At the Beach, Free in Jesus

As I walked down Palm Avenue away from the trolley station and towards Imperial Beach, I knew I had made the right decision. Yet, there was a tug inside of me. I still wanted to be on that trolley. Reminders of where I could be flashed before me periodically in the form of license plates titled: “Baja California”. I was close.

 

I had woken up that morning at the Quality Suites in San Diego’s mission valley. The purpose of my trip was business, but I had taken off a few days at the beginning of the trip to golf and do some sight-seeing. I had golfed the previous day, and so, the plan for the current day was to transition to the hotel where my meeting was to be and to explore downtown San Diego. On this morning I had a realization though – with the welcome reception for my meeting not starting until 6:30 pm, I actually had quite a bit of time to explore. This was strange because this had always been the start time. However, my mind had failed to properly calculate just how much I could do with the time I had. Immediately, my adventurous mind broadened to the possibilities such time afforded me. Suddenly exploring downtown San Diego no longer seemed sufficient. Being in California, a natural first thought was to go to see the ocean. A quick look at the map, paying special attention to where the trolley lines run, revealed that Imperial Beach was the best spot for such an excursion. 

 

After checking in early at my next hotel and dropping off my bags, I walked out onto the streets of San Diego with excitement. I walked South. The goal: to see Petco Park, the stadium for the San Diego Padres baseball team, and then to get on a blue line trolley. As I walked by the stadium, I snapped some pictures and read the plaques of those in the Baseball Hall of Fame who had played for the Padres. I was enjoying the day. As I got to the trolley station it was perfect timing to hop on the blue line headed the direction I wanted. 

 

As we rattled down the tracks making stops at each passing station, a second realization came – one that would loom. Before going on the trip, crossing the border hadn’t been on my radar. It hadn’t slipped my mind. I knew that San Diego was close to Mexico, very close. It just didn’t seem feasible under the constraints of the trip. How would I have the time? As I had finally noticed that morning, I did have the time. How could I get there in a relatively cheap way? This was the second realization: the San Diego trolley goes all the way to the border. With my passport in my pocket, a byproduct of the overcautiousness of wanting to have multiple IDs on the trip in case I lost one and my “you never know” way of thinking in regard to Mexico, the way to Tijuana was now cleared, well, mostly cleared. I took out my phone to research.

 

For many years I had been aware that Tijuana, Mexico, is not the safest place in the world to go. The recent murdering in a different part of Mexico of an American family by a drug cartel also rested in the back of my mind. And yet, was I concerned about my safety? The short answer: a little, but not enough to keep me from crossing the border. My wife was on my mind. As I looked up the safety of Tijuana, the results were bad, really bad. Tijuana was ranked number one, a place any city would like to be except when the ranking is on this list of most dangerous cities in the world. This was not subjective. This was real data. In 2018, there had been 2,640 murders there. That is an average of over 7 a day. It was not just Tijuana, the top 50 was littered with Mexican cities. The drug cartels have been running amuck. 

 

After overcoming this initial shock, I probed deeper to understand the numbers. As I read, a slightly different picture emerged. It sounded, well, sort of safe. People talked of going there with no issues and of being fine as long as you stay in safer spots and keep to yourself. It also appeared that most of the killings were between rival drug cartels. Tourists were unlikely targets. I also figured that the area near the border must be safe given all the border patrols that should be there. I didn’t need to stay long either; it could be a quick trip. One last barrier: could I cross on foot? Yes. The way was paved. I didn’t even need to do anything. I could stay seated right where I was and end up exactly where I wanted to be. However, words were on my mind – important words.

 

In Philippians 2:4, the apostle Paul states, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” My wife was on my mind. I needed to look to her interests and not just mine. Even without asking, I knew that my wife would not want me to go. But a caveat played in my mind. She would not want me to go if she knew all the facts. What if I just asked her if I could go to Mexico? There was a good chance she wouldn’t even ask me about safety. If she did, I had a card I could play. She had crossed the border there on a mission trip many years before. Having been there, I could turn the question back to her and her first-hand knowledge? Surely, I would get a “Yes”. But I knew this wouldn’t be right. Given knowledge of the current state of Tijuana, I knew she wouldn’t want me to go. And so, I got off the trolley at the Palm Avenue station – three stops short of the border. I was indeed close.

