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The Great Flip Easter

“The Deep Magic will be Appeased” and Three Lenten Devotions

The season of Lent, for me, is a time to remember God’s amazing grace, mercy and sacrifice for me. I know a lot of people give up things like food, drinks, activities, etc. to create time to pursue more of God. There is nothing wrong with fasting during this season. Those activities are meant to help us return to the Lord in a spirit of repentance.

But consider “the great flip” in this way of thinking. Instead of “doing more for God” try remembering all that God has done for you. Put yourself in a position to recognize all the gifts the Lord continues to give you every day. Consider that even the act of repentance is a gift.  Remember, the top priority of the Lenten Season is the cross. Christ crucified for you.  Then the joy of forgiveness and Easter morning will be all the more spectacular!

Here are three devotions to share with your children for the season of Lent:

The Deep Magic will be Appeased.

But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. 

{ Hebrews 9:26 }

Have you read Narnia’s “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe?” There’s a difficult scene where the lion, Aslan, appears to be defeated by the white witch. All because the boy, Edmond, was selfish, stubborn, and made a terrible mistake. The boy should have paid the price for his sin. Instead, Aslan sacrifices himself and saves Edmond. What appears to be a terrible defeat turns out to be a great victory. (Spoiler Alert! Read the book for the full story!)

“Narnia” written by C. S. Lewis, is also a story of the sacrifice of Jesus. We are selfish, stubborn people. We make horrible mistakes. We deserve punishment for our wrongdoings. But God in his great love for you, sent his son Jesus, to pay the price for your sins. It’s a difficult scene to watch Jesus die on the cross. But his great sacrifice is now your greatest victory. 

Action Point: Write a letter or say a prayer to Jesus and confess your sins. Say you are sorry to him. Spoiler Alert! He is faithful to forgive your sins because of His sacrifice for you!

if it's not good news, it's not the gospel

Restore me, and I will be restored.

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. 

{ Psalm 51:17}

Have you ever done something so terrible you thought it was unforgivable? 

King David did. He had committed a terrible sin. David was crushed for the bad thing he had done. He saw no way to make himself right before God. 

When your heart is broken, God will not reject you. You are experiencing a beautiful gift from God. It’s called repentance. To repent is to turn away from the bad and to turn toward the good. In Lamentations 5:21, the people realized only God can turn them back to him. 

“Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had!”

And when God restores your broken heart, he also restores assurance of His forgiveness.

“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” 1 John 1:9

Action Point: How is God turning you back to him? Repent and read Psalm 51.

girl reading Bible

How to sit at Jesus’ feet.

Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.

{ Luke 10:17 }

How do you like to worship? Do you like to sing songs? Do you enjoy praying and reading the Bible, Or how about serving as an act of worship?

If your worship is more about what you do, then you might like the Bible story about two sisters who worshiped Jesus. One worshiped by focusing her attention on what she was doing for him. One worshiped by focusing her attention on what Jesus was doing for her. 

There is nothing wrong with singing, praying, reading, and serving as acts of worship. Jesus instructs us to do those things, not to earn God’s love, but because we already have it. 

The kind of worship Jesus seeks is the acknowledgment of his gifts to you, not our gifts to him. Jesus was so sweet to both sisters when he explained the simple truth that worship is more about receiving from him than doing something for him. 

Action Point: Next time you are in church, pretend to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to all the ways you receive God’s gifts as an act of worship.

Jody Token is the creator and coach of The Great Flip, online martial arts for ages six and up. She writes devotions for True Girl, a ministry of Dannah Gresh. The Great Flip is a national program alliance for American Heritage Girls. 

 

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the great exchange

The Great Exchange is The Great Flip

It is finished. Not only did he take your sin and the sin of the whole world. He “became” your sin! And in exchange, he gave you his righteousness. You “became” the righteousness of God!

Put on your royal robes and crown of gold, ladies! You are a daughter of the most-high king!

Rejoice in this. Ponder this mystery. You did nothing to deserve it. “While you were still a sinner, Jesus died for you.” Martin Luther refers to this mystery as the great exchange. The greatest gift of all … for you.

I call it The Great Flip! 

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

“Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. John the Baptist proclaimed these words when he saw Jesus approaching. Today, you can proclaim these same words. He takes your brokenness. He takes your shame. He frees you from the power of death. He doesn’t ask for your permission.

 

Jesus is a holy thief. He takes away the sin of the world and nailed them to a cross. He did it all for you because he loves you.  It is finished. Listen, Jesus, the Word enters into your ears and creates faith.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” 

For more encouragement about the meaning of Easter and the gospel message, read my blog or listen to my podcast from last Easter. Click here. 

Welcome to The Great Flip

Hi friends, my name is Jody Token. I’m the creator and coach of The Great Flip online self-defense, safety and faith-filled empowerment for girls age six and up. I created a fun, playful and empowering experience to learn simple self-defense skills and share the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. My resources give you an opportunity to talk about bully prevention and God’s healing words for girls and have fun learning life skills.

Be sure to request a free video and lesson plan. 

And find an online plan right for you and your family, church, school and/or after-school enrichment program.

Contact me. I look forward to serving you.

Blessings,

Coach Jody

online self-defense for girls

The Great Flip is an American Heritage Girls national program partner.

Coach Jody is a contributing writer for True Girl, a ministry of Dannah Gresh.

 

 

if it's not good news, it's not the gospel

If it’s not good news, it’s not the gospel.

It’s time for the great flip

I finally understand why people attend church twice a year; once for Christmas and once for Easter. There is a common message preached on those two church holidays. The theme is what makes church palatable twice a year. I believe If the church proclaimed this theme every Sunday, churches might be a little fuller. If this message was the foundation of every Christian lifestyle, more people might be attracted to the Christian faith.

