Forget Justin; God Been Brought Sexy Back!

So check it! This morning I decided to spend a little time in communion with God by singing a few of my favorite MercyMe, Michael W. Smith, and Casting Crowns songs and then picking up my old, beat up KJV Bible that I've had since '95 or '96.
This Bible is so old that it customized itself: it's detached from Proverbs 18 till the very last page. Not the last page of Revelations, but the very last page... So if I wanted to walk around with the books starting from Genesis to Proverbs 18, no problem; from Proverbs 18 to whatever, still no problem!


Anyway, that's not the point. I still love my Bible. A lot.


The point is that I read Jeremiah 33. That's when I discovered something amazing: God been bringing sexy back; so take a back seat, Justin Timberlake!

What do I mean by that?

Check this out!


This is SO sexy!

Remember Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden? If you said yes you're lying because you can't remember something you've never seen! (that's a bad joke, HA!) Regardless, we know the story. So, blah blah blah, boo hoo hoo, they sinned. Not good.

See, up unto Adam sinned, God's creation was perfect; in other words, God's creation was sexy. Nature had a certain swagger to it: the animals, the trees, the grass, the sky, the sun and moon and stars and clouds. You get my point. Then boo hoo hoo, blah blah blah and Mommy and Daddy did something really bad.

Check this: up until that point, forgiveness was not in earth's vocabulary.

WHAT?!

There was no need for Adam to forgive Eve or vise versa because sin had not yet penetrated the earth's atmosphere. But once it did, and Mommy and Daddy did that really bad thing, in short, sexy went bye-bye. As a result of this, we too do really bad things, REally REAlLY bad things.


NOW THIS IS WHERE IT GETS JUICY:...

At times, when I do something REally REAlLY bad, OVer and OveR again, for a LoNg LOnG time, I feel alone, desolate, dirty, unworthy, filthy, awful, (insert your own). Check out what God has to say about this: "I will cleanse them of their sins against me and forgive all their sins of rebellion." Jeremiah 33:8

God is clear in what He wants to do.

Now here is where He brings sexy back: "Then this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see all the good I do for my people, and they will tremble with awe at the peace and prosperity I provide for them." Jeremiah 33:9

Did you catch that?... ! NO? Here, I'll detach it: Then this city will bring me joy... See it?... !
God takes joy in forgiving! Meaning, He does not get upset! Meaning, He does not have long face! Meaning, He is not huffing and puffing! Meaning, He doesn't catch an attitude! MEANING, He does this FOR FUN!

Catch this: ...this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! Meaning, when we receive God's forgiveness, we automatically do something that on most days we really would rather not do: witness! HOW? Dude! We are transformed! That weight is off our shoulders! We feel light as a feather! and in turn we simply tell others how we felt before and how we feel after receiving God's forgiveness: THAT's witnessing! THE AFTER EFFECT? Dude! People become drawn to God simply by what they see in me, in you! Tell me that's not SEXY!

It gets better: “This is what the Lord says: You have said, ‘This is a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ Yet in the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah’s other towns, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the Lord. They will sing, ‘Give thanks to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, for the Lord is good. His faithful love endures forever!’ For I will restore the prosperity of this land to what it was in the past, says the Lord." Jeremiah 33: 10, 11

When sin lives in me, in you, we are like a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared. Picture that for a minute (go ahead, take your time.... .... .... .... ... ... ... ... ... ...)

Remind you of anything? Maybe this: "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished." Revelation 20:1-3

When sin lives in me, in you, and we have not yet accepted God's forgiveness, we are microcosms of how "that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan" is going to be when me and you are having our Thousand Years Pre-Eternity Party hosted by DJ I AM. Once we accept God's forgiveness, Jeremiah says in verse 11 that, "The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the Lord. They will sing, ‘Give thanks to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, for the Lord is good. His faithful love endures forever!"

This needs no explanation; just picture it... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

I'm having problems figuring out what to write next, because this is simply amazing.

God's forgiveness has the power to transform me from a 'desolate land where people and animals have disappeared' to 'a place where the joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the Lord'.

All this happens because of something He does for fun.


Just like that.


Yeah, God definitely been brought sexy back!

PS: Check this song out by Casting Crowns called "East to West" and a song by Philips, Craig, and Dean called "How Great You Are". You may click on the song titles; I've linked them to their YouTube page.

Enjoy.