Becky Crenshaw

And [the Pharisees] asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.  He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”  Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.  Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and He healed them all.  Matthew 12:11-16

Jesus was a Rebel.  

In the words of Lecrae, my favorite Christian rapper {smile}, Jesus was a “Renegade. An Outlaw. A Sanctified, Trouble-Maker. He lived His life by a different set of rules.”

As I grow older in age {ahem} and even more in my faith, my spiritual eyes are opening more and more to the moral legislation of this dark world.  The Lord has called us to live under a different set of rules.  His rules.  And I must operate under this New Covenant.  A different standard than the world.

I love the first of the year.  January is a tangible taste of redemption.  A literal look at new mercies.  And I ask myself, “What will be different this year?  How will the Lord choose to refine me? Where am I living as the world lives?  Am I conforming to the standards set by my culture, the rules upheld by the Pharisees of my day, or am I submitting to the Holy Spirit in me and following His standards for my life?”  Food for thought.

Look up to verse 16.  It is my favorite.

“And He healed them all.”

Jesus walked out of the temple, having just argued with the religious leaders of the day about the unlawfulness of healing on the Sabbath and what did he do?  He withdrew from the conversation…and healed them ALL.  On the Sabbath.

Jesus wasn’t boastful.  Or puffed up.  But there is something in this action that has an “I’ll show you” quality to it.  He didn’t live by the rules set by man.  But the direction of the Father.

Before Christ, I was a rebel.  A rule breaker.  An underage drinker. A curfew stretcher.  I snuck out at night.  I slept in too late. I ate too much.  I ate too little.  I was a liar.  A cheater. An ugly, ugly rebel.

But now, renewed by the washing of the blood of the Lamb, the rebel inside of me has a place in my Christian faith.

When the money is low…we give more away. (Luke 21:1-4)

When stricken on one cheek, we give the other. (Luke 6:29)

When our enemy hurts us, we love them harder. (Matt. 5:43-44)

When we are weak,  we are strong. (2 Cor. 12:10)

When we are sick, then we are healed. (Mark 5:34)

When we sin, we are forgiven. (1 John 1:19).

When the storm rises, we have peace. (Luke 8:24).

We may get knocked down. But we are  not destroyed. (2 Cor. 4:9)

The rebel in us has a place.  A counterintuitive role to play in this world.

We may be in this world, but Bless God, we are not of it (John 17:16).

Now two weeks into 2013, I am asking myself, “Where will I rebel this year?  Where do I chose NOT to conform to the patterns of this dark world?  Where can I love more? Serve more? Give more? Heal more? Pray more? Where will I have opportunity to show the devil, “I’ll show you!”‘

I want to walk out of the Synagogue and “heal them all,” too.

So what do you say?  Wanna be a rebel?  Come on.  

Not everybody’s doing it.

Reflect and Respond:

Examining your heart, are there areas that your life looks too much like the world’s way?  Is God calling you to move away from that pattern with a respectful, ‘I’ll show you!’?

Do you have an “I’ll show you” story to share?  I would love to hear!  Write it up in the comments!  It will encourage us all!

Power Verse for the day:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

I mean, who wants to smile in pictures when you can do this?  Such rebels! 🙂