 

The message is simple:  Jesus loves you. He loves you no matter what. No amount of darkness, shame or brokenness can stop Jesus from loving you. And you don’t have to love him back. He still loves you. And more than 2,000 years ago, He rescued you, restored you and gave you new life now and into eternity. This good news is worth repeating more than twice a year. And this good news is a free gift for you.

The narrative of the Bible is the same good news over and over again. In short, God created the world and gave it to his people as a gift. And it was good. But his people turned away from God. But God, because of his loving kindness, rescued his people. He restored his people and gave them a way of life that brings balance and blessing. He protected his people. But again, his people turn away from Him. Shockingly living life apart from God led to darkness, shame and brokenness. But God, because of his loving kindness, rescued his people again. This happened over and over in the Bible narrative.

if it's not good news, it's not the gospel

Then something amazing happened, God sent his son, Jesus (Merry Christmas) to put an end to our cycle of rebellion. Jesus ushered into the world a divine rescue, redemption and restoration plan. He demonstrated a perfectly balanced and blessed life. He demonstrated a life full of love and mercy. And this divine plan was a gift to us.

 

Then, (here comes Holy Week and Good Friday) Jesus took our darkness, shame and brokenness. He took all our sin. He didn’t ask permission. Like a holy thief, Jesus stole our sin to bury it once and for all.

 

After he took our sin, he became our sin. His body became the sin of the world. His blood was poured out for the forgiveness of all our sin. This happened when he was crucified on a cross. Then, along with his body and blood, our sins were buried in the tomb. The entire narrative of the Bible leads to this epic moment on the cross.  We are no longer separated from God because of our sin.

 

Then, (Happy Easter) Jesus rose from the dead. He arose out of the tomb and left the sin of the world buried once and for all. He arose with a new life. Now he gives us that same new life. Jesus conquered death, darkness, shame and brokenness. We have fullness of life through Christ’s atoning work on the cross.

 

Yet, the story is not quite over. Jesus promises to come back to complete the rescue mission. Make no mistake, he has conquered death. We live in a new kingdom always moving closer to full restoration. He gave us his spirit so we can continue to receive his gifts and live a balanced and blessed life. Even in the midst of death, darkness, shame and brokenness, we can proclaim his good news and share the good gifts with everyone around us.

It’s an epic story. It’s a true story. I love hearing it over and over again. I love it because it doesn’t require any thing from me. I get to sit back and be lavished with God’s love. The good news reminds me I’m rescued, redeemed and restored with new life now and into eternity in heaven with him.

The word “gospel” means good news. It’s good news for so many reasons, but for me, it’s good news because the love of the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ and the power of his Holy Spirit is all a free gift for me. I didn’t deserve it. Now, I want to share this gift with everyone I know!

If it’s not good news, it’s not the gospel.

But something happens on the other 51 Sundays. Side note, the year 2020 had 53 Sundays. So give or take a Sunday or two, something goes terribly wrong.

The narrative of God’s epic rescue shifts to man’s epic effort to earn God’s love. Suddenly a “pay-to-stay” salvation plan is handed to us. Now, we strive and serve God to please him. The gifts meant to bring blessing become a burden. And this is when a lot of people stop attending church. People are smart. They hear the contradiction. See you next year.

Ironically, this is not a new story. Jesus spent a majority of his ministry restoring the good news. The religious leaders of the day turned the ten commandments into hundreds of commandments. Originally, the commandments were given as gifts to create balance and blessing, but church leaders turned them into unachievable laws. Habits like prayer, fasting, tithing and Sabbath were gifts as means to worship God with all our senses. Now they’ve become rituals. Even repentance is a gift. God, in his mercy, turns us away from unhealthy things (He does the work). Repentance is a time given by God to reflect and remember his loving kindness (remember Holy Week and Good Friday). But we have turned it into an act of labor done to earn forgiveness. Remember that holy thief called Jesus? He took your sin. He was crucified for it and gave you new life. We don’t earn forgiveness, we receive it as a free gift.

 

Reformations have occurred in church history to restore the good news.  Martin Luther attempted to restore the central theme of good news. He referred to the gospel as the Divine Exchange. Jesus became all my sin, and I become all of Jesus’ righteousness. And this work is Christ’s alone. And this is a gift so no one can boast or earn it.

Maybe it’s time for another reformation. Like Martin Luthers’ Divine Exchange, I like to call it The Great Flip. Jesus is the gift giver and I’m the gift receiver.  It’s time to get ourselves out of the equation and restore Jesus as the sole gift-giver.

The equation is not: Jesus + something = Everything. 

The equation is: Jesus + nothing = Everything.

The gospel cost Jesus everything. It didn’t cost you anything.

A popular illustration that needs a good comeback is the “Do vs. Done” principle. If you think you must “do” something to earn God’s love, then it’s not gospel. The gospel is this: “Jesus has “done” everything for you.

When “Christian living” becomes something you do to earn God’s love, it is no longer a gift. This is why we give presents at Christmas and Easter as symbols of God’s extravagant love for us.  Christian living will proceed from our freedom in Christ.

And the gifts just keep coming! If you think you must muster up enough faith to believe everything I just said … good news! “Faith comes by hearing and by hearing the word of Christ.” Even faith is a gift. So when you read the Bible, read it as one receiving gifts rather than a list of rules. Read it to receive his loving kindness, to receive his forgiveness and receive his way of life that brings balance and blessing. And read it to share the good news with others.

Happy Easter (and Christmas too, if I don’t hear from you until next year)! May the good news of Jesus Christ “gift” you all year long. He loves you.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave … “ John 3:16

-Coach Jody