

I have been kind of bad at listening to God lately. We have been so busy as a family-traveling to visit friends and family, going to missions conferences, speaking at churches. It all seems the right thing to do, but my relationship with the Father has not been a very good connection through all of this. It affects me when I do not connect with Him. I feel a real sense of being lost.

Yesterday, we sat in our home church and took the Lord's Supper together. When it came time to examine myself before taking the bread and drinking the cup, I had an interesting time of listening and hearing a conversation that Jesus had with the Father on the cross. Now, I did not hear this audibly, but in my mind, the words came and comforted me, as the comforter always does.

As Jesus was hanging on cross, here was the conversation:

"Father, here is my child Steve. I'm here representing him today. I know he has done many bad things in his life, and he has even turned away from you to pursue those things. Father I know he deserves punishment for the things he has done. But I am ready to take that punishment for him, so he doesn't have to. I am ready to take your full wrath upon myself for him because I love Steve and I want him to do great things for My Name. One day, even though he doesn't think he is ready or qualified, I will send him to people half way around the world to tell of me and what I have done for him today. I will do a great work through Steve for the sake of My name. So Father, I ask you to accept this sacrifice for Steve's punishment today, that he may be a blessing to people who have never had the chance to hear of me. Thank you for your grace upon Steve, and I promise he will be all that he is created to be, and that is My representative; My ambassador; My witness to the ends of the earth."

Now, I am not saying that is the exact conversation Jesus had with the Father 2000 years ago. I am not the only one who Jesus died for that day. However, any one of us could insert our names into this conversation and it would be essentially true. That is the power of God's grace and the truth of the Gospel. It's not just an escape from the coming judgment of God, but a blessing of new life in order to be a blessing to others.