Jump!When is the last time you jumped into the air? Little kids jump all the time. Yet as we grow older, it seems we jump less. Last week, I had the opportunity to jump along with all my family for a fun photo op on the beach as we spent time on the Oregon Coast. Here is a picture of all the cousins jumping together:
It was just a wonderful time together and fun to be jumping around in the gorgeous white sand. It makes one wonder, doesn’t it—what about jumpin’ Christians? Scripturally speaking, do believers jump?
The Bible speaks of believers leaping for joy most beautifully in Isaiah 35. The Lord uses Isaiah to visually guide a walk from the dry desert sands of unbelief to the life-giving oasis of faith. Here are verses 6 & 7:
“Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.”
Leaping for joy is one response noted in the Bible for us who have experienced God’s saving power. As excitement is contagious, I pray this notion deepens our appreciation and deep inner joy that the Lord has saved you from the terrible punishment of sin. The fact that God has removed our sin from us is certainly cause enough to place air between our feet and the ground!
Sticking with the seacoast theme, I think of Micah’s words about forgiveness: that God has trampled our sins and hurled them into the depths of the sea. When we were playing on the beach, some of the kids wrote a long sentence in the sand. The next morning, the words were gone. This is one way to think of our sin, erased by the Lord’s loving sacrifice. I threw many rocks into the Pacific last week, but my gentle tosses don’t come close to the way the Lord has chucked our sin into the deep, our sin which he remembers no more.
May this be an encouragement to you as you face the ever-changing scope of life’s challenges and limitations. God be with you as, at least in heart if not in body, you leap for joy!
Prayer idea: Ask God for a renewed appreciation for his act of saving you and assurance of sins forgiven and a future without end.
Have a blessed week!
--Pastor Dan