Life

The Boomerang of Justice

/ brianhilton9 / 1 Comment

Have you ever been wronged?

A question like this opens a floodgate of memories and emotions for many of us. Scars ache as we unravel the mental note that lists our offenders. We see their faces, hear their names, and remember how they made us feel in those dark times. Sadness turns to anger. Anger to contempt.

We all share this experience. We have all been wronged, and usually, it’s not hard to recite those instances because of the deep wounds they leave behind.

But the wounds we sustain are often felt more than the wounds we inflict.

Everyone who has been wronged has also done wrong. This is common ground we aren’t as quick to discuss.

Most of us would feel a bit awkward if asked about a time we wronged someone. If we’re honest, we struggle with that notion. Many will remember somebody being hurt by something they did or said, but this recognition is handcuffed to a caveat or justification of why it was an overreaction. Perhaps we see the conceit in claiming perfect innocence, so we try and come up with something “respectable” to show that we are self-aware but far from the criminal on the news.

The fact that we are wrongdoers doesn’t invalidate or silence the call for justice for what we have suffered. The wrongs we have done do, however, issue their own cry for justice.

Thus, we are not simply plaintiffs in this life with a pile of cases against our offenders. We are also defendants for whom there is a line of people out the courthouse doors ready to make their case against us.

This realization ought to be a wake-up call. The retribution price we rightly desire from others is a boomerang that comes right back for us.

That’s not the worst of it, though. We know that there are right and wrong present in this world only because of the One who has given us a conscience to detect them. So, our crimes are not only against the created but much more so against their Creator.

It is here where the impossibly dense weight of the cost we each owe is felt. A sinner sinning against a sinner is one thing. But one sinning against the sinless creator God? Surely, there is no payment they can make to adequately level the scales of justice. What they need is atonement.

Atonement is a strong word. It washes away the cosmetic deceit from the hideous face of sin. Biblical atonement demands death. Only death and torment, of the physical body and the eternal soul, atone for something so opposed to God and His holiness as sin. These cover what true justice says is lacking when any crime against the Almighty and His creation is committed.

Atonement means somebody dies because of sin – but not the sinner. Justice will be served – but not by the guilty.

Leviticus 16 describes a process God put in place in ancient Israel to provide grace and justice simultaneously. As Aaron, the first priest, approached God in the Holy of Holies to make atonement each year, he deserved to die for his sin. The people whom he represented deserved to die for their sins. Yet, it was the blood of an unblemished bull that Aaron presented for himself and the blood of an unblemished goat that he presented for the people of Israel that satisfied God’s wrath.

In His grace, God instructed Aaron and all the other priests after him to sprinkle the blood of these spotless animals on what He called the mercy seat. But one priest was different. He needed no bull blood. He had no sin of his own to atone. It was His righteous blood that the bulls and goats pointed towards. They were merely a placeholder until He arrived.

Jesus, the great high priest, shed His spotless blood for the sins of the world. That includes both the wrongs done to you and the wrongs that you have done.

God presents Him to be received by faith, as a gift.

He offers not only a better way to live, or an example to follow. He offers Himself. And in Himself, everlasting life, the forgiveness of sins.

Your sin means you deserve death and hell. But Jesus, in His death and resurrection, delivers your atonement. Your living hope, the anchor for your soul.

Have you received Him?

Check out the texts below for more!

Leviticus 16

Hebrews 9:11-28

Romans 3

The Implications of Existence

/ brianhilton9 / 2 Comments

Inspired by Psalm 14, 139, and Romans 1

There’s a rhetorical question that upon rumination sparks peace, perspective, and wonder in my spirit.

“Did you choose to be born?”

The answer for everyone, of course, is a simple “no.” We cannot speak ourselves into existence. While we recognize that someone doesn’t choose the context to which they are born, we ought to take that logic one step further by acknowledging the obvious.

You didn’t ask to exist.

Let that sink in for a moment. It’s an incredibly simple thought with some ginormous implications. Why?

Because you do.