 

The aforementioned tug persisted in me as I progressed down Palm Avenue. I felt that I had missed a great opportunity. To fully understand this tug, I must broaden the scope. I love visiting new places, and in particular, I love adding new states and countries to my list. Whenever I get close to a border, I try to cross even if the main purpose of the trip was not to go there. Michigan, North Dakota, and Wyoming were all added to my list in this fashion. When planning a trip, I try to add as many new places as possible. On the East coast two years ago, I designed a route that allowed me to add 8 new states. On my mission trip to Kenya, I made sure to have a long layover in Amsterdam, so I could add the Netherlands. In short, this is a passion of mine. To be so close to Mexico and not cross the border was very difficult indeed. 

 

We all have passions. We all have desires or things that are important to us. We want freedom too. We want to be able to pursue our desires. This is an ever evident battle cry of the current culture. We also try to be good people. We think these don’t clash, but they do. Jesus cut straight to the heart of this matter when the rich young ruler approached him. After Jesus listed out the commandments. The young man was eager to reply in the affirmative. He had indeed been following them. Aren’t we all eager to reply in such a way at times? The rich man still wanted to know what he lacked though. “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’” (Matthew 19:21). Jesus knew his heart. He knew that this man’s true god was not Jesus, but his money and possessions, and ultimately himself. And so, "he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:22). 

 

Before we know Jesus, and even after we are following him, this side of heaven, we will always be tempted to follow our own way. Jesus has a way of revealing these spots in our hearts to us. What is difficult too is that, often they are not bad things in and of themselves, but when pursued at the expense of others and of God they become sin. This is what sin really is, wanting our own way, wanting to be our own gods, whether we realize it or not. It all started in the Garden of Eden. There was one tree God commanded Adam and Eve to not eat. The devil said of it, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Eve listened closely and was swayed. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6). It was good fruit. In and of itself, it was not a bad thing. But eating it trampled on God and his command, and paraphrasing Satan, she could now be her own God. In doing so, the way for autonomy was opened, but true freedom was lost. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). Freedom is not having to hide.

 

Having a desire to go to new states and countries is not wrong. On that particular day though, it was wrong, as the Lord revealed to me that it would go against my wife’s wishes and his wishes. I could have gone to Mexico. However, I would have had to hide. I would have had to hide the fact that Tijuana is dangerous from my wife. I also would have had to turn away from Jesus, my God. I would have had to turn to myself. I would have had to sin. Freedom would have been lost.

 

As I approach the Pacific at Imperial Beach, my eyes were awed. It was a beautiful sight. I was blessed to be there. God knows what is best. He knew I would have missed something truly awesome. God is great that way. He is not a god of killing our dreams, but a God of showing us something better. He is also a God of true freedom. He knows that the current culture’s ideal of pursuing its own desires no matter what, which is nothing new but has persisted in us since that dreadful day in Eden, does not bring freedom but only shackles us to our own desires. While on the beach, I noticed that some people had written in the sand. So, I did too. I wrote, “I love you Courtney”, and sent it to her in a picture. Probably cheesy, but true. These words would have been hollow and false that day if I had gone to Mexico. I had a freedom to write these words. 

 

Should I be applauded for what I did on that day? Definitely no! It was only the grace of God working in me that kept me north of the border. Left to my own devices, I would have crossed the border. Furthermore, I have sinned against God and my wife before and I surely will in the future too. This is the beauty of following Jesus though. As we grow in relationship with him, we are better able to discern his will as I was that day, and, when we do fail, we have the awesome reality of knowing that he took all those failures, destroyed them at the cross, and replaced them with his righteousness. Because of this, we never have to hide from God again. We can stand righteous before him not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us. That is true freedom! Outside of Jesus, freedom can never be found. Outside of Jesus, we will invariably chase our own pursuits, only to be left empty in the end. Outside of Jesus, we will try to be good people, ultimately to no avail. Outside of Jesus, we will always feel the need to hide from God. So, to those that don’t know Jesus, I say, as he did to the rich young ruler, “Come, follow him!” In Jesus, you will truly be free!

What Does it Mean to be a Christian?

This is an important question to answer, especially in a culture here in America that seems to be distancing itself from Jesus at an ever-increasing rate. I recently heard David Platt, pastor at McLean Bible Church in the Washington, DC, area, address this topic, and the verse he chose I find answers this question well. In Galatians 2:20, the apostle Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This verse is packed with significance.
 

