We Christians believe Jesus is the Servant-Messiah. We believe Jesus is God’s response to the deepest needs of the human heart. In Jesus the deepest needs of our lives are met; they are met with a tenderness that leaves us stunned and amazed.
Isaiah says of the Servant, "A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish” (3). In the Servant God doesn’t push and shove. He doesn’t demand His pound of flesh. He doesn’t bark orders like a drill sergeant. He draws near and embraces. Isaiah 40:11 says, “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”
As Christians we believe our God is a setting-free God, but we also know that setting-free is a difficult business because we humans are a broken and damaged people who act strong but know we really aren’t, who look great but know we really aren’t as great as we look. This makes redemption a real challenge because in telling us the truth about ourselves and holding us accountable, God must not so handle us that we get lost in despair. If His goal is redemption He must come within our fractured lives and show us the way to healing and redemption.
So Jesus comes gently, quietly, lovingly to open the prison doors and the self-dug dungeons of our lives. The past does not have to control the future. The future can be defined by what God has done for us in Christ. The past may be awful; the future can be stamped with the glory of God. God says, “Now I declare new things” (Is. 42:9).
What new thing does God want to bring to pass in your life just because He loves you? Can you accept the fact that God accepts you? Will you receive a new future, one shaped and formed by amazing grace?
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