The Polished Words of Jesus Christ

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For those of us you who are also perfectionists, you know the agony of slowly tapping out words and tediously editing to ensure that your words are perfectly polished. Some of us extend our need for each word to be exact to our conversations with other people.

We have our reasons.

As wielders of words, we know their power. The more precise your words, the better your meaning will be conveyed. By putting out perfectly polished words, you get to choose exactly the message given to others without misunderstanding or misleading anyone.

But sometimes we over-edit. Sometimes the message we convey to others is so precise it says little at all and loses its impact.

Consider some of Jesus’ words:

 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” –Mark 9:19

What a way to win people over, right? These raw words of Jesus imply His (Godly) frustration with humans living according to their human nature. He doesn’t find a kind, roundabout way to politely suggest that disbelief has implications.

But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” –Matthew 8:22

Ouch. Insensitive. Demanding. Bossy. We could read a lot into these words, and surely some who heard such phrases did.

Jesus wept. –John 11:35

It wasn’t what He spoke, but that He didn’t. Imagine how puzzling it must have been to see the Lord of the universe, the great Teacher, weep instead of comforting others and explaining that just in just minutes He would raise His friend from the dead.

 I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. –Luke 10:21

Polished words are often used to impress, control, and influence the wise and the learned. Jesus’ words were for the little children. Children could understand His frustration and His clear directive to follow Him and switch from a perspective of death and this world to one of eternal life. 

A child knows what it is to weep rather than find “the right words” because indeed, weeping with others is often just as comforting.

The difficulty with speaking and writing without all the polish is that people might see through the words.

Your readers might see through the raw words and witness a struggle you face right now instead of an issue you’ve resolved and are sharing “learned” insights about. Friends might find that your advice comes from a place of imperfection and, while you want it to be right, might be skewed or incomplete.

You might find yourself vulnerable, as we are vulnerable when we talk with children. Little people’s words aren’t polished. Their questions aren’t polite. The implications they read and lessons they pick up often mirror not what you so carefully explained but what was going on in your heart when you explained it.

What if like Jesus you let people see through to what you’re feeling right now, not just your tidied-up, lesson-learned analysis? Could you set aside control and your spotless reputation?

Because here’s what Jesus’s unpolished, raw words did that our cleaned up, decorated words often do not: pointed right to God’s heart. 

Rather than marking out each step as if it must be understood and handled, we could fix our eyes on the perfect author who writes even the messes into His plot.  

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith –Hebrews 12:2

This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, Intentionally Pursuing,Titus2sday, and Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 Boneless Chicken Breasts Cubed
• 1 Cup Corn Starch
• 2 Eggs Beaten
• 1 Large Orange
• 1 1/2 Cups Orange Juice
• 1/8 Cup Soy Sauce
• 1/8 Cups Honey
• 1/8 Cup Corn Starch Dissolved in Water
• Paprika
• Garlic Powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Dredge the cubed chicken pieces in corn starch and then in beaten eggs.
3. Add to a hot skillet and cook 2-3 minutes before flipping.
4. Allow the chicken to cook just until the egg on the outside is cooked through. 
5. In the meantime, whisk together orange juice, soy sauce, honey, dissolved corn starch, and seasonings. Squeeze fresh orange over mixture as well until mostly juiced.
6. Add the chicken to a baking dish and pour orange juice mixture over.
7. Place remaining slices of fresh orange (not the skin!) in the baking dish.
8. Put the dish in the oven uncovered and cook 10 minutes.
9. Stir the mixture, flipping the meat to ensure it is evenly coated in the sauce.
10. Cook another ten minutes.
11. Raise the oven temp to 425 degrees and cook an additional 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has bubbled and thickened.
12. Serve over jasmine rice.

Your Testimony Isn't Over...

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You describe what was going on in your life, explaining what led you to your decision. Throughout the story you share about those special moments and “coincidences” that boosted your faith. Perhaps for you the story is short and it’s sweet. For others, it’s much more dramatic. As you tell the story, you arrive at the crux (perhaps better said: the cross.)

Here, you proclaim the truth. Jesus is your Lord and Savior.

Now don’t stop. Don’t conclude your testimony with “the end.”

So often, so many of us slap “happily ever after” onto our testimonies, as if Christ saving us is the end of the story.

Worse yet, there are many Christians who determine, having been saved and changed, that the rest of their lives is theirs to live as they please. With a happily ever after coming at the end, they, like the Corinthian Christians figure they might as well pass the rest of their earthly lives as they please.

We act like this when we don’t want to be up front about our continued sin and don’t care all that much about living right now like we are citizens of heaven. The words slip out as if what’s past is past and that’s what defines us, putting our hope in the Lord who saved us but not in the same One who is glad to change us today.

Concerned with what’s right in front of us, we approach life with the shortsighted priority of preserving our reputations, our senses of accomplishment, and our immediate emotions.  When life is hard, we may still testify that He is real but feel nothing of His joy because we are caught up in present circumstances.

We can live like that if we choose.

But we don’t have to.

You don’t have to say “the end” after sharing that Jesus died for you because Christ is still living and you are free to live in Him today. And tomorrow.

He’s still active. He’s still present. Though your end on earth is secure, you aren’t there yet. You’re still a work in progress –one that will be brought to completion.

Keep in mind that “the end,” too, is all caught up in God. He’s the Alpha and the Omega –the beginning and the end. He defines eternity, security, time, and hope. The very word “Omega” describes the limitlessness of our God.

We read in Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

The well-known words of Isaiah 41:10 also read:

“So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

But, it’s just a few a little earlier, in verse 4, that we read:

“Who has done this and carried it through,

calling forth the generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord—with the first of them

and with the last—I am he.”

What’s to come in your testimony? What’s the Lord doing in your life right now? What was is important, but it’s not everything. He was with the first generations and will be with the last. He was present when you first accepted Christ as your Savior, and He will be the day that you go confidently before God, hopeful to hear that He is well-pleased.

For King and Country’s It’s Not Over Yet offers a wonderful reminder for those of us who don’t feel that our testimony is continuing or wonder if the Lord is still at work in our lives:

This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, Intentionally Pursuing, Titus2sday, and Thought-Provoking Thursday.