Christians are people who no longer live, but Christ lives in them. This starkly contrasts with the culture of the current moment and its individualistic focus. As Christians, we look at ourselves and see all that is wrong with us. On occasion we do good, but so often we do wrong. We fall short of where we know we should be and what we should be doing. We feel the weight of our sin. I would venture to guess that many non-Christians feel the same. The difference though is that Christians look to the Son of God, hanging on a cross, and receive his death as their death. They stop trying to atone for their transgressions on their own and surrender to Christ. That moment is a glorious moment. In that moment, we pass from living life on our own strength to Christ living in us and being carried day by day by him. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). With our old selves dead and Christ living in us we can live life boldly in faith in him remembering how much Christ loved us by giving himself up for us as is expressed in the second half of Galatians 2:20. The implications of all of this are huge. It means we have infinite worth and intrinsic value, relationship, no pressure, purpose and meaning, and so much more.
 

 We are loved by Jesus and he laid down his life that we might live. In addition, we are told in Genesis 1:27 that all people are made in the image of God – “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” These two truths mean we have infinite worth and intrinsic value. We don’t need to earn our worth by doing good, having successful careers, by finding a man or woman that loves us, or by any other means for that matter. We are freed from these chains.
 

In Jesus, we have relationship. Christ lives in us. He is with us. We have a personal relationship with him. As pastor Tim Keller notes, we are utterly alone in the world if we do not have a personal relationship with God. This is because, at any moment, any human with which we have a close relationship could die. Perhaps less obvious though is the fact that no other human can perfectly love, know, and understand us. Not our parents, not our friends, not our spouses, only God. And when we die, we go alone unless Jesus is with us. But if we are in Jesus, not only do we have relationship with him in an abstract sense, we have it in very concrete ways. We can talk with him though prayer. We can read his words in the Bible.
 

In Jesus, the pressure is off. We don’t need to do good to make up for all the bad we have done. Jesus already lived the perfect life and died the perfect death for us. We have rest. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said this, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” When we do good, it is no longer a self-focused way of measuring up, it is Christ’s love freely pouring through us. We can forgive those who have wronged us because we know how much Christ has forgiven us. We can give our money freely because we no longer need it for status or for security and we know that we can’t take is with us when we die. As the writer of Hebrews states in 10:34, we know that we have “better and lasting possessions” in heaven. We can do good to all people because we know how important they are – they are made in the image of God and Christ died for them. I love what Oswald Chambers said in regard to the pressure being off in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest: “A Christian is one who trusts the wits and the wisdom of God, and not his own wits. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the leisureliness which ought to characterize the children of God.” It’s not that we relax and do nothing. It’s that we don’t need to be frantic in finding purpose and figuring out what to do – God sets the course.
 

In Jesus, we have purpose and meaning. God indeed sets the course. I find that this course is laid out nicely by Jesus in a few places. First, in Matthew 22:37-40, he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Our lives should first and foremost be an outpouring of love unto God. This goes back to having a relationship with him. We can only truly love someone if we have a relationship with them. God wants to know us. He wants to hear the desires of our heart. He wants to hear about and comfort us in our troubles. He desires relationship with us. Not only that, when a person loves someone they praise them and thank them, which is what we should do in times of prayer. Further, when we are in close relationship with someone (or really anyone for that matter) and we do wrong towards that person, and any sin is a wrong towards God, we need to apologize and ask for forgiveness. In prayer we get to turn to God and ask for his forgiveness and trust him to give us the power to move forward and to avoid that sin. If we love God, everything we do should be to glorify him. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This love relationship with God that is backed by the foundation of Jesus’ death and resurrection then frees us and empowers us to live out the second commandment. We are to love others as ourselves. Second, in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Basically, we are to tell everyone about Jesus and teach them about living in relationship with him. In doing this though, we must remember that it is Jesus that saves, not us. It is his power at work. All of this gives great meaning to our lives. We are living for the glory of God and he is working through us to do good in the world and draw more and more people to him. That is transcendent meaning!
 

With all this being said though, we must remember that Christians too are sinners. While we live on the earth we will fall short of all I have listed above. But that is precisely why we need Jesus and his atoning death and resurrection. We look to him to perfect us. We look to him to work in us. We look to him to make us more and more into the beautiful piece of living art God intended us to be. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Christ died for all of us. Not because we were good, but because he loves us. Do you want immeasurable worth and intrinsic value that is not based on your performance? Do you want a relationship that transcends even death and lasts forever? Do you want a life where the pressure on you is off? Do you want a life filled with purpose and meaning? Then stop trying and surrender to Jesus. Look to the cross and say, “That was for me.”

Burden Placed, Burden Lifted

We live in a burdensome world. The burden comes from within and from outside. The burden to succeed, the burden to achieve our dreams, the burden to gain money, the burden to be good, or at least to be thought of as good, the burden of comparing ourselves to others and many more stalk us daily. And so, builds the pressure, the weight. This burden that we live under, although not always at the forefront of our minds, is inherent to our thinking and even pervades in many of the major religions and worldviews.
 
