Closing Gaps

     Right now I'm reading through the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul's second letter he wrote to the church in Corinth. As I've been reading through, I notice how much emphasis Paul puts on Jesus and who He was and exactly what He did and what we do for Him because of Him. It's truly fascinating to read all of it. So as I'm reading, surely another verse comes, but this one moves me. Here it is:

"God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV (Parenthesis added)

     Re-read that for a second. God made Jesus become sin. When Jesus felt the full separation of the world's sin, He actually became sin. That makes us think though, "How can the Messiah who was and is perfect become something that is imperfect and the complete opposite of God?" Good question, but if we think deep enough we find out something that is very shocking.

     Jesus becoming sin was absolutely necessary. Huh? One more time: in order for everything in God's plan to work out, Jesus had to become sin Himself. It makes total sense, doesn't it? We always hear how sin has died, that Jesus defeated death itself. Death is useless against us. Well, have you ever thought of how Jesus did that? By dying on the cross you say! But what does that mean to us? When the earthly body of Christ was killed, sin died with it. Sin was defeated and destroyed as Christ died on the cross. That is how Jesus beat death.

Foreshadow in the Old Testament and Secret Salvation

     Yesterday I read through the book of Jonah. While reading, I noticed a passage, well, a verse, that is a complete foreshadow of Christ's death and resurrection. Here is the verse:

Jonah 1:17 - 

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. (Bolding added by me) (ESV)

     Let's talk about some Bible history now. While Jonah was in the belly of this fish, he had ultimate peace with God. He was able to pray and meditate on his actions and repent from his disobedience. (He didn't want to go to Nineveh but God really wanted him to). Three days later he was then spewed out of the fish and went on to share the love of God with the people of Nineveh. Isn't the story of Christ's resurrection somewhat similar?

     Jonah sinned and was disobediant to God. The people of the earth were sinning and being disobedient to God. Jonah paid the price and was swallowed by a whale. Jesus, then, paid the price and was crucified on the cross. Jonah was spat out of the whale after being there for three days. Christ rose from the grave after being dead for three days. Jonah went out and shared news of repentance to Nineveh. Christ went out and shared news of a new salvation to His disciples. Isn't the Bible clever?

     The second part of this blog is called "Secret Salvation". This may sound confusing, but let me explain.

     While Jonah was "running" from God (you can't outrun God by the way), he was with sailors on a boat to Tarshish. When God threw the brutal storm at the boat, all of the sailors prayed to their own gods. They woke up Jonah and told him to do the same, and when Jonah told them that this was his fault because he was on bad terms with his God, they prayed to Jonah's God. When he was thrown overboard and swallowed the storm stopped.

     You never hear about those sailors again, but if you look really closely at chapter 1 of Jonah, you can see something. These sailors found salvation through Jonah's disobedience. 

     Look at it! The sailors prayed to their own, false gods, but when they saw that Jonah was the cause of this, they fell down and prayed to the real God of the universe and worshipped Him when the storm stopped! They found God through Jonah and his own disobedience. I see a hidden lesson for us in that: when we are struggling or having a hard time with life or with God, sometimes the way we react to it can determine whether or not people loot to God. It's about how we respond to God's calling or His will. If we're obedient and repent the way we should, we serve as an example to others. Pretty cool huh?

What the Title of my Blog Means

     Seeing as Greek isn't the most known language in the US, I decided I should explain what the meaning of my blog is before things get confusing.

     First of all, allow me to show you exactly how the title is pronounced. Here:

Ee-kona too thay-oh

Kinda get that? Okay, good. Now here's the deep part of it.

     The translation for Eikóna tou Theoú in English is "Image of God", which Believers are called to be. We are image bearers, if you will. Knowing this, I decided to call my blog so. Why? Because I use this blog as a tool to reveal a different image of God to outside readers. I am in no way trying to push anything on others, just giving people a chance to make their view of God straight and not crooked from an past experiences. Thank ya!

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." -Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

The Helpless Aren't Very Helpless

     This weekend I went down with my church, Christ's Church of the Valley (CCV), to Rocky Point, Mexico. This isn't the beautiful Rocky Point where one would go on vacation and hang out, this was a different Rocky Point. Specifically, we went to the Barrios, or, the more poverty stricken area of Rocky Point. The uglier part that no one really talks about.

     We went on a missions trip down there to build five homes for five families. I've gone once before and really wanted to go this year for the same reason: seeing the smiles and tears of the grateful family. This year was a lot different, though. The family wasn't your average "poor and homeless family who does nothing but sits in the sand and waits for people to help them." This family was different. 

     The father of the family was Arceleos, and his wife was Victoria. They have four children and one shack for an abode. Victoria stays at home all day and takes care of her four children while Arceleos does masonry work for $10 a day. That is their lifestyle and their background. 

     As my team began working on the construction of their house, we noticed that Arceleos, after returning home from a long day's work, began to help us with the house. And by help, I don't mean he gave us nails. We was on his hands and knees smoothing the concrete, on the roof nailing nails into the boards, and getting is entire body filthy from the stucco we were pasting on the house. He was more involved than one third of the people there.

     That wasn't the only shocker here. On Monday (the final working day), Victoria and her four children presented my entire team of 35 people a meal of two fish tacos per person. WHAT?! After already having their husband/father working all day on the house, they have enough gratefulness and appreciation to make a meal for the entire team?! That absolutely blows my mind, as well as educates it.

     As you have read, this family was in no place to help us at all. they could have watched the whole time and that would have been perfect. But they didn't. No matter what place they were in, they wanted to help and show gratefulness. How much more, then, should we be grateful to people, even when we are in no place to do so. Love is everywhere, it's in America, it's in Africa, it's even in the Barrios of Rocky Point, Mexico; we just need to search and serve.