reminded of the hope we have in the Lord and our ability to live and walk in it. 1st Peter 1 says:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Jesus has come as our Redeemer, and the message that we can share with the world during this Christmas season is that no one is beyond the redemptive hand of the Lord. We see evidence of brokenness everywhere, and this can produce anger, guilt, and a host of negative emotions; but the story of redemption tells us that God wants to set people free from the past, to repair brokenness, and to recognize that victim or victimizer, in His love, He offers a fresh start, a chance to live in the power of the redeemed life.
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We worship Jesus because He has come to give us new life; the old is gone, the new has come, and we can take the necessary steps to put off the old and appropriate the new. Romans 6 says:
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
We are entering that season of the year that is centered around an amazing story of redemption; a story that involves fallen humanity and its need for a Savior; a story of a Creator God who would not allow His creation to permanently be separated from Himself.
Welcome to Christmas - let's worship Jesus!
Worship Him because He repairs the broken and mends our hearts, who calls us unto Himself and promises that our sins can be forgiven.
With all the brokenness we see, the peril of fallen humanity, we can continue to place our hope in our Redeemer.
There's a story of hope out of ruins that appeared on the Faithwire website. It involves a lady in Florida who was a teacher, 24 years old, newly married, and who became involved in inappropriate behavior with a 14-year-old student. Debra Lafave was found guilty of "lewd and lascivious behavior" and sentenced to 3 years of house arrest, 7 years' probation, and will be treated as a sex offender - forever. It could have been worse, save for the mother's decision to not subject her son to a "highly publicized trial," according to a Tampa Bay Times report quoted in the story.
Joe Zuniga has written a book about Debra, and said to People magazine that she is a "completely different person" now. The book is called, Debra Lafave: A Crown of Beauty for Ashes. Zuniga states, “She has grown up a lot. She has become a Christian, and she’s a great mom. She recently got married, and she just ignores the media. She knows it will always be there, but she focuses on her life now. It’s very normal.”
Zuniga recounts Lafave's difficult childhood, which included being raped at the age of 13 and struggles with bipolar disorder. She divorced her husband at the time of her inappropriate behavior with the student, and has been married twice more. Zuniga also told People: "She makes no excuses for what she did,” adding, "She has always owned up to it. She says, ‘If I could turn back time, I’d never would do that.’ She understands that she didn’t just negatively affect her life, but she hurt many other people, and she is still very sorry for it."
Here is a story of redemption, as told by a friend who self-published a book about her. And, we can be reminded of several things from this redemption story.
For one thing, no one is beyond the reach of God's love. As vile as sexual sin is, including sexual assault, it can be forgiven and people can be rehabilitated - in an effective and authentic manner through a relationship with Christ. If a person is truly sorry for his or her sins, then he or she can experience the power of redemption.
This is the message with which the Church has been entrusted - we should be on the forefront of our culture in speaking out against sexual immorality, including assault. We should offer hope for the victims, absolutely; but also for the victimizers, whose threat to society can be mitigated through the presence of a new heart in the Lord. Be mindful that you have so many assault victims who live with that nightmare of overwhelming thoughts, a presence, the power of which can be broken through the love of Christ and His overcoming power.
If we have a relationship with Christ, we can worship Him because of the new life that He has promised to us if we humble ourselves before Him and make Jesus our Lord. We can be freed from our past and face a bright future. The shadows of the past may linger, yet a person who has been redeemed can appropriate the power of the Lord to not allow that past to completely overpower and defeat us him or her any longer. Plus, people can repent from and learn from past indiscretions and rely on the Spirit to walk in victory in the present.
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