Questions should fill our minds. How? Why? Is there a reason? We spend so much energy trying to control lives that we never asked for in the first place. When is the last time you took a step back and contemplated the fact that you exist at all?

In his song What’s It All About, Andy Mineo candidly sings,

“What’s it all about, why are we here?
If there’s no reason why do I care?
A lot of people put they thoughts in my ear
But I gotta know for myself
So, yo, God are you really there?”

You don’t need a philosophy degree to ask these questions. You don’t even need a high school diploma. All you need is to exist.

So, what are the answers to those questions? What are those implications? Some say it depends on whom you ask. But if we didn’t even author our own lives, how canwe authoritatively answer such things for ourselves?

We better make sure we’re asking the right person for those answers and unless that person is responsible for your existence, why would you listen to them? What do they know?

I hope you’re thinking,

“Well, what do YOU know Brian?”

If not, then you aren’t hearing me. We need answers. Not from anyone, but from the one responsible for our existence.

Someone may respond by claiming nobody is responsible, but they exist due to random chance and scientific processes. While this claim has scientific problems on its own, is it not also an attempt to control the implications of existence?

By eliminating a creator from the equation and attributing their life to chance, one maintains that they are not responsible for their existence, but lays claim to personal autonomy as if they had been.

If an independent creator is responsible for your life, that means you are not the boss. There’s somebody higher than you. That which rules above you is not a voiceless, inanimate reality like chance. Rather, it is an all-powerful, sovereign maker who has answered the questions of your existence.

It shouldn’t be hard to envision how each path differs in practice. One who agrees with the former will subject themselves to an external authority only when it proves advantageous and will otherwise leave final decisions up to themselves. One who believes the latter knows they ought to submit to their creator as the ultimate authority, recognizing that they are not their own but belong to another. This is not to say that the creation is always in agreement with the creator. However, humbling oneself and surrendering the inner desire for control in reverent awe is necessary and resolves the dissonance.

The naturalistic western world scoffs at the “unscientific” notion of an intelligent designer. Is it not, however, the scientific method that requires a hypothesis to be tested? In the discussion of origins and existence, it seems that this step has been thrown out. Not only are we selectively skeptical, but hypotheses are crossed out before they even have a chance to be tested. My hypothesis is that the reason for this is not a lack of empirical reasoning, but a matter of the heart.

The idea of God disturbs many. Some believe he is a ruthless, unjust, cruel dictator who suppresses man from flourishing. Others think he is indifferent to the suffering of our world and that if he really was all-powerful, he would have stopped the many tragedies we see day in and day out.

When you open the Word of God, however, you see the opposite. You see the world’s problems come from man, not God. He is the only one with the solution, and that is through the bloodshed of His own Son. It is only through Jesus that you can come back to the one who made you, and only then will you begin to discover the true implications of your existence.

Don’t settle for my words. Go open a Bible and see for yourself. Hear the voice of the One who fashioned you in His image and paid the sin price to redeem you from your rebellion.  Come back to He who alone is qualified to answer the questions that leave you staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night.

I’m confident that when you meet Him, you’ll quickly see your limitations. In seeing those, you will begin to grow in gratitude that He is the one running things, not you. Finally, you will find yourself starting to become eager to obey as His instructions prove to be good and true as your best inclinations lead only to more questions and pain.

After all, we didn’t ask to exist. He spoke us into being.

In Christ Jesus

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Where are you?

One may read this and answer simply with their current location. Others may embrace a different approach to the question, searching themselves to identify “where” they are mentally or emotionally.

Depending on the context of the conversation, the question can be answered adequately by either of these options above. But I believe a greater and more accurate way to answer the question exists.

It is deeper than your mailing address or what you find upon introspection. It can encapsulate those things, but those things in and of themselves can’t fully answer what I mean when I ask,

“Where are you?”

Have you ever been somewhere, but not been there? All of us have days at work or school where we show up, but we’re simply a warm body in a seat. Our hearts and minds are elsewhere.  The opposite of this is “being present.” That requires us to fully engage wherever we may find ourselves. We aren’t distracted by our phones or things going on outside of the moment.