By no means am I a world religions or worldview expert, but even in my limited view, I see this common thread of burden. Take Islam for example. To achieve paradise, one’s good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds. This is not a view unique to Islam. Many, whether religious or not, believe this is the way to reach heaven, or even if there is no afterlife, believe that its nevertheless a good goal to have. I agree that it’s a noble goal. But what a burden. We have all done, and continue to do, things we know are wrong. With each passing blunder, the pressure to do good builds, and even as we do good, the memory of past mistakes is not erased. Consider Buddhism next. While there are certainly aspects of trying to lead a good life that come into play, the ultimate goal is nirvana – a state of being where troubles and desires are gone and perfect happiness is reached. Again, the burden is on us to achieve this state. Karma in Hinduism does not take us away from this burden paradigm either as the pressure is to do good. Finally, suppose you believe this life is all we have. In this case, the goal may be to achieve happiness through accumulating material possessions or through having a good career or perhaps something else. In such a worldview, the burden is on us to make this happen.

In a world of burden, Jesus shines uniquely. In Matthew 11:28-30, he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus takes away our burden and gives us rest. The beauty too is that he didn’t just take away our burden, he took it upon himself. At the cross, our burden was placed on him. Not in an abstract sense, but actually. Real burden led him to utter in Matthew 26:38, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” as the cross was quickly approaching. Jesus knows our struggles, he knows our pain, he knows our sins, he knows our burdens, and yet he came to us, and beared it all for us. The implications of this are enormous. 

One such implication is this: we can cry out to Jesus even when all seems lost and even at the last second. Nowhere is this more evident in the Bible than when the criminal on the cross next to him said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42) and Jesus replied with, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Presumably, this man had done a lot wrong in his life as he was a criminal being executed on a cross for his transgressions, and in an earlier verse he even called his being crucified as just. His life was coming to an end. Under any of the religions or worldviews mentioned above, this would have been the end of the road, the loss of hope. But Jesus was next to him. The only one who could take his burden. The only one that could offer hope – unique hope – in that moment. He cried out and was saved. Not from death in that moment, but from spiritual death, from being separated from Jesus. The key to Luke 23:43 listed above is just that. Not that he would be in paradise but that he would be with Jesus. 
 
This marvelous beauty of being able to call out to Jesus even when all seems lost is still being borne out today. I recently heard a story of a man in prison in Louisiana. He is there on a life sentence with no hope of getting out. From a human perspective, all is lost for him. How could he even try to do more good deeds to cover up his bad deeds? The amazing thing though is that, while in prison, Jesus redeemed him, and so, even though the rest of his earthly life will be spent in prison, he is truly free and knows he will spend eternity with Jesus. What’s more, he has now become a pastor and will be changing prisons to go on “mission trips” to tell others in prison about this amazing Jesus that can be called out to even when hope seems lost.

While this ability to call out at the last second is profound, I gather that most feel that they are not in such a position. Most can see the good they ought to do and sometimes do it. But there is this gap. The gap between how we know we should be and how we actually are and in this gap is sin. Sin puts us in a much more tenuous position than most realize. It’s serious. It’s not getting our hand caught in the cookie jar. It’s a disease we cannot rid ourselves of. It’s a disease that will lead to our demise. If it wasn’t a terminal illness, then at least some could achieve perfection on their own. I have yet to see anyone do this though. 
 
Switching, but not fundamentally changing, the illustration, we are the ones hanging on the cross next to Jesus justly condemned. We cannot take ourselves off this cross. What will this cross mean to us though? Will it be an object of wrath or of hope? Condemnation or discipline? Death or life? If we don’t call out to Jesus, the former will surely be the case. But what if we do call out? When we do, a transaction takes place: the death we deserve is placed on Jesus. That’s the amazing thing. Although Jesus should rightfully be on a throne, he is instead on a cross next to us. He didn’t die for us metaphorically, he died for us actually. More than that, he rose again. For those in Jesus, the cross means hope.

One thing that should not be lost though is that Jesus did not take the man next to him off the cross he was on. Those who follow Jesus always have their crosses intact. However, instead of being a cross that kills us, it’s a cross that kills the sinful nature in us. It’s a cross used for discipline, not destruction. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” 

Although our crosses remain with us, they are no longer a burden. They are a blessing. They are for our ultimate good. Jesus can use them to gently purify us. His “burden is light”. What’s more, when our trust is in him, the ultimate burden is no longer on us. He took that on his cross. So, while our cross is discipline, his is hope for us. And, in the end, we will have “rest for our souls” because of it.