Curse marks, Paul's back and broken hearts...

Nothing is so cursed that God can't turn it into a blessing!

Did you know that the cross mark was the ultimate curse mark in the first century? I didn't know that until last night. The cross was the worst tool of torture and capital punishment so it's not hard to imagine why it would have been the number one curse mark... But to think that the early Christian church would take that curse mark and use it as a mark of blessing?! Wow, that is profound. But the truth is: "Nothing is so cursed that God can't turn it into a blessing!" Great words, don't you think?

This is just a tiny little bit of what the guest speaker from the US talked about yesterday evening and I'd like to share more, so read on ;)

Paul's back

"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers."
2 Corinthians 11:24-26

"Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city."
Acts 14:19-20

After all those beatings, lashes and the stoning, can you imagine what Paul's back looked like? The fact that he survived all those things is a miracle in it self. A lot of people didn't live through those things, especially not stoning. The point of stoning was to kill. It was capital punishment. Still, after Paul recovered "he got up and went back into the city"!!!

Could you tell Paul, or any other person for that matter, that being in the center of God's will is a safe place to be?

Just keep the picture of Paul's back in your mind.

Broken hearts

The speaker told us that every time he goes on a trip he brings home a heart to give to his 9 year old daughter, to show her that he loves her and that she has his heart. One time when he came home and gave her the hearts from the trip he'd been on she said to him: "Dad, I have something for you too! Close your eyes..." When she was ready she told him to open his eyes. What he saw was a picture she had painted of a big pinkish heart, - a heart that was breaking in two. There was a big crack down the middle. This brought tears to his eyes... He knew he was away on trips sometimes but was it really that bad? That's when he noticed something. In the crack, out of the broken heart a little red heart was emerging, - a whole heart! What a beautiful picture! What better way to describe what God did and still does for us?

God's heart broke when Christ died on the cross, it broke because of you and me. But from Christ's death came new life, a new heart. That's the heart God wants to give to you and me.

The gospel doesn't promise that your heart won't break!

But it promises you a new one when your heart breaks... If you don't want your heart to break, don't love! If you love you can be sure your heart will break - more than once. But God gives you a new heart every time your heart breaks - he gives you His heart. Does your heart break for the things that God's heart breaks? Do you love the world so much that your heart breaks for it, for the needs of those who don't have, who don't know about this amazing God we have?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16

Do you still have the picture of Paul's back in you mind? How is your back, - is it smooth and nice or does it have scars? Are you ready to suffer for God - to have your heart broken - so that more people can experience true Love?