This sentiment implies that there is more to us than just our bodies or minds. It is with this understanding that the “where” question can be answered fully.

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth saying that he no longer looked to the things that are seen when considering his life that outwardly was ”wasting away”. Discussing his afflictions, he observed that the things that are seen were transient and unreliable to determine his “where.” He asserted that the better and more accurate way to see oneself was by the unseen, eternal realities.

Paul put this into practice when he answered our question,

“In Christ Jesus.”

If you open up a Bible to the New Testament, or second half of the whole book, you’ll find this phrase peppered throughout. Paul uses this phrase or others that convey the same idea over 160 times. It’s used in a variety of contexts, but the thread running through each is what – or who – the preposition points towards.

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a position that cannot be marked with GPS coordinates. It isn’t often something that is immediately visible to the physical eye, though I am convinced that over time, it becomes clear.

This position, though veiled for a time from our mortal eyes, does in fact define everyone. There are ultimately two places you can find yourself.

In Christ, or not in Christ.

Metaphors only can get us so far in illustrating the supernatural, but this sort of union with God’s Son is likened to a limb being attached to a body, or a branch attached to a tree. Cut your hand off, it decays. Cut a branch off a tree, and it will wither to dust in the course of time. Similarly, there is no spiritual life outside of Christ. Only death and destruction.

So, what’s all this religious jargon mean? How does someone get to be “in Christ Jesus?” And what is “spiritual life?”

John the disciple is credited with writing the gospel of John, the last of four corroborative accounts of Jesus’ life. Near the end of his account, John writes what seems like a modern-day thesis statement:

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” – John 20:30-31

He makes his intentions in writing clear. He wants people to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He doesn’t write so people only know his name or become better people through listening to teachings in the account. He is after far greater things. He published this account that belief in Jesus would bring people to life.

How can write to people who are alive about having life?

Paul builds on this as he writes to the Colossian church when it seems they were tempted to forget who – or where – they were.

“Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:2-4

Once again, life, as Paul describes it, is the byproduct of being “in Christ” which John established is actuated by faith. Faith, put another way, is agreeing with Jesus in such a way that you then begin to follow Him with obedience. The life Paul talks about can only be traced back to Jesus, who is in and of Himself, the life of those who believe Him.

Just like it’s possible to be somewhere but not be there, it is possible to be alive without ever really living. We find ourselves in this situation by nature, born physically but dead to the one who gives life. This death came through our first ancestor’s sin, or rebellion against God, and it’s in this sinful condition that everyone irrespective of nation, gender, or political persuasion finds themselves.

Time and time again however, God’s word shows us the route to life. Jesus himself said as much when correcting the religious leaders of His day:

“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you have life.” John 5:39

He follows that up later with this word to the disciples before He was crucified:

“…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

In the work of Christ, culminating with His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead, our belief has a home. We, through the reception of this gift of Jesus, move from death to life as the cost of our sin is paid in full. Once dead in our sin, we become dead to sin. Our whereabouts no longer can adequately be described by mere physical observations. We are now in Christ Jesus.

 Maybe the question makes you squirm because, truthfully, you have no idea where you are or where you are going! I would encourage you that you aren’t the only one and I am convinced that to have no idea where you really are is the first step to finding yourself “hidden with Christ in God.” And from one wanderer to another – there is no greater place to be.

In Christ Jesus is redemption, eternal life, freedom from the law of sin and death, the immeasurable love of God, family closer than blood, purpose, grace, hope, and ultimately, a reunion with God who made you.

Find yourself in Him.

Scripture references:

2 Corinthians 4:18 – Look to what is unseen

Romans 3:24 – Redemption

Romans 6:23 – Sin brings death, Jesus brings eternal life

Romans 8:2 – Freedom from the law of sin and death

Romans 8:39 – The immeasurable love of God

Romans 12:5 & Romans 16 – Family in Christ

Ephesians 2:10 – Created in Christ Jesus for good works

1 Corinthians 1:4 – Grace of God given in Christ Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:19 – Eternal hope in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:19 – Reconciliation with God through Christ

The Servant King

/ brianhilton9 / 1 Comment

Inspired by Philippians 2: 1-11

All my allegiance belongs to the servant king

Who died that death might lose its sting

Emptied and weary, He comes for the lost

My soul on His heart, my life in His thoughts

What king gets his hands dirty and leaves his throne

Living like a servant, dying for his own?

With power in His hands the world has never seen

The lame walk, the deaf hear, the leper is made clean

Obedient in agony and submissive in sorrow

King Jesus secures the sinner’s tomorrow

There has been none as humble, none more meek

Than the one who also formed the highest peaks

God then exalted Him above every name

Risen and ascended, as death lays slain

Come to Jesus and leave everything

The Lamb of God, the Servant King

The Empty Cup

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There stands a cup

Brimming with wrath

A bitter, foaming wine

Fills the glass

A concoction so strong

One sip is deadly

Yet down to the dregs

Will the wicked drink this medley

We pour the cup

Swirling it under our noses

When we worship ourselves

And reject the God of Moses

“Wake up! Wake up!”

God’s servant Isaiah cried

“This drunkenness is not of wine

But judgement of the Divine”

“Hear the Word of the LORD,”

Jeremiah wept

“To drink is not a choice

It is your very debt”

These warnings to Israel

Extend to all mankind

For there are none righteous

All must drink this wine

Yahweh Almighty,

Perfect, holy, and true

No sin will He leave unpunished

All receive rebuke

He is the God of justice

alone defining its terms

All who reject Him

He will also spurn

This is the cup of staggering

Of fire, sulfur, and wind

No man can drink and live

Unless He be without sin

This leaves only one

Jesus, the Son of Man

Who lived a blameless life

And became our spotless lamb

The Father handed Him the cup

The one that stood before each of us

The weight of the world’s sin

Upon Messiah thrust

In agony he prayed

That the cup be taken from Him

Yet surrendered to His Father’s will

As He was beaten limb from limb

The one who raised the dead

The one who healed the blind

The one who freed the possessed

Was mocked and criminally maligned

He heard every word

And read every thought

Still, He pleaded their case

“Forgive them! What they do, they know not”

Each sip brought more misery

God’s just punishment of iniquity

And with one big swig

Cried “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

His lips trembled

As they released from the cup

He said “It is finished”

Every last drop

Darkness covered the land

Rocks split and crumbled

The temple curtain tore in two

As the city rumbled

His lifeless body hung

From the bloody splintered wood

Those watching beat their chests

And departed from where they stood

Some followers buried His corpse

And tightly wrapped it in linen

But then after three days

Heard reports that He had risen

The Marys and Salome

Visited the tomb

And the words of an angel

Made joy out of their gloom

“Why do you look for the living

The living among the dead?

For your LORD has risen

He’s risen just as He said!”

Christ appeared to many

Even those who doubted

“See my hands, touch my side”

He mercifully propounded

He explained the cup of wrath

Had been consumed once for all

When He died and rose again

And answered His Father’s call

Now a cup of blessing replaces

That which brought condemnation

For those who believe in Him

And come to Jesus for salvation

For their new cup is His blood

His body, their bread

Christ is now the very life

Of those who believe what He’s said

Judgement replaced with blessing

Guilt replaced with peace

Grace instead of wrath

Alive instead of deceased

Come to Jesus Christ

Who drank the cup for you

Repent and receive

The one who makes you new

Your heart is His prize

The soul He Himself made

The price of His blood

Was one for you He paid

Rebel from your rebellion

Lift your cross, take it up

Come and worship the one

Who emptied your cup

Scripture References:

Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.” Jeremiah 25:15

“And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink!” Jeremiah 25:28

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. Psalm 75:8

Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. Psalm 11:6


Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. Isaiah 51:17

Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.” Isaiah 51:22-23

For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. Obadiah 16

Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” Matthew 20:22-23

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39

Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Matthew 26:42

Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” Mark 10:38-40

And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:36

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Mark 14:23-25

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22:42-44

So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” John 18:11

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” 1 Corinthians 10:16

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 1 Corinthians 10:21